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How Ordinary People Did Extraordinary Things To Make a Change in the Holocaust

Helping others was not simple during the Holocaust, but some still did it. In the article “Grand Mosque of Paris”, Muslims helped many Jews survive the Holocaust in Paris by doing heroic actions. In the article, “Saving the Children”,  Nicholas Winton rescued many Jewish kids in Austria by his kindful and valiant nature. Ordinary people did extraordinary things to help others, as evidenced in, “The Grand Mosque of Paris” and “Saving the Children.”

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In “The Grand Mosque of Paris” Muslims stand up for the right thing against the Nazis and save Jewish kids.When communicating about how Muslims helped in the Holocaust, the text states, “Benghabrit wrote out false birth certificates for Jewish children, claiming they were Muslim” (8). The Muslims helped the Jews by making them fake birth certificates. They saved the lives of Jews that would have died without their help. This was a very risky action. If the Muslims got caught doing any of this, their lives would probably not have been spared. The text also states, “Directly beneath the Mosque’s grounds lay the sewer system of Paris, a complicated web of underground passages now served as a hiding place, and escape route. It also reached the Seine. From there, barges were used to smuggle human cargo to ports in the South of France and then Algeria or Spain” (7). Showing  Muslims going to extremes just to rescue lives and risking their own. They took their time keeping the Jews safe and guiding them through an intricate passageway underground through the whole city of Paris. They would reach the famous river, Seine, in France and put the Jews on boats, and take them to parts of the other world. Remember,  Muslims were ordinary people and they did all of this for completely free. Indicating the selfless attitude of the Muslims. Overall, there were many heroic and life-changing actions taken during the Holocaust to help the Jews, the Muslims were the main part.

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In “Saving the Children,” Nicholas Winton salvaged many many Jewish kids that were stuck in Austria before the war had started. When discussing how Nicholas Winton helped out during the Holocaust, it explains, “Winton immediately began organizing a rescue operation for them. As word of his efforts spread, thousands of parents lined up to implore Winton to extricate their children” (4). This validates that he instantly cared about the children in Austria that were stuck. He immediately spread the word to many people and started his mission. Thousands of families had their children stuck in Austria. They all came to Winton as soon as they heard his idea. He gave them all hope by risking his own life. Another example of evidence is, “In all, Winton managed to rescue 669 children—via eight trains and one plane—before the war broke out” (6). Revealing the number of children he liberated, imagine the number of families that would have been happy if they found out that their child would still have a chance at life and to be alive. Recall that, it was not easy arranging eight trains and one plane. If a Nazi soldier had come upon any of these very loud vehicles, it was game over, not just for the kids, but for Nicholas Winton. Luckily, none of that happened, as Winton was responsible enough to transport all of the children carefully. All in all, Winton was a part of the many heroes of the Holocaust.

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Sir Nicholas Winton

In conclusion, the Holocaust was not a good time in history, but normal people did astonishing things to save lives during the Holocaust. “The Grand Mosque of Paris” and “Saving the Children” show us details and evidence of how people implemented the idea and aided thousands of lives. This was significant because children that would have died were rescued by normal people. All of these led to a change in society and stopped lots of the persecution and suffering that was taking place.


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