Survivors: Jewish Self-Help and Rescue in Nazi-Occupied Western Europe (review)

During the Holocaust, a majority of the non-Jewish population turned their backs on the European Jews as they were systematically identified, segregated, plundered, and in time brutally murdered. Most stood by silently as the Jews were annihilated. Many actively willed and participated in their destruction. And still fewer chose another path, risking their lives in order to help Jews survive. Motivations for assistance to and rescue of Jews varied widely, and the circumstances in which rescuers acted were as diverse as the individuals themselves. Moreover, Jews survived across Europe for myriad reasons, including pure luck. In Survivors: Jewish Self-Help and Rescue in Nazi-Occupied Western Europe, Bob Moore embarks on an ambitious comparative analysis of the conditions in which Jewish survivors benefited from the assistance of others, a small but significant portion of those who survived.

With Survivors, Moore has made an important contribution to the field by presenting rescue as an historical problem, rather than primarily a philosophical, ethical, or sociological one. As of January 2010, Israel's Yad Vashem recognized more than 23,000 "Righteous Among the Nations," rescuers who have met particular criteria, including performing rescue actions at risk to their lives and for no monetary compensation. These numbers do not include those who may have helped Jews to turn a profit at a time of war, nor does it include Jews who rescued. Moore's Survivors widens the lens on rescue, situating rescue within its political, historical, and geographic context—an important contextualization that he argues is underplayed by an overwhelming focus on altruistic motivations, including by Yad Vashem. To that end, Moore considers a variety of motivations for rescue, including the more exploitative, and examines how assistance contributed to the varying survival rates of Jews in Western and Northern Europe. Perhaps most important, his study analyzes the ways Jews—marked for death and hunted— became rescuers themselves, overturning simplistic perceptions of them as "passive" victims. While not downplaying the heroism of rescuers recognized by Yad Vashem, he treats rescue by Jews and gentiles as a complex and interrelated issue, rejecting oversimplification in favor of nuance. He even includes cases of "Nazi rescuers" and examines the plight of Jewish children, who were particularly vulnerable to exploitation and maltreatment at the hands of potential benefactors.

Moore's study provides another facet to the oft-examined (though not conclusively answered) question: how do we account for the varying survival rates of Jews in different parts of Europe during the Holocaust? Comparing conditions for rescue and survival in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Norway, and Denmark, the author limits his scope of study based on similarities in the political circumstances as well as the chances Jews had for survival in each country. Moore emphasizes justifiably that the experiences of Jews elsewhere, such as Poland and the Soviet Union, were "materially different from their counterparts in the West" (p. 2). For the most part, Jews had a greater chance of survival in the countries Moore has selected because of the level of intensity of prevailing antisemitism, the integration of Jews in society, the nature of the German occupation, and a host of other factors. He considers the conditions that made it possible for assistance and rescue—both by Jews and gentiles—to flourish.

Moore's comparative approach follows a relatively recent trend in Holocaust studies. It not only draws conclusions based on broader thematic comparisons but also focuses on the variations in each situation to bring to the fore a deeper understanding of local particularities. First taking on escape routes from Europe in the first months and years of the war, he focuses on the political and social circumstances for rescue and survival in each country in turn. He describes individual cases of rescue, uncovers complex lines of hidden networks, and describes risks and punishments ultimately faced by rescuers within these contexts, as well as their perceptions of risk. While at times the comparisons he draws...