Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

In the Garden of the Righteous

The Heroes Who Risked Their Lives to Save Jews During the Holocaust

Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"In the Garden of the Righteous brilliantly describes how in the midst of the brutality of the Holocaust and the collaboration, acquiescence and passivity of millions, there were people who risked their lives to save others out of a sense of shared humanity. This book is more timely than ever."—Stuart E. Eizenstat, author of Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II

These powerfully illuminating and inspiring profiles pay tribute to the incredible deeds of the Righteous Among the Nations, little-known heroes who saved countless lives during the Holocaust.

Less than a century ago, the Second World War took the lives of more than fifty million people; more than six million of them were systematically exterminated through crimes of such enormity that a new name to describe the horror was coined: the Holocaust. Yet amid such darkness, there were glimmers of light—courageous individuals who risked everything to save those hunted by the Nazis. Today, as bigotry and intolerance and the threats of fascism and authoritarianism are ascendent once again, these heroes' little-known stories—among the most remarkable in human history—resonate powerfully. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, has recognized more than 27,000 individuals as "Righteous Among the Nations"—non-Jewish people such as Raoul Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler who risked their lives to save their persecuted neighbors.

In the Garden of the Righteous chronicles extraordinary acts at a time when the moral choices were stark, the threat immense, and the passive apathy of millions predominated. Deeply researched and astonishingly moving, it focuses on ten remarkable stories, including that of the circus ringmaster Adolf Althoff and his wife Maria, the Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Italian cycling champion Gino Bartali, the Polish social worker Irena Sendler, and the Japanese spy Chinue Sugihara, who provided hiding places, participated in underground networks, refused to betray their neighbors, and secured safe passage. They repeatedly defied authorities and risked their lives, their livelihoods, and their families to save the helpless and the persecuted. In the Garden of the Righteous is a testament to their kindness and courage.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 7, 2022
      Octavian Report founder Hurowitz debuts with an inspiring group portrait of Holocaust “rescuers” whose stories are “too little told and too little known.” They include diplomats Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese counsel general in Bordeaux, who stamped more than 15,000 passports for Jews seeking to escape from France, and Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese vice counsel in Kovno, Lithuania, who defied a direct order from his government and issued more than 5,000 visas to Jewish refugees. Other profile subjects include social worker Irena Sendler, who created a network to smuggle more than 2,000 Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto with forged adoption papers, passports, and visas. Hurowitz also pays tribute to Denmark, writing that “an entire nation warned, sheltered, protected, and smuggled out their Jewish neighbors. Taxi drivers, doctors, teachers, students, farmers and clerks all took part.” As a result, 95% of the country’s Jewish citizens escaped to Sweden after Hitler ordered their arrest and deportation in 1943. Hurowitz’s deep research reveals the mechanics of these and other operations, as well as the rescuers’ wide range of motivations and backgrounds. This well-told history is a moving reminder that “we can all contribute to the project of improving the world.”

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This audiobook highlights Holocaust heroes--the unsung who tried in every way possible to save Jews from annihilation. Narrator Paul Heitsch's performance is excellent. He employs an intense emotional style to deliver 10 stories of non-Jewish people whose efforts to rescue Jews and others from the Nazis are the centerpiece of the audiobook. Heitsch's tone is ideal, always precisely on point, ranging in emotion from indignation to fear to compassion and to the unrelenting desire to help at a time when such efforts could be suicidal. Hurowitz chose his title carefully, recognizing that Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, honors many as the "Righteous Among the Nations." Hurowitz builds on these heroes, and his book benefits from Heitsch and the life he gives to all. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Loading