Project Introduction

Welcome to my final MFA Capstone project, completed in the Creative and Strategic Media track of Duquesne University’s Media Department. This story began as a chance encounter in a small Italian village in 2016, which you will read about in Chapter 1. Over three years later it took wings when I started writing about it in one of my classes with Professor Maggie Patterson. In a twist of kismet, it turned out that she and her husband had stopped at the train station in that same small village in Italy during their own travels a few years ago. The plaque of Gino Bartali displayed at the train station left her and her husband (both avid sports fans and university professors) curious so of course they did a little research. She ended up being one of the few Americans who was familiar with Bartali’s story when I randomly dropped it in her lap. She became an invaluable mentor and supporter of this project for which I am extremely grateful.

Almost exactly five years later, I have been able to close the circle on that brief encounter by bringing this story to light. It was all completely unplanned and it’s been an unexpected - and hugely rewarding - immersion into the history of World War II, Jewish culture and the Holocaust, the roots of altruistic behavior, and current models of Holocaust education. I’ve had no formal training or classes in any of these topics, but it goes to show that you should never stop learning. A whole world waits in the pages of journals and books. I probably have over 200 pages of notes (single space, yikes) and dozens of hours worth of video testimonies from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Each rescuer and survivor featured here feels like one of my friends now and I am reluctant to let them “go” after spending 18 months getting to know them. On more than one occasion I’ve described the young, daring Knud Dyby as “dashing” in his Danish police uniform. Even in his elder years he evoked that same sense of adventure and moral courage that leaves you hopeful that you can emulate a fraction of his bravery. I truly wish I could have met them in person when they were alive. If there is anyone you know from this era who is still with us, please turn off your computer or device now and go ask them to tell a story from their youth. Nothing will ever replace these first-person accounts. This project is such a small representation of other survivors and rescuers. There are, unfortunately, countless other stories to learn and kindred spirits to meet even though they are becoming fewer and fewer.

As I was preparing my final project defense in early December 2021, I learned of the passing just a few weeks before of one of the key subjects in my project, researcher Sam Oliner. His wife and research partner, Pearl Oliner, had passed away earlier in 2021. It was their seminal work, “The Altruistic Personality Project,” that opened me to the fascinating world of Holocaust rescuer personality research. With Sam’s passing, this would bring the total to four project subjects that have passed since I began less than two years ago: Ivo Faltoni, Pearl Oliner, Claudio Lucheroni, and Sam. That is an alarming but realistic fact that people from this era are well into their 80s and 90s. Professor Patterson and I originally titled my project, “One Less Voice,” and it rings all too true.

I hope this story brings new knowledge and makes you curious to learn more.

Project Purpose

This multimedia Capstone project introduces the bravery of Holocaust rescuers who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust in World War II. Using the stories of five rescuers from four European countries, this project examined:

• The importance of remembering their stories

• Who were Holocaust rescuers

• The science of rescuer altruism

• The new Holocaust education

Methodology

• Academic and book research. Lots of reading and note taking from leaders in the field of the Holocaust, rescuers, and researchers of bystander and rescuer behavior. Be sure to see my references and bibliography list.

• Archived survivor and rescuer video testimonies from U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). I used their research database extensively and, as a data person, found it to be an incredibly well-developed and curated source. My queries for videos included terms such as “rescuers,” “righteous,” and “righteous among the nations.” I reviewed dozens of videos and narrowed them down to ones that 1) were in English, 2) had good-to-excellent quality video and audio, 3) included particularly special elements of importance to rescuers in its narration, 4) were open to the public domain, and 5) could be downloaded upon request. This eventually (and unintentionally) led me to some of the most well-known (to the existing community, that is) and documented rescuers, such as Knud Dyby, Tina Strobos, Jan Karski, and Irene Opdyke. To demonstrate the diverse political and cultural conditions that rescuers and Jewish citizens faced, I wanted to highlight four different European countries. The video testimonies that I believed would best help tell this story ended up being from Italy, Poland, Denmark, and the Netherlands. There certainly could have been more included, but for the sake of time I limited it to these four. Poland was particularly important to include because of the decimation of Jews that occurred during its Nazi occupation.

• Historic photos and videos from the USHMM and Yad Vashem. For the multimedia components, again I performed extensive research in the USHMM database to find photos that would help provide important visual elements from WWII and the Holocaust. Yad Vashem’s database and website also provided important visuals. I purposely did not include overtly graphic images, for which there are sadly all too many (and those are only the ones captured on film). As educational leaders discuss in Chapter 5, “trauma doesn’t teach,” and I did not want those images to distract from the other important messaging. Unless otherwise noted, all other photos are provenance of the author.

• In-person interviews with current subject matter experts. Like everything since Spring 2020, this proved challenging during the pandemic and often did not work out as planned. However, flexibility on my part was key to work with what I had, and many people were very generous with their time and support for which I am very grateful.

• Recorded online events with current subject matter experts. A very thin silver lining of the pandemic was the wealth of online events available literally from around the world. I attended a number of events from Yad Vashem in Jerusalem or other European locations, as well as locally in Pittsburgh.

• Customized maps and data to enhance geographic awareness and provide context. Because maps rule and I have to work them into everything I do.