"Jews saving Jews" Forum | Faculty of Jewish Studies

During the summer of 2019 the Arnold and Leona Finkler Institute of Holocaust Research decided to broaden its international activities by creating a number of international geographical or topical forums.

The "Jews Saving Jews Forum" is a topical forum that was created in June 2019. The Forum is an initiative of the B’nai B’rith World Center and the Committee for Recognizing the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers during the Holocaust, which for over twenty years has promoted the recognition of Jewish self-rescue activities as a unique phenomenon in Jewish and Holocaust history. Although it was chosen by Yad Vashem as the official theme for Yom Hashoah 2020, Jewish self-rescue has not been the subject of consistent, systematic, and in-depth study, as have other aspects of the Holocaust. Recognizing that fact, the Finkler Institute established the Forum to further the investigation of this important topic.

In 2020 the B'nai B'rith World Center, Jerusalem and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust published a booklet with articles about "Jews Saving Jews" during the Holocaust.

Throughout the first two years of its existence the Forum's participants wrote articles about cases of Jews Rescuing Jews during the Holocaust that were published in a volume of collected research on that subject in cooperation with the B'nai B'rith World Center. The book, edited by Judith Tydor Baumel-Schwartz and Alan Schneider, is entitled All Our Brothers and Sisters: Jews Saving Jews During the Holocaust (Bern: Peter Lang, 2021, 334p.)

On June 14, 2021 the Forum held a virtual International conference together with B'nai B'rith International as an English language book launch and on November 9, 2021 it held a Hebrew virtual book launch together with the Libraries and Information System at Bar Ilan University.

The forum continues to serve as a framework for sharing information about studies worldwide focusing on Jews saving Jews during the Holocaust and fosters cooperative ventures on that topic.