The holocaust was the mass slaughter of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, and Jehovah Witnesses by a German organization called Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (Nazi) from 1941 to 1945. The Nazis believed they were a superior race of people, and anyone they thought was inferior or believed something different should be killed. In the time span of four years the Nazis are believed to have killed 11 million people, 6 million are believed to be Jewish. (Rosenberg 1) Many citizens of Germany and the countries the Nazis conquered believed that what the Nazis were doing was wrong; but they were afraid to publically disagree. There was, however, every-day, ordinary people who risked their lives to help Jews escape the Nazis persecution.
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He was born in Germany but moved to Poland when he was very young because his parents were Polish. He had a lot of friends; one of his friends was Jewish. Every Sunday his Jewish friend would come over to Damski’s house to have Sunday dinner. While growing up, he saw some discrimination against the Jews, but nothing serious. He could speak fluent German which helped him later in life to get out of sticky situations. When John was young he was very good at sports. John Damski played over three sports and some of his team mates were Jewish. The main sports he played were track & field, soccer and gymnastics. He was especially good at track, finishing 2nd in the Polish national championship for the triple jump event. While competing in gymnastics, he witnessed some anti-Semitic comments and quit because, “’We just didn’t like what was happening; we simply did not see any difference between us and the Jews.’”(Land-Weber …show more content…
Since, “Hiding a Jew in Poland was a capital crime.” (Cerami 13) John knew he was risking his life. However, John Damski knew her fate if the Gestapo caught her, “Whenever the Gestapo came everybody was scared; you never knew what they would do. They could take you with them, and that would be that.”(Land-Weber 266) He fell in love with her and later married her. At this time, John had already helped a lot of Jews get false papers; because Sarah was a Jew he got fake papers for her changing her name to Christine Paderewska. In addition, he even had a fake marriage certificate, so she was now his fake wife. They moved to Czestochowa. To hide her mother, he got fake papers for her, too, and she became his widowed Aunt Olszewska who lived in
He was born in Germany but moved to Poland when he was very young because his parents were Polish. He had a lot of friends; one of his friends was Jewish. Every Sunday his Jewish friend would come over to Damski’s house to have Sunday dinner. While growing up, he saw some discrimination against the Jews, but nothing serious. He could speak fluent German which helped him later in life to get out of sticky situations. When John was young he was very good at sports. John Damski played over three sports and some of his team mates were Jewish. The main sports he played were track & field, soccer and gymnastics. He was especially good at track, finishing 2nd in the Polish national championship for the triple jump event. While competing in gymnastics, he witnessed some anti-Semitic comments and quit because, “’We just didn’t like what was happening; we simply did not see any difference between us and the Jews.’”(Land-Weber …show more content…
Since, “Hiding a Jew in Poland was a capital crime.” (Cerami 13) John knew he was risking his life. However, John Damski knew her fate if the Gestapo caught her, “Whenever the Gestapo came everybody was scared; you never knew what they would do. They could take you with them, and that would be that.”(Land-Weber 266) He fell in love with her and later married her. At this time, John had already helped a lot of Jews get false papers; because Sarah was a Jew he got fake papers for her changing her name to Christine Paderewska. In addition, he even had a fake marriage certificate, so she was now his fake wife. They moved to Czestochowa. To hide her mother, he got fake papers for her, too, and she became his widowed Aunt Olszewska who lived in