World War II ended in Europe on May 8, 1945. Vast regions of Europe were destroyed during the five and a half years of war and German occupation. Almost six million Jews were murdered. Very few survived in hiding or by living under an assumed name. They often lost their entire family. Their lifeworlds and cultural environment were destroyed. And most of them suffered their entire life from the traumatic experiences of the persecution.

Some of the helpers became victims of the Nazi terror. Those who survived did not talk about their courageous actions, and even in retrospect they considered their acts of support to be a matter of course. In actuality, their actions struck the Nazi regime at the core of its racist and anti-Semitic ideology.