Why remember Waitstill and Martha Sharp? Why tell their story? Why even read it? For Yad Vashem, the Israeli national Holocaust memorial, it is a matter of gratitude.
Why remember Waitstill and Martha Sharp? Why tell their story? Why even read it? For Yad Vashem, the Israeli national Holocaust memorial, it is a matter of gratitude.
But there is something more important than thanking those who are not here to hear it: to learn from their example.
As documented by Yad Vashem, the Sharps organized the escape of Lion Feuchtwanger, a Jewish author who lost his German citizenship. They rented a room from which one could bypass Vichy French police and access the Marseilles train station through a tunnel. Martha Sharp accompanied Feuchtwanger on one train, Waitstill Sharp journeyed with him on another. After leaving France during that escape, Martha Sharp returned and helped Jewish children get out of the country.
For these acts, Yad Vashem honored the Sharps as Righteous Among the Nations, a title it confers on Gentiles who risked life or liberty to save Jews during the Holocaust. Only three other Americans received that honor; sadly, the Sharps did not receive it until they were dead.
“Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War,” a documentary drawing on the Sharps’ own records and letters, says they did even more, saving thousands of Jews in two years. The documentary aired on the Public Broadcasting Service this week, and can be viewed online for free at pbs.org through Oct. 5.
The horror of the Holocaust is addressed with an edict: Never again. But there is always evil in the world. The genocide of the Bosnian Muslims comes to mind, as do the depredations of the Islamic State. The recent rise of anti-Semitism in this country and the tendency to be hostile to all Muslims because of Islamic terrorism remind us that great evils can happen here, too — as, of course, one did: slavery. And that is why we need to remember that for every great crime, there are heroes who stood against it. There is evil, but there is good. And we can be the good.
Let us keep the deeds of the righteous always before our eyes — and let us look for our opportunities, in small matters and large, to emulate them.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette