To Save a World; Profiles of Holocaust Rescue

Lakewood, New Jersey: CIS Publishers, 1991. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Trade paperback. Very good. 253, [3] pages. Contains Introduction and chapters on The Working Group; A Cry From the Heart; A Home for the Homeless; The World Must Be Told; The Swiss Connection, and The Tangiers Connection. Also contains Conclusion. David H. Kranzler (May 19, 1930 - November 29, 2007) was an American professor of library science at Queensborough Community College, New York, who specialized in the study of the rescue of Jews during the Holocaust. Kranzler was the author of several books on the topic, including To Save a World, Thy Brothers' Blood: The Orthodox Jewish Response During the Holocaust (1987) and The Man Who Stopped the Trains to Auschwitz: George Mantello, El Salvador, and Switzerland's Finest Hour (2000). Kranzler became the leading historian on the subject of Jews aiding and rescuing the Jews during the Holocaust, and was among the first to document the efforts of Orthodox Jewish organizations, such as the Vaad Ha-hatzala and Agudath Israel. Historian Alex Grobman referred to him as "the pioneer of research on Orthodox Jewry during the war. Rabbi Eliezer Gevirtz taught math and Judaic Studies from 1981 to 2013 and has also written and edited number of books: To Save a World, a biography of the Chofetz Chaim, a famous 19th century rabbi, as well as a guide to the basic laws of Shabbat. Despite great difficulties, a number of Orthodox Jewish activists, limited in resources and influence and extraordinary dedication, frequently achieved the impossible. They broke down walls of bureaucratic indifference and anti-Semitism, and rescued tens of thousands of Jews. Describes the rescue efforts of Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Jewish organizations during the Holocaust. Focuses on the activities of the Vaad ha-Hatzalah, set up in the USA in 1939 by Rabbi Eliezer Silver (assisted by Rabbis Aharon Kotler and Avraham Kalmanowitz), which devoted great efforts to the rescue of observant Jews, including prominent religious leaders and yeshiva students. Special attention is drawn to the attempts to "ransom" Hungarian Jews from the Nazis in 1944, one of the initiators of which was Slovakian Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandel. Pages 151-180 discuss the work of George Mantello, an El Salvadoran diplomat and an Orthodox Jew, who provided Jews with Salvadoran protective papers. Pages 181-228 deal with Recha Sternbuch, who managed to smuggle hundreds of Jews into Switzerland from the Reich and occupied France.