Honoring Holocaust Heroes through the Genesis 123 Foundation’s FOOTSTEPS Program
As International Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches on January 27, marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and the beginning of the end of the Holocaust and WWII, there are stories of inspiration that call to us to be remembered beyond the horrible facts that most know: six million Jews murdered in the event that defined the word genocide. At Auschwitz alone, 1.1 million people were killed, including 1 million Jews.
Throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, entire Jewish communities were simply erased. Where there were survivors, like in the Polish towns that my grandparents grew up in, the survivors who went back to the only place they had called home were often driven out at threat of death, and indeed, following bloody pogroms in which Jews who had seen and experienced unspeakable horrors and looked to find other surviving loved ones, were killed by their own former neighbors and schoolmates.
While the number of people saving Jews was far too few, there are a known 28,217 Righteous Gentiles, people who have been documented as having put their own lives at risk to save Jewish friends, neighbors, and, in some cases, complete strangers.
No Jewish community was left untouched, no matter how small. For instance, in the Netherlands, an estimated 102,000 Jews were killed out of a pre-war population of 140,245, or 73%. Why the Netherlands?
With one of the smallest Jewish communities in Europe, the Netherlands is noteworthy for having the second-largest number of Righteous Gentiles. By comparison, in Poland, with the largest pre-war Jewish community of 3.3 million, it’s estimated that between 2.7–3 million were killed, as high as 90%. In the entire country, there are a known 7,232 Righteous Gentiles.
Today, tens if not hundreds of thousands of descendants of those who were saved by the 28,217 owe their lives to the Righteous Gentiles, typically Christians who followed their faith, who saved their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents. The number of Righteous Gentiles is staggeringly small, but the impact of their selflessness is alive and well. And appreciated.
In the Netherlands, Corrie ten Boom remains one of the best known, a devout Christian who saved Jews. Until the end of her life, she was a role model for the world. After the war, Corrie traveled the world, sharing her story of faith, forgiveness, and hope. Her autobiography, The Hiding Place, has inspired millions and still inspires us today. Corrie’s legacy continues as a testament to the power of faith, resilience, and compassion in the face of evil.
Another less known but no less consequential Dutch Christian who saved Jews during the Holocaust was Miep Gies. She and her husband hid the Frank family in a secret annex for years during the German occupation of the Netherlands. While the Franks were eventually arrested and sent to concentration camps, where all but one were killed, by saving the family and then saving the writing of one of its members who did not return, Miep gave the word the “Diary of Anne Frank,” the personal account of just one adolescent Jewish girl forced into hiding and eventually killed by the Nazis.
Corrie ten Boom and Miep Gies are two of more than 5000 Righteous Gentiles in the Netherlands alone whose impact is not only still with us but whose inspiration calls out to us. Especially today.
In recent years we have seen a resurgence of evil that challenged Corrie and Miep then and calls upon us to take action today. That evil, unbridled antisemitism, is being felt throughout the world with Jews living in fear as they have never known since the Ten Boom and Gies families rescued Dutch Jews from death decades ago.
These stories and their inspiration are especially poignant today as late last year, Amsterdam witnessed a violent antisemitic mob hunting down Jews on public streets. Horrifying.
Rabbi Josh Rubin, co-founder of FOOTSTEPS, shared his inspiration. “In thinking about all those who were lost, I wanted to create an opportunity to think of how we need to live. Corrie ten Boom and Miep Gies are just two of tens of thousands whose heroic selflessness and faith guided them to do what it right. As fewer and fewer survivors are among us to tell their stories, the inspiration from the Righteous Gentiles illuminates the path for our future. For ourselves and as a legacy for the generations that will follow. I want our children and grandchildren, and their grandchildren, to know how much light the Righteous Gentiles brought into the world and how that light is still illuminating our children’s faces. I pray that dozens will join us on this trip of a lifetime.”
On this upcoming 80th anniversary, it’s critical to remember the six million victims, Jewish communities that were simply erased, and the murder of one-third of the Jews in the entire world at that time. That should always be the case, so “Never Again” cannot become hollow rhetoric.
But it’s also important to remember the Righteous Gentiles whose own descendants may not know what they did and at what risk to themselves. Those who they saved and their descendants owe their lives today to these people who they never met.
Bringing this together, the Genesis 123 Foundation has launched FOOTSTEPS to bring people today to follow in the footsteps of the Righteous Gentiles. This is a boutique experience to embark on a journey recounting Corrie ten Boom’s and Miep Gies’ faith and heroism, as well as that of other Dutch Christians who put their lives at risk to protect their Jewish neighbors. FOOTSTEPS’ first stop is Amsterdam, where the inspiration and stories of these heroes of the past will instruct our lives today and guide our future. The messages and lessons learned will be part of an ethical legacy that participants can deed to their own descendants. It’s never been more important to stand up for what’s right, good vs. evil, than it is today.
Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a boutique travel experience with a look to the past as a model for each of us, in the present, and as part of our legacy.
For information about FOOTSTEPS, please visit https://genesis123.co/footsteps.
*The opinions in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Crosswalk Headlines.
Photo Courtesy: ©GettyImages/nito100
Published Date: January 20, 2025
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of the Salem Web Network.
Jonathan Feldstein is president of the Genesis 123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians. He was born and educated in the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 2004. He is married and the father of six. He is a leader working with and among Christian supporters of Israel, and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel through his work, writing, and as host of the Inspiration from Zion podcast.
Recently he published the highly acclaimed book, Israel the Miracle, which makes a great gift for Chanukah and Christmas.
He can be reached at firstpersonisrael@gmail.com.
Originally published January 20, 2025.
