Jacob's Rescue
By: Malka Drucher & Michael Halperin
Main Characters:
The main characters in the story are Jacob Gutgel, Alex Roslan, and Mela Roslan. Jacob was a Young Jewish boy who lived in the ghetto of Warsaw, Poland during World War Two and the extermination of the Jews. Alex Roslan was the father of the family that took in Jacob so that the Nazis would not find him and kill him for being Jewish. Mela Roslan was Alex's wife and helped care for Jacob during the time that they were together. Those are the main character sin the story, Jacob's Rescue.
Plot:
Jacob's Rescue takes place during World War Two in Warsaw Poland. During this time the Germans were killing off the Jewish race and other groups of people in what is known as the Holocaust. Jacob is a Jewish boy at risk of being killed by the Nazis at any given moment or sent away to be worked to death. In an attempt to save his life the Roslan family decides to take him and his brothers into their home and save him until the war is over. When the Polish and Jews begin to revolt against the Nazis all of Warsaw becomes a battlefield and in the mass chaos the Roslans and the Jewish brothers are forced to make life risking decisions.
Connections to the Righteous Among Nations Award
Alex and Mela Roslan were given the Righteous Among Nations Award for risking their lives and their children's lives to save three Jewish boys from extermination from the German Nazis. While saving them they performed special tasks that could have cost them their lives such as moving from their own home so they boys would not be found. They also took Jacob to a hospital and paid off the doctor and nurse not to report them. The Roslans also lied to the Nazis and told them that their boys were Polish and that they were not hiding any Jews in their home. If it weren't for the Roslans, Jacob and his little brother David would have been brutally murdered by the Nazis back in the Holocaust during the attempt to exterminate all Jews, Those are the reasons why Alex and Mela Roslan earned the Righteous Among Nations Award.
"They are figting for their honor, not their lives."
This quote is important because it says that the Jews knew that they were going to die but they were not going to just let the Nazis take their lives away from them. The Jews were going to put up a final fight and would refuse to stop until they were let go or they were killed in battle.
Importance:
This story was important because it tells what people did for each other during a time of chaos and what people will do to not only survive, but to make sure other people survive.