The Measure

10 HERO WHY DO SOME PEOPLE RISK THEIR OWN LIVES TO SAVE OTHERS? Measure by Diana Lynn of a

HERO11 am Oliner was 12 years old when German soldiers, Nazis, swept through his Polish village. The Nazis Sordered all Jews to quickly pack a few belongings and then moved them into a crowded, sealed-off neighborhood 10 miles (16 km) away. Two miserable months of near starvation passed. Then the Nazis came again at dawn. They yelled and pounded on Sam’s door. Sam Oliner as His stepmother told him, “Run a young man away, my child, so that you will live!” Still in his pajamas, Sam ran “I Will Help” and hid on the roof. From high The next day, Sam snuck back down to their rooms. His up, he watched the soldiers load mother had died when he was seven. Sam wanted the only photo of her, but he couldn’t find it. He grabbed clothes everyone else onto trucks and and set out on his own. With nowhere to go, Sam wandered drive away. It was 1942, and World around alone. He slept in barns and ate fruit he found in orchards. After a few days, he decided to walk to a village War II was tearing Europe, and his where he knew of a woman named Balwina who’d gone to school with his father. He knocked on her door. She family, apart. immediately recognized him. She’d heard that Nazis had

HEROES ARE MADE, NOT BORN ›› But how did these rescuers and bystanders get like that? The Oliners’ research revealed big differences in their childhoods. RESCUERS’ PARENTS . . . IN-BETWEENERS’ PARENTS ...... modeled kindness by . . . occasionally regularly helping others. . . . were close to them helped others. so they felt very loved by their families. . . . were somewhat close to them so they . . . rarely punished or yelled at them. felt somewhat loved by their families. . . . explained why bad behavior is not OK. . . . sometimes . . . were not prejudiced punished and . . . respected them, so they and welcomed many yelled at them. grew up confident about different kinds of their own power. people in their homes. . . . sometimes . . . showed explained why them how to bad behavior is not OK. help others . . . encouraged them to use their in need. own judgment.

12 murdered all the Jews from his neighborhood. Balwina said, Ordinary Bravery “You poor boy. I will help. You must live.” The rescuers interviewed by Sam and Pearl Oliner The Nazis killed anyone who helped Jews, but she still deeply cared about others. But they didn’t consider themselves special. Kindness felt ordinary to them. took Sam inside. Balwina and her family risked their They explained saving others as just what people do: own lives to hide him. She taught him how to pray like a Catholic, and she changed his Jewish name to a Polish one. We had to help these people in order Sam made up a story about an imaginary Polish family and to“ save them, not because they were went out to work as a farmhand. He passed as non-Jewish Jews, but because they were persecuted for the next three years until the defeat of the Nazis. human beings who needed help. After the war, Sam made his way to the United States. ” He became a citizen, served in the US Army, and went to I sensed I had in front of me human beings“ that were hunted down like wild college. Sam always remained grateful to Balwina. Before animals. This aroused a feeling of he left Poland, he says, “She gave me a little lecture saying brotherhood and a desire to help. I must tell the world about this barbarism.” Today, people ” refer to the Nazis’ large-scale murder of Jews and other My parents taught me to respect all groups as the Holocaust. human“ beings.” Turning to Science Sam Oliner never stopped wondering why Balwina and her family saved him. Most people would have turned him away. Some would have given him to the Nazis. He read about other rescuers too. What separates these heroes from everyone else, he wondered? He needed to know. To find answers, Oliner became a social scientist: Dr. Sam Oliner, PhD. He researches social behavior with his wife, Pearl Oliner, an education professor. Both work at Humboldt State University in California. Social scientists, like all scientists, use precise methods. They start out describing a problem. Then they do studies. Finally, they explain how they reached their conclusions. One big difference, though, is social scientists research real people and communities instead of conducting science experiments in laboratories. They often gather statistical evidence. Oliner started with his big question: how did Balwina A Polish Catholic couple hid Eve Nisencwajg, fifth from left, by claiming she was their niece. Here, Eve poses with children receiving their first Communion around 1943.

IN-BETWEENERS’ PARENTS . . . BYSTANDERS’ PARENTS ...... were sometimes preju- . . . seldom or never diced and less welcoming . . . were not close to helped others. of different kinds of people them so they felt un- in their homes. loved by their families. . . . sometimes respected them so they grew up to . . . punished and yelled at them. feel somewhat confident about their own power. . . . did not explain why bad behavior is not OK. . . . sometimes let them use their own judgment. . . . were prejudiced . . . disrespected them, so and did not welcome they grew up feeling less . . . sometimes different kinds confident about their showed them of people in their own power. how to help homes. . . . rarely or never others in need. showed them how to . . . did not allow them to help others in need. use their own judgment.

13 British stockbroker Nicholas Winston rescued 669 mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia before 1940. Today, art- In 1939 in Poland, a German solider laughs in work at a train station in Prague, Czech the direction of a Jewish man and his daughter. Republic, memorializes the moment when parents and children parted.

and thousands of other heroic rescuers like her differ from people who stood by and did nothing during the Holocaust? To find out, he and Pearl Oliner devised a study to compare rescuers to non-rescuers. First, they located 800 rescuers plus a sample of non-rescuers, or bystanders. Using careful methodology, they matched the two groups by age, sex, education, and location during World War II. The Oliners or members of their research team traveled to everyone’s homes. With the help of local researchers, they interviewed subjects in their own languages: French, German, Italian, Polish, and Norwegian. Following that, the Oliners compared the two groups. In the process, Oliner found more than answers. He found his life’s work! By now, he and his team have interviewed around 900 rescuers. He says, “I grew more indignant about evil and in my small way could do something about it.” The results of this research are published the Oliners’ book The Altruistic Personality: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe. (“Altruism” means super unselfishness.) It reports that rescuers felt a greater sense of responsibility for the well-being of others They tended to trust people, to think well of themselves and others, and to include people. Non- rescuers, on the other hand, tended to be suspicious and insecure, to focus on themselves, and to feel responsible to only a small group. Pearl Oliner points out that non-rescuers aren’t necessarily bad people. Often, they just feel powerless and don’t know what to do. The Oliners’ scientific research showed altruism can be taught. Rays of Hope Remember what Balwina said to Sam Oliner as he was leaving Poland? She asked him to “tell the world about this barbarism.” He did. He taught and wrote books. And his In the 1940s, Slovakian grocer Jonas Eckstein 14 cared for orphans who had fled from Poland. LEARN BY DOING Bystander or Upstander? Volunteers Rock Want to practice altruism? In a group, think of 20 problems, such as Volunteers work for free because they losing lunch money or falling down in want to make the world better. Some Try these activities. front of others. Write each problem on a might help at a school. Others might different card. One person draws a card volunteer at an animal shelter or Good News and acts out that problem. Someone hospital. Find some volunteers. Ask Set up a place to post stories about else comes in and acts out helping. each one three things: What do you do? acts of kindness. Put up everyone’s Another comes in and acts out not Why do you do it? How does it make stories and drawings. Add clippings helping. Afterward, talk about what you feel? Share their stories. from newspapers and magazines. happened and how it felt.

One Good Thing Hey, Thanks The Center for Healthy Minds, at the Assemble a group in a circle at the end of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has lots day. Invite people, one at a time, to yell “Hey, of ideas for teaching kindness. This is a thanks!” to someone else. Then have them favorite. In a group, ask everyone to think tell why. For example, “Hey, thanks Mike, for about one good thing that happened showing me how to catch a ground ball.” today. It can be something simple. Maybe it’s “my lunch was delicious” or “I met someone nice.” Then say, “Think about your good thing. Notice how it feels inside your body.” Wait a few moments. Let anyone who wants to share their good thing and tell how it feels inside.

work has influenced others to do more research. He has teaching. He is writing a book on the nature of good and appeared on television shows and lectured in the United evil. When asked about his advice for young people, he States and other countries. In 1982, Sam and Pearl Oliner wrote, “All schools should teach about the consequences founded the Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior of indifference to other people’s troubles.” He says Institute in California. The Oliners’ institute continues to besides learning reading, writing, and arithmetic, study and promote unselfish behavior while helping people students need to learn altruism. in their own community. In spite of the horror he witnessed as a boy, Oliner Even better, once the Oliners’ research showed how to wants us to remember this: it’s possible to create a more encourage altruism, Sam Oliner added a message about cooperative and caring world. creating a better world. In a video by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute describing his experience of the Diana Lynn is an educator and writer lucky to live in the same Holocaust, Oliner says, “In the midst of evil are rays of hope.” Northern California town as the Oliners. It’s so beautiful there, she In 2018, Oliner is 88 years old. He has retired from says, it must be the end of a rainbow. 15