THE RIGHTEOUS AMONG NATIONS
It’s hard to imagine a discussion of the six million Jewish Shoah victims withoutmentioning those Gentiles who risked everything to save them. Such individuals,and their deeds of heroism, are also officially acknowledged by Israel at Yad Vashem.Most of us know the names of Raoul Wallenberg, Oskar Schindler, Corrie ten Boom,and Irena Sendler—citizens of four different nations who risked their own lives andfortunes to rescue Jewish people from the Nazis. But there were many others—far lesser known.The Nazis depended on the local constabulary and police to carry out their roundupsand deportations of the Jewish population. Most law enforcement complied withoutquestion. Some had reservations, but did it anyway. A few individuals secretly warnedJewish citizens of the impending danger. But in one almost unheard of action, anentire police department refused to obey the orders.On March 9, 1943 in Marechausse, Grootegast (Netherlands),the military police were ordered to round up the remainingJewish people in their area and take them to the Groningenrailway station. The police officers tried various ruses to avoidcarrying out the order, but their commanders began to put pressure on them. Each policeman was then interrogated, andthreatened with concentration camp. When they still refusedto obey the order, they were given one last opportunity toreconsider. When all these officers still refused to carry outthe orders, they were required to surrender their weapons andwere transported to Vught (the only official concentrationcamp in occupied Holland). This camp held both Jewish prisoners destined for a death camp, and Dutch and Belgian political prisoners.Being a political prisoner at this camp was no light matter.According to Jewishgen.org, “the guards at this camp wereexclusively SS. The food was nearly nonexistent: warm water with some carrots or sauerkraut floating on the surface. The SSguards tortured the prisoners with incredible cruelty beatingthem to death (several prisoners were brutalized with a clubwrapped with barbed wire).”Such was the place to which these brave Dutch policemen weresent. Although one, Henk Grogt, had managed to escape initialarrest and served in the underground, helping Jews escape andassisting allied resistance efforts. In August 1943, however, hewas caught, tried, and sentenced to death. Henk Drogt had been planning to get married, and his girlfriend was expecting their child—a son whom Henk would never see. Drogt was only 24when he was executed on April 14, 1944.We are rightly appalled by the events of those days, but it is more appalling to think that such barbarism could happen again. We pray that such evil will never be repeated,and that men like Henk Drogt will never again have to be heroic. But evil exists, andit exists today. Scripture warns us: “the heart of man is desperately wicked; who canknow it?”Few of us will ever face the life and death choices Henk Drogt and his fellow policemen faced, but we may be called to take a stand for truth and righteousness inour generation. The battle may not be easy. Are we ready? Are we prepared to acceptthe consequences?
Photo by Yad Vashem via Getty Images