Berlin marks those who harbored Jews

The “Silent Heroes” now have a voice.

A new memorial center in Berlin pays tribute to the thousands of German gentiles who risked everything to save Jews from persecution by the Nazis and documents the stories of those who sometimes spent years in hiding.

The “Silent Heroes” memorial center opened to the public last week amid a new focus in recent years on the legacy of the “good German” -- individuals who resisted Hitler, were labeled as traitors by the Nazis and were often shunned after the war.

“Their accomplishments were totally forgotten, and this is an initiative to bring them back into our memory,” said Johannes Tuchel, director of the German Resistance Memorial Center Foundation, which is behind the new memorial.

About 5,000 Jews were able to survive the war in hiding in Germany. It is not clear how many people were involved in helping them, Tuchel said. Research suggests that for each person in hiding, about 10 people aided him or her.

Peter Michalski, whose family went into hiding in 1944, said it was a long overdue tribute to the Germans who helped people like him escape death.

“Where would you be now if these people hadn’t existed?” he asked contemplatively while looking at an exhibit focusing on his family’s plight. “The answer is simple: We wouldn’t be.”

The three-room exhibition has many multimedia displays in English and German -- audio accounts, touch-screen computers focusing on 18 aspects of survival, and computers with more details on those in hiding and their rescuers. There are also personal photos, diaries and letters.

The best-known subject is Oskar Schindler, whose story was told by Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film “Schindler’s List,” which showed his efforts to shield 1,000 Jews from Nazi camps by hiring them to work in his factories.

Some of the lesser-known stories are just as moving.

Michalski looked slowly at the photos on display, picking out his parents -- Lilli and Herbert Michalski -- as well as himself and his brother Franz.

Lilli Michalski was born Jewish but converted to her husband’s Catholicism. Because of that, she was able to initially escape deportation to a death camp even though the Nazis began rounding up many of her relatives in 1941.

But by 1944, the risks had become too great and the family went into hiding. Several Germans aided them, most prominently a colleague of Herbert’s named Gerda Mez, who eventually helped them leave.

Michalski said it was important that people like Mez are recognized, so others can see their sacrifices. “These people are no longer alive but their relatives still are.”

Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial recognizes more than 22,000 gentiles across Europe who helped Jews escape the Holocaust as “Righteous among the Nations.” Among them more than 450 Germans.

It is also not known how many people were caught sheltering Jews, which could have meant execution or deportation to a concentration camp.