Written by Kristin Larmore, Relate Intern

“It made me feel like it wasn’t an award for me, but for the people that may have never gotten the recognition they deserved.” –Rachel Siegel on winning the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes

They told of the nautious quiet, the sickening uncertainty of trying to hide a total stranger from the followers of Adolf Hitler. One desperate knock at the door, and there was no turning back.

Try to imagine. Imagine the type of respect, love and care housing another takes, especially a person you know nothing about.

One of the Barron Prize for Young Heroes winners and Texas resident Rachael Siegel has heard this type of story more than enough times to truly feel its effect. When her Social Studies teacher told her to apply for the award this year, the value of her mission was reaffirmed once she received the call. She is now officially regarded as a Young Hero.

Rachel, now 14, wrote a book called Stories of Moral Courage in the Face of Evilwhen she was only 11 years old to get started on her Bat Mitzvah project, inspired by a trip to Sweden with her family and seeing the Raoul Wallenburg Memorial. Bat Mitzvah is a process for young Jews to become a daughter or son of the commandments where they officially become a woman or man in the Jewish community. Bat Mitzvah occurs at 12 for girls and 14 for boys.

The result of the book? She raised a whopping $13,000 to financially support non-Jewish rescuers in the Holocaust.

An admirable aspect of Rachel’s project was that it wasn’t through her school or synagogue, but simply a head-start on a project she was doing by choice because of her deep commitment to her Jewish faith. She said she wanted to find a project that only had a Jewish aspect, but that mattered to her.

But what is most inspiring is that all of Rachel’s proceeds from her book either directly go toward medical care for rescuers with limited resources or toward programs to educate people about the Holocaust. Since publication, she has traveled around the country to speak in about ten locations about this message.

She plans to continue book sales and distribution, far from concerned about money, however. She’s merely excited and anxious to know where the experience will take her next. And if you’ll notice, it’s always “we” to Rachel, not “me.” She doesn’t take all the credit for anything; it’s not about what she personally contributed, but about the completion and its effect.

Her biggest hero during all this, a woman she actually speaks of in the interview and her book, replied to Rachel’s letter by including a picture of Rachel. She has a special picture in her room of this Holocaust rescuer holding her photo. Though this strong, old woman passed away in March 2008, Rachel comments,

“Every time I look at this picture, I think of how amazing it is that I was able to meet this woman that did so much. One of the reasons her story was so [powerful] was that as I was going through these stories, I was a child. I was one of the young children that she was trying to save. It makes me want to repay her.”

Read our exclusive interview with Rachel below! Her book sells for only $36.

RelateMag: How old were you when you took that trip to Sweden, and what was it for?

Rachel: It was our summer vacation with my parents and my siblings. I was 11 at the time. At that point, we were trying to (think of things we could do). This project never occurred to us. Turns out my dad had supported the organization that my project sends money to now. We were really just walking around the streets and we went to this Jewish synagogue, and around the corner was a memorial for one of these rescuers, which later ended up in the book I put together. My dad and my parents and my sisters- they started telling my siblings about it. That’s just really how it started. I learned so much about the Holocaust and it was something that mattered to me. I wanted to find a project I had a tie to, with some emotional factor. The more we started researching this project, the more I got excited I could try to make these stories come out of the shadows a little bit.

RelateMag: Talk about the experience of the reunion between this Holocaust survivor and their Lithuanian rescuer. (A few months after you went to Sweden)

Rachel: The reunion wasn’t in Sweden. The reunion was one of the first things I was really able to feel about starting my project. But really all that we did in Sweden was when we were on the family vacation and we saw this memorial, that sort of started the ball rolling. When we came back to the States, we did some research. We found the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, which is an organization that’s based out of NY that sends either financial aid or medical care to these rescuers that live in the very poor rural [areas] in Europe. [People] may not know these stories, so that’s what the organization tries to do- they try to support these rescuers. And once we started working with them, the organization invited my mom and I to be at the annual tribute dinner, which is where they try to reunite the survivors and the rescuers. It’s probably one of the most amazing and emotional sort of bonds I think I’ve ever seen in my life.

RelateMag: How were you able to find all of these survivors? Was it through the organization?

Rachel: Not exactly. When we started working with the organization- they have records of all of the stories of the rescuers they support and recognize. I think they have a total of about 1,400 or 1,500 rescuers that fall into that category. The organization provided us with the brief stories of rescuers and their biographies, and then I took those stories. The ones that stuck out to me and inspired me the most were the ones that went in the book. The reason there are 36 stories is because it’s an old Jewish philosophy that [condones] any time there are 36 truly righteous people throughout the world. Different commentaries might say, “This person in the Bible is one of those people.” But to me, these are really the 36 people that existed, especially during such a dark time with the Holocaust.

RelateMag: Describe you personal interest and passion for the Holocaust.

Rachel: I definitely attribute my passion for the Holocaust through my parents, the Jewish home and memories and Jewish schools I have attended since I was 18 months old. Starting with learning so much about the Holocaust, not just learning the events and horrible tragedy that happened, but also how important it is for young Jewish children and communities around the world to learn about such an awful time in Jewish history. A. So we can work to make sure it never happens again, and B.That we remember the stories of people who didn’t live to tell their story and live their own lives.

RelateMag: Being Jewish, is there a time of the year you specifically reflect on the Holocaust?

Rachel: There is a Jewish holiday called Holocaust Remembrance Day that comes around once a year. At schools or synagogues, there are usually programs, assemblies at school and meetings in the community that will do something to remember it or some sort of activity to remember the names of [those who passed.] At school when we learn about it, it doesn’t necessarily match up to what the holiday is because out history classes of the Holocaust always [leave out something.] It’s a big part. Being Jewish, we all have responsibility to remember things like the Holocaust. Then, take that and do things like saving Darfur [at school, for example.] Or what I did was try to find some sort of light in such an awful thing that happened.

RelateMag: Were you planning on this book being such a big deal or was it more for your personal interest?

Rachel: Not really. The idea for a book came about when we were meeting with the president of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous in New York. We then had the idea for a book and the stories that were going to be in it. After we got them published, we didn’t know exactly what were going to do with it. We knew we wanted to sell the books and send all the proceeds to this organization, but I don’t think we had any idea it would last as long as it did. The first big thing that ever happened with the book was when a family friend of ours invited me to speak in Laredo, Texas, where his synagogue was doing a joint Holocaust Remembrance Day program with a synagogue and two other churches in Laredo. Since then, I do a lot of speaking; it’s probably the biggest fundraiser for the book. We sell them at synagogue gift shops or the Jewish community center. One of the biggest things we do to sell it is through speaking engagements. I’ve spoken many times here in Dallas to schools, book clubs. We went to Costa Rica two years ago, and I spoke to two local high schools- really neat things that the book has lead us on this journey we never anticipated. I got to meet probably one of the most inspiring Holocaust survivors I’ve ever read about or have been honored to meet. She was in Laredo and 1,500 people came to that. It’s an incredible thing. This book has taken my family and I [good places,] the things it has introduced us to. I don’t think we anticipated I would ever be using it as part of an application for an award, but it’s probably one of the most amazing rides I’ve ever been on.

RelateMag: Did you family help you a lot with editing and wording of your book?

Rachel: Yeah, definitely. My parents helped edit it. There was a lot we had to do with the design of the book. We self-published it, so that was a big job for my parents. I really appreciate all the work my parents have done and I don’t think it would be possible for me to speak in Laredo if it hadn’t been for all their help and support. I’m so lucky to be part of a family; otherwise, I don’t really know where I’d be.

RelateMag: How were you received during speeches and book signings?

Rachel: I think adults appreciated my project a lot more than kids my age did. Maybe it’s because I usually speak to groups of adults. I did speak to a group of high school students who appreciated I had been a guest for their school. Around my school, all of my teachers were so supportive. But I think my project was more appreciated by adults maybe. I’m not really sure why. Maybe it’s because adults understood why it was such an important project.

RelateMag: Is there still an economic situation with these rescuers, as they are still in hiding?

Rachel: Unfortunately, the rescuers stay in the 1940s [mentally and geographically] when they were hiding these Jews. Rescuers in Poland and Germany had to keep it such a secret because their next-door neighbor could have turned them into the Nazis in a heartbeat. Now, these organizations [recognize] these rescuers because these rescuers don’t consider themselves as heroes. They really don’t think their stories are attention worthy and they were doing something because it was the right thing to do. Part of it is that there still might be some anti-semitism in their poor villages and their countries, which they may not want to draw attention to themselves in case they still feel what they did could be dangerous for them. One of the most inspiring stories was this woman who didn’t consider herself a hero. So she didn’t need all this press around her, she didn’t need everyone to know her story, which I think is part of the reason why you may not know the stories immediately because they might not share it. They’re sort of phenomenas, I guess. I don’t know if they necessarily live in hiding. I think they continue to live normal lives in their old age. But because they don’t want to draw attention to themselves, they still live in these poor, rural villages, which is why they need medical care and money.

RelateMag: Any interesting stories you can share from the book about rescuers?

Rachel: One of the most inspiring stories I’ve ever read was the one of [a woman named] Irena. She was a woman in her early 20s when she lived in Warsaw, Poland. She was part of something called Zegota, and they were an underground organization that smuggled Jews out of the Warsaw ghetto. She became the president; she would go into the ghetto I think every day. There was a certain path that would allow her to pass by the Nazi guards. She had a mission to go into the ghetto, but then she had to leave at the end of the day. She would go in, maybe she was wearing multiple layers of clothing and was able to give the mother of the family a scarf or a skirt or a jacket, and at the same time she would smuggle Jewish children out of the ghetto. She went to families and said, “Look, your children are in a dangerous place. Please let me take them out and I will do everything I can do keep them safe.” To go up to a total stranger and say, “Please entrust me with the security of your child.” I can’t ever imagine doing that. She would put these children in anything she could to hide them. She would sedate babies so they wouldn’t cry when she passed the guards. She would place them in orphanages or convents under Christian names. She would take the name of every child she rescued and write their Jewish name down and would place it in a jar. She buried it in her backyard, hoping one day when the war was over, these children would be able to go back home. They would have their Jewish identities because she thought it was important they remain Jewish. She smuggled and saved over 2,500 children out of the Warsaw ghetto. At one point, she was discovered by the Nazis. They took her and put her through trial and said she was going to be put to death. The day she was to be executed, one of the fellow members of Zegota was able to bribe one of the Nazi guards and she escaped. Even after the war, she went back to Rome and dug up the jar of all these names of these children. Some of them were able to return to their families because perhaps some of their parents were killed. But it was just her determination to keep this generation of Jewish children alive that was so amazing.

RelateMag: What is the significance to you of someone Non-Jewish determined to help someone of a different culture/belief system?

Rachel: The reason it’s Stories of Moral Courage in the Face of Evil is because it’s not someone trying to save their best friend or a Jew trying to save a Jew. It’s total strangers that could have easily kept their lives safe during WWII and the Holocaust, but they did it because it was the right thing to do. They were able to take strangers at their door; they had this unbelievable courage inside them. One of the things I try to do to repay these people is we do things like [helping to save] Darfur. I may live 5,000 miles away; I may not know the names of the people who were being affected, but that does not mean it exempts me from trying to do something about it.