Ordinary to some may be extraordinary to others

Rescuers see themselves as “ordinary” people and yet they all did extraordinary things.  How might this be explained?  Why do you think some people became rescuers doing the Holocaust while most remained bystanders?  What moral choices were made by rescuers during the Holocaust? (Echoes and Reflections) http://www.jfr.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sup_country_list has a list of ALL

rescuers).

Rescuers see themselves as ordinary regular day people because they didn't think what they had done during that time period was extraordinary. They don’t believe that it was extraordinary because it was apart of some of their beliefs.  For example some of the rescuers were priests and ministers and they just believed helping them out was the correct and right thing to do. Take Andre Trocme and his wife for example, a poor woman came knocking on their door in the middle of the night needing help, the mayor wouldn't even help her. His wife Magda gave her food and a list of people that could help her. By the end they had saved over 5000 people.Since it was apart of their beliefs they didn't see how it was such an amazing thing to do since it was something that they believed was right and something that everyone should do and that it was normal.  I think some people became rescuers instead of remaining bystanders because of either their beliefs or possible friendships with Jewish people. They may have just believed that it was right to help people or they may have just thought that the Jews never did anything so they may have wanted to help. I believe others had remain bystanders because they were too afraid to stand up for the Jews due to the Nazis having so much power.