One Can Make A Difference Trivia Quiz

Answer: rescue systems that provided passports, transportation, and foster families

Sir Nicolas Winton was traveling to Switzerland when he received a plea for help from Jewish welfare workers in Czechoslovakia. He canceled his plans and traveled to Prague where he saw the need of Jewish communities. Germany was in the early stages of the Nazi regime, but Jews were already feeling the effects.

Anticipating greater danger ahead, Winton and other Jewish leaders saw the value in helping children escape. Winton started a rescue network that forged passports, provided travel expenses, and found foster families with hopes of reuniting the children with their parents later. The House of Commons supported his efforts with aid, providing that they had a place to stay and money to return to their home when it was safe.

When the war worsened, many of the Jews were killed in extermination camps and the children that were placed in foster care were spared. He tried to rescue as many as possible until the borders were closed. He kept track of the children in a scrapbook in his home. 669 were recorded as surviving the war thanks to his efforts. He was later knighted in 2003 by Queen Elizabeth II for his efforts.

Answer: gave her a cross necklace and told people she was his daughter

Riva Reznikova lost her mother when she was five years old. She was sent to an orphanage in Moscow because her relatives had no room. Her teacher, Aleksander Kramarovskiy, had compassion for her when he saw her being bullied by the other students. He wanted to adopt her, but his wife and family refused.

The situation changed when Nazis began attacking the city. Kramarovskiy, fearing for Riva's safety, took her away from the city and chose to hide her identity. The two wandered through different territories, claiming to be father and daughter. When Nazis questioned them, Kramarovskiy referred to the cross necklace on Riva's neck and called her Margarita.

When the war was over, Kramarovskiy wanted Riva to go back to Germany because he was convinced the Soviet Union would not give her a better future. Riva refused to leave him. They settled in Israel in 1946. After Riva was married, Kramrovskiy moved to the United States for a Russian journaling positioning 1961.

Answer: an underground operative

Suzanne Spaak gave up her comfortable living and joined the National Movement Against Racism, an underground resistance movement against the Nazis in France. When she first signed up, she was misjudged and not taken seriously.

She proved her worth to the movement by using her connections with clerks, judges, leaders, and authors to push the resistance. Her main focus was rescuing Jewish children at risk of being deported or sent to concentration camps. She hid under many secret names, hiding Jews in homes and hospitals. She worked for the "Red Operative" intelligence network and came up with solutions to high-risk situations.

When she was captured by the Nazis, she safely delivered lists of Jewish children's names to other agencies, rescuing them before Nazis were able to make a raid. Nazis tortured and murdered her on August 12, 1944, shortly before Paris was liberated by the Allies.

Answer: in his cabin

Dr. Mohamed Helmy witnessed Jews being fired from their medical practices when Nazis first took over Germany. He felt the Nazi effects when he was discriminated against for being Muslim and Egyptian; he was fired from his medical position in 1938 and was not allowed to marry his German fiancée.

He spoke out against Nazi beliefs and policies at the risk of his own life and was arrested on more than one occasion. When his Jewish family friend, Anna Gutman, was in danger, he moved her to a cabin outside Berlin. He managed to evade interrogations and hide her safely with the help of others until after the war was over. Dr. Helmy also helped Gutman's family find hiding places and provided for their medical needs.

He never sought recognition for his deeds and only considered it his honor to help a family being persecuted. On March 18, 2013, Yad Vashem recognized Dr. Mohamed Helmy among Israel's Righteous Among the Nations.

Answer: He was the son of her husband's Jewish military comrade.

Johanna Eck's first refugee was the son of her husband's military comrade and a family friend. When the Nazis killed Jacob Hein's family, Johanna found him wandering the streets. She brought him to her home and hid him with what little supplies she had to survive. She managed to keep him protected during an air raid, even when her home was destroyed.

During World War 2, Johanna Eck sheltered four victims of Nazi persecution in her one-bedroom apartment. When her last refugee, Elfriede Guttman, was dying of a stomach illness, Johanna stayed by her side in the hospital. She paid for the girl's tombstone and stones for her family members.

Later when Johanna was honored as a Righteous Among the Nation honoree in 1973, she was asked about her motives. She answered, "The motives for my help? Nothing special in a particular case. In principle, what I think is this: If a fellow human being is in distress and I can help him, then it becomes my duty and responsibility. Were I to refrain from doing so, than I would betray the task that life - or perhaps God? - demands from me. Human beings - so it seems to me - make up a big unity; they strike themselves and all in the face when they do injustice to each other. These are my motives."

Answer: tipped off Jewish leaders about Hitler's deportation plans

George Ferdinand Duckwitz disagreed with Hitler's policies and had close connections with Danish leaders. When Hitler announced plans to deport thousands of Jews from Denmark in 1943, Duckwitz leaked the information to Jewish leaders at the risk of his own safety. The Danish leaders and people helped 7,000 Jews escape in boats and ships to Sweden during the night before the Nazis could make raids. When the Nazis arrived to Denmark, they were only able to capture 500 Jews. Most of the Jews that were deported were the sick and elderly, who had been unable to travel to safety.

Duckwitz did everything he could to help Jews without raising suspicion from the Gestapo. After the war, he became the West German ambassador to Denmark. On March 29, 1971, Israel recognized him among the Righteous Among the Nations.

Answer: True

In 1941, the Gestapo opened an office across the street from the home of the Hardagas. The Hardagas could hear the screams from the Jewish prisoners across the street and were troubled by the chaos.

Mustafa Hardaga was a local furniture salesman and faithful Muslim. He had a unique friendship with his business partner partner Yosef Kabiljo, a Jew. When his friend's home was destroyed in a Nazi raid, the Hardagas gave them a place of refuge. They were able to hide them in their walk-in closets during Gestapo raids. The women often hid the Jewish girls in public underneath their wraps and scarfs.


Half a century later, the Hardagas were in trouble in the Bosnia Civil War. The Kabiljo family appealed to the government of Bosnia to let the Hardaga's escape to Israel. The gesture saved their lives.

Answer: She sent the children in packages.

Irena put small children in packages, mailed to the convents that were in free territories. She kept very detailed records of every child in a glass jar at her house, in hopes of reuniting the children when the war was over.

Nazi's captured her and sentenced her to death. Friends in the community asked for a favor to keep her alive. She was thrown into the woods with all her limbs broken and left for dead. Irena went into hiding until after the war was over.

When the war was over, Irena was recognized by Pope John Paul II for her deeds. She was harassed by her compatriots that viewed the Jews as a source for the loss of life they experienced at the hands of the Nazis. Her grave was repeatedly vandalized by people that did not agree with her cause.

Answer: The town was experiencing a deadly outbreak.

Dr. Eugeniusz Lazowski made the typhoid fever seem more dangerous than it really was. He convinced the Nazis that typhoid was a deadly outbreak of a virus that would spread to the Nazi troops if they stayed in the town. The Nazis left the town and the Jews alone.

When Dr. Eugeniusz Lazowski discovered that his tactic worked, he injected Jews in other smaller towns with typhoid to convince the Nazis the virus was spreading. The Nazis did not invade those towns out of fear and left the towns to be quarantined.

Dr. Eugeniusz Lazowski was recognized by the Righteous Among the Nations for saving twelve communities.

Answer: Albania

When the Nazis took over Albania in 1943, the country and its citizens refused to give up the names of Jewish citizens living within its borders. The Albanian government gave fake addresses and names to protect the whereabouts of its Jewish citizens from raids and deportation.

Citizens competed with each other to protect their neighbors and offer refuge to other Jews seeking safety from other countries. Albania had a national code of honor called "Besa", which means "to keep a promise". The code meant someone could trust one's life and the lives of one's family to be kept safe regardless of faith or origin.

Albania surprised many of the European and Middle Eastern nations when many of the Muslim citizens pledged and risked their lives to keep the Jews safe.