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Marion Pritchard, Dutch Rescuer of Jewish Children during the Holocaust, Dies at 96

(Washington Post) Emily Langer - Marion Pritchard, a Dutch social work student who was credited with saving as many as 150 Jews during the Holocaust, spiriting some to safe houses, hiding others under floorboards, and, in one case, executing a Nazi before he could arrest a family of four, died Dec. 11 in Washington. She was 96. Pritchard was recognized in 1981 by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, as one of the "righteous among the nations" - those gentiles who, seeking no reward, risked their lives to rescue Jews from the Nazi dragnet that claimed 6 million lives during World War II. She said the "crucial moment" for her came in 1942 when she witnessed the liquidation of a home for Jewish children. "It was a beautiful spring morning, and it was a street I had known since I had been born, and all of a sudden you see little kids picked up by their pigtails or by a leg and thrown over the side of a truck," she said in an interview. She watched two women attempt to stop the soldiers, only to be put in the truck with the children. Along with about 10 friends, she helped obtain false identity documents and hiding places to help Jews evade arrest. At times, she falsely declared herself to be the unwed mother of a baby to conceal the child's Jewish identity.
2016-12-23 00:00:00
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