Alleged Holocaust rescuers

Alleged Holocaust rescuers are individuals who allegedly rescued Jews and/or others during the Holocaust.

Well-known alleged rescuers (although the rescue claim itelf may not be well-known) include Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg, Heinz Heydrich, Albert Göring, Kurt Gerstein, Kurt Becher, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and Adolf Eichmann.

The accounts of how the rescues allegedly occurred and the numbers allegedly rescued by may vary widely.

One politically correct aspect of this is by arguing that such alleged rescues prove that knowledge of the Holocaust was common. A counter-argument is that rumors and Allied propaganda on the Holocaust were very common (see Allied psychological warfare), that many individuals exposed to such rumors and propaganda may well have believed the claims to be true, but that rumors and propaganda are not trustworthy evidence.

The alleged rescuers may well have disbelieved the Holocaust rumors/propaganda or have been uncertain regarding their validity, but regardless wanted to rescue Jews and others from deportations, forced labor, and an uncertain fate.

The motive may not necessarily have been purely selfless. The rescuers may well have expected to be rewarded in various ways after the war, which was what also occurred. The reward could possibly be expected to be large due to the large Jewish influence. German rescuers could expect that their actions would be important during possible postwar war crimes investigations and trials staged by the victors, which was what also occurred. That Germany would lose was obvious during the later stages of the war.

The rescuers may well have been rewarded already during the war, such as when Oskar Schindler used Jews in his factories, or more covertly by being paid by rich Jews and Jewish organizations.