Samuel P. Oliner - Altruistic Personality: Rescuers Of Jews In Nazi Europe

We dedicate this book to rescuers whose acts of kindness and humanity during those dark days serve as a beacon of hope for all of us.

Copyright 1988 by Samuel P. Oliner and Pearl M. Oliner

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

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First Free Press Paperback Edition 1992

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Oliner, Samuel P.

The altruistic personality.

Bibliography: p.

Includes index.

1. Righteous Gentiles in the HolocaustPsychology. 2. World War, 1939-1945JewsRescue. 3. Altruism. 4. Motivation (Psychology). I. Oliner, Pearl M.

II. Title.

D810.J40418 1988 940.547794019 87-33223

ISBN 0-02-923829-3

ISBN-13: 978-0-0292-3829-5

eISBN-13: 978-1-4391-0538-2

Appendices

A study of this magnitude would not have been possible without the help of many people, only a fraction of whom can be mentioned here. We are immensely grateful to all those individuals and groups who supplied us with valuable services and support.

Above all, we owe a special debt of gratitude to Dr. John Slawson, Executive Vice President Emeritus of the American Jewish Committee. Dr. Slawson, through the John Slawson Fund of the American Jewish Committee, provided the major funding for this study, without which our research would not have been possible. In a real sense he launched the project and remains its most steadfast supporter. Forty years ago he played an even more elaborate role in relation to the monumental Authoritarian Personality Study, which explored the roots of ethnocentrism and fascism, and to which he contributed conceptually, methodologically, and financially. That he should conclude what has been an unusually productive career by focusing on the study of altruism lends a particularly appropriate symmetry to his life and work. In this context we also want to thank Selma Hirsh, associate director emeritus of the American Jewish Committee and Dr. Slawsons long-time associate, for her consistent support, encouragement, and kindness.

We are also grateful for financial support given by the following foundations: the Charles H. Revson Foundation and its president, Eli Evans, the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation Inc., the May and Benjamin Swig Charity Foundation, the Sidney Stern Memorial Trust, the Volkswagen Foundation, the Johnson Foundation, and the Elliot Wolk Foundation. We owe a special debt of gratitude to Raffaello Fellah, president of the Italian Section of the World Sephardi Foundation, who helped finance the study in Italy. Although we much appreciate the very valuable help given by the foundations mentioned here, the statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors.

We are indebted to our international team of colleagues, who coordinated and supervised the intricate details involved in data collection in their respective countries. Sustained attention to the complexities involved in these procedures required a special type of tenacity and dedication. We are also grateful to them for providing us with a collegial community that challenged us intellectually and supported us emotionally. We thus express deep appreciation to Professor Janusz Reykowski (Poland), Professor Jrgen Falter (Germany), Professor Andr Kaspi (France), Dr. Richard Van Dyck (Holland), Dr. Michele Sarfatti and Professor Luisella Mortara Ottolenghi (Italy), and Susan Schwartz (Norway). We also acknowledge the help of Professor Erika Fromm, who helped us connect with Dr. Richard Van Dyck and begin the study in Holland.

The interview process required great sensitivity and skill. We were most fortunate to have acquired the services of many gifted and dedicated interviewers, including Dr. Zuzanna Smolenska, Professor Ellen Land-Weber, Professor Lawrence Baron, Anna Tarocchi, Ute Klingemann, Dr. Siegfried Schumann, Dr. Ted Linn, Marne Carmean, Mary Fullerton Farr, Viola Wdowinsky, Eva Fogelman, Marc Knobel, Claude Singer, Jean Laloum, Jean-Claude Kuperminc, Joyce Tapper, Irene Juniper, Mae Briskin, Achim von Malottki, Dalia Aminoff, Philippe Kaspi, Nathalie Weill, Trees Egberts, A. Wallace, Marguerite Mulder, Gisele Apter, Dr. Alberto Cavaglion, Marieke Van Der Eyk, M. C. Bogaards, Laura Quiercioli Mincer, Magdelena Cybulko, and Professor Aime Langlois among others. Equally important were our translators, including Tatiana Klonowicz, Alicja Rudnicka, Dr. Maya Peretz, and Marek Szopski (Polish); Gabrielle Duebendorfer, Wilhelmine Hartnack, and Ursula Osborne (German); Marguerite Budenaers, Dr. Odette Meyers, Dr. Jeanette K. Ringold, and Leene Sherwood (French); Nelda Cassuto and Giulia Drew (Italian); Wiete Ter Haar, Ellen Montiere, and Catharina P. Olivares (Dutch); Gila Flam (Hebrew); and Miriam Frydman (Yiddish).

For their transcriptions, coding, typing, as well as assorted other tasks associated with managing the day-to-day operations of the project, we thank Janyce Neuman, Hadidjah Shortridge, and Gabrielle Duebendorfer. Their versatile skills and grace under pressure made it possible to do the impossible on more than one occasion.

Framing and analyzing the statistical components of our study were highly demanding tasks. We benefited greatly from the work of Professor Paul Crosbie, who helped us design the questionnaire and begin the coding procedures. We express our deep thanks to Professor Mary Gruber for unraveling our data and supervising their final preparation, participating in the ongoing demands of statistical analyses, and counseling us throughout regarding statistical procedures and data presentation. We are particularly appreciative of the notable contribution made by Professor Don Bowlus in preparing the complex summary statistical data, which strengthened and illuminated our work considerably. We are also grateful to Suzanne Bowlus for cleaning the data. All brought to their tasks not only high levels of competence, but also a spirit of shared excitement and grace that made the process unusually pleasurable.

To our colleagues who read the initial drafts of our manuscript and offered invaluable suggestions, we also extend our thanks. We note among them Dr. Marianne Pennekamp, Professors Susan Frances, Bill Devall, Jerry Krause, John Gai, Mary Gruber, Jack Shaffer, John Steiner, Janusz Reykowski, Rev. Douglas Huneke, Dr. Zuzanna Smolenska, Susan Allan, Mark Allan, and Joanne Sullivan.

We are grateful for the support given us at many levels by Humboldt State University. We thank the students who helped us with assorted tasks, including the qualitative coding of our data, among them most notably Wally Anderson, Roger Golec, John Mulvaney, Star Robinson, Heline Sundet, Celeste Del Grande, Linda Knopp, Michael Chandler, Edward Chevalier, Garland Garrisi, Kristin Carlson, and Tandy Oremus. We also wish to thank James Hamby and the staff of the Humboldt State University Foundation, who so ably handled the financial management of our project. We also thank Judy Hampton, Ruth Miller, Mary Roth, Nancy Wollin, and Kathy Mayer, who assisted us with assorted secretarial tasks as the need arose, and Jeannie Wielgus, who assisted us so ably at the computer.

A special word of great appreciation is due to Rabbi Harold Schulweis, founder of the Institute for Righteous Acts, who wisely urged the study of rescuers in the early 1960s; and to Seymour Fromer, director of the Judah Magnes Memorial Museum, for his sustained support and encouragement over the years and for permitting us to use the museums facilities. We also acknowledge with special thanks the continuing support of Reverend Douglas Huneke, a trailblazer himself in the study of rescuers, who shared with us his intellectual insights as well as data and also facilitated the implementation of several critical responsibilities.