Defying the Tide: An Account of Authentic Compassion During the Holocaust

Ruth Abraham and Maria Nickel would never have met each other if it hadn't been for the Shoah. But when Hitler turned Germany into a cauldron of anti- Semitism, Maria Nickel decided that morality and ethics were more important than even life itself.

This story of unbridled compassion made world headlines in May, 2000 in Berlin, Germany when Ruth, then 87 and recovering from heart bypass surgery, met her friend Maria, 90, for the last time.

In 1942 Ruth, eight months pregnant, and on her way to certain death, was stopped by a German woman in a gray coat who offered her food, saying, Take this. It's the Christmas rations for Germans. I can't have Christmas with my family knowing that you are carrying a baby and don't have enough to eat. Their long and arduous journey together reached its climax when Maria and her husband gave their identity papers to Ruth and Walter and with it the precious gift of life.

Reha Sokolow, the daughter of Ruth and Walter, tells the story of her parents' escape from death using the voice of both Maria and Ruth so that the reader begins to understand the many levels of fear, trepidation, and love that was an integral part of the lives of both the savior and the saved.

Reha Sokolow served as Acting and Associate Director of the Jewish National Fund. She is a freelance writer, and currently teaches writing to Russian immigrant students at Be'er Hagolah Institute in Brooklyn.

Al Sokolow was the Assistant Principal and teacher of English at Yeshiva Toras Emes. He has taught English at Yeshiva University's Central High School for Girls, as well as in The Talmudical Academy. He currently serves as the English literature teacher for the high schools at Be'er Hagolah.