At Yad Vashem, Israel's museum of the Holocaust, there is a special grove at the entrance called the "Avenue of the Righteous." Trees are planted in memory of those righteous gentiles who risked their lives to help Jews and proved that some people are capable of rising above the cruelty of their neighbors.

Raoul Wallenberg is one of the most famous of these heroes. Descended from a very wealthy family in Sweden, Wallenberg saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews. Eventually arrested and sent to a Siberian prison, his fate is unknown to this day, but his fame will live on forever by the grateful survivors that he saved.

The film Schindler's List helped to immortalize another remarkable man who, although subject to many other personal failings, nevertheless couldn't sit back and witness the killings without intervening to the best of his ability.

Best of all were the Danes, who proved that if an entire country stood up to the German plan of genocide, the Nazis would be unable to implement it. The Danes refused to round up the Jews. The king Christian X himself, put on a yellow badge to turn the intended symbol of shame into a badge of pride – and all the Danes followed his example. The Jews consider all of Denmark a nation of righteous gentiles.

from: "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jewish History and Culture," pp. 262-263, by Rabbi Benjamin Blech, Alpha Books, New York, 1999

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