THE LESSONS OF HERMAN GRAEBE'S LIFE: THE ORIGINS OF A MORAL PERSON

This paper applies the author's research on the moral development of Nazi era rescuers (Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, Fall/Winter, 1981/82, Vol. 9, No. 1) to the specific case of the German rescuer, Herman F. Graebe. Three traits previously identified in the pioneering work of Perry London and seven additional traits identified in subsequent interviews are considered in light of Graebe's upbringing, personal values, and actions during World War II. Herman Graebe was an engineer managing large labor columns when he was assigned to work with the Todt Organization and the Reich Railroad Administration in the Ukraine. After witnessing the work of the Nazi mobile killing units (Einsatzgruppen) in 1942, Graebe proceeded to establish an effective rescue network protecting hundreds of Jews, dissidents, and peasants. The following background information will establish the roles of several persons named in the paper. One of Graebe's most dangerous missions involved a confrontation with SS Major Puetz during an Action in the Rovno Jewish ghetto. Graebe stood pistol to pistol with Puetz and succeeded in saving 113 of his 120 Jewish workers. The adversaries stood encircled by the militia, mobile killing units, and some 1,500 Jews who were awaiting transport to death camps. At the War Crimes Trials Graebe's testimony regarding a massacre at Dubno was one of the most important entries read by chief British Prosecutor, Sir Hartley Shawcross. The primary antecedent of Graebe's altruism in the Ukraine was his experience with one of his suppliers, Jewish businessman Leon Kirschbaum, who was taken to a concentration camp after his enterprise was expropriated by the Nazis. Because he protested Kirschbaum's fate, Graebe was arrested and imprisoned. This article is from the author's biography of Herman Graebe, The Moses of Rovno (Dodd, Mead, 1985), and is used by permission of the author.