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Righteous gentiles in the Holocaust were no ‘ordinary thing’
Admittedly, Holocaust movies are often problematic. So much of the material is familiar and repetitive. Many audiences have grown inured to the subject if not downright turned off, for whatever reasons. Documentary maker Nick Davis says he did not want to make another Holocaust film, at least not one that we had seen before. He has succeeded. Instead of focusing on the relentless atrocities and victims, his film, This Ordinary Thing shines a light on the often forgotten heroes of the era.
It tells the story of gentiles who helped save Jews across Europe during The Holocaust. Narrated by an all-star cast — including F. Murray Abraham, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons, Ellen Burstyn, Jeannie Berlin, Eric Bogosian, Lily Tomlin, and Stephen Fry — the film combines archival footage with the testimonies of more than 40 individuals who, at great personal risk to themselves and their families, worked to rescue Jews.
This was no collective endeavor. As told in this film, none of these people had histories as resistance fighters, although they may have become partisans later. They rose to the occasion, that’s all. Those they hid were desperate neighbors, friends and sometimes strangers who showed up at their doorsteps begging for help.
In some instances they sheltered Jews for years in tight unlit quarters without plumbing; elsewhere, they adopted Jewish children and passed them off as their own; in one situation, a housekeeper prostituted herself to appease and silence her employer who discovered she was hiding Jews in his home. In another, a housewife was hiding Jews underneath and between the cushions in her large, bulky sofa. And when Nazi soldiers stormed the house, eyeing the sofa, she challenged them to shoot it up, adding that when they found nothing, but succeeded in ruining her furniture, they would have to buy her new fabric and pay for reupholstering. The soldiers, who may or may not have believed her, left the home.
If caught, any one of these brave souls could have been shot on the spot or hung; some of them were. But by the end of the war, they had rescued thousands of Jewish strangers from almost certain death in the camps, ghettos or streets. Precise statistics are not known, but Yad Vasham estimates that the Jews saved number in the tens of thousands, and the museum acknowledges 28,000 saviors as “The Righteous Among the Nations.”
The 62-minute film, with haunting music by Tony-winner Adam Guettel, is understated and subtle. Set within a chronological structure, starting at the cusp of the Holocaust and continuing post liberation and beyond, these courageous figures recount matter-of-factly what they observed and experienced. Devoid of back stories, short of their names and countries of origin, they become, in the film, at once heroes and historical witnesses.
Most of our heroes are voice overs, nothing more. A few, however, were interviewed decades ago; some of these video testimonials are interwoven, as well as many black and white photos of the narrators.
Throughout the movie, the overarching questions remain unanswered. How do people like this come to exist? What makes it possible for them to step up to the plate? What, if anything, unites them?
Their motivations were all over the map. Some of the people who sheltered Jews were genuinely religious; others, less traditionally so, nevertheless held a kind of simple morality as axiomatic. One said “It’s natural: When people come to you hungry, you give them food.” Another notes, “How would you feel if, later, that person died? How could you survive?”
Many of those interviewed in the film said they were driven to act through the stunning outrage they felt in response to their fellow countrymen’s willful ignorance and, in more than a few cases, outright denial of the growing antisemitism. Hatred of Jews was pervasive and had always been endemic in their countries, which included Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Indeed, the majority of their gentile neighbors, some observed, couldn’t wait to be marching in lockstep with the Nazis, who offered them the perfect platform to voice their deep seated antisemitism.
But nothing could compete with the shocking scenes the gentile heroes personally witnessed that confirmed the necessity to do something, at whatever peril to themselves. The brutality was unprecedented; one witness described walking into a public square to see five bodies swinging from the gallows, including a gentile couple and the Jewish family they sheltered. Another recalled seeing a Nazi officer smashing a crying Jewish infant to the ground and then stomping on its head.
Some of the images, such as the grisly gallows scene, are projected on screen. But in most cases, the archival footage has nothing to do with the particulars that are being recounted at that moment, and in fact often border on the generic. Still, they effectively serve as potent backdrops. There are the marching Nazis and cheering crowds, Jewish owned stores with “Jude” scrawled across broken windows and abandoned Jewish homes, the owners’ possessions strewn all over the floor.
At the end of the war, most Jews and their gentile protectors went their separate ways, but not all. One Jewish man married the gentile woman who saved him; another Christian who rescued Jews reports that he converted to Judaism, including undergoing a circumcision at the age of 68. One recalls a conversation with his wife, marveling in retrospect at how they saved Jews during the war.
“I said, ‘We’d be crazy to risk our lives for those strange people.’ And my wife said, ‘Yeah. We’ll never do it again, will we?’ ‘No,’ I said, and she looked at me and we laughed. She said, ‘You know, just as well as I do, we would do the same thing over.’”
To show the timelessness of antisemitism, Davis incorporates chants from the antisemitic demonstration in Charlottesville in 2017. “Jews will not replace us.” But the snippet is unnecessary — in fact, it almost dilutes the impact of what has preceded it.
The references to current events trivialize the Holocaust and unwittingly undermine the actions of the gentile heroes. I also can’t help feeling that Davis was looking for a theme that was universal, like heroic individuals, from any era, who do the right thing despite the peril that is involved.”
While it’s tempting to look for universal resonance in the film — to attempt to answer the question, “What would I do?” — there is no application. This story and its heroes are very much of their time and place. The word “inspiring” does not cut it. I watched this one gob-smacked.
This Ordinary Thing is running at the Cinema Village.
The post Righteous gentiles in the Holocaust were no ‘ordinary thing’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Some US Senators Skeptical About Military Options for Iran
Demonstrators and activists rally in support of nationwide protests in Iran, outside the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 10, 2026. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
Some US lawmakers in both major parties on Sunday questioned whether military action against Iran is the best approach for the United States as Iranian authorities face growing turmoil.
US President Donald Trump in recent days has left open the possibility of American intervention in Iran, where the biggest anti-government protests in years have led to the Revolutionary Guards blaming unrest on terrorists and vowing to safeguard the governing system.
But at least two US senators sounded notes of caution during interviews on TV networks’ Sunday morning programs.
“I don’t know that bombing Iran will have the effect that is intended,” Republican Senator Rand Paul said on ABC News’ “This Week” show.
Rather than undermining the regime, a military attack on Iran could rally the people against an outside enemy, Paul and Democratic Senator Mark Warner said.
Warner, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” warned that a military strike against Iran could risk uniting Iranians against the United States “in a way that the regime has not been able to.” History shows the dangers of US intervention, said Warner, who argued that the US-backed 1953 overthrow of Iran’s government set in motion a chain of events that gradually led to the rise of the country’s Islamic regime in the late 1970s.
The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported that US military and diplomatic officials will brief Trump on Tuesday about options for Iran, including cyberattacks and potential military action.
Iran has said it will target US military bases if the United States launches an attack. But Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has often touted a muscular approach to foreign policy, said Trump “needs to embolden the protesters and scare the hell out of the [Iranian] regime.”
“If I were you, Mr. President, I would kill the leadership that are killing the people,” Graham said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” show. “You’ve got to end this.”
Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of the Iranian shah who was ousted in 1979, said on Sunday he is prepared to return to Iran to lead a shift to a democratic government.
“I’m already planning on that,” Pahlavi said on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “My job is to lead this transition to make sure that no stone is left unturned, that in full transparency, people have an opportunity to elect their leaders freely and to decide their own future.”
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Bob Weir, Grateful Dead Co-Founder and Rhythm Guitarist, Dead at 78
Bob Weir poses at the red carpet during the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 2, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole
Veteran rock musician Bob Weir, the Grateful Dead’s rhythm guitarist who helped guide the legendary psychedelic jam band through decades of change and success, has died at age 78, his family said in a statement on Saturday.
He was diagnosed with cancer in July and “succumbed to underlying lung issues” surrounded by loved ones, according to the statement, posted on Weir‘s verified Instagram account. It did not mention when or where he died.
Just weeks after starting cancer treatment last summer, Weir had returned to his “hometown stage” at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to play in a three-night celebration of his 60 years in music, his family recalled. Those shows turned out to be his final live public performances, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
Along with his late fellow Grateful Dead co-founder and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, who was at the center of the universe for “Deadheads,” as diehard Dead fans are known, Weir was one of the group’s two frontmen and main vocalists for most of the band’s history.
It was Weir who sang the verses on the band’s trademark boogie anthem, “Truckin’,” and who wrote such key songs as “Sugar Magnolia,” “Playing in the Band” and “Jack Straw.”
The youthful, ponytailed “Bobby” grew into an eclectic songwriter whose handsome appearance and diverse musical influences helped broaden the band’s appeal. British newspaper the Independent called Weir “arguably rock’s greatest, if most eccentric, rhythm guitarist.”
After Garcia’s death at age 53 in 1995, Weir carved out an interesting if somewhat neglected solo career – much of it with his band, RatDog – and participated in reunions of surviving Dead members in different configurations.
LONG STRANGE TRIP
“As the one good-looking guy in the Dead, baby-faced Weir was always what passed for the band’s sex symbol,” the San Francisco Chronicle‘s Joel Selvin wrote in 2004. “He didn’t care about that, either. In fact, he always seemed to secretly relish subverting that image.”
Weir was the subject of the 2014 documentary “The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir,” which made a case for the Dead’s “other” guitarist as a musical force. Though some Deadheads adopted the trappings of tie-dyed psychedelia, the group itself was deeply attached to American roots music and was credited with bringing experimental improvisation to rock music.
Weir‘s own musical tastes ranged from Chuck Berry to cowboy songs to R&B and reggae.
Thanks to relentless touring, constant musical evolution and a passionate fan base, the Grateful Dead – who existed from 1965 to 1995 – did not have to rely on producing hit records.
“Bob was the wild one,” journalist Blair Jackson wrote in 2012. “He was the rock ‘n’ roller, but also the confident, smooth-voiced narrator on all those dramatic country-rock numbers about desperadoes and fugitives; a perfect fit for those tunes. He was the guy who would screech and scream himself hoarse at the end of the show, whipping us into a dancing frenzy.”
Weir, whose birth name was Robert Hall Parber, was born on October 16, 1947, and raised by adoptive parents in Atherton, California. He did not excel in school, due in part to his undiagnosed dyslexia. In 1964 at age 16, he met Bay Area folk musician Garcia, with whom he formed the Warlocks, who soon morphed into the Grateful Dead.
THE KID
The athletic Weir, who enjoyed football, was the youngest member of the original band and was sometimes referred to as “the kid.”
He was still in high school when he joined up with Garcia, bass guitarist Phil Lesh, organist-vocalist-harmonica player Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and drummer Bill Kreutzmann.
Lesh recalled in his 2005 autobiography that he and Garcia had to make a promise to young Bob‘s mother. “The long and short of it was that if Jerry and I promised to make sure that Bob got to school every day, and that he got home all right after the gigs, she would allow him to remain in the band,” wrote Lesh, who died in October 2024 at age 84. “We somehow convinced her that we would indeed see that he got to school every day. In San Francisco. At 8:00 a.m.”
Eventually Weir moved in to the communal Dead house at 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco. The group’s first album, “The Grateful Dead,” was released in March 1967.
According to some accounts, Weir was briefly fired from the band in 1968 because his guitar skills were deemed lacking. But he either redoubled his efforts or the others had second thoughts, because he was soon back in. By the time of the band’s two famous 1970 albums, “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty,” Weir was a key contributor.
His 1972 solo album, “Ace,” was a de facto Grateful Dead album that featured Garcia and the others and included well-regarded Weir songs including “Cassidy,” “Black-Throated Wind,” “Mexicali Blues” and “Looks Like Rain.” Many of his best-known songs were co-written with his old school friend, John Perry Barlow, who died in 2018.
As the band’s rhythm guitarist, Weir often played little fills, riffs and figures instead of straight chords. “I derived a lot of what I do on guitar from listening to piano players,” he told GQ magazine in 2019, citing McCoy Tyner’s work with saxophonist John Coltrane. “He would constantly nudge and coax amazing stuff out of Coltrane.”
Even decades after Garcia’s death, Weir never forgot the influence of his old friend. He told GQ that Garcia was still present when Weir played guitar. “I can hear him: ‘Don’t go there. Don’t go there,’ or ‘Go here. Go here,’” Weir said. “And either I listen or I don’t, depending on how I’m feeling. But it’s always ‘How’s old Jerry going to feel about this riff?’ Sometimes I know he’d hate it. But he’d adjust.”
In 2017, Weir was appointed as a United Nations Development Program goodwill ambassador to support the agency’s work to end poverty while fighting climate change.
Weir married Natascha Muenter in 1999. They had two daughters.
“Looking back,” Weir once said, “I guess I have lived an unusual life.”
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Israeli Intelligence: Iran’s Regime at Most Fragile Point Since 1999
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei listens to the national anthem as Air Force officers salute during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, February 7, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli intelligence officials assess that Iran’s ruling Ayatollah regime is at its most fragile point in more than two decades, as nationwide protests continue to escalate.
The scale of the demonstrations and the government’s response have prompted deep concern in Jerusalem.
A near-total internet shutdown is being interpreted as a troubling signal of severe events unfolding on the streets, including widespread killings that remain largely undocumented. Despite protests erupting in roughly 100 cities across Iran, very little video footage has emerged, further underscoring the regime’s clampdown.
Israeli officials warn that the situation could pose a real threat to the stability of Tehran’s leadership if demonstrations continue to grow. However, sources stress that the outcome is highly uncertain. A potential collapse of the regime would not necessarily lead to a democratic government, and intermediate scenarios—such as the replacement of leaders with regents or puppet figures—are also possible.
“The situation is far more complex than it appears,” said a source familiar with security discussions to i24NEWS. “No one truly knows how events will unfold, and we are monitoring every development with extreme caution to determine the best response.”
For now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach is described internally as “monitoring, supporting, hoping.” Israel is keeping a careful distance, allowing Washington to take the lead in applying international pressure on Tehran, while ensuring that the protest movement cannot be linked to Jerusalem in any public way.
Israel’s security establishment continues to follow developments closely, preparing for multiple scenarios in an environment where uncertainty and volatility remain exceptionally high.