Hero of the Week 72

Welcome back viewers

This week we will honor a team of heroes

They are...

Janis and Johanna Lipke

Janis and Johanna Lipke were a married couple from Latvia. Much of their early lives is not available. But what is known, is that when the time came, both of them did things that made the difference for many of their countrymen.

Part 1

In the summer of 1941, the German army invaded the Soviet Union and occupied Latvia. To their surprise, most of the Latvian people welcomed them as liberators. After years of brutal oppression by the Soviet Union, many Latvians viewed the Germans as great anti-communist heroes from the West. They (including many of Latvia's Jewish population) believed that they would be given back their independence through the armies of Nazi Germany. However, it was not long before the Nazis began to show their true colors. What followed would be a nightmare for Latvia's Jews. 

After the German Army moved on from Latvia, the infamous Einzatsgruppen arrived and began to arrest the country's Jewish population. It was especially bad in the country's capital, Riga. By the end of July, a ghetto had been constructed within the city and more than 35,000 Jewish people were forced into an area that was only 16 blocks. To the astonishment of the Nazis, the vast majority of Riga's population were quick to aide them in rounding up their Jewish neighbors. Many of them joined the an infamous police unit called the, Arajs Kommando. It wasn't long before thousands of the Jews in the Riga Ghetto began to die.

At the time of the occupation, the Lipkes were living in Riga. Janis worked as laborer down at the docks in the port. His compensation was so poor that he turned to the black market and became a smuggler of goods. Little did he know that his skills would become very useful after the ghetto had been constructed. Unlike most of their neighbors, Janis and Johanna were horrified and disgusted by the treatment of the Jews in Riga. They decided that they were not going to stand by and look the other way.

Part II

Janis was able to get a job as the foreman of a civilian unit that worked for the German Luftwaffe. He chose Jews from the ghetto as his workers. Everyday he would take a couple workers out of the ghetto and work on fortifications and repairing airplanes. However instead of sending the Jews back to the ghetto he would take them to a safe house where Johanna would make arrangements for them to get out of the city. Janis would then have some loyal friends put on a yellow star and enter the ghetto to convince the guards the Jews were being returned (his friends also had a way out).

However, within a two weeks, the Nazi guards and their Latvian collaborators began to actively pull Jews from the ghetto, transfer them into the Rumbala forest, and execute them on a daily basis. Two of the most horrifying massacres took place on November 30 and December 8, 1941. On those two days alone, more than 25,000 Jews (mostly women, children, and elderly men) were taken from the Riga ghetto by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen and the Latvian Arajs Kommando. Once they were inside the Rumbala Forest, they were shot. It was the second worst two-day massacre of World War II (the other was the massacre at Babi Yar).

Upon hearing this, the Lipkes decided to speed up their efforts to smuggle Jews out of the Riga ghetto. One day, Janis successfully smuggled 10 Jews out by hiding them in a log truck. As soon as they reached the safe house, they were sent to a small village outside of Riga (Dobleh) where Janis owned a small farm and had friends willing to hide the refugees and masquerade them as hired hands. Whenever he wasn't smuggling people, Janis was smuggling food and clothing to the prisoners inside the ghetto (which was fast turning into a concentration camp). In one instance he met a woman named, Sofia Stern who was imprisoned with her daughter, Chana. When he learned they were about to be transported to a death camp he personally oversaw their escape from the ghetto and hind them in a shelter under his barn (along with 12 others). When the refugees offered to pay the Lipkes money in recompense, they declined saying, that they were not doing this for financial gain.

Epilogue

On October 19, 1944 the Red Army drove the Germans out of Latvia and recaptured the city of Riga. By then, the Riga ghetto had been completely burnt down. Tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered across the country as the Nazis retreated from Eastern Europe. By the time the Soviets arrived, nearly all of Latvia's Jewish population had been wiped out. It is believed that out of Latvia's 94,000 Jews, just over 200 survived World War II.

For their part, Janis and Johanna had successfully rescued 44 people. Even after the war, they stayed in contact with them for many years. On June 28, 1966, both Janis and Johanna were recognized as Righteous among the Nations by the state of Israel. Janis passed away on May 14, 1987. Johanna followed him on January 1, 1990.

Most people remember the holocaust in Latvia to a be a horrific example of betrayal and horror. The small number of survivors is evident that most Latvians either turned a blind eye to it or took part in it. Janis and Johanna Lipke truly were a major exception to this. Their courage and kindness made the difference for more than 40 people who would most certainly have been killed. Their story should serve as both a warning and an inspiration to people around the world. It is people like the Lipkes who make the world a beautiful place to live in. 

https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/pdf-drupal/en/education/jewish_world/righteous-2.pdf

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/latvia

https://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/usa/embassy/honorary-consuls-in-the-u-s-and-mexico/789-ministry/briefing-papers/5259-the-holocaust-in-german-occupied-latvia

https://righteous.yadvashem.org/?searchType=righteous_only&language=en&itemId=4022619&ind=NaN

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/riga

Hero of the Week 71

Welcome back viewers,

This week's hero is...

Paul Jennings

Part 1

Paul Jennings was born in 1799, in Orange County, Virginia. He was raised on the estate as a slave to one of the most famous men in America. This man's name was James Madison. Paul Jennings was trained at first to be a footman for Madison. He became his personal valet. As a result, Jennings was in charge of Madison's everyday routine. 

For this reason, he was considered to be highly valuable to the Madison family. He was so valued that when James Madison was elected President in 1808, Paul Jennings accompanied him to the White House. For the next four years, he served as a dining room servant during the Madison administration. Little did he know that his life was about to change in a way he never could have predicted.

By August of 1814, the United States was embroiled in a second war against its old adversary, Great Britain. The War of 1812 had been a series of seesaw battles with neither side being able to gain a major advantage against the other. Unfortunately, the American army had been recently defeated at the battle of Bladensburg and British closed in on Washington DC. President Madison was absent when the Brits entered and marched to the White House virtually unchallenged. Before leaving, First Lady Dolley Madison had Jennings grab a famous portrait of George Washington and carry it to a nearby carriage. Less than an hour later, the White House was looted and burnt. The painting of Washington remains the only object in the White House before 1812.

For his part, Paul Jennings continued to serve President Madison through the latter's two terms. When Madison's terms were over Jennings accompanied him back to his home in Montpelier. He continued to serve Madison until the latter's death in 1836. Despite all he had done for her family, Dolley Madison sold Paul Jennings to a local insurance agent. But Jennings would not be a slave for much longer. Just six months later, a Massachusetts senator (Daniel Webster) purchased Paul's freedom. Thus began a new chapter in the life of Paul Jennings.

Part II

From this point on, Jennings became an abolitionist and an ardent opponent of slavery. It wasn't long before he began to secretly coordinate escape routes for slaves. He later took part in what was known as the, "Pearl Incident". Jennings aided 77 escaped slaves in escaping on a ship called the Pearl. Although they were initially successful, one of the slaves betrayed the escapees and all were recaptured (most were sold and never heard from again). 

Although the operation was a failure, Paul Jennings used it to campaign for an end to slavery. Eventually some good came out of it when the American Congress voted to end the US's role in the slave trade in the famous Compromise of 1850. Although slavery continued to exist for another decade, more and more of the American populace became anti-slavery and the abolitionist movement gained momentum. For the rest of his life Jennings continued to advocate for the end of slavery. When the Civil War broke out, his three sons all enlisted and served in the Union Army.

At the end of the Civil War, Paul Jennings wrote and published a book called, A Colored Man's Reminisces of James Madison. It was the first ever memoir of someone who lived in the White House. In this memoir, Jennings wrote of Madison's presidency and the time he spent with the Madison family. It provided a unique glimpse into the life of one of America's founding fathers from a slave's point of view.

Epilogue

For the rest of his life, Jennings worked at the newly established Pension Bureau for the Department of the Interior. He lived the rest of his life in Washington DC before he died in 1874 at the age of 75. Today Paul Jennings is remembered as one of the greatest contributors to abolishment of slavery and the documentation of the Madison Administration. He is definitely someone to be held in high regard.

https://www.montpelier.org/learn/paul-jennings

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/paul-jennings

https://web.archive.org/web/20120918235037/http://www.montpelier.org/explore/community/paul_jennings.php

Hero of the Week 70

Welcome back viewers

This week's hero is...

Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett was born on July 25, 1875. He grew up in British India as the eighth of sixteen children. He became fascinated of stories of hunting wild animals and decided to become an expert hunter. After his 18th birthday, he dropped out of school and began to train to hunt with local Indian trackers and expert hunters. His prime target would be, the Bengal tiger. Little did he know, he wouldn't have to wait long before his training would be put to the ultimate test.

Corbett's interests took him to the Indian village of, Champawat. Upon his arrival, the locals told him of a terrifying tiger that had been preying upon the people in and around the village for more than six years. Efforts to hunt it down had all proved in vain. The beast was known to strike a victim during broad daylight with lightning speed, crush the poor soul's windpipe, and drag them off into the jungle to be devoured. By the time any hunter would arrive on the scene, all that would remain would be a blood trail that led to a bloody pile of clothes. By 1907, it had killed approximately 436 people in India and also Nepal. 

Corbett tracked the tiger to a nearby ravine. He had 300 villagers form a line. They then fired their guns in the air and screamed as loud as they could. Within seconds, the tiger appeared. Corbett fired four shots (three hit their mark). Just like that, the Champawat Tiger's rampage came to an end. To this day, it remains the deadliest man-eater in recorded history.

Upon killing the tiger, Corbett had it examined by experts who discovered that the tiger was an older female. Most interesting of all, was that two of the tiger's four canine teeth were missing on the right side of the jaw. After examining this, Corbett concluded that the tiger had been shot in the jaw by a poacher. Because it lost two of its main killing weapons, the tigress could no longer hunt its regular prey and needed to hunt something much smaller and easier to kill. This along with its constant need to feed, caused it to target humans. In other words, the rampage of the Champawat Tiger was a man-made disaster and she was as much of a victim as her prey.

Jim Corbett was lauded as a great hero throughout India and the UK. He would go on to become one of the most distinguished hunters of the 20th century. During the rest of his life, Corbett hunted and shot more than a dozen tigers and leopards that were eating people. In almost every case, he found that they only were doing so due to a deformity or a problem caused by human incursions into their territory. Despite killing many big cats in Southeast Asia, Corbett also was a naturalist and later established a national reserve for India's Bengal tigers (which were becoming critically endangered). When he retired from hunting he published many books about nature and the need to preserve it and respect the animals that lived alongside humans. He passed away on April 19, 1955, at the age of 79. 

Two years after his passing, India's first national park was named for Jim Corbett. To this day, it has been a sanctuary and premier spot for India's big cat population (especially the bengal tiger). Despite many conservation efforts throughout the world, all nine species of tigers remain on the endangered species list. For his part, Corbett is remembered as the, "Hunter with a heart", due to his care for nature and advocation for the tiger's preservation. He remains a major inspiration to all naturalists who work to save endangered species. He is definitely someone to be held in high regard.

https://theprint.in/theprint-profile/jim-corbett-the-man-known-for-being-both-a-hunter-and-champion-of-tigers/267507/

http://www.corbett-national-park.co.in/About-Edward-James-Jim-Corbett.html

https://nypost.com/2019/02/02/how-a-lone-irishman-killed-a-terrifying-people-eating-tiger/