Hermann Göring's younger brother Albert, of all people, rescued Jews from the Nazis, and yet his story is forgotten. But why?
Irena Steinfeldt looks nervously at the clock to reassure herself that she isn't too late for her appointment at the Café Paradiso in downtown Jerusalem. She sits down, shakes her hair and gazes intently through her glasses.
It is important to her to set something straight right away. It really doesn't matter to her, she says, what someone's name was or what rank he had at the time, if he had rescued only one or several Jews and had proven himself to be a good person at a bad time. The true heroes, who remain good throughout their lives, are extremely rare, she says, and they certainly didn't exist at the time of the Holocaust.
Steinfeldt has plenty of experience with the all-too-human. Her desk is covered with letters, documents and files that tell stories of how people acted benevolently in bad times, of islands of good in an ocean of evil. She passes judgment over what it takes to be called a hero. She also helps to decide who will receive the highest honorary title conferred by the State of Israel, a title whose recipients, whether it is awarded during their lifetimes or posthumously, are known as the "Righteous Among the Nations."
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