As Ukraine Fights for Its Freedom, a Letter to My Grandchildren About Being an Upstander
The actions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Dr. Mohammed Helmy provide lessons in courage.
Hey kids, it’s Bubbie.
My sweethearts, you know I’ve told you many stories before, and read lots of books snuggled up with you at bedtime. But I had to wait until you were a bit older to tell you what is probably the most important story I will ever share with you. It’s the story of how your Papa Fred came to be born.
You’re probably wondering why this is such an important story for you to know. It is extremely important—especially right now with the terrible events happening in Europe.
As you already know, Papa Fred was adopted by a loving family in 1949, when he was just a baby. It wasn’t until 2013, after searching for his biological family for several years, that he finally found that he had a biological brother and two sisters. From them, he soon learned the unbelievable story of how he came to be born.
Papa Fred’s biological mother, Anna, was a 19-year-old girl Jewish girl living in Berlin, Germany in the early 1940s with her mother and step-father. The Nazis had come to power a few years earlier, and World War II was already underway. I know you have studied the Holocaust in school, so you know that the Nazis — under the terrible German dictator Adolph Hitler — wanted to rid Eastern Europe (and beyond) of all Jewish life. The racist policies of the Nazis even extended beyond the Jews to include homosexuals, Roma (sometimes called “gypsies”), dissidents, and more. In other words, people who were “other” than white Aryans or those who defied Nazi edicts were targeted for extermination by the Nazis.
Anna — like other Jewish children in Berlin — was expelled from public schools in 1938 because she was Jewish. Her family doctor, Mohamed Helmy, was an Arab Muslim Egyptian national who was fired from his job at the Robert Koch Hospital in Berlin because he was considered a “Hamite” (a member of an ancient Egyptian group believed to be descended from Ham, the son of Noah.) In other words, Dr. Helmy may have been a brilliant doctor, but he had to be fired because was not white.
What do you think of that?
In 1942, the Nazis began rounding up the Jews of Berlin. At that time, Anna was working part time as a medical assistant for Dr. Helmy in his Berlin medical office, where he opened a private practice after being fired from the hospital. Dr. Helmy knew that Anna was in immediate danger of being deported to a concentration camp, along with her mother, stepfather and grandparents. So he devised a bold and brave plan.
First, Dr. Helmy contacted Frieda Szturmann, a non-Jewish acquaintance, who agreed to hide Anna’s parents and grandparents in her home. Then, he whisked Anna to a cabin that he and his white fiancé, Emmy Ernst, owned in Buch — a suburb of Berlin. (Dr. Helmy was not allowed to marry Emmy under Nazi rule because a non-white was not permitted to marry a white German.) Dr. Helmy hid Anna in the home’s backyard “laube”, which is a garden shed.
But the plan was fraught with danger. The Nazis began to question Dr. Helmy, believing he was hiding Jews. They knew he had a cabin outside of Berlin, and Dr. Helmy feared that if the Nazis went to Buch to search the home and yard, they would discover Anna in the laube. Dr. Helmy had to think quickly. He devised another idea.
By creating false papers and forging official-looking documents, Dr. Helmy produced a new Muslim identity for Anna. He gave her the name “Nadia” and printed a false certificate of marriage that showed she was married to a man named “Mohammed.” The papers were very well crafted and looked authentic.
Then he and Anna had to do something unimaginable — and extremely dangerous.
With her new identity and false identification papers, Anna began to accompany Dr. Helmy on his medical rounds in Nazi-occupied Berlin during the times when it was unsafe for her to remain in Buch. They even went into the SS headquarters (the Nazi paramilitary squad) because they were asked to provide medical care to Nazis.
Can you imagine how frightened they both must have been walking into Nazi headquarters?
For two years, Dr. Helmy risked his life everyday to keep Anna safe from the Nazis. Several times, he was interrogated by Nazi officers who became suspicious that Anna’s Muslim “marriage” was not valid. They also questioned him about Anna’s whereabouts when she did not accompany Dr. Helmy on his medical rounds. During those times, Dr. Helmy would tell them a false story about where Anna was…saying she was visiting her Egyptian relatives in the south.
As you now know, my sweethearts, Anna survived the war due to the courage and heroism of Dr. Helmy. Had Anna not survived, Papa Fred would have never been born. And had Papa Fred never been born, then it’s fairly certain that the many, many people whose lives Papa Fred saved during his remarkable career as a pulmonologist—and during COVID-19— may have had much sadder outcomes.
I tell you this story because as your Bubbie, I want you to see in the most powerful way possible how bigotry, racism and the need to dominate others can grow into something so evil, and so destructive that it threatens the lives of good people.
I want you to know that an Arab Muslim risked his life daily to save a Jew and her family when there was no expectation for him to do so; but that his conscience, his sense of justice and reverence for all human life compelled him to act. If Hitler deported Arab Egyptian Muslims too, instead of using them as political pawns, then Papa Fred might have never been born.
I want you to understand that it’s important to be an upstander in all aspects of your lives — even when it might not be the easiest or most popular thing to do.
But perhaps most importantly, I want you to be aware that despite the lessons the world should have learned about what happened in Nazi Germany, racist governments and despotic regimes still exist throughout the world.
I know you are aware that as I write this to you, millions of innocent citizens of Ukraine are under attack—the result of an unprovoked war prosecuted by the brutal, greedy Russian dictator—Vladimir Putin. Yet also in this moment, Ukraine’s brave, justice-seeking, principled president is being tested in the same way that Dr. Helmy was tested. Like Dr. Helmy, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met the moment—holding a master class in leadership, compassion and humanity. President Zelenskyy is quite literally on the front lines—standing shoulder-to-shoulder with soldiers and citizens alike to defend the freedom and sovereignty of their homeland. He is defying Putin’s aggression—and working without sleep, without adequate arms, and without his family by his side, to save the lives of the citizens he swore to protect.
You might be wondering if President Zelenskyy is afraid. I am certain that he is fearful. Who wouldn’t be in a situation such as the one he is facing? But fear can feed that which powers leadership. By that I mean that when we are afraid, our minds are sharpened, our senses are heightened, and our will to fight for the principles, values, and lives which we so deeply want to protect and preserve is strengthened. Fear then, becomes the fuel that sustains the resolve to stay in the fight—and in President Zelenskyy ‘s case, it is all for noblest of reasons.
Will Ukraine prevail? Can they push back to onslaught from a military far greater and better resourced than their own? That’s hard to say. But that is my hope, and I know it is yours as well. As we pray for the people of Ukraine, we know the outcome of this evil incursion by a ruthless, deranged dictator remains uncertain. Nevertheless, history will mark this moment as one in which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy modeled for the world the character strengths required of true humanitarian leadership: Honesty, perseverance, justice, courage, kindness, humility and love.
Your Papa Fred came to be born only because of a brave act of humanity by a beautiful human being who stood up — frightened — but determined to save a precious human life. Dr. Helmy and President Zelenskyy were—and are— heroes of their time. You are forever connected to this extraordinary legacy.
Wishing President Zelenskyy much strength, continued courage and a long, long life.
I love you more than you can ever imagine,
Bubbie
(CLICK HERE to watch the video of “Anna’s Story.”)
