Why the hero who saved 3,600 Jews during the Holocaust ended his life in poverty and disgrace: Paul Grüninger

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Everyone has to make choices throughout their lives. It's good if the outcome of some household or work matters depends on this decision. But just imagine that someone's life could be at stake? To act according to the law, but destroy thousands of human lives, or save them, but destroy your own? Paul Grüninger, the police captain, respected the law and the statute more than anything else. But he made his most important choice in life in favor of humanity and compassion for his neighbor. This man saved 3,610 Jews from death, but the payback for altruism was brutal.

Paul Grüninger was born on October 27, 1891 in Saint-Gallen (Switzerland). During the First World War, he served in the Swiss Army. He received the rank of lieutenant and joined the police in his hometown. There he continued to serve. Grüninger was very active in supporting the activities of the animal rights association. His public authority was very high. Paul was even elected as president of the Swiss Police Association.

Paul Grüninger served at the Saint Gallen checkpoint of the Swiss Border Police. He was honest, law-abiding, never participated in the Resistance. The Anschluss of Austria in the spring of 1938 and the tightening of attitudes towards Jews in Germany, led to the fact that whole streams of refugees rushed to the calm peaceful Switzerland. People who were doomed to destruction, who lost everything, even faith in justice and democracy, fled from persecution. At the end of the summer, seeing this state of affairs, the Swiss government banned the admission of refugees. Jews, Gypsies, people who did not approve of the policies of Adolf Hitler, and simply hated Nazism - they all turned out to be defenseless before the law. These people no longer had where to go. Certain death awaited them.

When in August 1938 Paul witnessed how thousands of incredibly frightened, exhausted, people who lost all their property found themselves in front of tightly closed borders, something turned over in his soul. Grüninger, who by this time had risen to the rank of captain and chief of police, simply could not do otherwise. He went to malfeasance. He did not detain the unfortunate refugees, as his official duty dictated to him. With the help of several of his subordinates, Captain Grüninger began to forge the entry documents of Jews.

Holy following the letter of the law, Captain Grüninger could not remain indifferent to the grief of the people. He did not understand how the developed civilized world could do this, mercilessly cutting off these people from themselves. Paul did not detain the refugees, did not deport them, he put down the date of entry in their passports retroactively. This allowed desperate people not only to start a new life in a peaceful country, but also gave them official status. They were now under the protection of the state of Switzerland. Paul risked everything - his official position, his well-being and even his life. He did not take any reward for his help. He acted only at the behest of his good heart. Of course, this could not continue indefinitely. In 1939, the Gestapo suspected that something was wrong. No wonder, because the flow of people passing through the St. Gallen checkpoint was huge. Paul was warned by his close friend that the activities of the post would be checked, that his identity was under suspicion of the authorities and the Gestapo. But the captain could not doom people to death, he continued to act as his conscience told him.

The Swiss authorities conducted an internal internal investigation, which revealed the criminal activities of Grüninger and several of his colleagues. Paul was arrested. He was charged with disobedience to official duty. The captain defended his colleagues and they were not touched, believing their actions were simply following the order of their superior. It was not their fault that the orders were criminal. There was no loyalty to Captain Grüninger. He was treated very cruelly. He was dismissed from the service without the right to receive a pension, he was demoted in rank. The criminal charge was brought to trial. The meeting itself resembled a cruel farce as much as possible. Grüninger's lawyer, an ardent anti-Semite and admirer of the ideas of Adolf Hitler, did not defend Paul, but simply drowned him.

The trial that took place in 1940 was terrible and humiliating. They tried to portray the captain as a greedy corrupt official, who was deprived of his mind by the thirst for money. Despite the efforts of the public defender and the court in general, these attempts were unsuccessful. But Grüninger was still found guilty of fraud and dereliction of duty. In 1942, the trial came to an end: Paul was sentenced to imprisonment and a huge fine for forging documents and illegal activities.

Paul Grüninger did not deny his guilt. In his closing speech, he pleaded guilty, but stated that he did it out of compassion for the unfortunate ones who were persecuted without guilt. The captain did not file an appeal against the verdict. The captain honestly served his sentence, as they say, from call to call. After his release, this man, who saved almost four thousand human lives, was never able to improve his. He was not hired for a good permanent job, he was interrupted by odd jobs.

The people who were helped by the captain and their heirs did their best to help. They even founded the Justice Paul Grüninger organization. For many years these people fought with the authorities for the recognition of the merits of this great man, for the restoration of his rights, his good name. A year before his death, the former captain was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations Medal of Honor. This was done by the Jerusalem Institute Yad Vashem. The streets in Jerusalem and Rishon LeZion bear the name of Grüninger. The Jewish people have not forgotten the hero's selfless feat.

And only in 1995, justice finally triumphed. In the same courtroom where the captain was convicted, a new session took place, where the Swiss court admitted its mistake. The brave captain Grüninger was posthumously rehabilitated, and his reputation was completely restored. To the greatest regret, the authorities did not do this during the life of the righteous man of the world. He died on February 22, 1972, in dire need, forgotten by his native state. But an honest officer never complained about fate. He believed that he did everything right and did not regret anything.

Swiss Minister of Economy, Johann Schneider-Ammann, speaking in Israel in 2017, said: “Paul Grüninger put moral values above job responsibilities. For him, humanism was above career, social status and financial well-being. The restriction on the acceptance of refugees by Switzerland was probably the blackest page in our entire history. Yes, this did not happen during Paul's lifetime, but better late than never. So that people remember the name of a person with a capital letter - the modest and honest captain Paul Grüninger. The stories of people who were also undeservedly condemned at one time and only after many years were rehabilitated, read in our article punishment without guilt: 10 Soviet celebrities who were undeservedly convicted.