Samuel and Pearl Oliner discuss their book, “The Altruistic Personality.” Samuel begins by telling his childhood story of how he narrowly escaped being captured by Gestapo police in Poland with the help of a family friend. They explain that the dichotomy in the book isn’t about good versus evil; it’s about people who chose to rescue Jews in the Holocaust versus people who did nothing to help. They describe the statistical comparison between the two groups, and found that people who were rescuers had certain qualities like being closer to their families, disciplinary practices, having friends who were Jewish, and the location of their country. They end the interview by discussing how thousands of rescuers were still persecuted after they were betrayed by people who told officials what they were doing.
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