SSMS Student Honors Holocaust Hero at Bar Mitzvah

As part of a boy's Bar Mitzvah, the “new adult” has to do philanthropic work, which could involve anything from donating supplies or money, to doing local volunteer work.

Matthew Sackstein, a seventh grader at , decided to take his charity one step further. At his Bar Mitzvah last Saturday, he honored 96-year-old Knud Christiansen, a Christian Olympic rower from Denmark who risked his life to rescue Jews during the Holocaust.

Sackstein was connected with Christiansen through the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, which encourages Jewish youths to honor non-Jewish Holocaust heroes at their Bar Mitzvahs.

“My dad introduced me to the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, and I came across his story, and I chose him because he was an athlete, like me, and he used his athletic abilities to help save some of the Jews,” Sackstein said. “It was very interesting and inspiring to meet him. It was like meeting a little piece of history.”

Sackstein, who plays baseball, basketball and soccer, gave a speech about Christiansen during his Bar Mitzvah, telling the story about how the Dane ferried Jews, one bye one, across the Øresund Strait from Denmark to Sweden in his small racing dinghy.

Stanlee Stahl, the executive vice president of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR) was one of the people who helped Sackstein come across Knud’s story at their offices in Manhattan.

“We offer families the option of 'twinning' with a Christian or Muslim hero who saved Jews during the Holocaust," she said. "If these people were caught, they would be killed, it’s important for young Jewish people to have an understanding of what happened in Europe at that time. Knud didn’t have to do what he did. He rowed one person at a time. It’s nice for Knud to know that he is not being forgotten and what he did is not forgotten. Knud did what he did for true altruism, and you don’t see that all the time.”

For both Matthew and Knud, their bond will extend much further than just this Bar Mitzvah. Although he couldn’t attend the event due to declining health, Christiansen’s daughter explained to the Sacksteins, that “for him to meet young people like Matthew gives him a sense of purpose at this point in his life.”

Matthew’s mother, Robyn, said she could not have been happier with the way her son told the story, and feels confident that the story will resonate with the other people, young and old, who heard the tale.

“We’re very proud of how he told the story, he was eloquent and confident, and people walked away interested in the organization and Knud’s story,” she said. “He did a wonderful job of bringing the story to life, at a time when there was so much evil.”

Matthew is just one example of the JFR’s ongoing attempts to educate the younger generations about the heroes and horrors of Europe during the Holocaust. They have been “twinning” Bar Mitzvah families and heroes for 14 years, and Stahl estimates they’ve seen hundreds of participants paired with the heroes and heroines of the time.

“We’re in a different time and a different place now, and it’s so hard for today’s generation to understand with all the ‘instant this and that,’” she said. “Knud is a role model for young people like Matthew, and it shows that one person can make a difference. This man did something, and it shows that one person can change lives. Generations of families survived because of this man.  He showed that one person could help change the world.”