How Does Gaston Wilfart And The Broken Bystander Effect

John Miller jr.

Mrs. Ames

02 Feb 2018

Gaston Wilfart & and the Broken Bystander Effect

In the 1930’s Jews were being taken away by the Nazis to concentration camps at the order of Adolf Hitler, with up to 6 million Jews being murdered. However there were a large variety of heroes that saved many of our Jewish friends from their doom. These heroes are called “Righteous Gentiles.” To this day, there are over 11,000 Righteous Gentiles who are recognized for their bravery, none of whom are Jews. During the rise of the Nazis, millions of the Jews were killed. Women and children were being taken to concentration camps and put in gas chambers. Nobody was excluded: people with disabilities, mental and physical, homosexuals and many more were all murdered.

He was the strong and courageous leader of a small group from the resistance called AGFA. The name of this group was based off the four members first names’ Antoine Bottemary, Gaston Wilfart, Fernand Colin and Arthur Depraeter. Gaston and his friends were able to save 645 people, almost all of them were Jews. He also helped Jews that bravely jumped out of trains traveling to concentration camps. Gaston and the other members of his group Made forged ID’s for those who had escaped to help them survive. Finally, he provided them money and a safe place to hide.

Gaston and his wife did other brave deeds for the Jewish people. Risking death from the Nazi’s, he housed a Jewish couple named the Jedwabs, in his own home. The Jedwabs stayed with the Wilfarts but Gaston's generosity did not end there. He spent much time making sure the hidden victims were provided medical care, food, and clothing. He provided this service to many Jews including Esther Ehrlich who had liver cancer. Gaston took her by an ambulance that he had hijacked. After the doctors were finished with her operation he picked her up in the exact same ambulance and took her all the way to France to

For many people it seems very unlikely for someone like this to exist today. This is most likely due to the bystander effect. The bystander effect is when a person sees someone in distress they will ignore them when other people are nearby. This relates to the holocaust event because when the Jews were being kicked out of their own homes, the Nazis were taking the money that they worked very hard to earn, and taking their jobs to put them into concentration camps to work even harder. Most people just went on with their day and wouldn't dare brother to pay any attention to the poor people who were being victimized by the Nazis. However, there are some things that can break the bystander effect. When one person decides to help the other human in distress it is very likely that other people will join in to helping them. Another thing, if this person dressed up in something modern that an important person would wear to a business meeting or a fancy party. What happens is the people think that because that person is dressed up like them they are “One of us” and they also think that it could be them in distress. In other words, they have more empathy for people they view as similar to them. My theory is that when a couple righteous gentiles stood up and said this is not okay, others rose up and quickly broke the bystander