10 Facts About Recha Sternbuch

Recha Sternbuch was a Swiss Orthodox Jewish woman who was a major Holocaust-era Jewish rescuer.

Recha Sternbuch's father was Markus Rottenberg, a prominent Rabbi and scholar who was widely known in Europe.

Rottenberg in 1912 had moved to Antwerp from Poland with his family, including 7-year old Recha Sternbuch, to become Chief Rabbi for the city's Haredi community, per a request from the religious leaders of Antwerp's growing Jewish population for a Rabbi who would preserve the religious traditions of Antwerp's Jewish community.

Recha Sternbuch's home was a meeting place for community scholars and she informally continued to learn from these events where her father would interpret the midrash.

Recha Sternbuch's husband moved to Switzerland when he was 10 years old with his family from the United States.

Recha Sternbuch was an Orthodox woman, with children, and pregnant when she spent nights in the forested region by the Austrian border attempting to smuggle refugees while trying to evade Swiss border guards who had orders to turn back anyone over sixteen and under sixty.

Recha Sternbuch worked with a Swiss police captain, Paul Gruninger, who in 1938 helped her smuggle over 800 refugees into Switzerland.

Recha Sternbuch developed good connections with the Papal Nuncio to Switzerland, Monsignor Phillippe Bernadini, dean of the Swiss diplomatic community.

Recha Sternbuch gave her access to Vatican couriers for sending money and messages to Jewish and resistance organizations in Nazi occupied Europe.

Recha Sternbuch was among the first to obtain South American identity papers, probably including many from El Salvador's embassy in Switzerland provided by First Secretary George Mantello and distribute them to Jews whose life was endangered by the Nazis.