Check It Out: Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak

By Joan Janzen

John Wayne, an actor from the past, said, “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.”

The quote would have described how a widow in Berlin, Germany was feeling during the Second World War. Johanna Eck was in her mid-60s and had lost her husband and children.

Johanna Eck believed every human life had value; at that time those convictions were a crime. By 1941 war had transformed her neighbourhood. Suspicion fell on anyone who showed the slightest sign of dissent and neighbours betrayed neighbours. The streets were constantly patrolled and Jews were being rounded up. It was a death sentence for anyone who helped them out.

Nevertheless Johanna’s apartment became a sanctuary. Word spread quietly, and desperate people came to her door. The first woman to come to her door was Ruth; she had nowhere to go and took the risk of approaching a stranger. There was Max, a young Jewish man who escaped a deportation train to a concentration camp. Sara and her two young children whose husband had been taken in a raid. Soon Johanna’s tiny apartment accommodated more people than seemed possible.

She was alone in her brave rescue mission; no one was helping her. War dragged on and the Gestapo increased their raids, but she continued to open her doors, sheltering over a dozen people.

In the spring of 1943, Benjamin, a young Jewish boy knocked on her door. Trauma had caused him to become mute after witnessing the murder of his entire family. For weeks he didn’t say a word.

One evening Johanna began to hum an old lullaby, and a tear rolled down Benjamin’s cheek. “When will it ever be over?” he asked. It was the first time he had spoken since he lost his family.

In 1944 she opened her door to William and Ava and their children from the Netherlands. They had been betrayed by a friend and narrowly escaped a raid. They stayed for a year.

War ended in 1945, and Johanna’s acts of courage had helped preserve humanity. When Allied Forces liberated Berlin, her occupants moved on.

Johanna passed away in 1979, and in 1980 she was honoured by having her name placed on the wall of hope in a memorial garden in Israel. Although she never spoke about what she had done, the people who she had rescued never let her forget. Letters arrived from Ruth, Max and others.

Ruth moved to the US and wrote letters to Johanna telling her about her family. Benjamin lived in Germany and became a teacher. In the summer of 1947 a young man appeared at her door. It was Benjamin thanking her. He explained how he had been sent to a displaced persons camp, then taken to live with a distant relative. He finished his education and had decided to go into medicine; he wanted to save others. Although he had every reason to be consumed by anger, he chose the better path.

In the 1970s Johanna’s story was documented by a historian, who interviewed children of survivors from her apartment. Her legacy lives on by the families of those who she had saved.

The quiet, unassuming hero refused their monetary gifts and offers of financial support, accepting only their gratitude. She didn’t seek recognition, and returned to her work as a seamstress.

The woman who had defied a regime said it was never about being brave; it was about doing what was right. She did it simply because “someone has to”. Today, nearly eighty years later, we need courageous people who will do what is right.

Those who are courageously stepping forward are bringing the hidden out into the open. Truth and common sense are being revealed and corruption is being exposed. An example is documentaries such as the film ‘First Do No Pharm’. After viewing the film, Dr. Suneel Dhand described it as “eye-opening”.

“This isn’t just a one-sided story, but a well-researched expose that challenges the status quo. The evidence presented is undeniable,” he said on his online program. He noted the film reveals how big pharma fund mainstream media, cable news and medical journals.

Dr. Dhand said, “The old mantra was simple: Get sick, take the right medicine, and get better quickly. But that has shifted. Now it seems like the goal is to get as many people on medications as possible, at increasingly younger ages, for the rest of their lives.”

There’s numerous “eye-opening” documentaries being produced about topics which expose the harm inflicted on people, especially the most vulnerable.

“One positive takeaway from the past few years is that many of us who believe in change and a better future have banded together. There’s strength in numbers, and I’m optimistic that together, we can make a difference,” Dr. Dhand said.

Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Those words still apply today.