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Marion Pritchard was born on November 7th, 1920 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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The Dutch government surrendered to the Nazis 5 days after the Germans invaded. Millions of Jews, Gypsies, and others were slaughtered, while some Dutch people risked their lives to help the victims.
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By the time the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, unleashing World War II, there were six concentration camps.
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During Pritchard's social work, she was arrested by Nazis while staying out over curfew.
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In the spring of 1942, Pritchard witnessed a round-up of Jewish children, including babies and eight-year-olds, being picked up by their limbs or hair and thrown into trucks to be taken away by Nazis, along with two women who tried to intervene. The two other women attacked the soldiers and were also taken away in a truck. She described her reaction to witnessing this event: "I was shocked and in tears, and after that I knew my rescue work was more important than anything else I might be doing".
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Marion Pritchard was asked by a friend to hide Fred Polak and his children. When she couldn't find a safe place, her friend let them stay at the servants quarter, 15 miles outside of Amsterdam. A couple of Nazis come to investigate the house and they hid. They left but one came pack so Pritchard shot him.
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Marion Pritchard saved approximately 150 Dutch Jews throughout Would War ll.
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Hoping to learn the whereabouts of Jewish friends who had survived the war, Pritchard went to work for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration’s Displaced Persons camps in 1945.
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The camps were stopped by Allied forces between 1944 and 1945. So close to when World War ll ended.
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As troops fought their way towards the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30th, 1945.
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War World ll ended in September 2nd, 1945. On 8 May 1945, the Allies accepted Germany’s surrender.
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Marion Pritchard moved to the United States in 1947 and became a psychoanalyst.
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Pritchard was recognized in 1981 by Yad Vashem, the world for Holocaust research and commemoratition in Jerusalem, an honor given to gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust.
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Ms. Pritchard’s wartime story was in books like “Conscience and Courage, Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust” by Eva Fogelman and the documentary, “The Courage to Care”.
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Marion Pritchard received a Wallenburg Metal in 1996 in memory of Raout Wallenburg, the Swedish diplomat who rescued tens of thousands Jews during World War ll.
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Pritcahrd began teaching an annual seminar at Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts with Deborah Dwork, the Rose professor of Holocaust history.
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Marion Pritchard had an interview in 2002 with the filmmaker Aviva Slesin for her documentary.
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Marion Pritchard got a 2004 honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Vermont and commemorative book from the university's Center for Holocaust Studies
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Ms.Pritchard received the Metal of Valor at the Simon Wiesenthal Center's annual national tribute dinner in May 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.
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Marion Pritchard died on December 11th, 2016 in Washington D.C. from Arteriosclerosis.
