The Holocaust takes on a riveting immediacy in these true stories of an everyday, understated heroism that saved thousands of Jews from annihilation at the hands of the Third Reich. Combining personal interviews with contemporary and vintage photographs, To Save a Life pairs the stories of a handful of rescuers with those of people they saved.

Ellen Land-Weber creates a moving, multidimensional picture of the evasive strategies and heartstopping close calls that filled the years of the Holocaust for both rescuers and rescued. In matter-of-fact tones, the rescuers describe how and why they...