Waitstill Sharp

Waitstill Hastings Sharp
Sharp in 1939
Born
Waitstill Hastings Sharp

(1902-05-01)1 May 1902
Boston, Massachusetts, US[1]
Died25 February 1983(1983-02-25) (aged 80)
Greenfield, Massachusetts, US[2]
Alma materBoston University (B.A., 1924)[3]
Harvard Law (LL.B., 1926)[1][4]
Harvard University (M.A., 1931)[1]
OccupationUnitarian minister
Known forhumanitarian rescue work before and during World War II
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1927; div. 1954)​
Monica Allard Clark
​
(m. 1955)​
[5]
Children2, including Martha Sharp Joukowsky[6]
Righteous
Among the Nations
By country

Waitstill Hastings Sharp (1 May 1902 – 25 February 1983) was an American Unitarian minister who was involved in humanitarian and relief work in Czechoslovakia and southern Europe in 1939 and 1940, just before and during World War II. With his wife, Martha, he provided relief aid to refugees, many of them Jewish, fleeing from Nazi Germany and countries under Nazi control and assisted people in danger of persecution to flee Czechoslovakia and France and resettle in the United States and elsewhere.[7] In 2005, Wainstill and Martha were named by Yad Vashem as Righteous among the Nations, the second and third of five Americans to receive this honor.

  1. ^ a b c "Martha and Waitstill Sharp: A Timeline of their Lives", Two Who Dared, film website
  2. ^ Source Citation Number: 337-26-0571; Issue State: Illinois; Issue Date: Before 1951
  3. ^ Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880–2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
  4. ^ Di Figlia, Ghanda. "Martha Sharp Cogan (1905–1999) and Waitstill Sharp (1902–1983): Unitarian Service Committee Pioneers". Harvard Square Library. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  5. ^ "Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, ca. 1905–2005", United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  6. ^ Ancestry.com. U.S. Public Records Index, 1950–1993, Volume 1 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
  7. ^ Nick Anderson (19 September 2016). "They risked their lives to rescue scores of people from the Nazis. Few knew their story until now". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.