Holocaust Survivor, 87, Teaches World to Stop Violence

A 6-year-old boy hiding from Nazis in Budapest grew up to create a movement that's changing how police officers and everyday people stop violence before it starts.

Ervin Staub survived the Holocaust in 1944 because two people chose to act. Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg protected his building, and his family's Christian nanny, Maria Gogan, smuggled food to Jewish families despite the deadly risk. Those acts of courage planted a question in young Staub's mind that would drive his entire life's work: what makes some people stand by while others step up?

Now 87 and a professor emeritus at UMass Amherst, Staub has spent decades researching why violence happens and how bystanders can stop it. His answer became real-world training programs that teach people the skills to intervene safely and effectively.

His most impactful creation, the Ethical Policing Is Courageous program, started in the 1990s when the Los Angeles Police Department asked him to develop anti-brutality training. The program teaches officers to speak up when they see colleagues using excessive force, transforming police culture from the inside.

After George Floyd's murder in 2020, demand for Staub's approach exploded. Georgetown University expanded his work into Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement, now used by departments nationwide. New Orleans saw a measurable drop in critical incidents after implementing the training in 2024.

The Ripple Effect

Staub's research reaches far beyond police departments. The nonprofit Facing History & Ourselves uses his ideas in educational programs that teach students about empathy and moral courage. Community organizations worldwide have adopted his training to build cultures where people look out for each other.

His new memoir, "Evil, Goodness and Creating Active Bystandership," shares both his survival story and the research showing that intervention can be learned. The book arrives at a time when division feels overwhelming, offering a practical path forward.

Staub fled Hungary at 18, eventually settling in America and dedicating his career to understanding the psychology of both cruelty and compassion. His work proves that the bystander effect isn't permanent. People can be trained to overcome the freeze response and take action.

At 87, Staub continues speaking and training because he knows firsthand that individual choices ripple outward. When one person intervenes, others find the courage to do the same, creating communities where harm becomes harder to ignore and compassion becomes contagious.