Helga Dorph Holbek, sometimes Holbeck (18 April 1897 – 25 November 1983),[1] was a Danish humanitarian activist, honored in 1982 as Righteous Among the Nations for her work in Vichy France during World War II, as she headed the Quaker-led American Friends Service Committee office in Toulouse, providing aid to people interned in concentration camps and rescuing hundreds of children, concealing their identities and placing them with French families or in children's group homes.
From 1929 until 1939 she ran a travel agency in London which encouraged exchange visits for teachers and students between Britain and European countries.
That view changed as Holbek and her team recognized the threat to Jews and Jewish children from the Nazis and the government of Vichy France.
Kershner wanted to maintain strict adherence to the rules of the Vichy Government with less emphasis by Holbek and other Quaker employees on helping Jews.
[5] His removal coincided with the first roundups of Jews in France and their deportation to an unknown fate in German concentration camps which lent urgency to the AFSC's efforts to protect Jewish children.
[11] In July 1945, after the end of World War II in Europe, Holbek left Caen where she was working and traveled home to Denmark.
After retirement from work she created a program to help elderly people which was adopted by the Danish Red Cross under the name "Visiting Friends.