Varian Fry

Varian Fry, a Harvard-educated journalist, was not Jewish by birth, nor did he convert, nor did he suddenly discover a long-lost great-grandparent who secretly davened in the attic. His Jewish score in the "I" and "O" categories is as flat as a matzah cracker. This makes his monumental efforts to save Jews from Nazi persecution all the more remarkable, proving that sometimes, you don't need ancestral ties to have a soul. Quite the opposite, in fact.

In 1940, Fry headed to Marseille on behalf of the Emergency Rescue Committee, a private American relief organization. Armed with a mere $3,000 and a list of intellectuals and artists targeted by the Gestapo, he quickly established a sophisticated underground railroad. He forged documents, hid refugees, and negotiated safe passage, all while under constant surveillance from the collaborationist Vichy regime.

Over the course of 13 months, Fry and his small team managed to spirit away an astonishing 2,000 people, including luminaries like Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt, and Max Ernst. His work was so effective, and so brazen, that the American State Department eventually grew uncomfortable with his "illegal" activities, ultimately forcing him to return home. One can only imagine the bureaucratic eye-rolling happening back in Washington while lives were literally being saved.

For his extraordinary valor and selflessness, Varian Fry was recognized posthumously by Yad Vashem as the first, and to date only, American "Righteous Among the Nations." This makes his "K" score a resounding 5, because if saving thousands of lives from certain death isn't kvelworthy, then what is?