Gerda Klein Essay

According to the texts and eyewitness accounts, the Holocaust had horrendous effects on the people who lived through it. During this time Jews were being rounded up and put into concentration camps by order of the German government. Writings and testimonies from survivors of the Holocaust are around even to this day. According to these sources, Holocaust survivors suffered tremendously since they were treated as less than human , they lost loved ones, and were constantly abused.

The conditions that the Jews and other were put through were super horrible. They were forced into boxcars that didn’t have anything in them and they wondered where they were and where they were going. They stood in the boxcars for days with no food or water to keep them alive. (Joseph)(Source 3) Along their way to the concentration camps they were exposed to harsh weather. In the summer it was scorching hot and in the winter it was freezing cold. Since they were shoved amongst each other they suffered from suffocation. Along their journey many young and old died along the way (“The Holocaust”)(Source 2). Inside the boxcars there was no windows or anyway to breath. It was also very unsanitary because of the abundance of people in them and they didn’t have any water to at least wash themselves with. All they could do was stand there in the dark and wait (Joseph) (Source

What if you were the Jew who were forced to leave their homes and their belongings behind? To work at the point of exhaustion, to wear the same thing year long, to see many people die in front of your own eyes. How would you feel? This is what was plaguing the Jews, during the war because Nazis targeted the Jews’ humanity, and slowly dehumanized them. The Nazis dehumanizing the Jews made them not believe in God plus made them give up hope.

It was extremely difficult for survivors to rebuild their lives back in their home town. This is because “Jewish communities no longer existed in much of europe”(United States Holocaust Museum). And when the survivors tried to return to their houses most “just didn't feel welcome”(United States Holocaust Museum); “ they found that in many cases, their homes had been looted or taken over by others”(United States Holocaust Museum). On top of their houses often being stolen from their possession, there had been “anti-Jewish riots [that] broke out in several Polish cities” (Levine). Struggling with PTSD and attempting to find their lost relatives and friends that were more times than not killed in the holocaust, survivors really did not have a place to call

After a lot of the rules for the Jews were set, Gerda was sent to a hard labor camp. During the Holocaust Gerda weighed 68 pounds and she was almost 21 years old, she was overworked and not treated with any sort of respect. Gerda was very strong but was definitely not treated right Just because she was a Jew shouldn’t mean that she should have to go through all this, June 8th was the last day she saw her father which is hard enough and then she got taken away on June 9th which she was taken from her mother also so she was pretty much alone, also she was only 15 years old. When Hitler began his mass-murdering many families that were Jews had to go into hiding and in this case that is exactly what Anne’s family did. “...daddy began to talk of us going into hiding… “We don’t want our belongings to be seized by the Germans , but we certainly don’t want to fall into their clutches ourselves. So we shall disappear of our own accord and not wait until they come and fetch us.”” (Frank 12). Hitler has pushed many families into hiding because if they didn’t they would risk their lives even more of getting taken away and overworked or killed. None of the Jews were treated well and they all would eventually get taken to a concentration camp or the gas chambers unless they were left unfound in

From 1933 to 1945, millions of lives were thrown into chaos because of the Holocaust. Families were ripped apart and values were washed away as citizens were forcefully placed in concentration camps to either be immediately killed or to work until they died. Every person within the camps faced unthinkable trauma. Once everyone was released, the prisoners began to search for lost loved ones and a sense of normality. However, the anguish did not end with the end of the Holocaust. Following the Holocaust, first generation survivors developed abnormal values, societal dependence, and a need to avoid the topic of the Holocaust as an effect of their trauma; these side effects were then passed down to future generations

The article, “The Girl Who Lived Forever”, by Kristen Lewis, describes the hardships of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl, and her family, who like millions of other Jews, perished at the hands of the Nazis during WWII. Anne Frank lived during one of the most terrifying and horrific historical events the world has ever seen, the Holocaust. She and her family managed to survive for 2 long years in hiding, by living in a secret annex behind her father’s pectin factory. In August of 1944, the SS captured Anne and the others hiding in the annex. All but Otto Frank, Anne’s father, perished in the Nazi concentration camps. Though they lived through unspeakable and unimaginable challenges, Anne, her family and their friends showed a tremendous amount of courage trying to defy Hitler and his evil regime.

Born in Poland, Henia Weit was the youngest of nine children in her family. She lived in a town by the name of Sambor. Unfortunately, the town was bombarded by German soldiers shortly after Hitler started his reign of terror on the Jews. Henia’s family was forced to do laborious work in a ghetto until they were all deported to a concentration camp. Fortunately for Henia, she was able to escape and never went to the concentration camp herself. Instead, she had to survive for several years alone, with only her sister to turn to.

Many Jewish people were persecuted and killed during the Holocaust. “They were not allowed to go to most public areas such as the park” (Children and the Holocaust) “ and the Jewish children weren’t allowed to go to the same school with the other German children” (International Institute for Holocaust Research). Many families tried to leave and escape before it became dangerous for Jews to live in German occupied countries, but “lack of money and strict immigration control caused them not to be able to” (Children and the Holocaust). “Some of the lucky families were able to find a hiding place” (International Institute for Holocaust Research), or escape before the Holocaust, but some of the other “families that could not get away were sent to the ghettos or killing camps” (Children

Her story is an example of a person who struggled with adversity but searched for a reason to hope. She has used her remarkable survival as an inspiration for those who have no reason to believe they can overcome struggles. She has a foundation named Citizenship Counts which teaches students about their rights and the importance of their citizenship. She has written many books about her experiences and her belief that hope will help a person overcome darkness. She travels the world today telling people her story to increase their knowledge of the Holocaust. Her story of survival serves of as an inspiration to people who are suffering and are looking for a reason to have hope.¹

Her father, who always seemed to know what was on her mind, told her never to do that and never think about that again. One day her father came up to her and told her to put on her snow boots. She did as she was told, and it just so happens that a short period of time later she and other girls were forced on a “Death march,” as it was called. The march was called this because either they died on the way or they marched to their death. Gerda Klein survived this march because of her friends and her determination and hope. He was found by an american soldier, who was also Jewish. He had escaped to the U.S.A. because his family sent him there before they were captured.

First let’s talk about how Inge Auerbacher survived. She was able to survive with her mother and grandmother. She was with her grandfather, grandmother, father, and her mother when the Holocaust began. Her father and grandfather were taken away while she and her grandmother and mother were in the shed. They didn’t move at all until they didn’t hear anything more! The reason she lived through most of this was because of her mom, grandma, grandpa, and her dad! They all helped her through the hard times. She was able to go back to America after they were in the ghetto camp for nearly 3 years!

“The fact is they know I went through hell.” -Professor Bacharach, Holocaust Survivor. Ever since many centuries ago, Jewish people were treated unfairly and unjustly according to their religion and characteristics. The Holocaust was a fearful and painful genocide because of anti-semitism throughout European countries. Up to six million Jews died in the harrowing genocide, along with the death of many other religious and ethnical groups ("Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution"). As much as a fraction of the number of Jews survived. With much grief and sorrow during the Holocaust, the survivors had to suffer the emotional and physical trauma after the event. Survivors had to face the reality of rebuilding their lives after the

Gerda hard endured the hardships performed on her by the Nazis for several years before she makes the profound assertion that suffering only exists because she recognizes it. Gerda has lost all of her family members and nearly all of her friends. The pain and sorrow she has felt over the loss of her loved ones boils up until it reaches her maximum threshold of acknowledgement. This culmination of emotions erupts into a state of apathy, in which she loses her ability to feel sorrow. Gerda recognizes her duty as a survivor when she states, “Now I have to live, because I am alone and nothing can hurt me any more” (Klein 95). This profound statement embodies Gerda’s new outlook on the importance of life. She comprehends the fact that she will

Jewish people did not only suffer physically, but psychologically throughout the Holocaust. The Jewish prisoners were deprived of food and water, which resulted in a decline of morale, cruelty among fellow prisoners instead of unity, and crushed friendships. Some of the Jews did not have the desire of anything, including the desire to live because they endured such a great amount of pain and suffering (Jewish 3). Sometimes, best friends throughout life were cruel and threatening towards one another for one small piece of bread. When Jewish people were organized by gender, families were forced to split apart and never witnessed the presence of each other again.