Holocaust Reflection

     Throughout history the Jewish people have been scapegoats; whenever something was not going right they were the ones to blame. From Biblical times through to the Shakespearean Era, all the way to the Middle East Crisis and the creation of Israel, the Jews have been persecuted and blamed for the problems of the world. The most horrifying account of Jewish persecution is the holocaust, which took place in Europe from 1933 to 1945 when Adolf Hitler tried to eliminate all the people that he thought were inferior to the Germans, namely the Jews, because he wanted a pure Aryan State.

The film that made an impression on me because of its techniques that were effective in showing the themes of the story was The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. It was directed by Mark Herman, 2008 and is about an adventurous little German boy whose father gets a promotion to be commandant at a concentration camp. The little German boy, Bruno is the naive narrator. In spite of the fact that this film depends on the Holocaust and all the great degree brutal things that happened in the second world war, the movie is based around Bruno's understanding as a child and his friendship with a little Jewish boy, Shmuel. The techniques I write about that illustrate the themes of the film are; dialogue and music, acting, costume, camera shots, and symbolism.

As Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel once said, “To forget a Holocaust is to kill twice,” that is why we are called to remember. Many movies, novels, and story representations of the Holocaust have been created in order to spread the memory of the past. An important part of remembering is learning, and therefore not repeating the same mistakes once again. Movies may find it difficult to represent the Holocaust accurately, while also giving it meaning and artistic expression. The writer, Edwin de Vries, and the director, Jeroen Krabbé, strive to represent the legacies of the Holocaust and Jewish culture in the film, Left Luggage (1998), based on a novel by Carl Friedman through a portrayal of the daily lives of Holocaust survivors and their children in late 1960s Antwerp, their direct confrontations with their memories of the Holocaust, and character development. The film shows us many examples of the legacy of the Holocaust as it is passed through the children of survivors, and how it continues to affect their daily lives. The audience understands the intentions through depictions of muteness and the necessity to remember.

The Holocaust, a morbid atrocity that made people question humanity, was the cause of millions of deaths. One of those victims of this brutality was Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis along with her family. Although she was merely ordinary, Anne Frank kept a diary which became a significant, historical artifact in the modern world as it details her account of concealing her identity from the outside world. Her story, told in an innocent perspective, allows individuals to reflect the dreadful events of the Holocaust and acknowledge how far we have come since then. Even though she died along with millions of other victims from the Holocaust, her spirit still exists thanks to her articulately written words in her diary which is now considered one of the most famous works of literature. Anne Frank’s legacy still lives on today because her story provides a primary source of a dark period in history, insightful contemplation of humanity, and motivation for people to stand up against unjustified persecution.

     Within the twentieth century, what event stands out to you as the most inhumane treatment of fellow humans. Without a doubt, most would agree that the Holocaust completely matches this sad frame of reference. The Holocaust in Germany was an unspeakable event in human history. In this terrible act, at its worst in Poland, was the direct cause of the deaths of 62.7% of the Jewish population in Europe (History 1). It is obvious that two themes stand out during this time period death and humanity, or inhumanity for that matter.

From 1933-1945 the Nazi Party, in Germany, had a rise which affected not only Jewish lives in Europe. During this timeframe the Holocaust occurred. The Holocaust was an event which ended in about six million Jews being assassinated by a German leader named Adolf Hitler. Hitler had help from the Nazi Party. The Nazis were important because they had such an in depth role in the Holocaust. The Nazis played a huge part in the Holocaust because they changed life for the Jews politically, economically, and socially, treated the Jews in Nazi Germany differently, and came up/ implemented a “Final Solution.”

As tensions mounted up until the point of World War II and the war stormed through Europe, another battle silently raged. Not only did Hitler and the Nazi party wage war on countries throughout Europe, they also assaulted and purged entire innocent groups. The Holocaust began in 1933 and reached its height in WW II, while coming to an end with the war in 1945. Hitler used the Holocaust as a mechanism to rid his "racially superior" German state of any "inferior" groups (especially Jews) that would be of some threat or sign of inferiority to Germany. As a result of the Holocaust, millions of men, women, and children of various national, ethnic, and social

During the reign of the Third Reich, the symbolization of the pink triangle was used to identify the thousands of gay prisoners who were sent to extermination camps under Paragraph 175, the law that criminalized homosexuality between men. Researchers say that an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 gay men died in these camps, however this figure does not include those who were interned and later released, let alone those who died undocumented and forever forgotten to history.¹ These thousands of men were forced through excruciating cruelties with little to no reprieve or recognition of the atrocities perpetrated against them. It is because of this that while they are not a distinct racial, ethnic, or religious group, the treatment of those who bore the pink triangle during the Holocaust follows the genocidal process and as such gay Holocaust victims should be considered sufferers of genocide.

It’s about the jews and how and what happened to them after the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the time where about six million jews and one million other people dying. Most people were killed because they belonged to different races and religions. The Nazis wanted to kill people that weren’t from their same religious group. The Nazis also killed people who disrespected Hitler. Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party.

The Holocaust, one of humanities most horrendous acts and a large topic in the history of World War II. Led by the German National Socialists, the Holocaust was an attack on innocent people for reasons of race, sexuality, nationality, and religion with their main target being the millions of European Jews who they saw as an ‘inferior race’. Hitler and his higher up stripped Jews of everything. He took their money, their homes, their jobs, their nationality, their dignity, and eventually he took their lives. In Peter Longerich’s Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews, Longerich takes an in depth look at Nazi politics and how it eventually led to their Final Solution of the Jewish Question. His research that began in the late 1990s, when he questioned both schools of Holocaust studies, the Intentionalists and the Structuralists. His studies in Europe led to a novel that that outlines the entire history of the Holocaust, the ideas of Judenfrage, and the implementation of Judenpolitik on the Jews of Europe from 1933 to 1945.

When someone sees a person that they know and love die in front of your eyes this will usually change the way they see the World. This was most evident during the Holocaust during world war two. The individuals that did not have to endure this painful event often wonder how the Jewish people could stay so strong knowing that their people are being killed. Individuals will usually come to the conclusion that the victims who survived the holocaust, most have lost their faith in humanity, in each other, and also in God. Others will come to the conclusion that they did not loses at all but the survivors of the Holocaust gained strength though faith. Many Jewish victims of the Holocaust that believed in God did not truly lose their faith in the end. They either gained faith that they did not know they had or their faith that they had grown stronger.

The Holocaust of 1933-1945, was the systematic killing of millions of European Jews by the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazis) (Webster, 430). This project showed the treacherous treatment towards all Jews of that era. Though many fought against this horrific genocide, the officials had already determined in their minds to exterminate the Jews. Thus, the Holocaust was a malicious movement that broke up many homes, brought immense despair, and congregated great discrimination. The Holocaust was an act of Hell on earth.

The Holocaust was a horrible event and had many tragedies and losses of family and friends. This event starts in 1933 where Hitler rises to power, and ends in 1945 where Hitler is defeated and the holocaust has ended. There are many topics about the holocaust that people would want to know, but this topic is a crucial and important one. The topic is Life during the Holocaust where we learn about how Jewish people live during the holocaust and what happened to them in the concentration camps.

During the Holocaust Unit, my thinking about this subject was molded and changed in many ways. At first, I knew very little, and I wondered what happened to the victims as well as who they were and how many of them there were. I wanted to know what the Nazis motives were in terrorizing so many people. I also wondered whether the effects still rippled through our society today and if it was necessary for this reason for us to learn about it. Before starting the unit, I thought that the only or main way people were affected were through Concentration Camps. I also wrongly thought that only Jews were targeted. I understood that many people suffered during this time due to the cruelty of Nazis. My interpretation was that there were many pieces

The Holocaust is one of history’s worst moments. Articles published based on this time have a heavy impact the reader, as some are objective and others are subjectively written. Objectivity is when a text is not influenced by personal feelings or opinions, in considering and representing facts. Subjectivity is when a text is based on or influenced by personal feelings or opinions. Both writing styles can change the reader's views about an event and influence their understanding of the events. “The Nuremberg Laws Deprived Jews of Their Rights in Nazi Germany” is a mainly objective text, with faint subjective undertones.