Hope During The Holocaust: A Literary Analysis

“You don't understand the power of loss when it first hits you like a baseball coming fast from an out-of-control pitcher. You reel back stinging from the blow.” (Bauer,162). Throughout the novel Hope Was Here we see characters go through struggles and gain strength to overcome them. In our everyday lives we have struggles that we also have to overcome. In the novel Hope Was Here, one of the characters Braverman has to choose his family or education. The character Addie, faces the struggle of miscarrying three babies. In my life I have struggles and so do the people around me. For instance, my grandma went through the struggle of losing her husband. From this novel it is learned that if there's no struggle there's no strength.

There were many quotes within the memoir that symbolized hope. “We mustn't give up hope , even now as the sword hangs over our head. So taught out sages”. (Wiesel 31) Jews felt that even though they were so close to death at this point, they can’t give up hope. Individuals began to lead their group as if they were responsible

Defining hope can be equivocal and yet it is commonly associated with a particular experience. Hope reflects an individuals moral values, it is required for human survival; hope is often needed when there is a sense of uncertainty for the future (Tanis & DiNapoli, 2008). In healthcare, hope is described as one of the most important concepts associated with spirituality; without it everything else seems to loose its value. Therefore, hope instigates positive adjustment during the dynamic process of recovery (Tutton, Seers, & Langstaff, 2009).

I am and SS officer. I was stationed at Auschwitz. More Jews were coming in every day. There were eighty to a cattle cart. There were so many families that had to go separate ways from one another. I had killed mothers and the babies and weakest of the men that couldn’t work. It was horrible, I do say. If I could say no I would never do it again. I loved my country and Hitler at the time, so I was willing to do whatever it took to get noticed. I was then stationed at a woman’s concentration camp. They all had gotten shaved, had no gold teeth, and had had tattoos on their arms. It was their identification code. They were so skinny it was just skin stuck to the bones. They looked like corpses, but alive. I wonder how many died soon after.

This shows that even a terrible event like this, will eventually work out. Another example that shows hope, is when maddie and grandfather are abandoned on the side of the road. They had to have hope, or else they would not have been able to gather food or water. As you can see, through these experiences, you must always have hope, because without hope, you will not succeed.

Many people believed that the Jews would never survive the concentration camps. However, the Jews managed to stay alive physically and spiritually by working with all the strength they could muster, making the best with the rations they were given, believing in family’s promises, and having faith that they would be free once again. Therefore, people should always stay strong even when it seems like all hope is lost.

During the Holocaust, about six million Jews died. Some were taken to concentration and execution camps, such as Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and Chelmno. Others were kept in ghettos with terrible living conditions in order to segregate them from the rest of society. Regardless of the suffering, these people miraculously managed to keep their head up and look on the bright side. To some, it may be a mystery of how they stayed strong. However, it is clear that love, nature, and humor allowed human spirit to triumph during the Holocaust.

Anxiety washed over the poor boy. It was dark, darker than Zerdek had ever know. With each second that passed, a low mumble could be heard from the corner. Something or someone else was here with him. Wherever here was. He shut his eyes thinking about the light. Thinking about anything that would make it seem like he was back at home. Home. He tried to remember the faces. He tried to remember each of the tree top building. Yet it was a blur. Everything that had happen with-in the last few hours, day, months was a giant blur from him. He had no concept of time. A click came from afar, as light came barreling in. Zerdek let out a low growl as he covered his eyes, unable to adjust to the light quickly enough. Arms reached out and pulled to two

War. History is filled with it. Some great, some small, and some tremendously horrific. World War II can only be categorized as one of these and to say it was horrific is only putting it lightly. Consequently, those who suffered the brunt of this time was the Jews. They maintained hope through the mental, physical, and emotional abuse forced upon them by the Nazis. The Edelweiss Pirates were a group of teens who rebelled against the Nazis, even before the beginning of the war. Their rebellion filled the Jews with hope.

It is evident that in all the documents, hope is one of the aspects of those people’s lives that provide them with the will to survive. I believe, that the best example that exhibits the importance of hope during those times is Anne Frank’s story (Doc D). At just thirteen years of age, she was forced to move to a “Secret Annexe” where she remained hidden for two years. She imagined what it would be like to go outside and experience happiness once again, amidst the simple beauty of nature. Wondering when she would be able to do so gave her life climax, thus providing her with the will to live.

6 million lives, all of those perished in the holocaust for nothing but their religion; So many died but some survived and one survivor in particular Elie Wiesel author of Night tells his story of how at the age 16 he was deported to a concentration camp with his father and saw what took to survive. In those moments where Wiesel is describing what happened is where we decide is hope really the reason he survived or was it is fear?

Carrying Chaim close to her body, and fearfully looking around, she ran home, the first place she could think of. For the first few minutes, her husband, Victor was relieved to see her alive; his moods changed drastically when he realized the danger they will face with Chaim at home.

In Elie Wiesel's book, Night, the overlap of optimism and will for survival and faith kept many people in the Holocaust alive, including Elie Wiesel. The Holocaust was an agonizing time for many people. It was a mass persecution and murder of 6 million jews and 5 million non-jewish people. Some people targeted in the Holocaust were Jewish People, Homosexuals, the disabled, Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, Communists, and Socialists. They were sent to camps most of the time. Those who were deemed fit to work normally would be anybody over the age of 14 and appearing to be healthy, anybody else was sent to be executed. The Elderly and Women with Children had no chance of being deemed fit to work.

There were several instances where the Nazi’s use mass fear to gain control of everyone at once. Those who gave into the fear and gave up their hope withered away in defeat. However, those who utilized their hope and the hope of those around them were able to survive. In his interview with Oprah, Wiesel talks about how he was able to survive and why, “‘It feels like a miracle that you did survive.’ [Oprah] ‘Believe me, Oprah. I can’t understand it either. I was the wrong person for it [Wiesel],’” (24:00-24:08). I believe Weisel was able to live through the Holocaust because he kept hope. Even after his father died he was able to keep hope. Hope for more food, hope for life after Auschwitz. Wiesel believes he shouldn't have survived, there were many more valuable who perished. So why him? I believe Wiesel survived because of hope, he hung on to hope wherever he could get it. He never gave up on family and community. Even when his father was killed, he said nothing, in order to end his father's suffering, not in vain. He was able to keep hope all the way to the end even when times felt bleak and pointless. He never turned against his father, or beat him for a bite of bread. He kept hope, faith, and humanity amongst mountains of fear, despair, and murder. Wiesel was able to survive because he used hope as a shield against

Throughout the Holocaust, Jewish people suffered in numerous and various ways. Jews suffered as a part of the Nazi plotted “Final Solution.” The Final Solution was a plan during World War II to systematically exterminate the Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Europe. This resulted in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, the destruction of Jewish communities in continental Europe. The leader of the Nazi regime was Adolf Hitler, who believed there was a perfect race, which was the Aryan race (Bohm 4). The Aryan race had blue eyes and blonde hair, although Hitler himself was not an Aryan. Throughout the Holocaust, Jewish people suffered physically, psychologically, and financially.