Jakob's Story: Holocaust Survivor

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.

At the entrance to each death camp, there was a process of Selektion or selection. Pregnant women, small children, the sick or handicapped, and the elderly were immediately condemned to death. As horrific as it was, it didn’t surprise many that Hitler had the audacity to do these terrible things. The Holocaust was an act of genocide in which Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany killed about two thirds of the population of Jews in Europe from 1941-1945 but the trouble started brewing much before that. Though there were only a small amount of survivors, very few alive to this day, there are many pieces of literature that help prove that this in fact happened. Literature can help us remember and honor the victims of the Holocaust because, it gives different

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

The Holocaust was a disaster affecting many people's lives, mainly targeting Jewish people. They were also against Poles, Gypsies, Russians, The Disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses and Homosexuals. During the Holocaust six million Jews were murdered and many others were treated inhuman and killed. People who were affected by the Holocaust were discriminated, segregated and hated. This people were mistreated and their freedom was taking away, just by having different beliefs and have a different looks.

There are many times one can see the Nazi’s brutalizing the Jews throughout the novel. From the moment the Nazi’s took the Jews as prisoners they were being mistreated. They were loaded into cattle cars, a vehicle made to transport animals, to the point where they were so full people could hardly breathe. They were sent to concentration camps where they were tortured and treated as slaves. As they entered the camps they were humiliated, SS officers yelled at them to “‘Strip! Hurry up! Raus! Hold on only to your belt and your shoes”(Wiesel 35). They were sent to cold showers and bathed in a sulfur-scented soap to be identifiable by their scent. They received only one small ration of food a day, these people were starved. Not only were they cared for like a group of worthless animals but some were never even given a chance.

This book was effective and achieved the purpose of describing the Holocaust in a personal and relative manner. I do not think anyone who reads this book does not finish it with a better understanding of what the victims of concentration camps experienced. This book

The Holocaust was a time that left a big scar on the culture of our world as a whole and there are still people suffering from it still to this day. In my investigation I will be looking at to what extent did the Holocaust affect the survivors, both mentally and physically upon return home from the concentration camps. I will be looking at books, both present and from the time period that talk about how they felt and what happened when they got home. I will also surf the internet, find interviews with survivors, look for articles, and newspapers from the time in order to get a better idea of what was going on in their life. I will then compare and contrast the facts at hand and pull out and mix what is the same and

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 Holocaust was very extreme, forcing victims to make a choice between prioritizing their own survival or allowing a close friend or family member to live. Some people would not have survived unless they could steal clothes or food from another person else, and countless others selflessly surrendered their own resources allowing a family member to stay alive. Night is a novel written by Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel. In Auschwitz, the officers deprived Elie and the other prisoners of food, resources and clean living space. Prisoners had to sacrifice morality if they wanted to live. My Life in Germany is a short story by Rosa Marie Burger. It takes place in the Holocaust's early days and highlights the sharp loss of rights that the German Jews endured. They felt betrayed when their fellow citizens did not speak out. Most people will not remain loyal if it means putting themselves in imminent danger.

     The world that people lived in during the Holocaust is described by the personal experiences of the oppressed throughout the story Jack and Rochelle, written by Jack and Rochelle Sutin, and the memoir by Alexander Donat titled The Holocaust Kingdom. The horrifying mindset of the oppressors, particularly the Nazi`s, is illustrated in both books. The vicious and relentless emotional, physical, and psychological abuse the Nazi`s targeted at their victims is depicted in detail. The unspeakable cruelty received by the Jews dramatically altered their state of mind and how they lived their lives. The emotions of despair, distress, depression, hopelessness, helplessness felt by the Jews

“Why had I worked so hard to survive if it was always going to end like this? If had known, I wouldn’t have bothered. I would have let them kill me back in the ghetto. It would have been easier that way. All that I had done was for nothing.” Based on a shocking true story, this excerpt shows one of Jakob Gruener’s largest conflicts throughout “Prisoner B-3087” by Alan Gratz. Jakob, a young jewish man from Poland, perseveres many concentration camps and death marches, and seems to vary between the determination to live, or give in to the Nazi brutality and die. The story takes place during World War II, when the jewish people were taken by the Nazi Rich (Rike/Bike) in concentration camps, Jakob being one of the millions of jews taken. Jakob

“I pray you never stand at any crossroads in your own lives, but if you do, if the darkness seems so total, if you think there is no way out, remember, never ever give up. The darker the night, the brighter the dawn, and when it gets really, really dark, this is when one sees the true brilliance of the stars.” These words were spoken by Gerda Klein, a Holocaust survivor. Her story is filled with desperation and an overwhelming sense of hope. Gerda Weissmann was born in Bielsko, Poland. Both of her parents and her older brother died during the Holocaust. She was somehow able to survive “the ghetto, deportation, slave labor camps and a three month death march. She was rescued by an American soldier named Kurt Klein. She ended up marrying him and moving to the United States.

The Holocaust was a tragic event that involved the murder of millions of Jews from the years 1938 to 1945. Elie Wiesel was a victim to this, being a Jew himself. The book he wrote, Night, tells

The rise of Anti- Semitism was affecting the Jews all over Europe. Jewish towns and neighbourhoods were confined to ghettos starting in 1939. After living in ghettos for approximately 2 years and under unbearable conditions, German soldiers rounded up Jews and began to place them on trains. The experiences of Elie Wiesel and Irene Fogel Weiss are just two of the millions of stories that exist. Their experiences in the concentration camps have many similarities as well as many differences and not only has the Holocaust left physical scars but psychological scars too, which Viktor Frankel has written a book about, being a psychologist and a Holocaust survivor.

Jakob’s story is one that contains pain, hate and even miracles. 80 km from Warsaw in the town of Makow Mazowiecki Jews were taken away and forced into their place of worship. Which after the invasion of the Germans resembled nothing more than a stable due to overpopulation while they were there they were forced to wear stars at all times to make them stand out as Jewish people. Soon after those very same people were sent to ghettos where many diseases reined free killing very many Jews. Two weeks after that Jakob and the other Jews were taken to the Mlawa ghetto where they stayed for 10 days before moving on to Auschwitz. During Jakob's stay at Auschwitz the women and children were instantly sent to the gas chambers the survivors were decided