Non-Jewish Children In The Holocaust

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.

Over one million Jewish children died during the Holocaust. They were ripped out of their homes and taken away from their families, and stripped of their childhoods. Innocent lives were caught in a war that they were not able to stop. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he promised Germany that he would improve life their by getting rid of the one race that caused the problems, the Jews. Jews, including Jewish children, were sent to concentration camps, inspected, and if approved, were sent to work. All others would have been sent to be killed. Being sent to work did not ensure survival, children would be given very little food and water, and beaten severely, which caused their death. None of the children of the Holocaust will ever

The implications of the Holocaust and the extent to which perceptions of the event have shaped Jewish views of identity are among the most crucial in today’s society. Literature revealed that although children of Holocaust survivors and perpetrators did not experience events directly, they might suffer in some form. Jewish descendants experience symptoms of trauma and bear the burden of replacing the dead. According to clinical experience and empirical research, this clinical population seems to have specific disturbances focused on difficulties in coping with stress and a high vulnerability to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This literature review will focus first on how trauma is transmitted and will then discuss the existence of any indicators of psychopathology in the offspring of Holocaust survivors.

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

During the Holocaust many Jews were hidden in fear. Force to live together and make a living. There was no discrimination of age of Jews. Jews old and young alike were persecuted. Like the three teens named Margot Frank, Anne Frank, and Peter Van Daan. These teens have

After Germany lost World War I, it was in a national state of humiliation. Their economy was in the drain, and they had their hands full paying for the reparations from the war. Then a man named Adolf Hitler rose to the position of Chancellor and realized his potential to inspire people to follow. Hitler promised the people of Germany a new age; an age of prosperity with the country back as a superpower in Europe. Hitler had a vision, and this vision was that not only the country be dominant in a political sense, but that his ‘perfect race’, the ‘Aryans,’ would be dominant in a cultural sense. His steps to achieving his goal came in the form of the Holocaust. The most well known victims of the Holocaust were of course, the Jews.

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

Kindertransport was the program created during the Holocaust with a reason, but its children faced various outcomes. The growing rate of Jewish refugees became an urgent matter after the damage done on Kristallnacht, which left many homeless, without families, and without significant structures and buildings. The solution was compromised to allow children under the age of 17 into the Great Britain, depending on their registration and intense need to leave Germany. However, once in the United Kingdoms, the children faced many new situations, varying from their age and gender. New homes and safe shelters from the war were presented to some children. Other children struggled to adjust to new lifestyles or to survive on their own after abandonment

Also included were the host families themselves, who took the frightened children into their homes and showered them with affection, love, and patience. Tens of thousands of children survived the Holocaust by living under new identities for lengthy periods of time with adoptive parents, or in institutions, such as religious orphanages, many of these stories also appeared in the Hidden Child bulletins over the years. In the Eastern side of Europe “the Germans executed not only the people who sheltered Jews, but their entire family as well” (The Holocaust). Western Europe was much more lenient, but many of the righteous individuals were incarcerated in camps or murdered randomly here too. Anyone who assisted in helping Jews “lived under constant fear of being caught; there was always the danger of denunciation by neighbors or collaborators” (The Holocaust). Jews were hidden in rescuers’ homes and property, they were provided false papers and identities, and were smuggled out of ghettos and concentration camps. As the entire race of Jews was being destroyed, a trace of hope and strength arose as the Righteous Gentiles sheltered Jews from the whole world that was against them.

During this time the Jews were not expecting for what came, and was very unprepared for the step by step process that happened to make them disappear (Boag). “Up until the nationwide anti-Jewish violence of 1938, known as Kristallnacht, many Jews in Germany expected to be able to hold out against Nazi-sponsored persecution,” (“Holocaust Memorial Council”). The Jewish people of Germany looked at themselves to be German and did many things to prove it, like fight for their country in World War I (“Holocaust Memorial Council”). More than 10,000 Jewish people died fighting for their country in World War I, and many others that didn’t die were congratulated for the work they did by receiving a medal (“Holocaust Memorial Council”).

In today's world, people seem to worry about unnecessary things, like what they are going to wear or even if their hair looks good. Children living during the Holocaust had much more important things to worry about, like if they would survive. This inhumane carnage will haunt the survivors for the rest of their lives. The Holocaust was one of the worst genocides this world has ever seen. The children of the Holocaust were stripped from their beliefs, family, and endured the stress of wondering if they would see another day, the fright of concentration camps, and the strength to survive this massacre.

Spending time away from parents can be hard, but not knowing if you would ever see them again would be even harder. The rise of Hitler scared Jews greatly. Families were being sent away to camps and some would never see each other again. The Kindertransport was a rescue effort created by the British government, as a chance to try and save Jewish kids lives during the time of Hitler’s rule. Parents chose to send their kids to Great Britain in a hope to seek refuge from the Nazis.

The Holocaust was a very serious event throughout the 1940s, many people had to hide from the Nazis so they could survive. Some people were successful when hiding but others were not so lucky. The Nazis found them and they got relocated which can also be known as killed torchured.

Millions of Jewish lives, including children, were taken during the Holocaust. However many Children were saved by various organizations or giving their children to non-Jewish families.

The Holocaust is a very large topic with many subtopics within, which many people have never heard of. One in particular is the Hidden Children of the Holocaust. Like a majority of individuals, I never heard of this topic before, until I started my inquiry work. Hiding children during the holocaust was an effort to save thousands of children’s lives. The children were hidden in different ways, either with false identities, underground, and with or without their parents. The children with false identities were allowed to participate in everyday life activities, like attend school and socialize with children their age, which in the long run this lead to less emotional and mental issues. However, the children that were hidden and not allowed to leave their hiding spots often faced boredom, pain, and torment. Some children were capable of being hid with their parents while other children were not. Depending on the situation the child was in, depends on the effects it had on the child during this time. In this paper, I will be discussing works by two scholars, Natalia Aleksiun’s Gender and Daily Lives of Jews in Hiding in Eastern Galicia and Judy Mitchell’s Children of the Holocaust. Aleksiun’s article talks about the daily lives of Jews in hiding and also about how they prepared their hideouts. Aleksiun’s article mainly focuses on children that were hidden with their families. In Mitchell’s article, he focuses on the hidden children and gives examples/survivor stories on what it