The Holocaust: A Survivor Of The Holocaust

When the Nazi’s were raiding the ghetto they were killing the sick and shooting people who were trying to run away. They threw away our luggage and forced us on trains that went to labor camps. We were forced to work and were killed if we stopped working. If we were sick we were shipped off and killed. They would line us up and shoot us to save bullets. If we tried to talk to a soldier to complain we would be killed right on the spot. As I am writing this they are rounding up to be checked to make sure that we are hea *insert blood stain here*

Being in the camps was horrible. They smelt like dead flesh and were as cold as Antarctic. Ever since I was a kid, my mum said I had a big heart and the camps had proved that. Even though I was on the Germans side, I didn’t support anything they were doing; it was disgusting, to say the least. The Germans would shoot the Jew’s as if they were wild animals just running around waiting to be shot. Their faces so stiff, that they no longer seemed human themselves. Days spent hearing cries of despair and sadness, all caused by one guy who believed that, this is what they had deserved. A human life being put in the hand of another. I hated it, and the worst part was being able to do nothing but watch on and see hundreds, thousands lose their precious lives. It was silly and stupid, an unimaginable experience that doesn’t even sound real. How someone could be that evil is something that I could never comprehend.

When the train stopped and we were expelled, I stood on the stations platform sipping the air as if I were taking a long drink. Shaking off the feeling of confinement, I felt free. Yet, I was not free, we were not free, none of us were free. What was this place I asked myself? There was nothing here but barbed wire and watch towers, snarling dogs and Nazis. It seemed as if the train had deposited all of Europe’s Jews to this same location. Are we all here to work? There were also the others, men in striped uniforms and shaved heads and sunken faces. Some of them handled the belongings we were told to leave on the platform while others yelled at us like the Nazis, ordering people here and there.

I had trained as a tailor and had left home before we were deported, when I went to work four miles away on a ranch. It was taken over by the SS, so suddenly I found myself working for them. In May 1943 they lined us up one day and told us to empty our pockets. If they found even a single zloty in anyone’s pocket, they were shot on the spot. We were transported to Majdanek, which was only 19 miles away – a torture camp in the true sense of the word. For 500 metres there were just ditches full of bodies, legs, heads. We were deported to Auschwitz four weeks later. We arrived in the early morning and they gave us a bed, a real shower, they cleaned us well with disinfectant and shaved us. After that they gave us striped uniforms and tattooed us. I was given the number 128164 on my left arm and from that point on I was a number, no longer a name.

What would your account of the Holocaust be? The Holocaust was a unique event in twentieth century history which, evolved between 1933 and 1945. Beginning with discrimination; then the Jews were separated from their communities and persecuted; they were treated as less than human beings and murdered. While the Jews of Europe were the Nazis’ primary target, many millions of other people were also imprisoned, enslaved and murdered. These people included Roma, those with mental or physical disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, trade unionists, political opponents, Poles and Soviet prisoners of war. The Nazis did not act alone. They were supported and assisted by people from within the countries they occupied across Europe. Most countries stood by while the Nazis and their accomplices carried out the mass murder of the Jewish people. Thus, in 1941 there were about 11 million Jews living in Europe; by May 1945 the Nazis had murdered six million of them. One-and-a-half million of these were children.

Summary: This article was an introduction to the Holocaust. The German Nazi’s thought that the Jews were a community. Not only the Jews were targeted, anyone with a racial inferiority was targeted. For example, although the Jews were the main threat the gypsies, Jehovah’s witnesses, and homosexuals and the disabled were also targeted. The Holocaust was a way to decrease the Jewish population; the final solution was to murder the Jews of Europe or anyone that was a threat to their German culture. Many died of incarceration and maltreatment. During the war they created ghettos, forced-labor camps between 1941 and 1944 the Nazi German Authorities would deport the Jews to extermination camps where they were murdered in gassing facilities. May 7, 1945 the German armed forces surrendered to the allies.

I felt my heartbeat rising every step I took as the blood rushed to the surface of my skin. My muscles tightened, beginning with my legs as if I could’ve ran fast enough to chase the truck. The image of the man and his words repeated many times in my mind, making me vulnerable to hatred. I thought I was doing something good and just. I was naïve. I thought everyone would gladly give us a helping hand. I looked at everyone around me, and I noticed it wasn’t just me that was burning with raged. I could see the anger in their eyes as they conversed with each other. It wasn’t until a loud voice snapped me out of it. “Do not show fear! Do not show anger! Our justice cannot break that easily!”

The Holocaust was a very traumatic event in history. Every year in school from about middle school onward students learn specifically about Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party’s cruel treatment of the Jewish culture and people during World War II. The same general knowledge is given to us from middle school up until the ending our high school history careers. We are taught to believe that Adolf Hitler was a corrupt man, who sought control of Germany in the 1930’s. Even though we are given background information on this event, and there are things being told to us, no one knows what actually occurred during this time, except those who lived through it. In the book Night published by Elie Wiesel, he explains the things that happened to his family and the people in his community named Sighet before, during, and after the Holocaust. There is more than what meets the eye to this occurrence. No one sees the bigger picture when it comes to this event because of the fact that such a tragedy occurred in the first place. Although the Holocaust was a very unfortunate event, the Holocaust did benefit the United States in a plethora of different ways. Without the Holocaust, World War II would have never happened, and World War II brought countless positives attributes to America. A myriad of things came out of World War II. For example, women earned the right to attain jobs because of the war. Also, America became a global power due to the fact that the Allies (United States, Britain,

The nazi did many things to make the jews feel less human and more like “things”. One way was they were taken from their home no explanation, no reason just told them to get their belongings. They only gave them 24hr to get a small bag of their belongings. “I have terrible news ; deportation.

On a cold fall morning, hundreds of Jewish families woke up to be told that they were to come with the Nazis and that they would be leaving their homes. No explanation, no clue as to where they are going to end up, they bagged up their necessities. The mothers and fathers carried bags upon bags of things that they believed that they were going to get to keep. The children cried, the mothers trembled in fear, while the fathers tried to hold their families together. Out on the cold streets they went, to wait. The Nazis were mean, strict, and rude. Telling the not to move or talk, having them stand never giving them a break. Basically treating them like a dog they were trying to teach a new trick. They taunted and made fun of them and laughed at their looks.

I threw my arm out in fear and tried to block every hit. I remember just yelling and screaming but no one was coming to help me, only because I was a black man. I was laying on the ground as the trooper walked away from me, he walked away as if he was done with me. I saw his face before everything was blurry, he was wearing a gas mask, but I couldn't believe what was coming next. There was a bang and what sounded like hissing snakes as everything got blurry. It was tear gas. There were screams and cries all accompanied with smacks and kicks. I couldn't imagine what was going on I could only think how thankful I was that my beating was finally over. I stay laid on the ground as all the sounds got quieter and quieter and everything grew dark.

Both adults and young children were sent to work, after doing extensive research Gottfried said, “All these children were worked to the point of exhaustion, and almost all eventually were killed” (Gottfried). This was horrific, children should have the chance to grow up without having to live a life of fear in a concentration camp, knowing that they were going to die. Soldiers separated the children from their parents right when they arrived at the camp to make the process faster. Soldiers instantly sent them to work, to the point of death. Soldiers didn’t care that children should have a life, instead they wanted them for work so they can win the war. They were also sent to work or die for what they believed in or for their ethnic group. Thousands of young kids, not old enough to work, were killed on the spot. Older ones, were sent to factories to work long laborious days and usually died on the job from working in horrible conditions and with severe punishments. If the children did not die from working non stop, then they were killed by the officers the second they thought the child was too weak to continue. There was a slim chance of any child surviving in a camp because they were malnourished and were not used to this tortuous life. Victim’s lives changed in a blink of an eye, being brought to a camp was one of the scariest things to happen the, “Prisoners were mistreated, underfed, and forced to work long, hard hours”(Saari and Maurice 339). This shows that the people of the Holocaust were in the worst conditions imaginable. Working for hours nonstop, kills the body and on top of that not having enough food or sleep destroys the body in so many ways and can make anyone go crazy and will kill someone. At this point, many people did not want to live because of what was happening to them. They threw their goals and dreams down the drain feeling as though, there

The subject of the Holocaust is brought up many times but I'l now tell you the actually reality of this whole time. Back then we Jews never knew what was going on. No one ever mentioned that we would be stuck in a camp having to work our butts off just so we basically I can afford our life. During the time when we first arrived we were joyful besides having to be cramp and having to sit or stand on the train ride here. But once we finally were out and had all of our luggage we were joyful for the vacation we were promised. But that all took a mad turn in sudden minutes. The Nazis all the sudden command that we get into two lines. One was filled with mother and children while the other was filled with the men. looked around and all could see was worry in everyone's eyes. We then realized the

November 25, 1944 Soviet soldiers begin to approach the German area so Heinrich ordered for the destruction of Auschwitz. I felt relieved but I came to realize that I jumped the gun. The Nazis weren't freeing the Jews but getting rid of the evidence and they went through any means to do so. The Nazis made sure to kill anyone who couldn't pick up the slack either. I tried my best not to hurt anyone but I eventually was forced to. I have been nothing but helpless in this catastrophe and I am hurting more than I am helping. I sicken myself.

As you leave the market, spending the last of your ration coupons and money on a piece of bread and water, you spot another Jewish family get caught by Gestapo. This is the 5th time today you have seen kids and adults squirming and crying trying to escape Gestapo, still finding hope in the back of their head that someone will help. You see this emotion on their face which makes you consider whether you should help the family or not. Then deciding not to risk your life in the situation, you glance back at the concrete and sprint away knowing in the back of your head that as much as you want to help the innocent Jews escape, you sense that your life matters more and Jews being killed is just another day in town. In the documentary Witness to the Holocaust, Miles Lehrman, a Holocaust survivor, writes “A perpetrator is not the most dangerous enemy.