The Holocaust: A Tragedy For Jews

The Holocaust was a time period in which Adolf Hitler was the dictator of Nazi Germany. He prosecuted many Jews because he believed they were the reason World War 1 started, causing the death of 100,000 German soldiers. Because of this, he made sure nearly every Jew was put into concentration camps or killed. Adolf Hitler was a man who wanted everything his way, and because of this he killed innocent people. The Holocaust was an unfair period for the Jews. The Jews were killed because of who they were, and the citizens didn’t try to do anything to help them

The Holocaust is a topic that some think of as a very essential part of history that students should learn about. On the other hand, some would argue that it is too severe for middle school students. Without a doubt, Nazis abused their large power and used it towards destruction and in so, violated civil rights and killed 6 million Jews. The Holocaust was a turning point in history that is only taught based on the judgement of schools. The Holocaust Museum in Houston says, “During the Holocaust religious, moral, and legal systems failed in deterring the dangers of prejudice.” This can compare to how there is a large debate on whether students should or shouldn’t learn about the Holocaust and topics similar to it. The Holocaust was a major part of history that has influenced many people and advanced the future to where we are now; thus, we should educate the the younger generation since teaching about the Holocaust enables you to advance into a better human being, students can use their critical thinking skills, and it honors those who have passed and survived.

The Holocaust was a tragedy. According to ushmm.org, “The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators”. This is a perfect explanation of the Holocaust seeing that so many innocent people were killed. If they weren’t they inevitably went through a great deal of pain whether it be from the abuse or watching all of their loved ones die. The Holocaust was intolerably devastating for many, tight quarters in all ghettos, and gruesome experiments on twins caused extreme pain for over 3,000 twins (thoughtco.com).

While examining the works of Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi it becomes apparent that the holocaust was a horrendous time in our human history. However, although both writers went through similar experiences during this time; both seem to reflect and dwell on things differently such as their point of view and lives in the camps as well as the different themes they focus on. In this analysis the stories of the two authors will be compared and as stated above will also focus on how they recount their experiences.

The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events in history. Although, many may deny the horrifying events that took innocent lives away evidence of the medical experiments are able to prove that it did. On January 19 ,1933 The Nazi’s invaded Germany. When dictator Adolf Hitler came to power he took many innocent lives by discriminating against the Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah 's witness, Polish, socialist, Russians, and homosexuals.

Prior to the holocaust, however, he exhibits none of these characteristics. He was kind, wealthy, and uncommonly resourceful, and his marriage to Anja was filled with compassion, intimacy, and love. Where now Vladek is now stubborn, irritable, and almost comically stingy with his money. His experiences in the Holocaust undoubtedly played a role in these dramatic personality changes. It wasn’t until the war started that Vladek got a little more precautious about a few things. Whenever a bad thing would happen, Vladek would remain hopeful and trusted that things would go well for him and his family in the long run. Even when Vladek had to fight in World War II and was put in a prisoner camp with the most terrible conditions he still seemed to keep faith. However, one can slowly notice how Vladek becomes cautious about food and any kind of valuable. It is natural because he couldn’t get much so he had to be very careful about wasting anything. At times, he was willing to share, but he quickly realized that he had to fight for himself to survive and that everyone was responsible for themselves. He became a little careful about who his real friends were. ---- need uote here

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.

Treated like dirt through a majority of his life is all Shep Zitler knew, he was born into a religious family and a tough culture surrounding him, the Holocaust effected his life to the extreme but along with all his suffering and the tragedies in his life the Holocaust did not take him. He stuck by his believes and made it out alive.

The holocaust had a major effect on Judaism as a whole. This conflict between tragedy and faith is not new. Jewish history shows us that the jewish people have undergone the most terrible persecutions and genocide at the hands of many oppressors. Whether it be about the pogroms, crusades, destruction of the Temples, the jewish people have been at the brunt of the most terrible atrocities, and yet this does not shake their faith,Anti-Semitism was nothing new. This became even more evident with the unmasking of the holocaust.The philosophical question of “Shall the Judge of the earth not do justice?” applies just as much to the seemingly useless suffering of an individual as to that of six million individuals. If it could be dealt with on an individual basis before the Holocaust, why couldn 't it be dealt with in the same way afterwards? The difference is one of quantity, but the quality of the question remains the same.

What did America do during the time period in which the Holocaust was happening? To start, the Holocaust was the genocide that killed six million Jews in Europe by Nazi Germany. America did not do much to help at this time. The US did things like making immigration laws way more difficult than it needed to be. They also turned away the St. Louis that boarded almost a thousand Jewish people and when given the chance to help, they chose not to. The United States during World War II did not consider saving the people being killed by Nazi Germany a prime concern.

As Elie Wiesel was taken through the Holocaust as a result of being a Jew, he began to ask himself this: “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because he caused thousands of children to burn in his mass graves...Praise be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar,” (45). As many enter into wars and horrific events stemming from wars, they begin with strong and unwavering faith. As the war continues and nothing is relieved, people begin to question their faith as they lose sight of all hope. This loss of faith results in a shift in one’s mindset and point of view. As danger and violence seem to increase in wars, so does the struggle to maintain faith. As people continue on in horrible conditions for so long, they eventually reach a breaking point, causing them to abandon all hope, pride, or spirituality they have; because if their world is falling apart, being shattered, and becoming what seems to be unamendable, why has a leadership or a higher being not intervened? As wars continue to be waged throughout history, is has become apparent that the struggle to maintain faith is a theme seen universally as a result of dancing with violence, unsafety, and death.

There were many groups of people, other than the Jews, that were victims of persecution and murdered by the Nazis. The groups affected by the Holocaust were the Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other Slavs, political dissidents and dissenting clergy, people with physical or mental disabilities, Jehovah’s witnesses, and homosexuals. According to A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust, There is evidence as early as 1919 that Hitler had a strong hatred of Jews. As Chancellor and later Reichsfuhrer, Hitler translated these intense feelings into a series of policies and statutes which progressively eroded the rights of German Jews from 1933-1939 (“Victims”).

Over the last two and a half millennia, the Jewish people have faced hardship and intolerance from various groups living beside them. A number of historians however believe that of all the atrocities committed against the Jewish people, none parallel the Holocaust. While these historians believe that the Holocaust was a unique occurrence, history rejects this notion of Nazi anti-semitism being an special incident.

Dehumanization is the psychological process of destroying the enemy, making them seem less than human. The Nazis conducted dehumanization to the Jews, while they were imprisoned in the concentration camps. Certain things the Nazis would do is not feed them. “We had spend the day without food” (17). They would also make them cut their hair so that they would all look the same, losing someone's hair is like losing a part of their identity. “Their clippers tore out our hair, shaved every hair on our bodies” (35). Also, the Jews were instructed to stand for hours on end for roll call, where they lined up and they were counted before they went anywhere, and they were not allowed to sit down. “We stood up. We were counted. We sat down.

Known as one of the most horrific events in history, World War II (WW2) caused tremendous adversity and suffering amongst the lives of people across the globe. However, what is most concerning about the war, was what happened behind closed doors, specifically within Germany. The Holocaust is still considered one the worst ethnic cleansing attacks in the world. Although there is an endless amount of research and hard evidence of the Holocaust occurring, certain groups of individuals strongly reject it. Known as “Holocaust Denial”, this conspiracy theory has always been personally intriguing due to several reasons and will be analyzed more thoroughly.