The Holocaust : The First Survivor Story Of 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.

In the past many horrific events have happened that many people choose not to believe. One of those events was the Holocaust. Millions of innocent people died during this tragedy, but what about the people who survived? How did this affect them? A survivor, Elie Wiesel, wrote about his experience during the Holocaust, and how it changed him as a person. In his book “Night”, the main character Elie went to the concentration camp Auschwitz. Throughout the story, he gained new character traits that he carried for the rest of his life.

The Holocaust will forever be known as one of the largest genocides ever recorded in history. 11 million perished, and 6 million of the departed were Jewish. The concentration camps where the prisoners were held were considered to be the closest one could get to a living hell. There is no surprise that the men, women, and children there were afraid. One was considered blessed to have a family member alongside oneself. Elie Wiesel was considered to be one of those men, for he had his father working side by side with him. In the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, a young boy and his father were condemned to a concentration camp located in Poland. In the concentration camps, having family members along can be a great blessing, but also a burden.

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.

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

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

“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.

One of the most horrific events in all of history… the Holocaust. The Holocaust in all killed over 6 million Jewish people, but there are still some survivors today to tell the their story so we can learn. A few never want to speak about the war and the one’s that do have taught us things we can’t even imagine. Meet Elie Wiesel, writer, teacher and survivor of the Holocaust.

Many Jews who survived the Holocaust were forced to change. From the beatings, starvation, and other physical and emotional tortures, the survivors would never be the same. Survivors of the Holocaust tell their stories so we all remember that what Hitler did to the Jews was unforgivable and should never be repeated.

Holocaust: Survivors The Holocaust was a very tragic and memorable experience for Jewish people and others around them. However, between 1945 and 1952 more than 80,000 survivors from the Holocaust managed to immigrate into the United States (Life After The Holocaust, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). A few people include Thomas Buergenthal and Blanka Rothschild. These people were to live each one of their lives successfully even after experiencing the torture of the Holocaust which was like experiencing the pain of death for eternity.

Life varied for everyone during times of the Holocaust, however daily life for Jews was gruesome and tedious in several instances. Waking up was an everyday challenge, but the fear and chaos all became routine. Regardless of their horrific and complex lives, these victims made heroic efforts to maintain normal lives under their

Each of these histories reveal a story of suffering that is endured by both Gentile and Jew, but also a story of humanity and salvation. In Five Chimneys: A woman Survivor’s True Story of Auschwitz, Olga Lengyel tells of her family assisting other Jews fleeing the Nazi military. Later, after her own ordeals in Auschwitz, she was saved by citizens in a small Polish village. An essay written by Vera Laska is included in Women and the Holocaust: Different Voices, which is an anthology of essays about women in the Holocaust. In addition to the many stories of survivors and rescuers, I am using several scholarly articles

Budapest in January of 1945. Lantos went around trying to locate his family that he had

Jewish Holocaust survivors enduring horrendous treatment of the Holocaust, and it impacted the aftermath of the event as well. Because of the emotional and physical trauma after liberation, Jewish Holocaust survivors struggled with rebuilding their lives and adapting to live a “normal life”.