The Forgotten Victims of The Holocaust It is common knowledge about how badly the Jewish community was abused during the holocaust. It is true that they were treated horrifically, but there are many more victims of the holocaust that have been skipped over and forgotten. These victims also deserve recognition to what they experienced during the holocaust. There were so many other victims that when added up the number of deaths was over the numbers of jewish victims. These victims were most likely treated as horrifically as the jewish community was, if not worse. Jehovah’s Witnesses were another major victim of the holocaust. Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted since they refused swear on an oath to do military services and they were willing to die for their beliefs. According to the article The Holocaust, “Thousands were imprisoned as ‘dangerous’ traitors because they refused to take a pledge of loyalty to the Third Reich.” They were also persecuted since Hitler felt threatened because they refused to believe in any God other than jehovah. During the Holocaust Jehovah’s Witnesses were forced to wear purple armbands to be recognized as such. 3,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned in concentration camps where one-third of them died and another 250 of Jehovah´s Witnesses were shot by a nazis’ tribunal. A total of 5,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses died during the Holocaust. Though Hitler did believe that religion and race were threatening towards his personal goal, he also believed
In conclusion, the Holocaust had detrimental effects on all that survived. This was because prisoners were treated as less than human and not given enough food. They also lost many of their loved ones, many of whom were executed. And to top it all off, they were abused by their captors on a regular basis. With these things happening, it’s no surprise that survivors of the Holocaust suffered terrible
War and genocide: two tragic and devastating events that people often think of as vastly different. Where war usually reveals political difference, genocide demonstrates the idea of a certain party that desires to use mass destruction on another group. However, war and genocide have similarities which create uncertainty on how to define the event. “The Silent Holocaust”, more specifically known as the Guatemalan genocide of the Mayans, is a model example of confusion between war and genocide; many Mayans were killed, but the government claims the killings were justified. The Mayans’ fight for equality led the Guatemalan government to commit genocide against these people, by using the factors of the ongoing war as an excuse for the Mayan
Throughout the Holocaust, “the Nazis killed over 1.5 billion children” (Children during the Holocaust). Of these children, one million of them were Jewish. The Nazis had no good reason to kill them; they only killed these innocent children because Hitler did not care for their race. The Nazis, a forceful, merciless power led by Adolf Hitler brainwashed the country of Germany into believing that Jews and other races were awful. These children bravely fought persecution and avoided death by hiding or receiving help, which makes us remember these people like Anne Frank, but it was not just the Jewish and other races that were in trouble, the German children got into trouble by joining Hitler Youth.
The Holocaust was one of, if not the worst mass murder in history. The Nazis did one of the most horrifying things you could think of, killing so many innocent people. Many different groups of people other than jews were also victims of this tragic event. Some of those other groups were: LGBTQ individuals, the physically and mentally disabled, slavs, and members of opposing political groups. These groups of people were ripped from their homes and put into concentration camps. The Nazis would either separate them from their family or they would keep them together and they would have to watch the Nazis torture their family and friends. During this very tragic point in history, more than six million Jewish lives were taken, in total there were over 12 million victims of the Holocaust. Not only did this affect the survivors it also affected families of the victims, survivors and anybody else that was connected through this tragedy. The Nazis, came to “power” in January 1933, which was during a time Germany was going through an economic hardship. They believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, were "inferior.” Adolf Hitler played a very big factor in everything that went down. Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party and was also known as the dictator of the Holocaust. The Nazis did have others that were Hitler’s “army” and they took orders from Hitler to do awful things to the victims and they were commonly known as
It is amazing to hear from the people who have actually survived the Holocaust. It shows us how much we still have to learn about the world and the civilizations and how hard it is to understand the reason why we do such things to our fellow human beings. "By 1945, two out of every three European Jews had been killed and the survivors continued to be oppressed." (Telles 51) In addition, thousands of political and religious dissidents such as communists, socialists, trade unionists, and Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted for their beliefs and behavior and many of these individuals died as a result of maltreatment.
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 one of the most horrible and dreaded events in history. Millions of Jews were killed, leaving many families devastated and hopeless. With the goal of racial purity, Adolf Hitler- along with many other Germans believed the Jews caused the defeat of their country, and led the Nazis to the elimination of Jews. For this reason, “Even in the early 21st century, the legacy of the Holocaust endures…as many as 12,000 Jews were killed every day” (The Holocaust). Later, Hitler organized concentration camps, where mass transports of Jews from ghettoes were brought and typically killed also. However, the fortunate Jews that were not killed still had many restrictions on their
Elie Wiesel once said, “No human race is superior, no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racist make them.” Elie Wiesel was one of those Jews who could make it and survive the Holocaust. The Jews have faced one of the most gruesome crimes throughout history. The Holocaust was the genocide of millions of Jews that took place in Germany. Adolf Hitler and his racist ideology led to the death of many Jews, and this was all because of the different religion that they had. The faces of all the people who had been killed in the Holocaust can hardly be removed from many Jews’ memory. The eyes of those little kids were begging for mercy and peace. Many of them died because they were starving, and many others died
During the reign of the Third Reich, the symbolization of the pink triangle was used to identify the thousands of gay prisoners who were sent to extermination camps under Paragraph 175, the law that criminalized homosexuality between men. Researchers say that an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 gay men died in these camps, however this figure does not include those who were interned and later released, let alone those who died undocumented and forever forgotten to history.¹ These thousands of men were forced through excruciating cruelties with little to no reprieve or recognition of the atrocities perpetrated against them. It is because of this that while they are not a distinct racial, ethnic, or religious group, the treatment of those who bore the pink triangle during the Holocaust follows the genocidal process and as such gay Holocaust victims should be considered sufferers of genocide.
Many victims of the Holocaust, regardless of race, endured the same unethical punishment for having what the Nazi’s believed to be wrong beliefs. Though Jewish people were the main target by the Nazi’s, groups such as homosexuals, Gypsies, and Jehovah’s Witnesses were also targeted. Locations that these people were imprisoned in varied from prisons to killing camps. There were multiple concentration camps, but certain ones had a greater importance due to their location, such as Sachsenhausen and Dachau, which were both located in Germany, which was where Hitler wished to rid the Jews from. Many prisoners of these concentration camps suffered the same fate, but it is important to know as many of their stories as possible. Karl-Heinz Kusserow, a Jehovah’s Witness during the Holocaust, faced imprisonment for refusing German authorities, faced hardships of the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps, and was released from Dachau in 1945.
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
The Holocaust, one of humanities most horrendous acts and a large topic in the history of World War II. Led by the German National Socialists, the Holocaust was an attack on innocent people for reasons of race, sexuality, nationality, and religion with their main target being the millions of European Jews who they saw as an ‘inferior race’. Hitler and his higher up stripped Jews of everything. He took their money, their homes, their jobs, their nationality, their dignity, and eventually he took their lives. In Peter Longerich’s Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews, Longerich takes an in depth look at Nazi politics and how it eventually led to their Final Solution of the Jewish Question. His research that began in the late 1990s, when he questioned both schools of Holocaust studies, the Intentionalists and the Structuralists. His studies in Europe led to a novel that that outlines the entire history of the Holocaust, the ideas of Judenfrage, and the implementation of Judenpolitik on the Jews of Europe from 1933 to 1945.
Those of half and quarter Jewish descent remain largely forgotten in the history of the Third Reich and genocide of the Holocaust. Known as Mischlinge, persons of deemed “mixed blood” or “hybrid” status faced extensive persecution and alienation within German society and found themselves in the crosshairs of a rampant National Socialist racial ideology. Controversially, these people proved somewhat difficult to define under Nazi law that sought to cleave the Volk from the primarily Jewish “other”, and as the mechanization toward Hitler’s “Final Solution” the Mischlinge faced probable annihilation. The somewhat neglected status of Mischlinge necessitates a refocusing on German racialization as well as reconsideration of the implications
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
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.