Examples Of Families Strength By Stephenie Wiesel

Stephenie Meyer once wrote, “Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved.”( Meyer, 1) During the Holocaust, Families were torn apart and put through intense cruelty due to the Natzi soldiers and command of Hitler. Even though people were scared to make a stand, families sacrificed their lives for the lives of others because families lost loved ones and families took risks in hiding Jews.

During the Holocaust, families had to live in uncomfortable/ harsh living conditions. Many Jews were crammed in tiny places having to live on top of each other and in many houses there were tiny cubby holes that people used to hide the Jews. The jews would sometimes have to hide out for days on end or even months in these

intolerable living conditions for their survival. In The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom set up an alarm system that sounded throughout the house to alert everyone that the soldiers were coming in. This shows that everyone was always on guard and had to always guide by precautions. Also in Anne Frank’s Diary, readers learn that her and her family were crammed in the top attic, behind the bookshelf, unable to make noise throughout the day so that they wouldn't be found.These living conditions portray the harshness in the situations and the sacrifice made each day in making themselves undiscovered.
Also, as the war raged on, Families were torn apart from each other and loved ones were lost and sacrificed to the conditions surrounding them. Soldiers began to take people, anyone, whoever, it did not matter. They would force fathers and children into labor camps stripping them away from their family and life. then without knowledge, they would die in these camps and their loved ones were without knowledge if they were okay or if they would come back. These times brought heartache and disaster. Mothers would have to make the awful decision of giving one child to a camp and keeping the other.
In the essay, “Family Gave them Strength”, it talks about how the war split families apart and at the same time brought people together.

As families were torn apart they went and lived with multiple different people who ended up growing together and supporting each other. But as the war raged on, the soldiers came and tore apart bonds made between people living together and surviving together. People were again and again put in situations where they were forced to make sacrifices. In the essay it talks about how “Mothers pushed younger children in line with older children so that they may work and survive.”( Yael Weinstock, 1) Mothers would also have to make the decision of sending their child to labor camps so they could survive rather being shot on the street. Because ot the camps, soldiers would come and barge into houses demanding people to get in trains and vehicles to be transported there. This tore apart families. It caused mothers to fall apart because they had to lose their child to a camp or lose them forever. Every family was forced to make sacrifices. For some it was because there was no other choice and for others it was because they were making a stand and in doing so they were putting their lives on the

line.
In the hiding place, Corries father says, “You say we could lose our lives for this child. I would consider that the greatest honor that would come to my family.” ( Ten Boom, Pg 115) For Corrie’s family, they were not Jews but they were threatened with the same fate. Except, for Corrie and for her family, they took a stand and they risked their lives for the Jews. They took a stand and they sacrificed daily for each others lives. Because they weren't Jews, they were able to get food rations but the rations were not enough for the Jews they were hiding so Corrie had to get more. Although, in doing so was a big risk, she still did because to her, her life wasn't worth more than anothers. She saw the same value in her life in theirs and to her that was worth protecting. to her, that was worth the risk. The sacrifices made were troublesome but the matters importance exceeded the risk.