Hope during the Holocaust The Holocaust was a time of unspeakable horror and violence. Many lives were lost during this grim period; however, numerous individuals stood up against Nazi tyranny by both actively and passively resisting.Those who chose to actively resist armed themselves and went into battle; on the other hand, those who opted for pastivity chose to preserve their identity and save their lives and family. In “The Diary of Anne Frank,” we learn about valiant individuals who passively resisted against the Nazis and preserved their culture and identity. This story proves that the best way to respond to conflict is to passively resist because it keeps hope alive, saves lives, and provides an alternative way to solve conflict. In “ The Diary of Anne Frank,” Anne passively resists by writing in her diary because it helps her maintain hope. When Mr.Frank returns to Amsterdam after the war, he finds Anne’s diary and reads about how Anne still believes that “people are really good at heart,” despite everything that happened(352). Mr.Frank is amazed that Anne can find the …show more content…
goodness in her heart to still have so much hope in humanity, considering their circumstances. Anne’s hope inspires her to keep fighting to live another day because she knows that life will get better as the days go by. However, individuals that support active resistance may argue that the only way to provide hope is to pick up a weapon and fight. This may seem like the best course of action for many; but consider the Indian independence movement led by Gandhi. His advocating of nonviolent protests and hunger strikes not only provided his people the hope and strength they needed to free themselves from British rule, but also inspired millions of oppressed people around the world to follow his example of passive resistance. By passively resisting, Anne and her family are saving many lives by avoiding violence. After a long time of being discriminated against and being stripped of their rights, Mr.Frank decides that “going into hiding” would be the best way to keep his family safe(283). The Franks and those who hid them value other human lives beside their own; by caring for others in the face of unspeakable cruelty and death, they epitomize empathy and compassion for their fellow human beings. These actions of passive resistance also serve to preserve the Frank’s Jewish identity and dignity. Be that as it may, opponents to passivity may argue that murder is justified when combating ultimate evil in exchange for saving thousands of lives. However, imagine if Martin Luther King Jr. told his followers to take to the streets with weapons. A race war in the likes of which the world has never seen would have ensued, causing thousands if not millions of deaths. Martin Luther King was very successful in his civil rights campaign an he would not have succeeded if he had taken the path of active resistance. In “The Diary of Anne Frank,” Anne’s journaling and the actions of those who helped shelter her and her family are example of passive resistance and an alternative way to fight injustice.
As their way of passive resistance, Anne and her family hid “upstairs in the building where father used to have business,” and the people who sheltered them risked imprisonment by doing so (283). Anne also resisted by writing in her diary. Nevertheless, some individuals argue that the only way to make a stance against tyranny is to actively fight back. However, individuals with this way of thinking fail to realize the impact passive resistance has had throughout history. For example, take Rosa Parks, a black woman who stood up against racism and made a colossal impact on the civil rights movement. Parks fought passively for equality and inspired numerous individuals to do the
same. The Holocaust was a time of unspeakable horror, cruelty, and violence, harbouring some of the worst crimes against humanity ever recorded. Despite the death and violence, it also involved some of the most remarkable acts of resistance. For instance, in the “Diary of Anne Frank” Anne, a fourteen year old Jewish girl, maintained hope in the face of darkness and despair. Anne and her family were nearly able to survive during one of the most grim period in history by passively resisting. Active resistance may seem like the best respond to such atrocities as the Holocaust, but we must think of the cost that active resistance would have on society. Is violence justified if the act of violence is just as horrendous as the horror you are trying to stop? When you are actively resisting you are fighting violence which violence in turn just causes more violence. Passive resistance keeps hope alive, saves lives, and provides an alternative way to solve conflict.
When in America, Helen found that it was hard not to talk about past and the stories of her imprisonment. “Some survivors found it impossible to talk about their pasts. By staying silent, they hoped to bury the horrible nightmares of the last few years. They wanted to spare their children and those who knew little about the holocaust from listening to their terrible stories.” In the efforts to save people from having to hear about the gruesome past, the survivors also lacked the resources to mentally recovery from the tragedy.
The “Diary of Anne Frank” is a real diary written by Anne Frank, during the time of the Holocaust. She describes her days hiding in a secret annex with seven other people. Some days they got along and others they didn’t, but in the end they all respected each other. In the “Diary of Anne Frank,” Anne Frank says, “ I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart.” This message serves as a theme throughout the diary. Throughout the diary, she explains how the people she spent her days with were good people at heart.
During this dark time in history, people like Miss. Breed from Dear Miss Breed took initial action on what she thought was right, and gave hope to Japanese Internment Camp children by supplying books and writing letters. What these heroes of the past have in common is that they took action for what they truly believe is right. The best way to respond to conflict is based on a person’s general judgment on what they think is right or wrong, this will show how they take action during conflict. In the story, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow, the thoughts of independence and judgement were shown by German student, Sophie Scholl.
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” (Elie Wiesel) The Holocaust is a topic that is still not forgotten and is used by many people, as a motivation, to try not to repeat history. Many lessons can be taught from learning about the Holocaust, but to Eve Bunting and Fred Gross there is one lesson that could have changed the result of this horrible event. The Terrible Things, by Eve Bunting, and The Child of the Holocaust, by Fred Gross, both portray the same moral meaning in their presentations but use different evidence and word choice to create an overall
The resistance of the Holocaust has claimed worldwide fame at a certain point in history, but the evidence that the evil-doers themselves left crush everything that verifies the fantasy of the Holocaust. For an example, in Poland, the total Jewish population of over thirty-three hundred thousand suddenly plummeted to three hundred thousand. Ten percent of the population survived the Holocaust in Poland. Almost every country that the Nazis have conquered has the same percent of survival as Poland. In Elie Wiesel Wiesel’s memoir Night, the activities in the concentration camps, the suffering of Jews, and the disbelief of the inhumane actions of the Nazis result in making people resist the truth.
Anne’s thoughts and perspectives of stuff she encountered with, or the struggles she endured weren’t shown in depth in the film. Her curiosity and wonders of countless stuff weren’t shown to the best of ability. Anne was a young girl figuring out many new things in life, in the film however her thoughts aren’t really elaborated. Making the film less interesting, considering the book is a diary full of her encounters of war and the disruptive life that she constantly envisaged throughout her life. She says, “What does that matter? I want to write, but more than that, I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart. (20 June, 1942). This quote accentuates the way she wants to write stuff, in the film however she doesn’t
Following the beginning of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union would start what would become two of the worst genocides in world history. These totalitarian governments would “welcome” people all across Europe into a new domain. A domain in which they would learn, in the utmost tragic manner, the astonishing capabilities that mankind possesses. Nazis and Soviets gradually acquired the ability to wipe millions of people from the face of the Earth. Throughout the war they would continue to kill millions of people, from both their home country and Europe. This was an effort to rid the Earth of people seen as unfit to live in their ideal society. These atrocities often went unacknowledged and forgotten by the rest of the world, leaving little hope for those who suffered. Yet optimism was not completely dead in the hearts of the few and the strong. Reading Man is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Gulag by Janusz Bardach and Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi help one capture this vivid sense of resistance toward the brutality of the German concentration and Soviet work camps. Both Bardach and Levi provide a commendable account of their long nightmarish experience including the impact it had on their lives and the lives of others. The willingness to survive was what drove these two men to achieve their goals and prevent their oppressors from achieving theirs. Even after surviving the camps, their mission continued on in hopes of spreading their story and preventing any future occurrence of such tragic events. “To have endurance to survive what left millions dead and millions more shattered in spirit is heroic enough. To gather the strength from that experience for a life devoted to caring for oth...
Anne Frank stated in her diary that "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." As a Jewish teenager during the time of the Holocaust, Anne had been hiding in an attic with her parents and sister, as well as the Van Daans, their son, and Mr Dussel. This time was extremely rough for her entire race. This quote shows how optimistic she really was. She had the attitude to think that even underneath all of the hatred that not only the Nazis beheld, but perhaps also the people that she was hiding with for years, there was at least a small amount of good in them. With that optimism, came the strong hope that she had. She was completely aware that the Nazis were not good people, but she refused to take that as a
The Holocaust was a very impressionable period of time. It not only got media attention during that time, but movies, books, websites, and other forms of media still remember the Holocaust. In Richard Brietman’s article, “Lasting Effects of the Holocaust,” he reviews two books and one movie that were created to reflect the Holocaust (BREITMAN 11). He notes that the two books are very realistic and give historical facts and references to display the evils that were happening in concentration camps during the Holocaust. This shows that the atrocities that were committed during the Holocaust have not been forgotten. Through historical writings and records, the harshness and evil that created the Holocaust will live through centuries, so that it may not be repeated again (BREITMAN 14).
Self-preservation is defined as the protection of oneself from harm or death, especially regarded as a base instinct in human beings and animals. It drives us to do things we otherwise would not do, to accomplish things we didn’t know were possible. Self-preservation can often be found throughout history and literature, always in the most desperate of times. Nowhere is it more prominent than in the history and literature surrounding the Holocaust, during which over six million Jews, including 1.5 million children, were brutally murdered in what has become known as one of history’s most deadly and widely publicized genocides. For almost 80 years, historians and Jewish survivors have authored and published
The Holocaust is considered the largest genocide of our entire world, killing more than 600,000,000 Jewish people during the years of 1933-1945. The memories and history that have filled our lives that occurred during the Holocaust are constantly remembered around the world. Many populations today “think” that constant reminders allow for us to become informed and help diminish the hatred for other races still today. These scholars believe that by remembering the Holocaust, you are able to become knowledgeable and learn how to help prevent this from happening again. Since the Holocaust in a sense impacted the entire human race and history of the world, there are traces of the Holocaust all across our culture today. As I continue to remember the victims of this tragic time period I think of all the ways that our world remembers the Holocaust in today’s society. Through spreading the word, works of media and memorials across the world, I am continually reminded of the tragedy that occurred.
In my English class we were learning about Anne Frank and her life during the Holocaust. During the Holocaust, many people, mostly Jews lost their lives; Anne was one of the 6 million Jews who died. Before her family and everyone else were taken to concentration camps Anne liked writing in her diary. After the war Anne father the only one in their family that survived received Anne’s diary from Miep, the caretaker of the families while they were hiding. One of the most eye catching quotes of Anne’s was” I believe people are really good at heart”, I believe Anne when she says that.
“There's only one rule you need to remember: laugh at everything and forget everybody else! It sound egotistical, but it's actually the only cure for those suffering from self-pity.” (Frank 321) Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who went into hiding during World War II to avoid being captured by the Nazis. She and seven other people had to hide in a secret annex Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam. Anne received a diary on her 13th birthday and wrote about all the little things that had happened to her throughout the day.
For many years, people time and time again denied the happenings of the Holocaust or partially understood what was happening. Even in today’s world, when one hears the word ‘Holocaust’, they immediately picture the Nazi’s persecution upon millions of innocent Jews, but this is not entirely correct. This is because Jews
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was a very distressing yet amazingly written book. Who would have thought that such a little person could have such a huge effect on the world? Anne?s father lived for many years after the war and made sure that Anne?s diary was published. Her diary was published in 1947 and was then made into a film. This diary helps people remember what Jews had to go through and hopefully reminds them of how lucky they are. By remembering, it is hoped that something like this will never happen again. This book was intriguing while incorporating many life lessons. Discrimination, unfair judgment, and racism are only a few of the many lessons that this book has to offer. With that, after reading this book, we have learned to not take the things we have for granted because in a matter of seconds, days, months, or even years, it could all be gone. As Anne said in her diary, ?In spite of everything, I still believe, people are truly good at heart?.