The Silber Medal winning biography, “Surviving Hitler," written by Andrea Warren paints picture of life for teenagers during the Holocaust, mainly by telling the story of Jack Mandelbaum. Avoiding the use of historical analysis, Warren, along with Mandelbaum’s experiences, explains how Jack, along with a few other Jewish and non-Jewish people survived. The story starts of at Jack’s families home in Gdynia, Poland. Jack was 12 years old when the Nazis invaded his home Poland in 1939. Jack was Jewish, however his family was reformed, and didn't practice much of the religion. They lived in a very wealthy city, and they hadn’t dressed different then the mostly Catholic neighbors. Two weeks after Hitler gained power over Poland the family moved …show more content…
in to the home of Jack’s paternal-grandfather. They had never even met before. Jack’s father decided to stay behind, but would meet them soon. Shortly after they moved, they received a letter, which they weren't aware Jack’s father was forced to write, saying he was at a concentration camp and that he was fine. Everyone was worried, because nobody had ever heard of a concentration camp before. When the Nazi’s neared his grandfathers home, his mother, brother, and himself went to live with an uncle, and then again to a ghetto. His sister had been sent to help another aunt with a newborn baby. For the next three years, Jack supported them by the pennies he earned substituting for men ordered to do forced labor. Jack was working as an electrician. He then got a note signed by the Nazi saying he worked for them. Jack planned on showing the note if he ever got pulled aside. Nazi’s would know shoot random people any moment they pleases, without reason. But at age 15, Jack showed the signature and was separated from his family and sent a labor camp. He was thrust into to a new, unknown life. His only goal was to survive. He learned how to tolerate the sickening food, the grueling work, and the horrible, unsanitary living conditions. A fellow prisoner one told him, "Think of it as a game, Jack. Play the game right and you might outlast the Nazis." He also decided not to hate the guards because took energy, negative energy. He needed all the power he had. Soon, the guards started killing of the weaker links. They called this selection. The sufficient theme throughout “Surviving Hitler” is survival.
If Jack wanted to make it out alive and potentially see his family again, he would have to set some guidelines for himself. First, he would need to make sure to stay as clean as possible. Everyone had lice at one point or another. At one point Jack got Dysentary and a mild case Typhus. He also needed to save up as much food as he could while still eating all he could get each day. Lastly, Jack knew he had to make companions. Having someone he could rely on meant he would be protected and cared for. Jack made a few friends along the way. To this day he is still friendly with Moniek (Moan-yek) a boy just a year older then him that traveled to three camps beside him. Jack was liberated at the age of 18. He had to goals when he was released. The first goal was to recuperate from the damage over the years, and the second goal was to try and find his family. Unfortunately, to Jack’s despair all of his immediate family had been killed. Now that he was aware of the loss of his family he had no reason to stay in the ruins of Europe. Jack decided to build a new life in America. Today he is a successful businessman, a loving husband, father, and grandfather. He is also devoted to Holocaust education and has shared his story with
many. Although, the Holocaust and World War II were both terrible and tragic events, people every where need to learn about them. The hope is that if people understand history won’t repeat itself. “Surviving Hitler” has educated me and taught gave me many more reasons to be thankful for living in America and at this time.
Adolf Hitler, born in 1889, is an Austrian born man who is known for his instigation and participation in the Nazi Political movement, or genocide, known as the Holocaust. Throughout his later life, Hitler spent the majority of his time organizing discriminatory laws that prevented Jewish citizens’ basic rights and ultimately their demise. However, before he advanced such laws and politics, he served as the Head of State, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, until he became the Fuhrer of Germany’s Third Reich which began in 1933 and ended in 1945 (Jewish Virtual Library). His actions were fueled by an unrelenting and strict hate for the Jewish community, better known as anti-Semitism, much like the vast majority of Eastern countries. Both
Approximately 6 million Jewish people died in the in a deadly swathe across Europe known as the Holocaust. They met their end gassed in chambers, starving in concentration camps, and killed for sport. Oskar Schindler spared the lives of many, including a 10 year old boy named Leon Leyson. The memoir The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon, Marilyn, and Elizabeth B. Leyson is the story of Leon’s life and his survival of the Holocaust. It is a look into the past of what was happening during this cruel time while the advance reviews explain the relevance of the Holocaust and the impact it had on society.
Holocaust Hero: A One of a Kind Man. What is a hero? A hero can be classified as a number of things. A hero can be a person who, in the opinions of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal.
Imagine having to live behind the close fences of a concentration camp and endeavor for survival. From January 30, 1933 to May 8, 1945, the Holocaust was the methodical, bureaucratic, state-supported mistreatment and homicide by the Nazi administration and its colleagues. Specified by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, approximately six million Jews were butchered due to the Nazis blaming them for Germany’s failures. The Jew’s experiences range from the release of extreme propaganda, opening of concentration camps, Kristallnacht, their civil liberties dwindling away, and what the remaining prisoners had suffered through to survive the end of the war.
"A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims." A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims. University of South Florida. Web. 19 May 2014.
... During the rule of Adolf Hitler, many children who were Jewish lived a very frightening and difficult life. They were never given the love and compassion that every child needs and deserves growing up. The Holocaust is a story that will continue to be shared until the end of time. Works Cited Peabody, Halina.
Adolf Hitler had a bad childhood that made him a bad man in his adult years. Hitler’s grandfather was jewish. He was a troubled child ever since he was 7. He had a bad childhood his grandpa used to beat him when he didn’t listen. That made him a bad man when he was older. He killed millions of jews and other people. He didn’t have a good family in his life growing up.He didn’t really have a mom she would rather spend time with men instead of her own son. Altho he was a bad man that killed millions and sent people to death camps. It wasn’t his fault he became an afol man. It was because of his childhood that started the camps the slaughter of jews and blacks and gays.
Living in Europe during the 1930’s and 1940’s was very a difficult experience, especially if you were Jewish. In 1933, the Holocaust began when Adolf Hitler came to power in the country of Germany. An estimated 11 million people were killed during the holocaust, six million of those, innocent people, were Jewish. Allied Powers conquered Hitler and the Nazi power on May 8, 1945. Primo Levi was one of the men lucky enough to survive the holocaust. Levi was the author of his autobiography, Survival in Auschwitz. Survival in Auschwitz describes his ten-month journey as a young man surviving the horrible life while in the concentration camp, Auschwitz. Janusz Bardach’s powerfully written novel, Man is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Gulag, reflects on his extraordinary story and life changes while being a prisoner in Kolyma, of the soviet regime. While being a prisoner in these concentration camps, the men weren’t treated like normal human beings. For the two men and the rest of the prisoners, the only way they would survive is to adapt into a new and brutal lifestyle and behavior. The stories about their lives are really an eye opener about life and they remind us how we shouldn’t take for granted the beautiful life we have now.
Buergenthal, Thomas. A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy. New York: Little, Brown, 2009.
Hitler was such a powerful leader, however, it was not always that way. He went through many struggles and problems to get to where he was. Not many agreed with how he ran Germany, but he still went and led the way he thought Germany would best benefit. Hitler’s idols, childhood, beliefs, failed accomplishments and determination is what got him to the top.
Hitler and Stalin both caused the biggest mass murders in history, both had the same aims, and both hated each other, because of their different political views - one was National Socialist and one Communist - and this is probably the most important difference.
Things are so bad right now. I don't care about living because sooner or later the Nazi’s are gonna bust through that door and execute all of us. I'm wrote this paper to tell people so they know my story and the hell I been through.
The start of Concentration Camps was in Germany and was established soon after Hitler’s appointment as the chancellor in January 1933; within the time the Nazi’s came to power the SA the police, and local civilian authorities organized numerous dentation camps to incarcerate real and perceived political opponents of Nazis police. Hitler authorized SS chief and leader Heinrich Himmler to centralize the administration of the Concentration camps and formalize them into a system. Himmler chose SS Lieutenant General Theodor Eicke for this task. Eicke had been the commandant of the SS concentration camp at Dachau since before June 1933.
Deprivation. Devastation. Horror. Those were a few of the things that people in concentration camps had to go through every day. “What actually is a concentration camp?” You may ask yourself, well, “Concentration camp is a place where people are imprisoned, and in some cases killed, without legal proceedings.” is what Engel, David wrote in his article, “Concentration camp”. There were a lot of Nazi concentration camps, a few of them being Auschwitz, Dachau, and Majdanek.
Personally, the holocaust is one of the most difficult topics to write about. This man, Adolf Hitler, spearheaded an entire nation’s move into genocide. Leading with lies, propaganda, and misrepresentation, Hitler had Germany at his disposal. At least the adults of Nazi Germany, but what about the boys and girls? What was Hitler’s influence over the youth? The boys will grow into men, and the girls into women, ideally to Nazi standards, but kids will be kids.