The Holocaust

The Holocaust

”We are the children of the holocaust. We are both Germans and Jews. We are the children of the victims. We are the children of the oppressors. We started out on opposite sides but the memory of the holocaust will join us forever. We shall never let the victims be forgotten, for if we do, we will forget that the perpetrator can be in all of us.” This poem expresses quite well the sensation that most individuals feel when they hear the word “Holocaust.” Although they may not have been there, or known someone who was, they may still feel an underlying sadness or anger due to the events that took place during World War II. I myself am neither a Jew nor have German decent, and I too become emotional at just the thought of such a devastating occurrence. It is in this sense that I will discuss how the Holocaust has affected not only the Jewish world, but other peoples as well.

In 1933, the Nazi party began their reign in Germany, under the malevolent dictator Adolf Hitler; his role as “prime minister” of the county lead to the temporary suspension of civil rights for communists and Jews. The first concentration camp, known as “Dachau” was erected, which contained over two hundred communists, and all books that included ideas and concepts contrary to Nazi belief were burned. Jewish newspapers were not allowed to be sold in the streets, and as Hitler’s power became more and more apparent, he gained the title of Fuhrer, or “Leader of Germany.” His charismatic ways charmed many people into believing that his ideas were conceptually sound, and within only a few years, the Jewish people were stripped of their liberties, including their right to vote. In 1938, on Kristallnacht the Nazi regime terrorized Jews throughout both Germany and Austria; over 30,000 Jews were arrested, having their licenses revoked, car registrations taken away, and securities and jewels stolen as well. Upon the acclimation of World War II in 1939, when France and Britain declared war on Germany, Hitler ordered that all Jews must wear a yellow Star of David, in 1940, he began the deportation of all German Jews to the country of Poland (Morretta).

Once in Poland, the Jews were forced to reside in ghettos and concentration camps; in 1942, the “Final Solution” planning had begun by Hitler and his Nazis regime, and by 1943, eighty five percent of all of the Jewish people that ...

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... the Holocaust itself, as devastating as it was, may have happened for the Jewish people to acquire a larger capacity than others for forgiveness and understanding. This idea rings true for every other human being in the world as well, because once again, “We shall never let the victims be forgotten, for if we do, we will forget that the perpetrator can be in all of us.”

1 This poem was written by Rudi Raab, and is from The Acts of Reconciliation Project, where Germans and Jews met to build a common ground.

2 “The Night of Broken Glass”

3 An elaborate plan of mass genocide in which the Nazi officials would annihilate all European Jews.

4 This poem was written by Rudi Raab, and is from The Acts of Reconciliation Project, where Germans and Jews met to build a common ground.

Works Cited

Feig, Konnilyn. Hitler’s Death Camps: The Sanity of Madness. New York, Holmes & Meier,

1979.

Jacobs, Alan. “Auschwitz/Birkenau.” http://www.remember.org/jacobs/index.html. 1996.

Morretta, Theresa. “History of the Holocaust: Timeline.”

http://www.remember.org/educate/mtimeline.html. 1997.

Watts, Franklin. "Auschwitz and the Allies." Voices of History 1942-43 .New York, 1943.