The Holocaust: A Literary Analysis

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Almost everyone has heard, or knows something, about the Holocaust. The real question is how should the Holocaust be taught to those who don't? The answer to that is simple. Through non-fiction texts, the stories of survivors, and actual artifacts, the tragedies of the Holocaust can be communicated effectively to younger generations. The devastation caused by the Holocaust may be hard to understand, but non-fiction works can better educate our youth about the subject. The optimum way to teach young people about the Holocaust is through non-fiction, as opposed to through fictional novels or movies. The Holocaust is not something a person can paint of picture of inside his/her head, unless he or she actually experienced it. In the editorial …show more content…

As stated in Michael Kimmelman's article “Auschwitz Shifts from Memorializing to Teaching,” the Auschwitz-Birkenstock State Museum uses “piled hair and other remains” from the crematoria and railroads of Auschwitz to demonstrate the horrors it imposed (par. 3). Piotr Cywinski, director of the museum, elucidates, “The new exhibition would go on to describe the process of extermination, leading visitors step by step through what the victims experienced, and end up with a section on camp life, meaning the 'daily humanization and attempts to keep one's humanity'” (par. 6). Learning the actual facts of what the victims experienced, along with visual aids, can allow an individual to assimilate the truth about the Holocaust. As opposed to fictional visual aids like movies, artifacts were actually found during this time period and were not recreated. This type of learning can also leave people feeling the need to live more righteous lives and create a better future, which is something that people will probably not feel after sitting through a movie or reading a fictional novel about the Holocaust. Piotr continues to explain, “But there is another level of education, a level of awareness about the meaning of those facts,” meaning that the museum can teach people at a certain depth that causes them to change their …show more content…

Six million. It is insensitive for anyone to go to the movies and watch a movie about this, or read a fictional, poetic novel about this, and then go on about his or her normal life. It is impossible for one to completely grasp the scope of the Holocaust simply through a fictional movie or book. The best person to explain it would be a survivor, who endured the pain and torture in the early 20th century, whether that be through autobiographies, factual videos, or podcasts. Survivors, artifacts, and other non-fictional resources can pull at a person's heartstrings and teach a person about the Holocaust in a way that fictional resources just

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