Who Are Bystanders To Blame For The Holocaust?

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Bystanders are just as much to blame for the Holocaust. Some people may say that bystanders are not guilty because they were looking out for themselves, but that's exactly why they are guilty. We need to address the fact that innocent people are dying. If people weren't so selfish in letting people into their homes, then maybe a good percent of people wouldn’t be dead. This situation is really life or death and we need to start thinking about others and not just ourselves. I will be using source: Bystanders, supporting question three source I, and supporting question two sources E-G. Bystanders are guilty, we are all brothers so there should be no questioning of whether we should be saving innocent lives or not. “ “Bystanders” as used to refer …show more content…

Being a bystander means that you are a witness to something, but you decide not to take any part in helping the situation. In the Holocaust, helping a Jew who was endangered would most likely get you and their family killed. The whole point was to get rid of Jews. But most people had sympathy for helping Jews out and bringing them into their homes.“The “indifference” of “bystanders” to the plight of Jews is often attributed to people's daily preoccupations, from surmounting the hardships of the economic depression of the 1930s to focusing on the survival of their families in the face of wartime deprivations and suffering”(Source:Bystanders). This source gives us a better insight as to how these people had no concern as to what was going on because they feared their own safety. But I completely disagree that their fear was valid because what about the Jews, I mean they were sent off to die and the worst part of it is that most of them didn’t even know they were going to …show more content…

Others agree that bystanders are not guilty because there really is nothing wrong with looking out for yourself and your family. For example, we have the Blankenstein family. This family was a part of an organization that provided shelter for Jews. This family also decided to keep the Bernstein family in their home for safety, thinking it was a good idea. “The police arrested the Bernsteins and plundered the entire house”(Supporting question to source F). Eventually, the police had found out that this family was in hiding and they were sent to a camp and the Blankenstein's home was completely burned down and ruined. And all this was because they wanted to help. People who say that they are not guilty are full of it because they are basically stating facts of how it's better to be selfish and look out for yourself, but no we should all love and help one another

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