The Night of Brocken Glass and The Krystal Naught

677 Words2 Pages

"Holocaust: 1. Great destruction resulting is the extensive loss of life, especially by fire." The Holocaust could be best described as the widespread genocide of over eleven million Jews and other undesirables throughout Europe from 1933 to 1945. It all began when Adolf Hitler, Germany's newest leader, enforced the Nuremburg Race Laws. These laws discriminated against Jews and other undesirables and segregated them from the rest of the population. As things grew worse, Jews were forced to wear the Star of David on their clothing. The laws even stripped them of their citizenship. The Night of Broken Glass, or the Krystal Naught, is a prime example of how dire the situation grew for Jews as their homes, businesses, and churches were destroyed. The true genocide, or race killing, began when Jews were collected up and sent to concentration or work camps. It was in these camps that they would be tortured, murdered, or worked like slaves. As World War 2 neared its end, Hitler put into act what he called the Final Solution, a last ditch effort to eliminate Judism in Europe, in which he killed over six million of them. Anne Frank was a thirteen year old Jewish girl who was forced into hiding in 1942. Her family and another family, the Van Daans, hid in the back of her father, Otto Frank's office building in what they called the "Secret Annex" for the next two years, until they were discovered by a Nazi group called the Gestapo and arrested. It was during her time in the Secret Annex that Anne wrote in a diary that she had named Kitty, telling it of her experiences in the the annex, reported the position of the war and its most memorible events, and shared her personal feelings on the situation. The diary became an outlet throug... ... middle of paper ... ...ope on days such as D-day, the Us military began to make its way through Europe, liberating concentration camps left and right. President Franklin Delanore Rosevelt made the difficult decision to drop two nuclear bombs on Japan. this resulted in more unimaginable loss. Finally, after over four and a half million lives lost, Japan surrendered, bringing World War 2 to a close. The Holocaust is one of the most learned about events in history. The question is, why do we learn about it? We choose to keep the horrors of the Holocaust fresh in our minds and the minds of our children to keep it from ever happening again. The United Nations was formed to keep another World War from happening. We study the Holocaust so that we can identify the early stages of genocide and stop it before it starts. We put so much effort studying history to keep it from repeating itself.

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