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 would be murdered throughout the course of the Holocaust would already have been killed. In 1944, Hitler began deporting 12,000 Hungarian Jews each day to the largest concentration camp, known as Auschwitz. Thankfully, in 1945, World War II ended in Europe and Hitler was conquered; all remaining Jews in concentration camps were freed and the Holocaust came to an end (Morretta).

"...and we say that the war will not end as the Jews imagine it will, namely with the uprooting of the Aryans, but the result of this war will be the complete annihilation of the Jews. Now for the first time they will not bleed other people to death, but for the first time the old Jewish law of An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, will be applied. And the further this war spreads, the further will spread this fight against the world of the [Jew], and they will be used as food for every prison camp, and [ ] in every family, which will have it explained to it why [ ], and the hour will come when the enemy of all times, or at least of the last thousand years, will have played his part to the end."

This quote, stated by Adolf Hitler himself in Berlin during the winter of 1942 sends chills through the blood of anyone who reads it. He not only suggests that the "complete annihilation" of the Jews is seemingly normal, yet in fact makes it sound beneficial. These twisted viewpoints by such a powerful leader led to the ultimate destruction of the Jewish people, both literally and metaphorically. The spirits of those who survived have ultimately been broken and torn, and those who were not involved yet know the truth behind the matter can easily see the severe devastation and cruelty that took place between the years of 1933 and 1945 (Watts, p. 20).

Within the concentration camps, the Jewish people were entirely stripped and devoid of all sense of self; they were starved, forced to live like animals, and ultimately tortured to death. One of Hitler's favored means of homicide was the gas chamber, where the concentration camp inhabitants were forced into thinking they were taking a shower, were disrobed, and eventually suffocated using carbon monoxide. In the beginning of the war the gas chambers were thought to be unnecessary, as there were plenty of other ways for the Nazis to torture and kill the Jews, yet as more and more prisoners were transported to the camp, it became necessary. This picture depicts a chamber in the concentration camp known as Mauthausen; the Nazis could murder 120 people at one time. Between the years of 1942 and 1945, estimates have been made that over 10,000 prisoners were murdered in this room. Other means of cruelty that were exemplified by the S.S. soldiers of the Nazi regime were that of "experiments." Live Jews would be dissected, their organs removed and their skin cut to shreds; the only reason for any of these kinds of treatment was for the sheer enjoyment of the disgusting and twisted "doctors" that performed the acts. Prisoners were also forced to wear ill fitting wooden shoes that caused blisters and sores to form on their feet; the Jews' weakened immune systems often could not handle the small infections and the wooden shoes would ultimately lead to more sufferings and death. Once the Jews were killed, their bodies were cremated in ovens located in basements in the concentration camps. Even so, towards the end of the Holocaust when the mass genocide had reached its peak, and Hitler was ordering over 20,000 Jews to be killed per day, the bodies were burned in "crematory pits." These pits were up to 100 meters long, and were nothing more than a trench outside where the