Free Essays on Holocaust

The Holocaust is likely one of the most misunderstood historical events of modern times. There are those that underestimate the extent of world knowledge about the German atrocities. There are also those whom are ignorant of the way in which the Jews reacted to their situation. The incredible extent of incorrect information about the Holocaust which people have been taught is a severe problem that must be corrected immediately. The only solution is the education of the masses. It is imperative that modern society fully appreciate the terrors of the Holocaust in order to prevent it?s reoccurrence. First and foremost, we must address the fallacies concerning the world?s knowledge of what was happening. It is often assumed and taught that the Holocaust portion of World War II was such a well kept secret that no one knew of it until after the fact, however, this is untrue. There were various ways that the world was notified of these horrors. Various nations and various Jewish communities gained knowledge of the barbarity and did nothing. The powers that be were notified many times of what was going on. On September 29 and 30, 1941 there was a mass killing at Babi Yar, a Russian city near Kiev. Reporters in Kiev were sending the story to their publishers within three days, it was never printed. A Swiss-German industrialist, after having been invited to watch a mass killing, sent photographs to Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, they were ignored. In February 1942, the Vatican and the Red Cross received confirmed reports of the Holocaust. After discussing whether to intervene, they concluded that they had to remain silent, so as not to compromise their neutrality. In July of 1942, news reports of the killings were aired in London, however, nothing came of it because the reports were in French. Head of the CIA, Allen Dulles received an account of the camps from two inmates in 1944. Despite being quote-unquote ?profoundly shocked?... Free Essays on Holocaust Free Essays on Holocaust The Holocaust is likely one of the most misunderstood historical events of modern times. There are those that underestimate the extent of world knowledge about the German atrocities. There are also those whom are ignorant of the way in which the Jews reacted to their situation. The incredible extent of incorrect information about the Holocaust which people have been taught is a severe problem that must be corrected immediately. The only solution is the education of the masses. It is imperative that modern society fully appreciate the terrors of the Holocaust in order to prevent it?s reoccurrence. First and foremost, we must address the fallacies concerning the world?s knowledge of what was happening. It is often assumed and taught that the Holocaust portion of World War II was such a well kept secret that no one knew of it until after the fact, however, this is untrue. There were various ways that the world was notified of these horrors. Various nations and various Jewish communities gained knowledge of the barbarity and did nothing. The powers that be were notified many times of what was going on. On September 29 and 30, 1941 there was a mass killing at Babi Yar, a Russian city near Kiev. Reporters in Kiev were sending the story to their publishers within three days, it was never printed. A Swiss-German industrialist, after having been invited to watch a mass killing, sent photographs to Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, they were ignored. In February 1942, the Vatican and the Red Cross received confirmed reports of the Holocaust. After discussing whether to intervene, they concluded that they had to remain silent, so as not to compromise their neutrality. In July of 1942, news reports of the killings were aired in London, however, nothing came of it because the reports were in French. Head of the CIA, Allen Dulles received an account of the camps from two inmates in 1944. Despite being quote-unquote ?profoundly shocked?... Free Essays on Holocaust The Holocaust is a term that is synonymous with genocide. In the Webster Merriam dictionary this term has two meanings; the first is a sacrifice consumed by fire. The second meaning is a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life especially through fire. In regards to the historical event known as the Holocaust, the second definition is the most fitting. This definition is appropriate because that is exactly what the Holocaust was: a complete destruction of a sect of people, mainly Jews, through the use of fire (primarily ovens in which their bodies were burned in). When speaking of destruction, it is important to understand that not only were bodies and lives destroyed, but the spirit of the Jewish people was shattered. There are many different questions concerning the Holocaust that have risen overtime. Whether or not the Holocaust ever existed has been debated for decades. To this day people have doubted the actual existence of the Holocaust, as well as the issue of how long the Holocaust was actually around for or when it even started. Not only when, but where it all happen, is also a pertinent part of understanding the full effect of this horrifying period in time. Also another widely held viewpoint and argument was if the Jews resisted or if the Jews succumbed to the Nazi party and Hitler. Within this paper I will confirm that in fact the holocaust actually did happen by discussing the beginning of the holocaust, concentrating on specific camps, and then talking about how it affects the Jewish people today. The holocaust began when a man by the name of Adolf Hitler came into power, and was on a mission to annihilate as much of the Jewish population that he could. Hitler was able to come to power through several different reasons. Long term bitterness, an ineffective constitution, money, propaganda, attacks on other parties, and personal qualities all contributed. Not to mention the fact that Hitler wa... Free Essays on Holocaust The Holocaust is a term that is synonymous with genocide. In the Webster Merriam dictionary this term has two meanings; the first is a sacrifice consumed by fire. The second meaning is a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life especially through fire. In regards to the historical event known as the Holocaust, the second definition is the most fitting. This definition is appropriate because that is exactly what the Holocaust was: a complete destruction of a sect of people, mainly Jews, through the use of fire (primarily ovens in which their bodies were burned in). When speaking of destruction, it is important to understand that not only were bodies and lives destroyed, but the spirit of the Jewish people was shattered. There are many different questions concerning the Holocaust that have risen overtime. Whether or not the Holocaust ever existed has been debated for decades. To this day people have doubted the actual existence of the Holocaust, as well as the issue of how long the Holocaust was actually around for or when it even started. Not only when, but where it all happen, is also a pertinent part of understanding the full effect of this horrifying period in time. Also another widely held viewpoint and argument was if the Jews resisted or if the Jews succumbed to the Nazi party and Hitler. Within this paper I will confirm that in fact the holocaust actually did happen by discussing the beginning of the holocaust, concentrating on specific camps, and then talking about how it affects the Jewish people today. The holocaust began when a man by the name of Adolf Hitler came into power, and was on a mission to annihilate as much of the Jewish population that he could. Hitler was able to come to power through several different reasons. Long term bitterness, an ineffective constitution, money, propaganda, attacks on other parties, and personal qualities all contributed. Not to mention the fact that Hitler wa... Free Essays on Holocaust The Holocaust during World War II was arguably one of the worst human induced disasters that have happened to the human race. The Holocaust orchestrated by the Nazi Empire destroyed millions of lives and created questions about humanity that may never be answered. Many psychological effects caused by the Holocaust forever changed the way the Jewish people view the world and themselves. The Jewish people have been scarred for generations and may never be able to once again associate with the rest of the free world. Further, these scars have now become the looking glass through which the survivors and their children view the world. Through narrow eyes, the survivors relate everything to the experiences they endured during the Holocaust. Likewise, these new views on the world shapes how the survivors live, interact, and raise a family both socially and spiritually. Some survivors are scarred so deeply they cannot escape the past feelings and images of terror; psychologists call this â €Å"Survivor Syndrome†. A survivor of the war is one who has encountered, been exposed to, or witnessed death, and has himself of herself remained alive. The symptoms affected not only survivors, but their families as well. These symptoms were also caused by some of the horrifying experiences that happened especially to the Jewish women. The symptoms included an inability to work, and even at times to talk. The Jewish people fear that it may happen again. Also a fear of uniformed police officers because of their position of power became very common. There were also many feelings of guilt for having survived when others had not. "Why am I alive?" â€Å"Why not my sister and brother...my whole family?" The Jewish holocaust survivors posed those and other questions. The survivors had thoughts of death, nightmares, panic attacks, and various other symptoms. Disinterest in life, people, and sometimes even in reality played a huge role in marital problems and suicid... Free Essays on Holocaust The world's biggest desolation that caused the murders of millions of Jewish people took place during WWII. The Holocaust orchestrated by the Nazi Empire destroyed millions of lives and created questions about humanity that may never be answered. Many psychological effects caused by the Holocaust forever changed the way the Jewish people view the world and themselves. The Jewish people have been scarred for generations and may never be able to once again associate with the rest of the free world. Further, these scars have now become the looking glass through which the survivors and their children view the world. Through narrow eyes, the survivors relate everything to the experiences they endured during the Holocaust. Likewise, these new views on the world shapes how the survivors live, interact, and raise a family both socially and spiritually. Some survivors are scarred so deeply they can not escape the past feelings and images of terror; they call this Survivor Syndrome. A Survivor is one who has encountered, been exposed to, or witnessed death, and has himself of herself remained alive. The symptoms affected not only survivors, but their families as well. The symptoms included an inability to work, and even at times to talk. The Jewish people fear that it may happen again. Also a fear of uniformed police officers because of their position of power became very common. There were also many feelings of guilt for having survived when others had not. "Why am I alive?" Why not my sister and brother...my whole family?" The survivors had thoughts of death, nightmares, panic attacks, and various other symptoms. Disinterest in life, people, and sometimes even in reality played a huge role in marital problems and suicide. There are five main categories of Survivor syndrome. The first is the Death imprint, which is the idea of not only death itself, but of all forms of torture and gruesome images of death. For many survivors they can re... Free Essays on Holocaust The Holocaust is a history of overwhelming horror and enduring sorrow. I can’t even imagine having to go through something as tragic as the Holocaust. However, at times I have wondered what it would be like if I were a Jewish girl, living during the Holocaust, and sent to a camp. What would I have done? I have thought that maybe I would just kill myself. What’s the point on trying to live? How would I be able to handle seeing people disappear day by day and watching everyone fall apart? It would be impossible and to live each day in fear that I may be next, I would just die from being so scared. However, I also think I would want to try and live through each day, just to show the Nazi’s that they couldn’t ruin me. I would want to show them I was strong, even if I were weak. I wouldn’t want to let them get the best of me. Yet, honestly I don’t know how I would react. I would have to be faced with the situation to know. â€Å"If w e ask today, sometimes with a faint if se! lf-righteous air of disapproval, why Jews in the camps or ghetto’s behaved the way they did, the answer, more often than not, lies locked in the heart bursting with fear or dread. It is an answer beyond judgment – but not beyond compassion†(Langer 36-37). After reading works of literature by survivors, I was in shock by the way some Jews acted towards one another and even more, betrayed there fellow Jews. They behaved in such a way in which, I would hope if I were in their situation, I would not do what they did. The novel, Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi and the short story â€Å"The Block of Death† by Sarah Nomberg-Przytyk, are two works of literature that portray how the Jews behaved. In the novel, Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi tells us, in vivid detail, his life while he was in the camp. Levi was a young Italian chemist, only twenty-four, when he was captured by the Fascist militia in 1943. From that day, he no longer had a... Free Essays on Holocaust Analysis of the Holocaust Of all the examples of injustice against humanity in history, the Jewish Holocaust has to be one of the most prominent. In the period of 1933 to 1945, the Nazis waged a vicious war against Jews and other "lesser races". This war came to a head with the "Final Solution" in 1938. One of the end results of the Final Solution was the horrible concentration and death camps of Germany, Poland, and other parts of Nazi-controlled Europe. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, people around the world were shocked by final tallies of human losses, and the people responsible were punished for their inhuman acts. The Holocaust was a dark time in the history of the 20th century. One can trace the beginnings of the Holocaust as far back as 1933, when the Nazi party of Germany, lead by Adolf Hitler, came to power. Hitler's anti-Jew campaign began soon afterward, with the "Nuremberg Laws", which defined the meaning of being Jewish based on ancestry. These laws also forced segregation between Jews and the rest of the public. It was only a dim indication of what the future held for European Jews. Anti-Jewish aggression continued for years after the passing of the Nuremberg Laws. One of these was the "Aryanization" of Jewish property and business. Jews were progressively forced out of the economy of Germany, their assets turned over to the government and the German public. Other forms of degradation were pogroms, or organized demonstrations against Jews. The first, and most infamous, of these pogroms was Krystallnacht, or "The night of broken glass". This pogrom was prompted by the assassination of Ernst von Rath, a German diplomat, by Herschel Grymozpan in Paris on November 7th, 1938. Two days later, an act of retaliation was organized by Joseph Gobbels to attack Jews in Germany. On the nights of November 9th and 10th, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroye... Free Essays on Holocaust The Holocaust during World War II was arguably one of the worst human induced disasters that have happened to the human race. The Holocaust orchestrated by the Nazi Empire destroyed millions of lives and created questions about humanity that may never be answered. Many psychological effects caused by the Holocaust forever changed the way the Jewish people view the world and themselves. The Jewish people have been scarred for generations and may never be able to once again associate with the rest of the free world. Further, these scars have now become the looking glass through which the survivors and their children view the world. Through narrow eyes, the survivors relate everything to the experiences they endured during the Holocaust. Likewise, these new views on the world shapes how the survivors live, interact, and raise a family both socially and spiritually. Some survivors are scarred so deeply they cannot escape the past feelings and images of terror; psychologists call this â €Å"Survivor Syndrome†. A survivor of the war is one who has encountered, been exposed to, or witnessed death, and has himself of herself remained alive. The symptoms affected not only survivors, but their families as well. These symptoms were also caused by some of the horrifying experiences that happened especially to the Jewish women. The symptoms included an inability to work, and even at times to talk. The Jewish people fear that it may happen again. Also a fear of uniformed police officers because of their position of power became very common. There were also many feelings of guilt for having survived when others had not. "Why am I alive?" â€Å"Why not my sister and brother...my whole family?" The Jewish holocaust survivors posed those and other questions. The survivors had thoughts of death, nightmares, panic attacks, and various other symptoms. Disinterest in life, people, and sometimes even in reality played a huge role in marital problems and suicid... Free Essays on Holocaust Holocaust By:Robert Perez Holocaust, originally, a religious rite in which an offering was entirely consumed by fire. In current usage, holocaust refers to any widespread human disaster, but as the term Holocaust it means the almost complete destruction of European Jews by Nazi Germany When the Nazi regime came to power in Germany in 1933, it immediately began to take systematic measures against Jews. The Nazi Party, government agencies, banks, and business enterprises made concerted efforts to eliminate Jews from economic life, and from German life in general. In 1938, following the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a young Jew, all synagogues in Germany were set on fire, windows of Jewish shops were smashed, and thousands of Jews were arrested. This "Night of Broken When World War II began in 1939, the German army occupied the western half of Poland, bringing almost 2 million more Jews under Germany's control. Polish Jews were forced to move into ghettos surrounded by walls and barbed wi! re. Unemployment, malnutrition, and poverty were widespread; housing was overcrowded; and typhus was common. In June 1941 German armies invaded the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and soldiers in special units were dispatched to kill all Soviet Jews on the spot. A month after operations began in the USSR, Hermann Gà ¶ring, the second in command of Nazi Germany, sent a directive to Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Reich Security Main Office, charging him with the task of organizing a "final solution to the Jewish question" in all of German-dominated Europe. Jews in Germany were then forced to wear badges or armbands marked with a yellow star. Soon the Nazis deported tens of thousands to ghettos in Poland and to occupied Soviet cities. Death camps, or concentration camps, equipped with gas chambers were erected in occupied Poland. People were deported from the ghettos; although their destinations were not disclosed, repo... Free Essays on Holocaust THE HOLOCAUST The Holocaust was the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis through an officially sanctioned, government-ordered, systematic plan of mass annihilation. As many as six million Jews died, almost two-thirds of the Jews of Europe. Although the Holocaust took place during World War II, the war was not the cause of the Holocaust. The war played a role in covering up the genocide of the Jewish people. In 19th century Europe, Jews were classified as an inferior race with specific physical and personality characteristics. Some thinkers believed these traits would disappear if Jews received political and social understanding and could blend into the broader society. Others felt that these traits were genetically passed on and could not be changed. An increasing emphasis on nationalism also highlighted the Jews as a "foreign element," which could contaminate the native stock and culture and potentially dominate the native population economically and politically. This long-standing history provided a reason for the Nazi ideology and program of genocide. Adolph Hitler, who was a charismatic Austrian, rose to power in Germany during the 1920s and early 1930s at a time of social, political, and economic rise. Failing to take power by force in 1923, he eventually won power by democratic means. Once in power, he eliminated all opposition and launched an ambitious program of world domination and elimination of the Jews, the same ideas as he write in his book. The Nazis, under cover of the war, developed the technology, and psychology of hate to murder millions of Jews. The details of the Final Solution were worked out at the Wannsee Conference. All Jews in Germany and the occupied countries were deported to sealed ghettos as a holding area. Many were then shipped in cattle cars to labor camps where they lived under brutally inhuman conditions. Hundreds of thousands were sent directly to the gas chambers in death camps. As th... Free Essays on Holocaust The Holocaust is a term that is synonymous with genocide, the complete destruction of a sect of people, predominantly Jews in this case, simply for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. This was a dark period in the history of the world that tested the strength, spirit, and solidarity of a people. The Holocaust was marked by extreme physical violence, but it may have been the psychological torture endured by both survivors and victims of this horrific event that best signifies the impact it had on the Jewish community and the world. A devastating event that shattered a nation. There are many different questions concerning the Holocaust that have arisen overtime. Debates have raged for decades arguing the intricacies of this single event. People have doubted, and continue to doubt, that there ever was a Holocaust. Scholars can not agree on when the Holocaust began, how long it lasted, or geographically where it occurred. Other questions that regularly appear include to what extent, if any, the Jews put up a resistance when faced with the impending force of Hitler and the Nazi regime. This paper will document facts that affirm the existence of the Holocaust, beginning with the birth and origins surrounding it. A look at concentration camps and their effects will follow, and concluding with a discussion on how the Holocaust has affected the Jewish community today. The Holocaust began when Adolf Hitler came into power and implemented a plan to annihilate the Jewish population in an effort to, in his eyes, purify the German race and solidify the country. Hitler’s rise to power, and growing hatred for the Jewish community, was fueled by apathetic Germans in Berlin during World War I. On October 7, 1916 Hitler received a leg wound and was dismissed from the military temporarily in order to recover. While recuperating in Berlin, he witnesses first hand the lack of support the Germans had for their country fighting in World War I... Free Essays on Holocaust When I was first given this assignment, I would have to say that I have never been more uninterested in doing homework in my life. I’ve never been interested in history of any kind, which would explain my failures to participate in class and so when I first stepped into the Museum of Tolerance I didn’t expect it to make me want to learn and I certainly did not expect one museum visit to change my whole perspective on what human life used to be. But it has in a way I never could have imagined. At the Museum of Tolerance, the first thing I saw was a mini-video that had clips of an interview with William Pierce who wrote â€Å"The Turner Diaries,† which was found in Timothy McVeigh’s possession when he was arrested. The video also had clips of groups of African-American men making stereotypical remarks toward the white-Americans. They spoke of how for every black man who didn’t have a gun, there was a white man with at least one gun. This is obviously a stereotype because not every white man owned a gun. The leader of the group, whose name I did not catch, had even said that he â€Å"wished they would show movies with white men being killed to the point where the blood flowed into the popcorn.† This particular clip had a huge effect on me. I’ve heard of African-Americans being oppressed by the white-Americans since they created slave codes of the pre-civil war era that were later replaced by segregation laws and practices to discriminate a gainst the blacks. But I never realized that the African-Americans of today still feel now, the way the African-Americans of that time felt towards the white-Americans. Then I went into an area that was called â€Å"The Point of View Diner.† It was a video clip of this scenario: There’s a radio disc jockey named Bostic who has a radio show where he constantly uses hate speech. He wasn’t just speaking discriminately towards minorities, but also towards women. Bostic would say stuff like how... Free Essays on Holocaust Yehuda Bauer defines Jewish resistance in Nazi-occupied Europe as â€Å"any group action consciously taken in opposition to known or surmised laws, actions, or intentions directed against the Jews by the Germans and their supporters.† However, many argue that passive resistance, even when done by a single individual, is inherently considered resistance as well. Through careful examination of various sources, written by Bauer and Yahil, considering the difficult conditions Jewish armed and unarmed resistance was considerably more widespread than has been subsequently assumed. In the Holocaust there were three types of Jewish resistance: the resistance and uprising in the ghettos, revolts in death camps, and Jewish participation in the partisan movement. In many ghettos, the Judenrat leaders taught that survival lay in submission, and the general population accepted that ideology. But nevertheless, their was a Jewish effort, including the effort of the underground, which directed their endeavors in aiming to guarantee the physical survival of the Jewish masses. In addition, they also initiated widespread activity on other spheres such as not showing up for labor.. One form of unarmed resistance was the smuggling of food inside the ghetto. One can take Poland as an example, official German food allocations distributed by the Warsaw Judenrat came to 336 calories daily in 1941. It is unlikely that Warsaw Jews could have survived longer than a few months on such rations. But smuggling produced an average of 1125 calories daily. This determination to survive i n defiance of Nazi authority, is definitely to be considered an act of resistance. A second means of unarmed resistance is evident through education. Although the Nazi’s forbade education it took place clandestinely, where small groups of pupils would meet either in the soup kitchen or in the home of the teacher. There is evidence of educating youths in a large number of places in P...