According to Oxford languages, evil is the “manifestation of profound immortality and wickedness, especially in people’s action. Evil is the enemy to humanity. Throughout history there have been many displays of evil, none more wicked than what happened in the Holocaust. The Holocaust, Shoah in Hebrew, was the genocide of European Jewish people between 1941 to 1945. During World War II, Nazi Germany and its allies had made Jewish people the enemy because of anti-Semitism, or prejudice against Jewish people. It started off with propaganda and cruel laws to affect their daily lives. However, it would become more sinister when they were forced out of their homes and put into concentration camps. In concentration camps, many innocent men, women, and children were subjected to cruel punishment. While there were some small number of survivors, nearly six million lives were taken during the holocaust.
The holocaust was one of the worst stains on human history. It embodied evil and cruelty.
However, we can use history for good, to commemorate all the lives taken during the holocaust, it is important we use this event as a strength, celebrating the strength of Jewish people and never forgetting this evil period. This essay is the journey of Jewish people and the horrors they had to live through during the Holocaust.
After losing World War I, Germany was recovering from its effects. However, the loss was burdening. The country had massive economic issues, unemployment skyrocketing, and political instability. Due to this Germany become desperate. They were once a powerhouse in the world, now a recovering country for the bottom. Hungry for power, a man named Adolf Hitler took control when Germany was recovering.
Adolf Hitler was a Germany politician who took control of Germany in 1933. He was a radical leader who wanted many changes. His vison of Germany was to take control of Europe and have a master race. This meant extinction of certain groups for him. Including, Jewish people. Anti-Semitism can be defined as prejudice against Jewish people. It is a form of hatred targeted towards Jewish people. This evil belief became the roots of the Holocaust.
His goal was for the extermination of Jewish people. This set off plans to exclude them from the population. It started with making Jewish people the enemy of the public by blaming them for Germany’s struggles with propaganda, then excluding them from society, and finally sending them to death camps.
Initially the Nazi regime started its anti-Semitism campaign with propaganda. Jewish people were blamed for German struggles. Propaganda posters were spread across Germany targeting Jewish people. They were attacked and blamed for simply living. These propaganda posters resulted in Jewish people being isolated from the others.
This poster was an anti-Semitism poster from 1943. It is titled, “Der Ist Schuld Am Kriege!” Which translates to, he is guilty for the war. They have a finger pointed on a man with the Jewish star, which was used to identify them. The David star. On 1941 Germany passed a decree that forced Jewish people to wear the star of David on them in public. “(1) Jews (article 5 of the first decree regarding the law on German citizenship of 14 November 1935 — Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 1333) who have completed their sixth year of life shall be prohibited to appear in public without wearing a Jewish star.” The David star, which is a scared symbol to the Jewish symbol, was now being used as a method to cruelly separate Jewish people from the rest. It was being used to shame them for their beliefs.
However, propaganda posters became the least of Jewish peoples worries. Jewish people, who have been living peacefully in their homes for their entire lives, were forced out of their homes and relocated in to crowded “ghettos” and then later relocated into concentration camp. “Night,” written by Elie Wisesel, was a book detailing his experience during the Holocaust. Elie Wissel grew up with a wealthy family. He lived a normal life, studying with his father and learning about the Jewish culture. That would all begin to change on the spring of 1944. Nazi Germany occupied Hungary, Elie’s country. Soon, Jewish people were forced out of their homes and relocated into ghettos. Ghettos were run down parts of the city. They were described as overcrowded and dirty. Diseases like tuberculosis and typhus ran rampant. Nearly 500000 Jewish people died in the ghettos. However, Elie’s journey would only get worse.
Elie, along with the other Jewish people from his community, were transported in cattle cars. Cattle Cars were box like trains that were used to transport livestock. Imagine hundreds of people being stuffed into these cattle cars. They would be forced in these carts for days with no provided food or water. People were crushed and trampled in these carts This ride in these cattle cars could be compared to a ride into hell. Hell originated as a religious term; it is the place for non-believers and sinners after death. There are many different depictions of hell, some say it is a fiery inferno or a lifeless zone. For Elie Wisesel, his hell was a place called Auschwitz
Concentration camps were camps with large amounts of people being detained under terrible conditions. They were either worked to death or beaten to death. Auschwitz was considered the worst. It had the highest death toll with over a million. Concentration camps were a hell on earth. Living conditions were terrible, life was a battle every day, people had to fight to survive, and it broke the strongest people. Elie Wissel who was a just a small boy at the time had to face the horrors ahead of him.
Before entering the camps, people were separated to be “selected.” This was the process to determine if they were physically capable of working, or should be killed immediately,
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed….Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” -Ellie Wissel, Night
Every day was a struggle for the Jewish people, living in terrible conditions, people became desperate. They had to resort to extreme measures and only worry about themselves. Most previous connections before the camps, friendships, family members, were lost. For Ellie he began losing faith in his god and even his own father. Seeing his own father struggle and breakdown he began to grown disdain for his own father. Tired of carrying the burden of himself and his father he began to distance himself from his fathers. His faith in his religion was lost, he would ask himself every night, if there was a god, how could he let these things happen? Concentration camps had that effect on people. It broke them down physically, mentally, and spiritually. Even if you did survive from the selection, camp life would slowly drain you and kill you internally. The Holocaust had effects that lasted many years even after survivors were liberated. The holocaust is like a ghost that haunts many people. Understandably, survivors have a difficult time getting past the chain’s concentration camps had on them.
After being liberated, many survivors had difficulties adjusting. The horrors of the concentration camps still haunting them. “The Choice,” written by Dr. Edith Eger is about her struggles as a holocaust survivor. It goes from her time as a happy child as Jewish family in Hungary but was sent to Auschwitz. It is her powerful story about her struggles after the Holocaust. After Auschwitz, she had trauma and post-Traumatic stress which affected her daily life. Even after, she still suffered from the Holocaust. Her experience was still haunting her, and she still felt like a victim back in the camp. However, she was determined to defeat her past. With the help of family and friends, she saw that there was a purpose for her suffering. She received her doctorate in psychotherapy and made it her mission to help other survivors.
Fortunately, there were a few people that survived. Although they each had their own experience and struggle, they all had to fight to survive hell. It is important we never forget the holocaust to honor those who survived and to make sure events like this never happen to humanity again. At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, they honor every single person who survived, having a story for each name. It gives them a platform for these survivors and allows them to share their experience from the Holocaust. Each survivor has their own personal page, readers can click through and see the cruelty these people had to live with. Like Jacob Blankitny, who details his Holocaust story from his town near Warsaw Poland. Then how he was fed only scraps of food, like soups and potatoes peels, while working all day.
When Germany lost World War II, high German officials were held under trial in the Nuremberg Trials. These trials saw the prosecution of political and military leaders of Germany. These people were the ones responsible for the horrors of the Holocaust. The Jewish people got to those responsible punished. Unfortunately, it was only a small piece of justice for the years of suffering they had to endure.
The Holocaust was one of the worst evens in human history. It was the show case of how wicked humanity can be. Jewish people were subject to punishment and cruelty daily. They had to struggle for live. From the propaganda to the expulsion from their homes to concentration camps, the Holocaust was pure evil. Holocaust survivors are some of the strongest and bravest people and they should be memorized.
Works Cited
• “He is Guilty for the War.” (1943) Hans Schweitzer https://www.ushmm.org/propaganda/archive/poster-guilty-war/
• “Night.” (1954) Elie Wissel
• Behind Every story a name. United States holocaust memorial museum
https://www.ushmm.org/remember/holocaust-reflections-testimonies/behind-every-name-a-story
• “Jacob Blankitny.” Jacob Blankitny
https://www.ushmm.org/remember/holocaust-reflections-testimonies/behind-every-name-a-story/jakob-blankitny
• “The Choice.”(2017) Dr. Edith Eger
• “Police Decree on Identification of Jews. (1941)Virginia Holocaust Musuem
https://www.vaholocaust.org/police-decree-on-identification-of-jews/
• “Where Murder was a way of life, The Mauthausen Concentration Camp.”(May 1 2020) WWII National Museum New Orleans https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/mauthausen-concentration-camp
