Holocaust

Harlow 1 The Holocaust “In the Past and Present” The Holocaust was and still is a tragedy in world history. It affected millions of lives when it happened and continues to affect the survivors and the victim’s descendants today. It all started in 1933 when Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. He and his followers murdered over six million Jews; out of the six million, 1.5 million were helpless children. This was only the beginning of his reign; it became much worse throughout World War II. Though he killed millions, there were the lucky few who survived to tell their stories, if you would go as far to call them lucky. Most of them still have to live with the painful memories every day. It affects their families and every part of their lives. One Jewish girl, who was not fortunate enough to survive, is now a strong voice for millions of Jews. Anne Frank’s diary has told the story of what it was like as a Jew during this time for many people. Whether a survivor, a victim, or a family member of either, it has affected everyone’s life in a horrific way. President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, after the Nazi party won many of the votes in the 1932 elections. (History of the Holocaust 1) This was the beginning of a horrible end for many innocent citizens. The first thing Hitler did as a leader was start a weekly newspaper from the Nazis that always carried the slogan, “Jews are our Misfortune!” on it. The Nazi party would terrorize and arrest members of other parties and forbid their meetings. During the new elections, the Reichstag building “mysteriously” burnt down. While none of the Nazis were arrested for this, a number of them participated in the act. This was the start of taking over a country. The day after the fire

democracy in Germany was over. Individual freedoms and rights were taken away, and Nazis rapidly moved to a dictatorship. In the beginning of the dictatorship, they created Gestapo, a group of police officers recruited from actual German police forces. In short, they beat civilians and any opponents of the Nazi party. They also served as Hitler’s personal bodyguards and helped him defeat the German democracy. By the end of 1934, Hitler and his armies took complete control of the country and that is when things took a turn for the worse. Hitler began his torture of the Jewish population during this time, but being a psychotic man, he thought he had incredible reasoning behind his acts. He combined racial theories with Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory and concluded that what he was doing was what was right. According to his theory, Germans were the dominant race and the Jews were the racially weak group. Therefore, he began his reign of terror. He tortured Jews in the beginning by taking them out of jobs and public institutions, taking over their businesses, and burning any books written by Jews. However, it did not stop there. As it continued to get worse many Jews tried to flee Germany, and the ones that did not ended up going into hiding or being murdered. In November of 1938, the attacks became very violent. (Holocaust Timeline 3) Nazi teenagers broke into Jewish homes and burned synagogues throughout the night. This night known as Kristallnacht, over thirty thousand Jews were killed or taken to concentration camps. This led to the invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II. Poland was invaded in 1939 and Jews began to be captured and led to one of the six death camps, the most famous being Auschwitz. After this it, was pretty much hiding or death for the Jews. If they were caught trying to escape they were sent to concentration or death camps. Anne

Frank was a Jewish girl who is now famous because of her diary that told the story of a Jewish family in hiding. Anne’s family moved to Amsterdam after the war broke out, where her father had a business selling pharmaceutical products. They stayed there and as the war got worse, they were forced to go into hiding in her father’s office building. They lived with another family in a tiny room hidden behind a bookshelf. This is where she made most of her diary entries. (Kamm 1) Although they survived this way for a while, it was not long before police captured and betrayed them. The police led them to concentration camps, where nearly the entire family died. The only survivor was her father, Frank Otto. After the war, he returned to the room where they had hidden and discovered her diary had been left. It was his efforts that got the diary published as, The Diary of a Young Girl. Although her diary has helped tell the story of many Jews, it does not tell what it is like for the survivors and their families. One holocaust survivor’s daughter has written about what it has been like with her father. She says, “He wouldn’t talk about the years he spent in Nazi concentration camps. But they never left him.” (Levy 1) In the article “Hitler Killed My Father”, Levy says, “I still don’t agree with the cause of death on the death certificate. The cause of death, according to the doctor, was cancer. That was not what killed my father. The cause of death was Adolf Hitler.” World War II controlled this man’s life and affected his family’s life as well. His daughter still remembers a day on vacation when her father noticed a fly zapper as it killed a fly and a mosquito and quietly said, “That’s how Hitler did it too.” (Levy 1) During Shirley Levy’s entire life she grew up watching her parents suffer and relive the nightmares of their four years in concentration camps. She did not know what it was like to be a Jew and not suffer every day. As her father’s death came closer, he finally began talking about the Holocaust and all of the camps he was moved to.

He figured that at this point no one would remember. He relived all of his nightmares again before his death. Levy had a friend whose mother did the same thing. Right before her death, she began hallucinating and believing, she was in a concentration camp again. Levy and her friend concluded that, “Hitler got them in the end. Hitler did not end at six million. He is still killing the Jews. It is six million and counting.” (Levy 2) So, although Hitler began his supremacy in 1933, it did not end in the 1940’s. Adolf Hitler and his followers succeeded in causing an entire population pain and suffering during the Holocaust and still today. He destroyed Jewish homes, businesses, and entire families during his time as a dictator. Although his time of power that began in 1933 is now over, there are many people in the world that continue to suffer because of his act as a terrorist and dictator. We have tried to make up for everything he has done, but I simply do not think it is possible for anyone in this world to erase the damage he has caused. Many history and English writers out there have devoted entire books to Anne Frank and other Jews. For example, in On Writing: A Process Reader, there is an entire project on Anne Frank. Although there are books, museums, and many memorials in the world today in memory of Holocaust victims and in honor of Holocaust survivors, none of it makes up for the toll it has taken on so many innocent person’s lives. It is very sad to know that there are people who continue to suffer because of his acts, but as time goes on I have hopes that it will get better.

Works Cited Bishop, Wendy. “Writing Projects.” On Writing: A Process Reader. 2nd ed. Boston: The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2007. 342

"History of the Holocaust: An Introduction." Jewish Virtual Library. 01 Jan. 2008. A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 10 Sept. 2008 . Kamm, Antony. "A second look: Anne Frank: The diary of a young girl." Horn Book Magazine 70.6 (Nov. 1994): 706-708. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 9 Sep. 2008 . Levy, Shirley Paryzer. "Hitler Killed My Father." Newsweek 151.18 (05 May 2008): 22-22. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 9 Sep. 2008 . "Holocaust Timeline." The History Place. 1997. 9 Sep. 2008 .