“Thou shalt not be a victim.
Thou shalt not be a perpetrator.
Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.” (Berenbaum)
Would you save lives of others at the consequence of losing your own? Many people faced with this question during the Holocaust became bystanders while very few had the courage to jeopardize everything to rescue others. While Nazi’s were terrorizing others and eliminating their liberties others became bystanders and were spectators and accomplices to the Nazi party.
The Holocaust; an attempt to clear a country of its impurities, to create a superior race, and to create a perfect civilization in a country of discrimination and hostility. A time of suffering for many, a period of hiding for others, but for most it was years of watching genocide happening, in their country, in their community, to their friends, to their colleagues, and to their neighbors. Very few offered aid to their friends in despair, instead they went on with their daily lives ignoring the tragedy occurring around them. Those who helped gave everything they could to shelter those in agony against the crimes arising.
Hitler’s rise to power in 1939 was the start of the Holocaust. It started with Jew’s losing rights such as Jewish owned shops were being boycotted and Nazi’s burned books written by Jewish authors. Jew’s also had to be easily distinguished by wearing the yellow Star of David. They weren’t allowed to serve in the military and eventually Jews were stripped of their German citizenship. The first act of dehumanization forced upon the Jews was being moved into ghettos. Life in the ghettos consisted of overcrowding and filthy living conditions, ghettos became the beginning of the Holocaust experience for the Jews. Fr...
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...history. Such genocides could have been easily avoided if people would have not turned away and remained silent.
“Of course, indifference can be tempting- more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person’s pain and despair.” (Wiesel)
When asked if you would save the lives of others even if you put your own life at danger would you remain silent and indifferent? Would you choose to be a bystander to the violence and terror and turn a blind eye? Or would you have a voice and be involved? Would you make an attempt to repel the devastation, destruction, and dehumanization? Would you refuse to witness the death and discrimination of your closest friends, neighbors, and family?
The Holocaust was an extraordinary event that affected the lives of millions of people, including Elie Wiesel, and led to the death of many innocent lives. It all began when Adolf Hitler became Germany’s dictator in 1933. Hitler praised the German population and seemed to ban all other competing races, specifically the Jewish population in Germany. This hatred toward the Jews led to extreme discrimination. Hitler’s main goal was to lead the Jewish race out of the country through the establishment of harsh laws against them (Barrett). After having little effect, Hitler decided to force the Jews into political imprisonment which led to the creation of the first concentration camps in 1933. However,
The Holocaust was the time period when Adolf Hitler was in control of the territory of Germany and wanted the extinction of the Jews. The Holocaust was a very vigorous on the Jews because they were treated the worst and had the worst living conditions. The Holocaust derived the Jews of their wealth, and little bit of humanity that they held dear to themselves. Adolf Hitler established laws to make it basically illegal to be a Jew in Germany. Since Adolf Hitler was in power he commanded that all Jews properties and valuables be taken. For example, in the book “Maus” it states, “He had to sell his business to a German and run out from the country without even the money.”(
“Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe,” is the quote that is engraved on every heroic medal handed out by an organization called the Yad Vashem. But this is not just any ordinary medal; it is called The Medal of the Righteous. The Medal of the Righteous is a medal handed out by Yad Vashem in Israel to the courageous people who put their lives on the line to save a Jewish person or at least help them, during the Holocaust. There have been a total of 25,271 medals awarded. But why were these rescuers jeopardize their own safety? All of these Righteous helped the Jewish for a number of reasons: they became aware of the dangerous situation for the Jews, they loved and/or respected the Jews, or they were called by their profession
From 1933 onwards, Adolf Hitler and his Nazis began implementing simple discrimination laws against the Jews and others who they did not see part of their master race. Hitler and the Nazis believed that German power was being taken by the Jews. Hitler was able to convince his followers of this issue with the Jewish question as it was known, and get away with murdering millions of people in an attempt to cleanse society of anyone inferior to the master race. The Holocaust lasted for 12 years, until 1945. Starting as early as 1944, the Allies were finally advancing on the Germans and began taking over their camps. These liberations and takeovers by the Soviets, American’s and other allies slowly began to remove Hitler from power. In my essay I will go into detail on the final years of the holocaust and how it ended.(1)
The Holocaust began in 1933 when the Nazis instigated their first action against the Jews by announcing a boycott of all Jewish-run businesses. The Nuremberg Laws went into place on September 15, 1935 which began to exclude the Jews from public life. These laws went to the extent of stripping German Jews of the citizenship and then implemented a prohibition of marriage between the Jewish and the Germans. These laws set the legal precedent for further anti-Jewish legislation. Over the next several years, even more laws would be introduced. Jews would be excluded from parks, fired from civil service jobs, required to register all property and restricted Jewish doctors from practicing medicine on any person other than Jewish patients.
The Holocaust started in 1939. In that time period the Germans and the Allied Forces were in war. When they were in war the Germans took all Jews (except the ones in hiding) to multiple concentration camps and death camps. When they were sent to concentration camps they were ordered to take off all their jewelry, gold teeth and clothes. They were provided with stripped pajamas with numbers on them so they can be recognized by their number and not by their names. They were also tattooed on their left forearm with the same number that was on their stripped pajamas. Everybody’s head had to get shaved BALD. After everybody got to get concentration camps they were forced to go into the hard labor imme...
A holocaust is defined as a disaster that results with the tremendous loss of human life. History, however, generally identifies the Holocaust to be the series of events that occurred in the years before and during World War II. The Holocaust started in 1933 with the persecuting and terrorizing of Jews by the Nazi Party, and ended in 1945 with the murder of millions of helpless Jews by the Nazi war-machine. "The Holocaust has become a symbol of brutality and of one people's inhumanity to another." (Resnick p. 11)
The Holocaust was the mass killing of all of the Jews in Western Europe during an event referred to by the Nazis
In Miles Lehrman's documentary, Witness to the Holocaust, he argues, “A perpetrator is not the most dangerous enemy. The most dangerous part is the bystander because neutrality always helps the killer”, This is not a logical claim because bystanders merely witness it; however, they are not committing any crimes against laws or humanity. They may want to help the victim, but they may not do so because being a bystander is simply not illegal. Since forcing someone to be an upstander is illegal, people choose to not be an upstander because it puts them in an undesirable position. After all, standing up for the victim may put the upstander in danger along with the victim. Additionally, becoming an upstander does not guarantee that the victim will be safe and sound afterwards; the perpetrator may continue, perhaps with the upstander as another victim.
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.
Those are many of the reasons that the non Jews should have fought back against the German Nazis for the Jewish. The non Jews probably could have save almost all of the lives if they had just stood up and at least tried to help all of the Jews in the concentration camps. The Nazis had hurt innocent people and became feared, hated, and ruthless. Jews could have Forsooth been freed from the brusque concentration camps.There could have been many lives saved. The Nazis could have been seized.
In the documentary Witness to the Holocaust, Miles Lehrman suggests that a perpetrator is not as dangerous as they are thought to be. In fact, he says that the bystanders are more dangerous than the perpetrators themselves. This is a logical claim.
Many people in this rough position stayed tough and unbreakable, but others could not stand the pressure and crumbled to pieces. The abandoned children were sometimes taken in by other families, so they would have a home to live in and a family to comfort them. Standing up for yourself and fighting back would show that these people were not backing down to anyone, especially the Nazis, who were destroying them and their meanings. People that took part in the uncontrolled Holocaust should have fought back to win their freedom and dignity from the Nazis.
The Holocaust was the genocide of approximately six million people of innocent Jewish decent by the Nazi government. The Holocaust was a very tragic time in history due to the idealism that people were taken from their surroundings, persecuted and murdered due to the belief that German Nazi’s were superior to Jews. During the Holocaust, many people suffered both physically and mentally. Tragic events in people’s lives cause a change in their outlook on the world and their future. Due to the tragic events that had taken place being deceased in their lives, survivors often felt that death was a better option than freedom.
At what point does personal interest become more important than the safety of others? During the Holocaust, the Nazis were not the only group that advanced the Holocaust, and then the Final Solution. Bystanders, witnesses, passersby, and many other groups indirectly affected the victims of the Holocaust. The silence of these groups held the Jews in more jeopardy than their Nazi captors.