Holocaust Survivors

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A young Jewish woman, four months pregnant, stood in a line of hundreds of women, all in the same state as her: cold and hungry. It was below 0° outside. The cold wind whipped across the women’s cheeks. The only clothing they had to protect them was the dirty, tattered clothes they had worn on that day. That dreadful day when all their freedoms were stolen. The SS (Schutzstaffel) officer appeared before them, dressed in big, black boots, a crisp uniform, and a loudspeaker in hand. “All pregnant women line up, he barked. Line up, line up — your food portions are being doubled”(O'Connor online). Women up and down the line stepped up. Some of them were not even pregnant, just eager to take advantage of the offer. The girls were hungry. They had not eaten in days. Their last meal consisted of rock solid bread and cold soup that contained mostly water. It was no surprise that many women stepped up to take on the offer. The young Jewish woman did not. Something held her back. Two hundred women stepped up that day. Two hundred were sent to the gas chambers. She was one of the lucky few that survived.
The Holocaust was a tragic event that took the lives of 6 million innocent Jews, of which one million were just children.The Nazis tortured, mistreated, neglected and forced these Jews to do extraneous hard labor and if that didn't kill them, then they died in gas chambers and mass murders. Very few survived, but if they were able to escape from the hands of these killers, they were forced to live with the memories of their traumatic experiences. Many people, psychologists included, predicted that these survivors would fall into depression and live a sorrowful life, knowing how evil the world could truly be. Contrary to popular belief, ex...

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...arch for Positive Effects. American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. .

Klein, Gerda Weissmann. All but My Life. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Print.

O'Connor, Joe. "Pregnant in Auschwitz: Toronto Holocaust Survivor Recalls Split-second Decision That Saved Her and Unborn Son." Pregnant in Auschwitz: Toronto Holocaust Survivor Recalls Split-second Decision That Saved Her and Unborn Son. N.p., 25 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. .

Shklarov, Svetlana. "Theory Through the Eyes of Child Survivors of the Holocaust." Kavod.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. .

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