Would you be brave or patient enough to hide in a tiny space for three years with little food and nothing to do? Like the Frank family, many other Jewish families found secret places to hide. The Stermers, Bileckis, and Haars were all involved with hiding during the Holocaust to avoid being sent to concentration camps by the Nazis. For example, a family of 8 escaped to a cave in Ukraine around October 1942 (Arkell). This family, the Stermers, hid in a cave with five other Jewish families, 38 total people (Arkell). The mother, Esther, the father, Zaida, two of the brothers, Sam and Saul, and two more waited for 18 months in this cramped space (Arkell). They probably didn’t have to be quiet since they were in a cave away from civilization, but I wonder if they were scared of people roaming around. An SS officer came and invaded the cave, but after they had a little talk with Esther, they left and never came back (Arkell). She said, "What are you afraid of here? The Fuhrer is gonna lose the war because we live here? “(Arkell). At the end of the hard year and a half, the Russians liberated their Ukrainian town and they were saved (Arkell). There is a movie that came out that explains all the hardships that they suffered (Arkell). Unlike the Stermers who were hiding from the Nazis, the Bileckis actually helped many people hide. The Bileckis hid about 23 Jewish people in an underground shelter, says Louis Bülow. They made a shelter in a cave and disguised it with limbs and leaves so no one would know they were there (Bülow). They were forced to change their location because they were concerned of pedestrian traffic by the cave (Bülow). Their new spot was a lot closer to the Bilecki's home which made it a whole bunch easier to delive... ... middle of paper ... ...his were to happen again. This tragic event in history will forever remain in our hearts. Works Cited Arkell, Harriet. "Astonishing bravery of the Jewish family who escaped the Holocaust by hiding in an underground cave - for a year-and-a-half." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers Ltd, 05 Apr 2013. Web. 13 Nov 2013. . Bülow, Louis. "Julian Bilecki, A Holocaust Hero." The Holocaust, Crimes, Heroes and Villains. The Holocaust, Crimes, Heroes and Villains, n.d. Web. 18 Nov 2013. . Kelly - Goss, Robert. "Hiding from the Nazis, a Jewish family survives the Holocaust." The Daily Advance. The Daily Advance, 09 Jul 2011. Web. 18 Nov 2013. .
With the amount of anti-Semitic activity in Germany, no Jew was safe and Helen realized this quickly. In order to protect her child he had to give her to family to keep her safe. “There we said goodbye as casually as possible and gave these strangers our child.” After this moment, Helen’s fight for survival to see her child once again. Finding a place to hide became very difficult as no one wanted to host a Jewish family due to the fear of the Nazis finding out. “People were understandably nervous and frightened, so the only solution was to find another hiding place.”
It is almost unimaginable the difficulties victims of the holocaust faced in concentration camps. For starters they were abducted from their homes and shipped to concentration camps in tightly packed cattle cars. Once they made it to a camp, a selection process occurred. The males were separated from the females. Then those who were too young or too old to work were sent to the showers. Once the showers were tightly packed, the Nazi’s would turn on the water and drop in canisters of chemicals that would react with the water and release a deadly gas. Within minutes, everyone in the shower would be dead. The bodies would be hauled out and burned. Those who were not selected to die didn’t fair much better. Terrible living conditions, forced labor, malnourishment, and physical abuse were just a few of the things they had to endure. It was such a dark time. So many invaluable lessons can be learned from the holocaust and from those who survived it. One theme present in Elie Wiesel’s novel Night and Robert Benigni’s film Life is Beautiful is that family can strengthen or hinder one during adversity.
The Holocaust will forever be known as one of the largest genocides ever recorded in history. 11 million perished, and 6 million of the departed were Jewish. The concentration camps where the prisoners were held were considered to be the closest one could get to a living hell. There is no surprise that the men, women, and children there were afraid. One was considered blessed to have a family member alongside oneself. Elie Wiesel was considered to be one of those men, for he had his father working side by side with him. In the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, a young boy and his father were condemned to a concentration camp located in Poland. In the concentration camps, having family members along can be a great blessing, but also a burden. Elie Wiesel shows that the relationship with his father was the strength that kept the young boy alive, but was also the major weakness.
Between Night and The Hiding Place, comradeship, faith, strength, and people of visions are clearly proved to be essential in order to survive in these death camps. Corrie, Elie, and other victims of these harsh brutalities who did survive had a rare quality that six million others unfortunately did not.
There is one thing all hidden children of the holocaust have in common, silence. Lola Rein Kaufman is one of those hidden children. And she is done being silent. Lola Rein was a hidden child during the holocaust. She was one of the lucky ones; one of the 10,000- 500,000 that survived. Her family wasn’t as lucky. Lola endured, los, abandonment, and constant fear, but has now chosen to shed her cloak of silence.
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal is a memoir about his time as a Jewish child in multiple ghettos and death camps in and around Germany during World War II. The author shares about his reunions with family and acquaintances from the war in the years between then and now. Buergenthal wished to share his Holocaust story for a number of reasons: to prevent himself from just being another number, to contribute to history, to show the power and necessity of forgiveness, the will to not give up, and to question how people change in war allowing them to do unspeakable things. The memoir is not a cry for private attention, but a call to break the cycle of hatred and violence to end mass crimes.
Everyone who has heard of the Holocaust most likely knows of the famous Anne Frank. Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who managed to go into hiding from the Nazis in the 1940s. She wrote down her experiences in a journal until she was found, and is generally the best-remembered of the Holocaust victims, but how did she survive? Who helped the Frank family hide, and kept them alive when they were in hiding? The Jews who were sent to concentration camps were not the only brave and suffering people. There were the rescuers, and the defenders of these persecuted people. One such person was Miep Gies.
Those who survived are here to tell the tragic and devastating history of their lives. The survivors have shared brutal but yet realistic stories from each of their experiences before, during, and after the Holocaust. History shall never repeat itself in the manner of racism, murder, and fear of our leaders. The burning hope of those who were involved still generates an enormous sadness upon the many who have heard the horror of the Holocaust.
Regine Donner, a famous Holocaust survivor, once said, “I had to keep my Jewishness hidden, secret, and never to be revealed on penalty of death. I missed out on my childhood and the best of my adolescent years. I was robbed of my name, my religion, and my Zionist idealism” (“Hidden Children”). Jewish children went through a lot throughout the Holocaust- physically, mentally, and emotionally. Life was frightening and difficult for children who were in hiding during the rule of Adolf Hitler.
"A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims." A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims. University of South Florida. Web. 19 May 2014.
Being able to successfully go into hiding can be very difficult, but it will but you a lot of extra time to be with your family, and also survive. In Piotrkow any Jews found hiding in the ghetto were killed where they were found. It can be very dangerous. But, If you go into hiding, you have everything you need to survive and those contained in Concentration Camps are starved to death and have no means of living. Yes, you can be caught and killed, or sent to a Concentration Camp but, it gives you more time to stay safe and protected, even if for only a few months or even weeks. Imagine a life of heartache and grief. Not knowing where to go or what will happen next. You realize you need to make a move, and fast. You decide to go into hiding. You understand it is dangerous, but you know it is definitely worth it if it saves you valuab...
Ofer, Dalia, and Lenore J. Weitzman. "Women in the Holocaust | Jewish Women's Archive." Women in the Holocaust | Jewish Women's Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
"Victims." A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust. University of South Florida, 1 Jan. 1997. Web. 19 May 2014. .
There are numerous stories on the gruesome slaughters of Jewish people during the rage of the Second World War. However, there is one story in particular that is unlike the rest. The book The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Saved 1,200 Jews, and Built a Village in the Forest by Peter Duffy takes place in the year of 1971, focusing on three brothers, Tuvia, Asael, and Zus Bielski who witness their parents and two other siblings being carted away by Nazi Soldiers like lambs to the slaughter. The Bielski brothers were, of course, devastated to see their family be led to their premature death and even blamed themselves for not being there to help them, but the brothers did not give in to the despair nor in the slightest bit. Instead, the brothers retaliated—fought back with vigor and cunning wits to show that one does not mess with a Bielski, and even saved over a thousand Jews along the way. The brothers built a base in the forest that consisted of themselves and close relatives. Later, the Bielskis decided to welcome any and all Jews to their base. Rumors of the Bielski haven in the forest started spreading to the ghettos, convincing more and more Jews to escape and join. However, due to the expansion of the community, the
The Silber Medal winning biography, “Surviving Hitler," written by Andrea Warren paints picture of life for teenagers during the Holocaust, mainly by telling the story of Jack Mandelbaum. Avoiding the use of historical analysis, Warren, along with Mandelbaum’s experiences, explains how Jack, along with a few other Jewish and non-Jewish people survived.