Some people say The Holocaust is our worlds weakest and most vile moment in history. With the death of eleven million helpless and innocent victims, it was a traumatic time of blood and tears. Six million of these deaths came from the Jew population. While about 2/3 of the Jewish population was killed in Europe, others suffered too. The Gypsies, the Poles, those who were mentally disabled, and twins were also targeted during the time of the Holocaust. Many people lose sight of the deaths of anyone other than the Jews, but the road was long and hard for everyone involved.
Like most of the victims, The Gypsies were victims of such torture and inhuman treatment because of their race. The Gypsies were a nomadic people. According to Holocaust Education, “the original German gypsy policy, in the 20th century, focused on integrating the gypsies into the “ordinary” German society.” They needed somewhere to settle in order to become part of the “ordinary” society. However, no community wanted to end up with them. Similar to the Jews, they were considered an “inferior race.” The Germans were intimidated by them, Holocaust Education says “they were a danger to the survival of the German people and the purity of the German ‘blood.” They were looked at as pollution to society. Starting in 1938 The Gypsies were placed in concentration camps if they did not have a steady job. Once the war began, the situation worsened. If they survived the diseases and starvation, they were gassed to death along with the Jews. The Gypsies were never hunted by the Nazis, like the Jews were, but when German security came across them, they were executed. In 1943, the deportation to Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp, began.
Another group subjected to the...
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...th it. But in that search for perfection, the Nazis lost any ethical values that they may have previously had.
Works Cited
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“Poles: Victims of the Nazi Era.” A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust. University of South Florida. 2005. May 15th, 2014.
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According to A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust, the Roma (Gypsies) and African-Germans were attacked because of their ethnicity. These two groups fell into the category of being “asocial” and too undesirable. The gypsies had pre-existing prejudices against them before Hitler’s rise which he just expanded on by creating laws against them. They had their civil rights taken away. Many were deported or sent to forced labor camps, and murdered. In 1933, the "Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Defects," was put into effect which gave doctors and physicians the ability to take away the choice and ability for the Roma and others to reproduce. The Romani and Negroes were considered minorities with “alien blood” so they were no longer allowed to marry those of the Aryan race (“Sinti and Roma”). The Gypsies and African-Germans foreign appearance, and customs were viewed as a threat to the “superior” race. They were under extreme scrutiny and judgment by researchers and scientists. They were measured, tested and became part of experiments to p...
"Treblinka Death Camp Revolt". Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Niau S. Archer H.E.A.R.T., n.d. Web. 19 May 2014.
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.
For some, it seems that the Holocaust in another lifetime, but for others it will be something they will never forget. Holocaust was a time for fighting. The Jewish would fight for the right to live as they were killed solely for being Jewish. The Holocaust began in 1939 and would continue through 1945. It was introduced by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, although he did not act alone. His mission would be to “exterminate” all minorities, but most abundantly, the Jews. Based on information given by About.com, it is estimated that 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. Six million of these were Jews.
The Holocaust was a bloody, terrifying event that unfortunately happened during the world’s most bloody war, World War II. The end result of a portion of deaths of the Holocaust resulted in astounding number of about 6,000,000 Jewish people dead. However, there were about 13,684,900 other lives that were taken during this “cleansing period” that Adolf Hitler once said. Those lives included civilians in surrounding countries, resisters against the Nazi nation, opposing religious members, and many more. Although, over 6,000,000 Jewish people died, many others died who are just as memorable.
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The Holocaust was one of the biggest disasters the world has ever seen. More than 1.5 million children were murdered 1.2 Jewish children, along with thousands of gypsy children, and thousands of handicapped children. The effects of the Holocaust can be felt today, not only by what we learn and read, but by those who have endured the pain of the Holocaust and saw their friends and family being tortured and killed. They victims will never forget, they will always remember.
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The Holocaust was one of the most tragic and trying times for the Jewish people. Hundreds of thousands of Jews and other minorities that the Nazis considered undesirable were detained in concentration camps, death camps, or labor camps. There, they were forced to work and live in the harshest of conditions, starved, and brutally murdered. Horrific things went on in Auschwitz and Majdenek during the Holocaust that wiped out approximately 1,378,000 people combined. “There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust.” –Fidel Castro