...this is an estimate of how many people died in the Holocaust. “Well over a million people are known to have died in the ghettos” (Wood 63). The book, A Lucky Child, is read by millions, but without Thomas Buergenthal no one would be able to read this book. So him surviving the Holocaust helps others learn more about the Holocaust. “One of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen, Buergenthal spent four of the first ten years of his life in Nazi concentration camps” ( Pasqualucci). Although so many people died in the Holocaust, Thomas Buergenthal’s story shows, no matter what someone has been through, they can always overcome the challenges of life. First off, For Thomas Buergenthal life before the Holocaust was pretty...
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...Alexia Gonzalez Political Science 4823: The Holocaust/ the Shoah Final Paper December 12, 2013 The Comparative Analysis of the Holocaust Ethnic cleansing and genocide are considered to coexist in a spectrum of assaults on nations or religio-ethnic groups. These threats were more prominent during the 20th century which caused massive violations of human rights and jeopardized the overall security of humans. Determinants of ethnic cleansing and genocide root from socio-political factors influenced by deeply embedded ideologies which are manifested by political leaders of specific regime types. During World War II, German authorities targeted Jews and other minority groups like the gypsies and Pols due to their perceived racial inferiority. The German ideology in attempt to eradicate these auxiliary groups led to the conflict known as the Shoah. The Shoah is the biblical word meaning destruction and it is the standard Hebrew term for the murder of European Jewry. The Shoah was the systematic, bureaucratic and state sponsored persecution of six million Jews. Comparable to other ethnic based genocides, Germans believed they were racially superior and that Jews were inferior; and deemed a threat to the “German racial community” resulting in their mass murder. Various interpretations of the Shoah has given rise to similar attitudes and opinions regarding its historical events. The Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database, is one of the largest resources of its kind which includes...
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...With the unconditional surrender of the Germans on May 8, 1945, the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust were finally at and end. Although this day is recognized in history as the end of both war and the violent persecution of the Jews seen during the Holocaust, those who survived the Holocaust would never be released from the grips of their nightmarish memories. After realizing that their families would not be returning and the difficulty of assimilating back into a life of normality diminished, memories of atrocity and malice kept the survivors on an endless rollercoaster of emotions from which escape was nearly impossible. Despite the anguish the survivors faced after surviving the Holocaust, they are often considered the lucky ones....
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...“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light” -Albus Dumbledore. Millions of Jews were forced to suffer through their worst nightmare. They were subject to harrowing experiments, torture, and death. Jewish people such as Elie Wiesel who wrote Night told his story and how he used faith and family to survive during the Holocaust. The Holocaust not only affected those imprisoned, but it also affected billions around the world. Actors such as Roberto Benigni created movies to portray the gruesome horrors that lied behind the gates of Auschwitz. Survival was a challenge for the people of the concentration camps, but those with a strong faith and support from family were more likely to survive. A strong...
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...greatest tragedy's has transpired, the graphic novel "Maus" by art Spigelian, details his father, Vladek's survival through the horrors of the holocaust. Deeply scarred from everything that has happened, what remains of his personality is now a pitiable product of all that he is been through. Vladek survival of the holocaust has a lot to do with his own resourcefulness and actions, these helped him through the horrors of the war and now are part of him, his reluctance to waste anything is a testament to this. Vladek's constant insistence of having Art staying with may be due to a fear of losing more people close to him. Not all of Valdek's personality arose from the holocaust. We can see glimpses if his former self from what he does. Vladek's personality is heavily influenced by his sufferings in the holocaust, carrying much of what it took to survive in the holocaust into a peaceful society where such skill were no longer needed. Suffering much more than most people he feels that suffering of others do not compare to his as his, such as the time where he scoffed at Art's friends. During the holocaust food was scarce, to survive one must save everything he has and waste nothing, Vladek did so during the holocaust but also seems to do just as much "Ever since Hitler [he] [doesn't] want to waste a crumb", much to the annoyance of everyone around him. Much of the survival of Vladek and Anja was due to his own actions and skill. He had trust in his own ability which helped him...
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...The Holocaust ended May 8th, 1945 with the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest camp in Nazi territory and the one where most deaths took place; but for those who were lucky enough to survive, the effects of the war would remain with them for the rest of their lives. Not only were the Jews stripped of all their belongings and identity, but they were also forced to betray their own ethical codes. As survivors tried to assimilate back in to every day life, the memories of the family they had lost and the brutal events they witnessed kept resurfacing, leaving long-term psychological effects such as: anxiety, depression, psychosomatic disorders, survival guilt, isolation, and sleep disturbances. Not only did the survivors themselves experience these effects, but their children and grandchildren would as well. Victor Frankl’s memoir Man Search for Meaning, Lawrence Langer’s memoir Holocaust Testimonies: The...
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..."Night" by Elie Wiesel is a terrifying account of the Holocaust during World War II. Throughout this book we see a young Jewish boy's life turned upside down from his peaceful ways. The author explores how dangerous times break all social ties, leaving everyone to fight for themselves. He also shows how one's survival may be linked to faith and family. The novel starts out in a small highly Jewish populated Hungarian town named Sighet. The people's lives and community somewhat revolve around each other and religion (Judaism). More importantly we see immense care and concern among the citizens; they all help one another and are true to their similar beliefs and values. Eliezer's life starts out revolving around God, as he goes on his journey studying the cabbala and other forms of Jewish religious texts. Initially Eliezer's belief is a product of Jewish mysticism that God is everywhere and that nothing exists without God, and in the start his faith in God is absolute. During the Holocaust, things change irreparably. The peaceful calm Jewish community that Eliezer once grew up with was shattered into a realm of chaos and selfishness. Eliezer believes that if all the prisoners were to unite to oppose the cruel that the Nazis inflicted upon them, then maybe he could understand the Nazi menace as an evil abnormality, but instead he sees that the Holocaust exposes the selfishness, evil, and cruelty of everybody; not only the Nazis, but also his fellow Jews, and even himself. I...
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...Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night tells the story of the Holocaust, the mass genocide of the Jewish people and important event in WWII. The memoir Night begins in the polish town of Sighet. The story is About Elie Wiesel, a Jewish boy whose family gets deported to the concentration camp with other Jews from his town. Upon arrival his Mother and Sister, Tzipora are separated and executed by the Nazis in the Auschwitz death camp. Following that, after months of work, with the advancing allied front, the prisoners were forced to march all night to the Gleiwitz concentration camp. As Elie’s story continues, after being stuffed inside a camp barrack for 3 days without food or water, the Prisoners were let out for a selection, Elie’s Father was chosen to...
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...Reminder: Your intro should have the three components: A). A hook, B). Background including a brief summary, title and author’s name, and C). A thesis statement. See below: Example intro: Isaac Asimov once said that “to insult someone we call him 'bestial. For deliberate cruelty and nature, 'human' might be the greater insult.” Animals aren’t cruel because they mostly kill for survival, to eat, feed their young, and defend themselves, but humans they kill for racial hatred, jealousy, and power. A perfect example of the latter would be the Holocaust where humans tortured and killed other humans because they were different. In Eliezier Wiesel’s memoir, Night he describes the extreme cruelty and suffering he endures in Auschwitz and other concentration camps as a child inmate during the Holocaust. Wiesel can neither explain nor understand the reasons for human cruelty that he witnesses and endures during the Holocaust, but learns that cruelty breeds more of the same and in the end survival and self-preservation is all that matters. Night sample thesis statements: You may borrow one, make it your own or write one from scratch: 1. Question: Analyze Elie and other characters’ struggle with faith. You can approach this chronologically or by effects. What is Elie’s final judgment on the benefit/cost of faith? Consider Elie’s interpretations of God’s intentions and use of visual imagery (such as death and night imagery). Thesis: At the beginning of the...
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...Some men did not want to appear cowardly to the other men • peer pressure of not stepping up against the idea • Testimony was consistent—gives it weight and truth • Career destruction – thought that if they refused to kill Jews that it would destroy there business/careers • Holocaust: The ignored Reality- Timothy Snyder • What is wrong with making (A) the iconic Holocaust experience? o It was the western most camp o Eastern killings are much unknown o Should view as one mass murder o Most Jews were polish Jews that were killed o Jews killed at (A) were not representative victims • Jews at (A) came mostly from western Europe • More educated/less religious than Polish Jews o (A) was not as bad other camps • Gets attention because there are a lot of survivors • Educated prisoners were able to write and share their story • Western released prisoners were able to spread their stories easier than eastern survivors who were under Soviet rule o 50% of the victims did not die by gas, they died by bullet • Focusing on camps leaves out a large portion of the killings most importantly the mass shootings • Shame- Primo Levi o What (widely-held) ideas about Holocaust survival is Primo Levi trying to dispel? • The people were experienced liberation as a joyous moment- the memories of survivors become colored by the Hollywood scripts. The...
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...Holocaust- destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war. A long time ago, thousands of Jews perished inside concentration camps, but some of them lived to tell the tale. In his memoir Night, Elie Wiesel describes the rough tragedies he’s been through and the sorrow he encountered during the Holocaust. Before the Holocaust, Elie lived a normal life with his family and friends who he loved dearly. He believes strongly in his faith and he has a daily routine like most teenagers do nowadays. While inside the concentration camps, Elie struggles with a constant battle of survival and tries to keep his father alive. After some time, he starts getting doubts on helping his father because of the events that happened during the Holocaust. He only starts thinking of himself because he wants to survive. However, while he tries to stay with his father and help, the Holocaust and the events that happen...
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...were expressed into a traumatic event titled the Holocaust. People that followed the Jewish religion, often called “Jews”, were believed to be inhumane by Hitler and the German Nazi party and were forced to their own deaths, regardless of their age, gender, or race. Individuals in concentration camps were traumatized to the point where they became unafraid of death; they saw it as a part of everyday life. Artists, philosophers, critics and musicians all have developed different ways of expressing their thoughts and feelings towards the Holocaust and each of these representations are relevant in their own individual aspects....
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...One’s sense of identity is vital to who they are. It helps them connect with their family and have a place in life. Traumatic events such as war can alter one’s sense of identity. In books such as “Night”, “The Book Thief”, and “Maus”, we can see the effects of war on individuals and how it has altered their lives. War can cause one to question themselves, present day stresses, and could build one’s sense of identity. To begin with, the effect of war can make question one’s sense of identity. This is shown throughout Elie Wiesel’s “Night”. When Elie and his father are first taken into the camps, they are determined to stick together and make it out. As the conditions worsen, Elie starts questioning his religious beliefs. Once Elie saw the...
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...Themes in This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen The Holocaust was a depressing time in history that caused many people grief, anguish, and fear. Many people from the Holocaust have written about their experiences and trials they faced not only in concentration camps, but in their lives living under Hitler’s rule. Prisoners in the concentration camps would often have journals hidden so others could read about their lives. Surviving several concentration camps while in his twenties the author of This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, Tadeusz Borowski, faced difficult times. Often taking extreme measures to ensure his survival, he was able to live at the expense of others’ lives. While living among the other prisoners of the concentration camp, Birkenau, Borowski does some seemingly unthinkable things. He was one of the more privileged prisoners because of the job he kept. When new transports would come in, he would take their belongings which included food, clothing, and supplies. The people would be sent immediately to the gas chambers, and the supplies taken had to be given back to the guards for upkeep of the camps, but the men who unloaded the prisoners got to keep the food. “Canada” as it was called among the prisoners, symbolized wealth and survival because this was where all the clothing and valuables were taken to distribute to Germany (Borowski 1454). The men working to unload the cattle cars were also like Canada...
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...Family is one of the most important connections people could ever make. In the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he learns that family will be there through thick and thin. By examining Night, we can see that family is the key to survival, which is important because those who don’t often do not survive throughout the Holocaust because they had no one to live for, no one to give them strength, and no one to protect them. Eli survives because he had family with him for the majority of his time in the concentration camps. Eli’s father gave him the strength and will to survive. When Eli thought of death, he thought of his father and how he couldn't leave him alone in the camps. While marching to a new camp from Buna, Eli thinks of death and then later on thought, “My father's presence was the only thing that stopped me…” (pg 92). Eli was about to give up and fall out of the marching lines, which means he would be shot immediately. But after thinking of his father, he found the strength with-in himself to keep marching, keep running, and to keep living. Eli’s father helps him keep going...
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