The Holocaust

Hitler and the Holocaust

The Holocaust is a tragic event that happened not so long ago, but many people have already forgotten about this horrible event. Today, there are only few survivors left to tell their own personal stories of the Holocaust and what they had to go through. But what will happen when there's no survivor left to tell his/her story or speak of the truth that the Holocaust really did happen? Who will speak out for them and millions of Jews who had died in the Holocaust? Who will help defend them? Like many historian events, the Holocaust will become history and will be forgotten. If today society doesn't seem to care much about the Holocaust or know about it, then the next generation will become clueless about this terrible tragic. People need and must know and understand the Holocaust so that history will not repeat itself. Without understanding the hatred that took place more than 60 years ago, it might recur again. Not only is it important to know about the Holocaust to prevent it from happening in the future, it is also important to know about it to preserve the memories of those who have survived and those who died in the Holocaust. It is very important for them that their stories live on because they believe that the reason why they survived the Holocaust is so that they can speak out against racism and prejudice so that people can prevent making the same mistake. When talking about the Holocaust it is important to talk about Hitler, what was going on in concentration camps, what the Jews had to go through everyday, and the stories of those who survived the Holocaust. From reading and hearing about survivors' stories, people can have a better understanding of the Holocaust.

Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi group who led to the destruction of millions of Jews. Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on 20 April 1889 to Alois Hitler, a Customs official, and his third wife Klara. His father, a bad-tempered man, was very harsh and strict on his son for he wanted Hitler to do well in life. Adolf Hitler was very fond of his mother, who spoiled him with love and affections which he couldn't get from his strict father. In elementary, Hitler did extremely well in school but in high school, Hitler did very poorly which caused his father to be outraged. His dream in life was to become the greatest artist which is why he tried to pursue his dream in Vienna where he applied to Vienna Academy of Fine Art. The school rejected his application and soon after he applied to Vienna School of Architecture, but once again got rejected. He stayed in Vienna for 6 years and lived in homeless shelters.

When First World War broke out, he volunteered for service in the German army which he liked the excitement of wars. For his bravery, he was awarded with Iron Cross. By the end of the war, Hitler was temporarily blinded by the poison gas from the enemy for three months. The Versailles Treaty ended the war, under the term of the treaty German had to pay for damage of the war and accept the blame of the war. Germans and especially Hitler felt humiliated by the treaty because they believed they shouldn't be responsible for it. After his recovery, Hitler was determined to get rid of the humiliation inflicted by the Treaty of Versailles and he felt that his country was being threatened by the Jews and he believed that he was the only person who could save his country.

He stayed in Germany and later became the leader of the Nazi party. The Great Depression was what contributed to his success. During that time, the Great Depression affected people all over the world, but in Germany, it was worse. People lost their jobs and caused millions of people to be unemployed, and they could not afford to take care of themselves and support their family. In this time of crisis they turned to Hitler who promised them jobs and prosperity. They supported Hitler for he ended the unemployment, brought back prosperity, and restored Germans' pride.

On January 1933 when Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party, he quickly planned a mass destruction that led to the death of 6 millions Jews. He brainwashed the people with his racist views and his idea that Germans are superiors while the Jews were inferiors. He wanted to create a master race by exterminating all of the Jews. To Hitler, the Jews were lower than rats and deserved to be killed. At first all the Jews were prohibited in public places such as restaurants, stores, beaches, etc. Later Hitler carried out the final solution which he wanted to exterminate all the Jews so that there would be no history or memory of them, and to strip them from their rights and properties. The Nazi organized concentration camps which were death camps to exterminate the Jews. First they trapped the Jews in the Ghetto and later sent them to concentration camps where many died from shooting, starvation, disease, gas chamber, and other cruel methods. Many Jews were use for medical experiments

Everyday the Jews had to face cruel punishments from the Nazi soldiers who treated them like they were lower than animals. The Nazi soldiers showed no sign of pity, instead they wanted to see the Jews suffer and die from horrible deaths. Starvation was very common in concentration camps because they weren't given any food to eat, and maybe once in a while they would get a piece of bread which couldn't satisfy their hunger. Many people ended up dying from starvation. Disease was quite common as well; everyday people would die from disease which sometime could pass around to others. Gas chamber was one of the cruel methods the Nazi used to exterminate the Jews. Every now and then, they Nazi group sent a group of Jews to go shower but instead they were all killed by a deadly gas. Not only did the Nazi group gas the Jews to death, they also used the Jews for medical experiments. They injected deadly germs to see how long the Jews could survive and operated their bodies. Dead bodies were thrown on the street or piled up on each other behind the camps, and sometimes the Nazi soldiers would cut their hair to make wigs and skin to make lampshades.

Young children and especially babies had to face awful death. Children were being separated from their parents and were forced to survive on their own. The strong and healthy children had a higher chance of surviving than younger children because they were able to do labor. Unfortunately, the weak children and babies were first to die. They were drowned to death or thrown into a sealed room until they died. Some of them were thrown alive into the crematory, buried alive, and poisoned. Nazi also burned ovaries of little girls and women with x-ray and then observed the effects.

In time of crisis, many people turned their head away, not