I always knew that the Holocaust was a dark time for all people but I had no clue of the extreme torture the Jews and other prisoners went through. Imagine being forced to leave your own home because of the way you look of the religious belief you have. I tried to understand the feeling of a life or death situation because this is what all Jews had to go through during this time. It was an awful thing to even consider and I wasn’t living it like those innocent people were. I learned that they beat and starved little children along with the elderly which was bad enough. I couldn’t understand how people could be so cold and why someone would create the Holocaust. Then I learned more about Adolf Hitler and the mad man he was. My thoughts became much clearer and my sympathy grew even more for those affected by the Holocaust.

While learning about the Holocaust I read the book Night where I found out about even more disturbing events. Sometimes prisoners were buried while they were alive. Nazi’s would take thousands of prisoners and put them in a hole, cover it back up with dirt, and waited for them to suffocate to death. Another event was when they hung those who were too weak to continue in the concentration camps. While reading this book I was nearly sick to my stomach and I found the same questions popped into my head again and again. Who would do something like this and why? I asked this question in my head millions of times when I figured out there was no “why” to this event, which caused me to feel even sadder.

I was shocked when I saw the movie about the Nuremberg Trials. In the movie they showed what occurred at the Nuremberg Trials and some of the Nazi’s on trial. I still can’t understand how some Nazi’s were so brainwashed into Hitler’s tactics that could reflect on what they’ve done and be proud of it. It just showed how sick Hitler was but mainly his followers. Something I also couldn’t understand was how some prisoners were proven “not guilty”. I would have put them all imprisoned for life after the acts they did to the Jewish race. Their acts were unjust and I felt as if too many were showed mercy they didn’t deserve.

When I read in the text book about the Holocaust I found interesting information on topics I didn’t know was apart of the Holocaust. For example, I read about the harshness of the Ghettos and the poor conditions Jews had to live in while being in the Ghettos. Innocent Hews were taken from their homed and placed in Ghettos. Ghettos were not safe for anyone at anytime. People learned not to go out unless it was a necessity which was just the beginning of their problems. Next, they were placed out of the Ghettos and put into concentration camps where they were separated by the strong and the weak. The weak ones were killed and the others continued until it was their time to go.

It bothered me when Nazi’s didn’t even think twice about what they were doing. Most Nazi’s said that they were just following orders while others claimed they did nothing wrong. This didn’t sit well with me and still doesn’t. I felt as if the Nazi’s were cowards because to hide what they were doing in their own country they continued to move concentration camps therefore they would not get in trouble with the law. Nazi’s defended their leader who was supposedly an amazing leader with great ideas. However, he killed himself before he went to trial. This not only makes him a coward but shows that Nazi’s knew what they were doing and how wrong it was. The Holocaust taught me a lot about racism and derogatory terms which are still around in our society.
- Fallon Welch Period 3