Quotes From The Holocaust

Introduction:

The Holocaust is remembered as a mass genocide in history in which 6 million Jews were systematically killed and targeted by the Nazi party. Hitler began his reign in 1933 after he was made chancellor of Germany. Hitler and his Nazi party were heavily influenced by the eugenics movement and all had strong feelings of antisemitism towards the Jews, so within a few months of coming into power, Hitler began to carry out his plans of persecution of the Jews. He distinguished Jews and isolated them by making them wear the star of David band, racial superiority was taught in school and many books, posters and films contained propaganda for Hitler’s ideas, (Easton, et al. 2021). George Ginsburz was the son of two immigrants from Russia,

It was an event that was caused by racial purity and beliefs, and although racism has occurred through history and humanity before, it has never reached the level of extremity that the Nazis encouraged. The Jews suffered greatly from the Holocaust, many lives were lost and many others had been traumatised greatly, (Beck, 2016). Jews were deprived of their human rights and were dehumanised, they lost their right to do everyday things like go to school, work or even walking in the streets. They were subjected to violence and persecution daily by the Nazis and the people in their community, this was something that consistently occurred from the very moment Hitler came into power. Many pogroms and violent acts were planned against the Jews, with the most well-known one being Kristallnacht (Night of the broken glass). A pogrom planned against the Jews by the Nazis which resulted in the destruction of many Jewish owned buildings and businesses, this was one of the first attacks against the Jews that Goerge

George mention that he “had a strong will to live and he never doubted that he will one day, see the end of those people,” this gave him the will to survive so that he could see the end of the Holocaust and so that he could live and value his life that the Nazis tried to take away. George mentions that he and many others at the time also slightly blamed the allies, as they didn’t bother to bomb the railways to Auschwitz or any of the crematoriums which would have helped prevent many deaths, this doesn’t surprise me much as the events of the Holocaust could’ve been prevented earlier which would’ve saved many lives and stop the continuity of the horrors at Auschwitz. The testimony of George and other survivors gives us a personal view of the Holocaust through the experiences of a survivor, all stories of the survivors are different so the things we learn from each testimony is different compared to other sources. Survivor testimonies show the recount of the person’s life throughout the Holocaust and how they built their life back up after the mass genocide as other sources can’t tell us the feelings and process of them rebuilding their lives. Oral testimonies are a primary source that give us insight into the feelings and thoughts of a survivor during the Holocaust along with the emotional trauma they faced, this is something other sources can’t tell us. Some