Frank Blaichman And The Holocaust

During the Holocaust, a great number of brave individuals wondered whether they should have reacted to the Nazi forces through passive or violent acts of resistance. Any form of resistance was vital for even the slightest possibility of survival for the jews. In “Resistance During the Holocaust”, “The Diary of Anne Frank”, and “Violins of Hope,” it gave real examples of Jewish people who chose to arm themselves and fight the Nazis head on or Jews who opted for passivity in order to hide their loved ones. Nevertheless, the main goal of these methods for resistance was to defy the enemy at hand that was the Nazi party. Therefore, people can best respond to conflict by active resistance in order to avoid late shame and humiliation, escape the

Also, known as Shoah, it witnessed the setting up of concentration camps and extermination camps in today’s Germany, Poland, Austria and Yugoslavia, where around 11 million people were killed based on their racial inferiority and many more enslaved and tortured. It was the ‘Final Solution’ to the ‘Jewish Question’( which was a well discussed topic for many years in Europe). Only 10 percent of Polish Jewry and one-third of all European Jews remained by the end of the Nazi regime in 1945. To today’s history students it would be surprising to know that an event as popular as the Holocaust was ignored by historians until the 1960s when the trial of notorious SS killer Eichmann and the publishing of Gerald Reitlinger’s important book The Final Solution’: the attempt to exterminate the Jews of Europe, 1939-45 created a lot of interest among the Western

Elie Wiesel went through a lot as a holocaust survivor. Because he had to suffer in concentration camps, I think he should be one to know a lot about the perils of indifference. Elie Wiesel’s book Night, released in 1958 and his magnificent speech, The Perils of Indifference from 1999 both share and try to convince the audience about his main message, which is that indifference is dangerous. In his speech, he explains how indifference about others is much easier than caring about them, and so much easier to look away from victims. His book Night is a haunting tale about the horrors Jewish people experienced during World War II. This book explains the perils of indifference by telling us about how much the Jews suffered and the fact that no one felt the need to act upon these abhorrent actions by the Nazis immediately.

The “Spiritual Resistors” did simple things such as maintaining their regular day to day schedule that they would’ve maintained outside the Ghetto. Some “Spiritual Resistors” simply still followed their own religious beliefs although they were specifically instructed NOT to do so. Although there is a distinct lack of significant spiritually resistant cases, this was by far the most peaceful form of resistance, and relatively unparalleled by other forms of resistance amongst Jews.

During the Holocaust, the Jewish people resisted Nazi oppression using either passive or active resistance. Passive Resistance was non-violent and was shown through music, maintaining daily life, and helping hide Jews. On the other hand, people who partook in active resistance utilized violence to directly counter the Nazis for what they believed. “Violins of Hope”, “Resistance During the Holocaust”, and “The Diary of Anne Frank” show how people used passive resistance to defy Nazi rule. Passive resistance was the most effective type of resistance during the war because it preserved Jewish culture, carried on hope, and provided a better chance of survival for them and their families.

On April 11, 1945, Harry J. Herder Jr. and his company discovered one of the many secret horrors of World War II that dotted the European landscape; the Buchenwald concentration camp. The battle hardened man who had seen his fair share of death and human suffering surveyed the camp with a sinking feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. Before his eyes lay human beings so starved they could not pick themselves up off of their bunks, children who had never seen the outside of the camp fence, partially clothed bodies and shaved heads. Shocked and disgusted, Harry J. Herder Jr. and two of his comrades then took a deeper tour of the camp. Eerie, and abandoned by the German soldiers lay the “medical rooms” with human organs floating in jars of liquid and the gallows where unruly prisoners were hung. The three men walked through the bunk houses that were overflowing with the suffering prisoners. As they walked towards one of the largest buildings, they could see

June 11, 1941, a new shipment of Jews arrived in Auschwitz today from Minsk Mazowiecki, a ghetto in Poland. Among the people who arrived was 13 year old Jakob Frenkiel and his brother Chaim.

The Holocaust was an execution of 8 million Europeans, and “ 6 million of the Europeans killed were Jewish women, children, and men that were brutally murdered” (Strahinich 7). It “was a catastrophe in our modern history” (Strahinich 7) now staining our history pages with hundreds of innocent people’s blood, forever lost in the grounds of the Holocaust. It took “place in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, and Czechoslovakia” (Altman 9) is some of the places where hundreds died. Thanks to “Adolf Hitler” (Strahinich 8) and “the Nazis government” (Strahinich 10), they “plunged most of Europe” (Allen 7) into turmoil, taking lives that did not need to go. The Holocaust is a time in history when millions of people were persecuted in Europe by being sent to live in ghettos and eventually being deported to concentration camps where they were systematically annihilated until the Allied forces liberated the remaining survivors.

The Jews were stripped from their basic god given human rights. The Jews were isolated in fenced towns called ghettos. Wiesel’s friend Moishe Chaim Berkowitz described his travels in Hungary and encounter with antisemitism, “The Jews of Budapest live in an atmosphere of fear and terror. Anti-Semitic acts take place everyday, in the streets, on the trains. The fascists attack Jewish stores, synagogues. The situation is becoming very serious…” (Night, Wiesel, 9). Soon after they were prohibited from owning gold, jewelry or any valuables and prohibited from being anywhere after six o’clock, both of these edicts came with the penalty of death if not followed. Jews had lost the basic right of freedom and religious freedom, one night referred to as as Kristallnacht where German forces and civilians smashed the windows of Jewish owned stores, buildings, and synagogues. Many died and were incarcerated in labor camps on this

During the Holocaust, many people suffered from the despicable actions of others. These actions were influenced by hatred, intolerance, and anti-semitic views of people. The result of such actions were the deaths of millions during the Holocaust, a devastating genocide aimed to eliminate Jews. In this tragic event, people, both initiators and bystanders, played major roles that allowed the Holocaust to continue. Bystanders during this dreadful disaster did not stand up against the Nazis and their collaborators. This action of silence encouraged more people to follow, which lead to Hitler and the Nazi Party’s rise to power without having to face formidable opposition. Following the Nazi Party’s rise to power, the Holocaust began to take form. Fueled by hatred, intolerance, and anti-semitic beliefs under Adolf Hitler’s rule,

The Holocaust was a terrible time in the world’s history. Not many Jewish people made it out of the Holocaust alive, but Elie Wiesel not only made it through the dark years, but he also wrote a book and delivered a speech. Both of these things were meant to tell the world about the horrors that happened in the concentration camps and raise awareness about the Holocaust. The book Night tells us what Elie’s journey throughout 1943-1945 (the time of the Holocaust) was like with Nazis controlling the Jews. In the speech Perils of Indifference, Elie explains why it is dangerous to not have an opinion on certain topics. He says that indifference is how the Holocaust got so bad, with other countries not taking a stance and fighting the

The Holocaust was a traumatic and horrendous time for those who suffered and perished. Learning and talking about the Holocaust to this day, is very hard to believe that it ever happened because of the cruel acts that were done to innocent people. Throughout the Holocaust, many people didn’t agree of what Hitler was doing and they decided to take a stand and take action. The resistance groups made a huge difference in the Holocaust to make a change. These people risked their lives for others that were in desperate need of survival. In particular, a woman from Poland named Irena Sendler impacted thousands and thousands of children's lives.

The Holocaust was the mass genocide of mainly Jewish people and the “undesirables”. The jewish people were dehumanized by the Nazis. All of the people that were persecuted in the mass genocide were either placed into death camps, work camps, or the ghetto when waiting to get to a death camp or work camp.

Kristallnacht happened in 1938. This was when German mobs attacked Jewish synagogues and Jewish homes were destroyed and so were their businesses. Germans citizens were responsible for the Holocaust because no one did anything to stop this from happening nor did they try to help the Jewish people . This was a form of polarization because since they hated the Jewish people, they decided to destroy everything they had. In document #1, in 1938, Ernst Hiemer wrote a book for German children that talked about how Jewish people were being stereotyped as cheaters. He drew a picture that showed a Jewish man showing material to an Aryan woman trying to persuade her to buy it for a lot amount of money. The author of this was trying to communicate negative ideas about Jewish people because he has hatred towards Jewish people. The author and many other ordinary Germans were supporting the polarization of Jewish people by developing hate towards Jewish people (anti-semitism) among young adults. They were trying to brainwash Germans by trying to develop hate towards the Jewish at such an early age. This led them to support actions against Jewish people because they were teaching children to be racist towards the Jewish. Germans wanted their German children to also hate the Jewish people. Additionally, Document #5, written by Daniel Goldhagen in 1996, said that Germans had the ideology that all Jewish people had to be killed. Ordinary Germans were responsible for the Holocaust because they supported anti-semitism and didn’t say no to Hitler. No one tried resisting from the Nazis; they all supported actions against Jewish people. However, in document #7, by Yad Vashem, an organization that honors those killed in the Holocaust, said that many Germans saved Jewish lives by hiding them in their homes, faking identities, taking in children and helping Jewish people escape.

They ran. On January 30, 1933 the Jews started fleeing, hiding, and hoping that no one would find families concealed in secret annexes. The Holocaust is one of the most dreary times on this planet. Back then, technology was not as good as it is now. All people had was a paper and pen, with that paper and pen these people wrote whatever they wanted privately. Everything people would write stays written forever. It turns into literature so that people in the future, us, could read about today. People wrote their feelings together with their points of views on life around them. All of this writing is facts that the Holocaust happened as well as these people’s true feelings. Literature can help us remember and honor the victims of the Holocaust by seeing the different points of view, reading the evidence, and studying the forever recorded history.