Holocaust Reflection: Hierarchy In Concentration Camps

Holocaust Reflection: Hierarchy in Concentration Camps

When I think of the Holocaust, I think of constant fear, horrible genocide of innocent people, and terrible living conditions. For twelve years, people were imprisoned for their faith, political views, or where their love lied. When learning about the terrible tragedy in middle school, I was under the impression that every person held prisoner in the concentration camps was treated the same, inhumane way. However, that assumption is completely false. While exploring the provided websites, I read things that I had already learned about the Holocaust in middle school. I also learned about the racial hierarchy among the prisoners that existed in concentration camps, which was a concept that I had never been introduced to before.

As many people have learned about in school, the Holocaust was a genocide of six million Jews and other members of groups seen as “racially inferior” or abnormal to the Nazi German authorities. These people were forced into concentration camps across Nazi-occupied Europe and forced

It did give prisoners power to help fellow inmates, but it was still a highly oppressive system. It implies that certain minorities were more or less worthy of human rights than others. The Nazis took away minority rights, individuality, and freedom. They gave like-minded people authority and essentially exterminated those who weren’t on their side, thus deepening their echo chamber of antisemitism. The fact that the Nazis saw people different than them as less than human is the most upsetting to me. Even in today’s world, when many political leaders are incredibly divided in their views, people still find a way to humanize their opponents. It is highly necessary to have perspective and respect for others so the world can prevent a horrible tragedy like this from occurring