Survivor's Guilt In The Holocaust

The novel Night by “Ellie Wiesel” is a survivor 's story of his experiences in the Holocaust. It covers his life before and during the concentration camps. In these times the path was not always straight and the overwhelming circumstances caused people to make decisions that were rushed or insensible. People got caught up in disbelief and chose not to take action where action would have saved their lives. These opportunities presented were missed or brushed aside and caused the death of thousands of people.

You or someone you love goes through unbearable suffering every day, caused by a terminal illness or incurable disease. There is no reason to go through such intolerable pain. You might think you will die with nothing left, not even your dignity, but contrary to popular belief, this is not true. There is a way to put a stop to the suffering. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are practices that have been around since the time of the Romans and Ancient Greeks (Euthanasia.procon.org,2016).

The Holocaust is a very significant event in history because of how horrible Jews lived their lives back then and where they lived their lives during that period of time. People’s lives were changed in the Holocaust, they had bad living situations, work that you hardly got a break from, and transportation that if you couldn’t continue something horrible would happen. Jews had gone from having a decent life to having the worst life you could possibly imagine, all

Having a joyful childhood was unknown to them as their circumstances had forced them to mature beyond their years. Being only a child, they had to take the roles and responsibilities of adults. Although the situation was not ideal they had no other choice. Every individual was impacted by this powerful war based on location and ethnic backgrounds. Thinking back to the war we feel pity for the men and women who suffered but we forget to sympathize with the kids who had been affected to.

Holocaust Survivors The Holocaust was a time where not only were the Jews taken out of their homes, but they were beaten and their families were taken away from them. When the Jews were taken away from their homes they did not know what would happen to them, or where they were going. The Jews finally came to the realization that they might not make it out of there alive after they headed to the first camps. People are always trying to act like they do not know what is going on when something in the world is not right. When the Holocaust was going on, the Germans knew what was happening to the Jews and the U.S. did too.

Many people do not think of the Holocaust as 12 appalling years full of unforgettable tragedies. The Holocaust is not normally spoken about every day, but the amount of pain and terror during those eventful years should not be abandoned. The Jews were always referred to as animals and not as human beings. Germans used many forms of dehumanization and neglect. If it was not labor and abuse the other alternative was the crematorium.

For example, in “Resistance During the Holocaust”, many wouldn’t rebel because that would not only mean death for them, but death for their family and friends. The Anti-Defamation League states, “However, the risks of resisting Nazi policies were grave; often an act of resistance by one person would mean the death of many others”(5). You should use passive resistance because if you resist that did not only mean the death for you but the death for your family. You are putting other people’s life at risk but if you are passive resistant then you are saving your life, your families’ live, and maybe your friends’ lives. This is important because why would you put the lives of people you care about in jeopardy?

Many consider bystanders to be as guilty as perpetrators for not doing or saying anything in a time of crisis. Such was the case for the Holocaust. Bystanders during the Holocaust consisted of the civilians and countries who chose to distance themselves from what was really happening, instead choosing to justify the situation, or just not think of it. Many people rationalized, that the idea of self preservation was much more important than sacrificing oneself for the greater good. People also held a sense of indifference towards the suffering of the Jewish people.

He did not want to tell any more lies” (167). He wants a life free of consequences because went through real consequences in the war and doesn’t want to experience that again. This is relatable today because war has become even more advanced and horrifying than it had been nearly 100 years ago. Society is capable of massive levels of destruction that leaves the homefront unscathed, which makes it a struggle for many people to reconcile what they have seen and done with the expectations society places on them once they return home. No matter how extreme things get, life continues to move forward and makes few accommodations for people who can’t keep

In this theory they propose the question that if your parents had an intense, traumatic experience in their life, could that be passed down genetically to you? They described it best when they said, “The Trauma of the Holocaust caused such intense genetic scrambling in some of the survivors that their children actually inherited these same stress-related abnormalities. Perhaps the sense of danger, and uncertainty associated with living through such a time is passed on in the family milieu and primes the biological systems of the children as well.” They are actually stating that if your recent ancestors had traumatic experiences like, how your grandma was neglected as a child, or how she was treated badly, that this could indeed leave you, her ancestor, with a predisposition for depression. This to me, is a little out there, but then again any slight decision you make can change fate. I do believe that our own experiences, and the experiences of our ancestors before us are never really gone, even if they are

World War Two was an extremely harsh and brutal for everyone involved. As many as fifty to eighty million people lost their lives in this time period, for the simple reason that they wanted others to be happy, healthy, and free; or more commonly, they were discriminated against for things they could not control. Soon after the war started, America swooped in with the intent and purpose to distribute equality, freedom, and justice throughout the world where it was not currently readily available (due to the repercussions and new worldviews caused by the war.) At least, that’s what most people think. Much like the cruel and horrific ongoings of what happened in Jewish Concentration Camps created for the Christians, Jews, Homosexuals, and their supporters; America had practiced similar ideals and treatment towards the Native Americans in our country long before this time.