Holocaust testimonies

A detailed Summary of Holocaust testimonies

The Holocaust was a devastating event. It will be remembered forever. Statistics are important to learn just how many people perished as result of the Holocaust. But perhaps more shocking than statistics, are the words said by people who experienced the Holocaust first hand. It takes a certain person to survive through this tragic experience.

To fully understand what qualities it takes to survive life through concentration camps, it is necessary to know what goes on in these concentration camps. By reading survivors' testimonies, one can get a grasp of qualities of people must have to survive in concentration camps.

Rabbi Baruch G. was born in Mlawa, Poland in 1923. During the summer recess from his religious studies in Warsaw, Poland was invaded and Mlawa was one of the first towns occupied. Anti-Jewish restrictions were enacted, a Judenrat was formed, and forced labor was imposed. The first time Baruch was forced to work on Saturday was traumatic, as was the first time he was beaten, as described below.

"I will never forget the first time I was beaten up, not so much the pain got to me, but the mental anguish. Instead of telling me how to put bricks together a certain way in order for them to be stacked up, he simply

Col. Edmund M. was a First Lieutenant in the 65th Infantry Division of Patton's Third Army during World War II. During a liberation, he went into one of the barracks.

All of these people share one quality, and that is adaptability. Without being capable to adapt to their surroundings, nobody would have ever made it through their tough times. The vast change in their lives would have led to their deaths had they not been able to adapt.

Many of the Jews, Gypsies, and other groups segregated against led successful lives prior to the invasions. Going from a life where one could do what one please, and believe what they want to believe, to a controlled environment where they were ordered around and forced to perform hard labor, would have proved to be too much for someone who was unwilling too change.

...There were machine guns all around and you always had to be aware of that. ...The women were used as field hands and it was truly slavery. ...They would march off, and I remember my mother and all the other women sneaking in carrots or something--whatever they would be able to sneak in, under their dresses... They were wearing prison garb, striped dresses. ...Food was not that good...although there was bread and I remember some terrible soup."

Despite the Nazis being wrong for what they did, unless the prisoners adapted to their new unfair life of enslavement, there would be far less survivors. Without the adaptability some survivors possessed the Holocaust would have been a far greater tragedy.

Baruch later discussed the scars with which he is left with, particularly the lack of an extended family and some difficulties in dealing with his son. He also reflected upon his religious beliefs and his hope that people will learn from his experience and others like it, so that history will not be repeat itself.

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Approximate Word count = 1233
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History