Holacost

A detailed Summary of Holacost

"When they came for the gypsies, I did not speak, for I am not a gypsy. When they came for the Jews, I did not speak, because I wasn't a Jew. When they came for the Catholics, I did not speak, for I am not a Catholic. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak." This quote is found on the wall at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. This is just one example of a bystander. During the time the Holocaust took place there were bystanders and those who rescued. Why did some people choose to be bystanders and others choose to be rescuers? What influenced the way they believed?

The Holocaust was the extermination of the Jews and other people whom Hitler considered inferior. It took place from 1933 to 1945. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany led this effort. About 12 million people were murdered, half of them being Jews. When Hitler took over control of Germany, everything changed. Hitler had a very strong prejudice against the Jews. He wanted to create the perfect race of blonde haired, blue eyed Germans. His followers, who were the soldiers in the camps, were called Nazis. They enforced all the killings that Hitler wanted done. There were many other people involved in this massive genocide. Diffe

Bystanders were ordinary people who played it safe. As private citizens, they complied with the laws and tried to avoid the terrorizing activities of the Nazi regime. They wanted to get on with their daily lives. During the war, the collective world's response toward the murder of millions of people was minimal. Bystanders may have remained unaware, or perhaps were aware of victimization going on around them, but, being fearful of the consequences, chose not to take risk to help Nazi victims.

Bystanders were people who didn't act out. Some were people who didn't believe this was happening, so they didn't do anything. People thought that it was nothing since it wasn't them being taken away. "The deportees were soon forgotten" (Night 4). The people that were taken away didn't mean anything to the other Jews. They went on with their lives as normal. A rabbi and his son were very close. They had been through everything for three years. As they were moving from one camp to another they got separated. Rabbi Eliahou went looking for his son. Elie had remembered something, "He had felt that hius father was growing weak, he had believed that the end was near and had sought this separation in order to get rid of the burden, to free himself from an encumbrance which could lessen his own chances of survival" (Night 87). All he cared about was his own life. People would put their own family members into the ovens just to they would not die. They would kill each other for bread in order to survive. People outside the country didn't say anything because they didn't want to get involved. It wasn't them that Hitler was after.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Rabbi Eliahou, Talmud Whoever, Jews Hitler, Poland France, Third Reich, Moshe Beadle, Meir Katz, Museum Washington, Schindler Nazi, Jew Catholics, people didn't, meir katz, concentration camps, night 4 people, ordinary people, night 4, 4 people,

Approximate Word count = 1464
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History