The holocaust
Anti-Semitism has been around for a long time. Hitler didn't invent it, he just took it to the extreme. He said that 'Germans and other northern European were 'Aryans' a superior race Jews were not considered Aryans they were inferior and could pose a threat to the uprising of the nazi party. Gypsies mental handicapped and homosexuals were also considered inferior. But the main threads were the Jews. No people had ever suffered like the jews did In ww11 during this period of six years six million Jews were killed and a million of them were children. Jews were killed on average of 1 every 30 seconds. The Jews suffered not because they were a threat to any one but simply because they were Jewish and because they were Jews they were categorised as inferior. Hitler said that they Jews threatened every thing that threatened the future of the 'master race'
There were quite a few Jews that held high positions in Germany but Hitler claimed that they were uncommitted and were more concerned with their religion.
Holocaust means 'total destruction by fire'. Over 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camp the worst of these were auschwitzin Germany and sobibor in Poland. Many of the inmates of the camps were used for medical experiments. Often without anaesthetics. Most of the inmates died, however an elite few did manage to escape.
The holocaust was mass destruction, the destruction took place using scientific calculations. Plans were systematic every thing was revised. Calculations were made on how many people should be killed. There were lists of how many Jews should be killed in each country. What is worse, people in other countries knew what was going on it was heard on British radio as well as all around the world. People were aware of the upcoming disaster but only a few people did anything about it.
The holocaust took place on a much bigger scale then any other act of discrimination the world had seen before, it involved high-ranking political members. The holocaust was different because of methodical plans that made the executions possible. It is not the first time the Jewish people have been discriminated against, but the other occasions never came close to the scale of the holocaust.
Egypt became a place of great suffering of the Jews. The Egyptians were afraid that the Jews would take over the country so they decided to rid the town and neighbouring towns ...
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The holocaust took place on a much bigger scale then any other act of discrimination the world had seen before, it involved high-ranking political members. The holocaust was different because of methodical plans that made the executions possible. It is not the first time the Jewish people have been discriminated against, but the other occasions never came close to the scale of the holocaust.
Egypt became a place of great suffering of the Jews. The Egyptians were afraid that the Jews would take over the country so they decided to rid the town and neighbouring towns of all Jews. Jews were slaves in Egypt, treated very cruelly. All baby boys were ordered to be killed at birth. A survivor, Moses is highly regarded by the Jewish faith. He saved thousands of lives and god gave him the book of 'Torah' they were gods chosen people and he said he would protect them if they obeyed his laws.
Later in Jewish history their faith was under attack again, the Babylonians had invaded Israel, the promise land and had destroyed Jerusalem and their temples. They took away the Jewish leaders as captives, fifty years later some of these captives were returned one was a man called Ezar he became their leader and rebuilt the promise land and introduced new reforms to help keep the Jewish faith alive. Some 2000 years later they are under attack again!
Then the Romans came along and occupied the promise land, but this time they were allowed to keep their religion, for a while anyway. The Romans tried to defeat the Jews with power and influence, the temples were destroyed again! Jews were banned from living in and entering Jerusalem. Jewish teaching was outlawed and any body caught teaching the Jewish religion was killed. The Jews fled to neighbouring countries to try and find peace, however all they found was that their neighbours treated them the same. They were thought of as land less people and were tormented for their beliefs.
The Jews stood up for their religion and protected it from being completely destroyed. They believed that if they changed themselves for others then they would lose their identity. However nothing could prepare the, for the horror that WW11 would bring them.
It was only after the war that the Jewish community and the rest of the world became aware to the extent of what happened. Although at first the Jews were too shocked and horrified to make any real response to the atrocities that occurred, they soon committed them selves to letting the whole world know about what went on and make sure they never forget the holocaust. Their response became particularly clear as special prayers, days of memorial and places of remembrance were established to keep the memory of those that suffered during the holocaust.
For a Jewish writer who holds the traditional belief in a good and powerful God, the holocaust raises the problem of innocent suffering. The question of why good people suffer, however the holocaust may be said to challenge the whole purpose of things. Jews don't just believe that God is good and loving, but that he is also active within the human. How could this possibly be submitted with what happened to the six million who were brutally murdered? I believe that God was not, and that it is a free will of humanity, the free will of Hitler and his small-minded followers. Even before the holocaust the Jews had a lot of discrimination, it is rather like that fate to them, it just keeps on happening.
Some Jewish writers have said that the holocaust can not compel them to give up their belief in God. They say that the holocaust shows the 'moral bankruptcy' of the human race. What they shouldn't focus on is God, and what they should focus on is human trust and responsibility.
Other Jewish writers, in response to the holocaust, feel that the only way to understand how a devoted god good could do something like this, is to research human responsibility itself. God granted the human race with freedom of choice and good will. That makes it there own choice how people should treat others. God influences people to love and show kindness and he cannot take away the freedom however corrupted it is. People think that they must make sure Hitler still doesn't gain a victory even after he has died by making sure that the Jewish faith continues. While others thing that to pass judgement and raise questions on the holocaust that u should fully understand and learn the purpose of the faith.
An American historian thinks that the holocaust is becoming an 'excuse'; 'never again' may have come to mean that never again will Germans kill Jews in Europe in the 1940's. it is possible that the images of terror and horror that are portrayed very cleverly by many types of media and people, such as rabbis, preachers, film directors and politicians might be having little moral effect? The holocaust is a very important lesson but many politicians and groups with grievances have exploited it. The historian says that the holocaust is fairly recent fragile, and may die away again.
I don't think the holocaust or something similar is very likely to happen again. Four times in Jewish history before the holocaust there has been persecutions against the Jews and it is becoming a way of life. But there are still pro nazism people around to day who wish to revive the anti-Semitic feelings from WW11 the war ended over half a century ago but there will always be people supporting Hitler and teach their children and friends to do so as well.
People are now aware of how many Jew there are world-wide and they feel comfortable letting them live their lives. The Jewish society doesn't bother us so why should we be trying to change their way of life? People today realise that other cultures and religions are interesting and spend more time learning about them rather than trying to change them because they are different. People have also learnt from Hitler, most people believe that what he did was wrong and it did not help any group of people except for the pure Aryan's.
Anne Frank is a memorable, famous person for her diary that she wrote during her time of isolation in the pre-war and early war years. She showed us what life was like for her as a Jew during the Holocaust. She was only 16 when she died and one of the last things in her diary was this:
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are good at heart"
People should learn from Anne Frank, she never lost hope in her faith however never blamed anyone for the horror that her and her loves ones faced. If we embrace the hatred of the Nazis then we too will become guilty.
Several concentration camps are left standing to bear their silent, but powerful witness to the atrocities that had been committed in them. A special memorial Yad Vashem, Israel. Yad Vashem means "a place and a name" - a bare room lit by a single candle with the name of concentration camps written all over it. The avenue of righteous, with a tree planted for every person that helped the Jews escape the camps.
Dachau in South Germany, was one of many camps. It is now been turned into a museum.
