Holocaust

The Holocaust’s Effect on the World
The Holocaust was the mass murder of millions of Jew in World War II. The Nazis worked under Hitler’s rule, following his directions and blindly agreeing with his what he said. Hitler promised to make Germany a proud country again and fix the quality of life the people were currently living in. The Holocaust happened because of our inability to believe that the cruel, inhumane actions by the Nazi’s were possible.
The Jewish people’s attitude towards the upcoming Holocaust changed as they witnessed, first hand, the horrors of Nazis. At first the Jews refused to believe in the stories of former prisoners, “I did not believe [Moshe the Beadle] myself. I would often sit with him in the evening after service, listening to his stories and trying my hardest to understand his grief. I felt only pity for him” (4). Many of the Jews thought Moshe the Beadle was crazy, that he had made up these stories just to frighten people. They refused to accept the truth and chose to live in ignorance. After arriving at the concentration camp, Elie said, “In one ultimate moment of lucidity it seemed to me that we were damned souls wandering in the half-world…seeking the redemption, seeking oblivion—without hope of finding it” (34). The felt fear at first but then, the concentration camp, caused them to lose hope, they lost their emotions as they focused primarily on their own survival. The Jews changed in one night, their view on people, humanity and God was twisted.
The Nazis formed cruel methods and tactic in order to break any form of hope within the Jews. They performed multiple selections, “One single thought filled my mind, not to let my number be taken; not to show my left arm” (68). The SS officers picked out the weak from the strong. Those who were picked off as weak had to live their last days in despair. The Nazis also performed executions in front of the Jews, “For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and...