How The Holocaust Impacted My Life

Michaela Uebelhoer
Lieberson
HON 20th Century American History
15 April, 2013

1. The Holocaust unit we learned about in class has impacted my life in many ways. It has changed a lot of my opinions on a variety of different topics and made me realize how horrific the Holocaust actually was. It was not until after the lesson was complete that I totally grasped the severity of the events that took place at the German hand. I was shocked and appalled by the actions and crime I heard about during this dark time in history. I have been enlightened to new things I never thought possible for human beings to do. This lesson is one I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Before we started the lesson on the Holocaust, my prior
Never have I been more ashamed to be German. I was not even born in Germany, nor either of my parents, but I still felt as if I was partially responsible for the disgusting events that took place. I have newfound respect for all of those lucky, if that’s even the correct word, individuals who survived. How they were able to keep living after witnessing those disgraceful things is truly a miracle. Not only were these people brave in the face of indescribable fear but they have taught me many valuable lessons. There are many words that I think I know hear on an almost daily basis. Persecution, bigotry, and discrimination are three among the thousands. After the lesson on the Holocaust I realized I knew absolutely nothing about what these words actually mean. Every day on the news we see instances of discrimination in small, seemingly harmless acts but I now see that if these acts go unchecked that a second Holocaust is possible. The root cause of the Holocaust was discrimination against a completely innocent group of people. The Jewish population was targeted because they made an easy target and propaganda allowed the spread of bigotry across an entire nation. I wholeheartedly believe that discrimination must be
When it comes to the issue of who should be blamed for the Holocaust it is important to be practical as well as fair. Given the situation that occurred it is easy to say the even the entire German population is responsible for the actions of their extremist government. I believe that this would not be an effective way of punishment because it decreases the value of the individual punishment and therefore the impact it would have on the guilty party. If every German was held responsible it would be impossible to put them all in jail and a lesser punishment would have to be issued. However if only a few are held responsible a worse punishment can be given and the example of what has become of the guilty can serve as an example of how severe their actions have been. Having said that I think the people who should be held responsible for the Holocaust are all high ranking German officials who participated in the design of any aspect of the Holocaust, the carrying out of the any aspect of the Holocaust, including judges, camp commandants, and the soldiers who witnessed the horrors and did nothing to stop them. These people have all done unpardonable things to the people who found themselves victims of the Holocaust. These are the people who are unquestionably the guiltiest of any others. Every one of them had direct knowledge of what was going on and did nothing to stop it. The fact that they could live with themselves after seeing this and not saying anything proves