On July 16, 1942, the Vichy government ordered that all Jews were to be arrested and sent off to concentration camps. It was the biggest operation of its kind during the German occupation of France in World War II. Despite the misconception that the Germans were basically the main anti-Semites in Europe, the French also showed a large contribution as well through the Vélodrome d’Hiver Roundup in 1942. The French clearly displayed anti-Semitism by rounding the Jews up themselves instead of the Germans, cramming the Jews into the Vélodrome d’Hiver stadium and sending them to horrible concentration camps.…
In an interview with Rebeca Skloot, found on the link above, the issue of Henrietta's skin color gets addressed. She talks about the color of Henrietta's skin playing a role in her treatment. During the Jim Crow era, the 1950's, hospitals and many places were segregated. Segregation suggests that not only the place but the treatment changes based on where you are. When Henrietta first came to John Hopkins she was a poor, black, woman. She was placed into the black ward and was treated different than a white person. Skloot states that the doctors often took advantage of the patients who had little knowledge about what was going on. Most of the times the people who did not know what was going on were black people. She states that in hospitals,…
The word ‘holocaust,’ comes from the Greek words ‘holos’ (whole) and ‘kaustos’ (burned), and was used to describe a Jewish sacrificial offering that was burned on an altar. Unfortunately, after 1945, the word took on a more gruesome meaning: the massacre of 6 million Jews by the German Nazis in our second World War. There were many heroes during the Holocaust, but the one that stood out the most was my hero, Irena Sendler. Irena Sendler played a crucial role in securing the safety of many Jewish children through her courageous actions, ideas, and efforts as a humanitarian and social worker who worked in the Polish underground.…
Born in 1934, Elisabeth Schiesser lived a hard life right from the start. THESIS Her journey started in Yugoslavia with her family of 7 and a normal life. It was her home until it was taken over by Hitler’s army on April 6 1941. The Germans invaded and changed everything. All the men were forced to fight for Nazi army. After the war Elisabeth’s family was forced into a concentration camp along with many other families. After three years of being trapped they escaped and headed for their next destination. They crossed the border into Austria with the help of a civilian, as they did not have the proper papers. Later on, at the young age of 19 she left with a friend to Canada and started a new life. In order to get through the war, Elizabeth and…
The Germans shipped the Jews by trains and buses to Auschwitz, also other concentration camps. Within a week the number of Jews held in the Vel’ d’Hiv had reached more than 13,000. (Gilbert,2011) Among those detained were Jews Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia. Cecile Winderman Kaufer was one of the innocent people to have lived through and survived to have her story told.…
On September 1st 1939, the Nazis had invaded Poland. The life of the 15 year old girl, Clara Kramer, wasn't ever bound to be the same again. Clara Kramer was a typical Polish teenager from a small town named Zolkiew where thousands of Jews resided. At the sudden uproar of World War II. Clara and her family decided it was a good idea to go into hiding. They were taken in by a family called the Becks, a Volksdeutsche (ethnically German) family from their town. Mrs. Beck was a Catholic woman who worked as Clara's family's housekeeper. Mr. Beck was known to be an alcoholic and a prominent anti-Semite. When Mr. Beck heard the news of how Jews were being slaughtered and sent into camps, Beck sheltered the Kramers and two other Jewish family…
In 1933, the unimaginable happened. In 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected the leader of Germany. Adolf Hitler started going after certain groups of people. He started with the Jews. 12 million people died, 6 million of them were Jewish. However, there was some people that stood up to the Jews, those people are heroes. One of those heroes was Irena Sendler.…
In 1942 when the intents of hitler were clear to the world, people were trying to help out the jewish community as much as they could. Providing housing for families trying to hide, giving out fake licenses so that jews could hide in plain sight, and risking their own lives for others. All of these people were trying to help out the jewish in many ways but one woman is remembered by everyone for her causes in helping the jews, this woman is Irena Sendler. Irena was born on February 15 1910, she was born into a polish family of doctors and for most of her life she had been assisting her father help people, because of this she cared for everyone.By 1942 she had joined the polish underground group called Zegota, by the end of the war Irena had…
Eliezer Wiesel, a boy from Sighet, has survived a horrible experience in the hands of the Germans. It all started in 1942 when Moishe the Beadle, his friend and instructor in the Kabbalah, was deported from Sighet. Moishe escaped to warn others of the horrors that awaited them. Sadly, no one wanted to listen, even though Eliezer “[had] asked [his] father to sell everything, to liquidate everything, and to leave” (Wiesel 08). A few months after that, the Germans invaded Sighet, promptly ordered the Jews to give up anything valuable, and then ended up making them stay with other Jews in a ghetto. After, Jews were eventually deported in cattle cars, not knowing where they were to end up. Eliezer’s first view of the concentration camp where they first arrived was “flames rising from a small chimney into a black sky” (Wiesel 27) and “In the air, the smell of burning flesh” (Wiesel 28). Life in the concentration camps was awfully…
About an estimated of 119 Jews were murdered in December as part of a program. Some of these Jews were put to work hard in really cold seasons and became weak. Many of these Jews were killed by the guards just so they could had fun. All of these Jews were denied medical treatment and some died of illness. On October of 1942 the last group of these Jews were were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp.…
Many may have heard or learned that during January 30, 1933 to May 8, 1945, Adolf Hitler ruled Germany. During his time, he sent Jews to concentration camps and led to the mass murder of six million Jews. The mass murder of the Jews was called “The Holocaust” and it lasted 12 years. The ending of the holocaust was credited to the Soviets after they began liberating Jews from several camps. Adolf Hitler had been defeated and he no longer ruled over Germany because the Soviets had defeated him. Although the Soviets did finish dethroning Adolf Hitler, there was one member of a group that did many things to resist the terrors that went on during her time. Many may have never heard of her, or her accomplishments, but her name was Sophie Scholl.…
The first Jews to be transported from France to Auschwitz were carried by train on July 19, marking the end of this round up. (Laffiette) After that 1-2 thousand detainees were transported until they all were gone from France. (Lyon) This event is got to be the worst event in World War II because even the people’s government turned against the people who until this point avoiding the atrocities that were happening and the government threw them right into the middle. So the government was the keeper of the peace no…
Germany started to break apart and was soon destroyed. Most concentration camps were liberated but in most cases, it was too late. Almost half of Europe's Jewish population was gone. This horrible event should be a reminder to how bad genocides can…
"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all." - Martin Luther King…
The rescuers of the holocaust were brave and courageous because they chose to save lives even though they could be killed if they were caught.the Individuals from all european countries, and religious backgrounds risked their lives to save jews,and if they were caught they would face severe consequences.rescue efforts ranged from both small and large organized networks.refik veseli hid mosa mandel and his family during the holocaust.bert and anne bochove hid 37 jews inside their pharmacy in huizen,amsterdam they were named righteous among nations.on september 5th germans assigned a death penalty for everyone that aids jews leaving their district,they would be transported to the treblinka killing…