When Irene Safran was only twenty-one years old, her carefree life ended in the face of the Holocaust. Born to two Jewish parents as one of ten children-- four girls and six boys in all-- in Munkachevo, Czechoslovakia around the year 1923, her world changed in early April 1944 when she and her family were transferred to a Jewish ghetto. For the next year, Irene's life was a series of deaths, losses, and humiliations no human should ever have to suffer, culminating, years later, with a triumphant ending. Her story is proof that the human spirit can triumph over all manner of adversity and evil. It was the beginning of spring in 1944 when her suffering began: Irene and her family were forcibly evacuated from her home and brought to Jewish Street in the Jewish ghettos. They left most of their material possessions behind, carrying what their arms could hold, and lived on the floor of a stranger's house. She described that street as "the dirtiest street [she] ever saw", but she was only there for a few weeks before being relocated to a brick factory. They stayed at that factory for five days, building temporary shelters out of bricks and being hit and forced to do tricks like dogs for the pleasure of the German and Hungarian soldiers, before they and the other Jews were loaded onto cattle trains and sent off to Auschwitz-Birkenau. For three days, Irene and her family-- those who were in the cart, her mother, father, three younger sisters and two of her brothers-- traveled to
This project is about a brave woman who survived the Holocaust.Eva Galler was born in january 1,1924 and she died on january 5,2006. She was the oldest of eight children.Her father,Israel Vagel,was the head of the jewish community in their town.Eva’s family were well off compared to the other.Eva,unlike most girls at the time,she went to high school,educated herself and got employed at the local office as a secretary.
The article ‘Teens against Hitler ', by Lauren Tarshis, Describes the hardships and courageous acts of Ben Kamm, a Jewish ‘Partisan’ or fighter against Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust, and all Jews who faced the challenges during that tragic time. The Jewish only wanted a normal life, but German leader, Adolf Hitler, wanted to make sure all Jew would perish. So, they began piling Jews into concentration camps to kill them, Hitler would work them to death, starve them, and even murder them in gas chambers. Then, The ‘Partisans’ began to fight against Hitler and his army. This act of courage, despite the challenges and risks they faced, help many Jews survive the most horrific event in history, The Holocaust.
During a horrible time in history, a courageous rescue operation saved the lives of thousands of Jewish children. There were among thousands of Jewish parents throughout Germany, Australia, and Czechoslovakia who were sending their children-some less than one year-to Britain to live with strangers(editors of scope, N.D.). There were many people working in the kindertransport to save the lives of thousands of children. Many of the parents hoped to get their children back but unfortunately, in some cases, they didn't. Throughout these horrible events, we are able to grasp the reality of these terrors the Jews went through, and what the children went through throughout the Kindertransport.
Paralyzing terror and enduring agony bind the characteristics of the Holocaust together. It expressed man’s carnal barbarism to the fullest with the rarity of human kindness to illuminate the darkness bestowed. Thankfully, there were some people who preserved the hope for humanity’s future. (The Shalom Show on TV) The Bilecki family were a part of the remarkable men and women who risked their lives to preserve others. Their heroism shone while conserving the lives of twenty-three Jews. Though their lives have been mauled and battered beyond compare, they continued to live an honourable life after the destruction caused by the Holocaust. The Bilecki family with their grace and lenity is a role model worthy of following.
“I remembered every house, every tree, every flower; all the wonderful times, the memories of my family, which were happiness; but I also remembered every anguish, every death, every tragedy,” said Alicia Appleman-Jurman during a lecture for the Holocaust survivors oral history project. Within a four year period, about six million Jewish people died (out of nine million Jewish people before the beginning of WWII) during the rule of the Nazi Party, with very few of them surviving. Alicia Appleman-Jurman is a very important survivor of the Holocaust. She was determined to help the Jewish people, even after having her entire family annihilated. She persevered to the end of the war and at just thirteen she smuggled most of the surviving Jews, through
The Holocaust, yet another unpleasant time in history tainted with the blood and suffering of man. Human beings tortured, executed and starved for hatred and radical ideas. Yet with many tragedies there are survivors, those who refused to die on another man’s command. These victims showed enormous willpower, they overcame human degradation and tragedies that not only pushed their beliefs in god, but their trust in fellow people. It was people like Elie Wiesel author of “Night”, Eva Galler,Sima Gleichgevicht-Wasser, and Solomon Radasky that survived, whose’ mental and physical capabilities were pushed to limits that are difficult to conceive. Each individual experiences were different, but their survival tales not so far-reaching to where the fundamental themes of fear, family, religion and self-preservation played a part in surviving. Although some of these themes weren’t always so useful for survival.
Introduction When I first began reading Eliezer Wiesel’s book Night I could not help but think about how someone that had suffered so much is able to write a book about what they lived through in the holocaust death camps as a teenager. When you think “teenager” you think rebellious, snotty and maybe even immature, you would never, in a thousand years, think about a teenager having to arrive with their family to the place where they will never see each other again because they are separated and sent to gas chambers. After watching the video Oprah and Elie Wiesel at Auschwitz, I’m still in disbelief about the fact that having undergone through so much pain and misery, to say the least, Elierzer says that he “had anger but never hate” for his
Jews have perished because of their beliefs since the beginning of time but never have so many Jews been persecuted worldwide as they were in World War II. Anne Frank’s diary reaches a place within all of our hearts because it reminds us how easily the innocents can suffer. Sometimes we may choose to close our eyes or look the other way when unjustifiable things happen in our society and Anne’s tale reminds us that ignorance, in part, claimed her life. Sadly, her story is but one of many of those who died in the Holocaust and as with other Jews, her fate was determined by the country she lived in, her sex and her age.
Each of these histories reveal a story of suffering that is endured by both Gentile and Jew, but also a story of humanity and salvation. In Five Chimneys: A woman Survivor’s True Story of Auschwitz, Olga Lengyel tells of her family assisting other Jews fleeing the Nazi military. Later, after her own ordeals in Auschwitz, she was saved by citizens in a small Polish village. An essay written by Vera Laska is included in Women and the Holocaust: Different Voices, which is an anthology of essays about women in the Holocaust. In addition to the many stories of survivors and rescuers, I am using several scholarly articles
Between Dignity and Despair, a book written by Marion A. Kaplan, published in 1998, gives us a portrait of Jewish life in Nazi Germany by the astounding memoirs, diaries, interviews with survivors, and letters of Jewish women and men. The book is written in chronological order of events, from the daily life of German Jewish families prior to when the Holocaust began to the days when rights were completely taken away; from the beginning of forced labor and exile to the repercussion of the war. Kaplan tries to include details from each significant event during the time of the Holocaust. Kaplan
“I pray you never stand at any crossroads in your own lives, but if you do, if the darkness seems so total, if you think there is no way out, remember, never ever give up. The darker the night, the brighter the dawn, and when it gets really, really dark, this is when one sees the true brilliance of the stars.” These words were spoken by Gerda Klein, a Holocaust survivor. Her story is filled with desperation and an overwhelming sense of hope. Gerda Weissmann was born in Bielsko, Poland. Both of her parents and her older brother died during the Holocaust. She was somehow able to survive “the ghetto, deportation, slave labor camps and a three month death march. She was rescued by an American soldier named Kurt Klein. She ended up marrying him and moving to the United States.
The Holocaust is a very large topic with many subtopics within, which many people have never heard of. One in particular is the Hidden Children of the Holocaust. Like a majority of individuals, I never heard of this topic before, until I started my inquiry work. Hiding children during the holocaust was an effort to save thousands of children’s lives. The children were hidden in different ways, either with false identities, underground, and with or without their parents. The children with false identities were allowed to participate in everyday life activities, like attend school and socialize with children their age, which in the long run this lead to less emotional and mental issues. However, the children that were hidden and not allowed to leave their hiding spots often faced boredom, pain, and torment. Some children were capable of being hid with their parents while other children were not. Depending on the situation the child was in, depends on the effects it had on the child during this time. In this paper, I will be discussing works by two scholars, Natalia Aleksiun’s Gender and Daily Lives of Jews in Hiding in Eastern Galicia and Judy Mitchell’s Children of the Holocaust. Aleksiun’s article talks about the daily lives of Jews in hiding and also about how they prepared their hideouts. Aleksiun’s article mainly focuses on children that were hidden with their families. In Mitchell’s article, he focuses on the hidden children and gives examples/survivor stories on what it
Everyone experiences emotional and physiological obstacles in their life. However, these obstacles are incomparable to the magnitude of the obstacles the prisoners of the Holocaust faced every day. In his memoir, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, illustrates the horrors of the concentration camps and their mental tool. Over the course of Night, Wiesel demonstrates, that exposure to an uncaring, hostile world leads to destruction of faith and identity.
The American Psychological Association defines a traumatic event as, “one that threatens injury, death, or the physical integrity of self or others and also causes horror, terror, or helplessness at the time it occurs” (American Psychological Association, 2008). With this definition in mind, it no surprise that the Holocaust is one of the most traumatic events in history. Millions upon millions of people either lost their own lives, or watched the lives of their loved ones be taken right in front of their eyes. Many survivors solemnly admit that the hardest deaths to watch were those of children. In fact, an estimated 1.5 million children were killed during the tragedy (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016). However, one cannot help but wonder what happened to the children who did survive. Elie Wiesel was one of those children who was ‘lucky’ enough to survive. However his ‘luck’ came at a severe price. Elie Wiesel suffers both severe emotional and physical trauma in his novel, Night.
Relevance to Audience: When thinking of this brave 13 year old girl, most think of the Jewish culture, Adolf Hitler, and the Nazi Soldiers of Germany. But of us really know the pain and suffering the Jewish