Pinchas Tibor Rosenbaum: Holocaust Hero

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.

Vladek is depicted as a hero who shows countless acts of selflessness and generosity and a villain who is, “opinionated, tight-fisted, and self-involved”. (Brown 6) Art Spiegelman’s book Maus, tells the story of how Vladek and Anja Spiegelman survived the Holocaust. Spiegelman illustrates Vladek as a man who single-handily saved his family from starvation and Auschwitz in World War I. During Spiegelman’s interviews, we get an idea of Vladek’s darker side since the war ended. Mala to speak of her astonishment and disgust in Vladek’s character. Which leaves us to question how truthfully these stories are being told. In the end, Vladek’s unsuccessful heroism is a constant reminder of his failure; survival with Anja was always easier, after her death, Vladek pushes everyone away with his “guilt and manipulation” (Brown 7)

As the war dwindled down, the Bilecki family lingered to their Polish home. Though they were rich in heart, the friction between the slips of tinted cash and the jangling of the metal coins were the only sound that seemed to be worth hearing. Sadly, for them there was a lack of it. The Jews that they saved acted as their guardian angel, as the Bilecki clan did for them. From all around the world, across the sea, the Jews kept them from malnutrition and naked chills. It wasn’t until 1998 that the secret of the Bilecki kindness was unveiled. Not only did they get the recognition they deserve, the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous had planned an infinitesimal surprise. Waiting, as the sounds of aircrafts roared, stood five of the survivors the Bilecki family had guided to asylum. The vulnerability of the raw moment was exposed as they shared their tears. The applause throbbed emphatically like the robust flapping of an angel’s wings. Their life saving feat did not go unacknowledged by the Righteous Among the Nations. Their unselfish deeds of valor and grace set themselves into being heroes.

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.

In the process of being taken from their homes, the Jews were ordered to run by the Hungarian police, they screamed “Faster! Faster! Move, you lazy good-for-nothings!” That is when Elie said that he “began to hate them, and my hatred remains our only link today. They were our first oppressors.They were the faces of hell and death”(Wiesel 19). This was the beginning of there torturous experience, when Elie and the other jews grasp to reality, the inhumane act of taking their belongings, and forcing them to obey all their commands as if they were

In The Story of Blima: A Holocaust Survivor, author Shirley Russak Wachtel presents scenes depicting the worst that human beings are capable of, and the best. She skillfully contrasts her mother’s suffering at the hands of the Nazis with the loving treatment that Blima receives from three strong women. In the course of the story, Blima receives loving support from her mother; from the labor guard, Gizella; and from her sister-in-law, Ruschia.

The Holocaust is a horrific genocide that took the lives of 11 million people. In 1933, the Jewish population stood at over nine million. By 1945, the Germans had killed nearly 2 out of every 3 European Jews. One of the few survivors, Elie Wiesel, was able to create a memoir called “Night” about his trying times at the camps. In the story, a young jewish boy and his family get ripped from their home in Sighet and sent to horrendous concentration camps where most people's lives come to an end. During their time at the concentration camps, Elie, his father, and his fellow Jews are atrociously dehumanized by being starved, put through unrealistic amounts of physical activity, and having their identities revoked.

It is a tragedy that the terror and destruction of the Holocaust could have been avoided if the warnings were taken seriously. In Night, by Elie Wiesel, Moshe the Beetle tries to inform the community of his experience, but they do not adhere to his warnings. Similarly, my great-grandmother also sailed across the Atlantic, to warn her relatives. She informed them of the possible danger, but they too did not listen. Likewise, Jan Karski also saw the danger and tried to warn the allied leaders of the upcoming threat. In all three stories, warnings were given and then rejected. This essay will discuss responses to the Holocaust, by examining warnings regarding community members, family members, and Righteous Amongst the Nations. From the very beginning of Hitler’s rise to power, his ultimate goal, was evident in Mein Kampf and threats against Jews should always be taken seriously.

For centuries Indians occupied what is today known as Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina, thriving and prospering there (History-Trail of Tears). The Cherokee Indians lived peacefully in the Southern Appalachians until Europeans settled on their land in 1540 (Perdue 2). Although the Europeans saw themselves as superior to the Cherokees because they were more civilized, the two actually had similar beliefs and upbringings. Both the Cherokee Tribe and the Europeans believed that their land had been made for them by their individual gods and that this land was flawless; however, both of the group’s ancestors became greedy and subsequently lost their particular land. For the Europeans, this is the story

Many really bad issues in the holocaust Szpilman explains in his autobiography. In this essay, religious discrimination, human rights, and punishment in crimes involving genocide were explained on how the author does not want them to happen again after the holocaust. Szpilman survives after many obstacles by escaping, hiding and with luck. After this whole essay, I can say that Szpilman was a very important person in our society, he had to overcome the life that he could live one day but die the next

Elie Wiesel was born in a pious religious Jewish family in Sighet, Romania to Shlomo and Sarah Feig Wiesel on September 30, 1928 (Genocide in Elie Wiesel’s Night, pg. 21-22). Being the only male child out of three other siblings, his sisters included Hilda and Bea and Tzipora— the youngest. His parents represented polar figures in his life. Elie’s father or Shlomo was a shopkeeper, and despite

Her story is an example of a person who struggled with adversity but searched for a reason to hope. She has used her remarkable survival as an inspiration for those who have no reason to believe they can overcome struggles. She has a foundation named Citizenship Counts which teaches students about their rights and the importance of their citizenship. She has written many books about her experiences and her belief that hope will help a person overcome darkness. She travels the world today telling people her story to increase their knowledge of the Holocaust. Her story of survival serves of as an inspiration to people who are suffering and are looking for a reason to have hope.¹

Jewish Holocaust survivors enduring horrendous treatment of the Holocaust, and it impacted the aftermath of the event as well. Because of the emotional and physical trauma after liberation, Jewish Holocaust survivors struggled with rebuilding their lives and adapting to live a “normal life”.

The Holocaust was one of the most horrible and dreaded events in history. Millions of Jews were killed, leaving many families devastated and hopeless. With the goal of racial purity, Adolf Hitler- along with many other Germans believed the Jews caused the defeat of their country, and led the Nazis to the elimination of Jews. For this reason, “Even in the early 21st century, the legacy of the Holocaust endures…as many as 12,000 Jews were killed every day” (The Holocaust). Later, Hitler organized concentration camps, where mass transports of Jews from ghettoes were brought and typically killed also. However, the fortunate Jews that were not killed still had many restrictions on their

Nobody really can get through life without help, eventually along the way there is something thrown our way that we cannot deal with alone. When you look back at one of the most confusing and unfair times in the world's history, the Holocaust, you can see that this was true for all of the families affected. George Gottlieb, Krystyna, and Elie Wiesel all needed help from upstanders on their road to surviving the Holocaust,and without it survival would have been nearly impossible, these are three different cases that all have one glowing similarity, that being the contributions of others to help them fight the persecution, and from all of these testimonies we can draw something that should be applied today.