Impact of The Holocaust on Jewish Peoples in Europe and Israel

The Holocaust was a horrendous event in our world’s history. In this piece, I intend to explain the impact of the holocaust on Jewish peoples in Europe and Israel, and how extremely impressive it was in our world today. I hope to answer questions like how the Holocaust started? Who started the Holocaust? Why was the Holocaust started? What groups did the Holocaust affect? What were the concentration camps? And many other questions that will be answered.

What was the holocaust? 

“The Holocaust refers to Nazi Germany’s attempt to eradicate the Jews of Europe. The attempt nearly succeeded. In the course of World War ll, Nazi Germany killed nearly six million Jews.” - Helmut Walser Smith. The Holocaust was an extraordinarily pure evil act committed by a person who became known as a military dictator. The Holocaust had an extreme impact on the world. There is so much more to the holocaust than what people expect, there were many more factors that contributed to the Jewish population today because of it.

Who started the holocaust? 

The main person that was considered the innovator of the holocaust was a man named Adolf Hitler. He was born in Austria on April 20th, 1889. He believed that his racial state was higher than others’. He believed strongly in the Aryan race. The Aryan race in his eyes was considered the master race. He thought that if he was able to destroy Jews and other races his race could achieve the highest rank.

Why the holocaust was started? 

Adolf Hitler became the leader of the Nazi party. Nazis despised races other than their own, which was considered the Aryan race. They believed that the Jews were the cause of losing the Great War and that they were evil, terrible people. Also, Adolf Hitler also wrote in his book Mein Kampf a war would result in “the extermination of the Jewish race in Germany.” The Nazis were ready to eradicate all Jewish populations because of a racist decision they made thinking they were better than any other race on the planet.

What group did the holocaust affect? 

The holocaust affected different racial societies, especially Jewish people. The biggest population it affected were the Jewish people, but it also affected different groups like the Ukrainians, Roma (Gypsies), homosexuals, Soviet Prisoners of War, Slavic people, and people with mental and physical deformities. The Holocaust made the population of Jewish people decrease hugely. After the Holocaust, the Jews that were still alive came to form the new country of Israel.

What were the Protest's “Euthanasia” Killings? 

Euthanasia means the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. They killed any people with physical deformities, like those with down syndrome and other diseases. To Germans, these people were considered useless lives, idiots, and mentally crippled. They thought that these people were a waste of space in our everyday lives. During World War I, with a shortage of food and other resources in the country, they decided to start killing off these people. They thought this would be a way to save more resources. Hitler started killing off Euthanasia during wartime because he thought it would be a whole lot easier than to just killing them off when nothing was happening. Soon enough these people being killed were considered a part of the Holocaust.

What was the Kristallnacht? 

The Kristallnacht was a German word for the meaning of “night of broken glass”. Through the days of November 9th and 10th Nazi soldiers raided Jewish shops, homes, and workplaces. They wrecked the buildings inside and out. For example, they would smash out the windows of the buildings, which led to these nights’ name, Kristallnacht. Not only did they vandalize Jewish places, but they also burned down synagogues and around 100 Jews were killed in these two nights combined.

What were the concentration camps? 

Concentration camps were camps where the Nazis made the Jews desperately starve and constantly work. The Jews would be stacked on top of one another in the house-like places they stayed in. Every day they were worked or starved to death, some were burned alive, and others were left to die by gas poisoning in gas chambers. The biggest concentration camp during the Holocaust was called Auschwitz. It is 472 acres in size and you can tour and visit it today in Poland. Millions of Jews were killed in these camps, and very few survived.

After the liberation of concentration camps, some American soldiers that had found the camps left feeling grief, anger, and overall depression from what an evil crime they had witnessed. Survivors were sent to homes to be helped with illnesses, starvation, and to be bathed. Survivors stayed forever haunted by the memory of the sight and sound of roaring flames, screams, and moans of pain. They will never forget the everlasting smell of burning flesh of family, friends, and acquaintances. They’ll never be able to unsee the sight of bloodied and shriveled bodies of starved people lying, silently dead around them.

Who was Oskar Schindler? 

Oscar Schindler was born in Germany on April 28, 1908. He was an industrialist and had several jobs either working for his family’s farm or other things. He became a Nazi and was chosen to work in the concentration camps which I would imagine be an awful job. He didn’t work in any ordinary camp though, he worked in the biggest one there was Auschwitz. It was probably a horrid job, watching innocent people drop dead all around you, and their shrieks filling your ears. Though he worked in the camps this didn’t mean he was an awful person. He wasn’t like other Nazis. During his time there he rescued over 1,000 Jews from being deported. He tried his best to save them because he believed that what they were doing was an incredibly excruciating job. Oskar Schindler I’m sure was considered a hero to many that were saved, I’m sure they were extremely grateful. I know for a fact I would have been.

What were the DP camps? 

DP camps stood for “displaced persons” camps. The DP camps were a place for people to stay temporarily. The people that were put in these camps were German prisoners, Nazis, and Jewish survivors from being put in Concentration camps. Jewish survivors had to be put in the same camps and houses as their recent german nazi concentration camp keepers. The DP camps were like hospitals and homes for those who couldn’t get the help they needed after the horrendous event of the Holocaust.

What was the Wannsee Conference? 

The Wannsee Conference was what the Germans thought was the “Final Solution” to the Jewish problem. This conference is where they decided to take the Jewish people and put them into concentration camps. The conference was established on January 20, 1942. Adolf Hitler’s second in command of the SS, Heydrich Himmler was the one who held the Wannsee Conference.

What was the Warsaw Ghetto? 

The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Ghettos during the Holocaust. A ghetto was a part of the city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups. These are the places they stored Jews until they were taken to concentration camps. On the day of April 19th however, a large and violent uprising occurred that didn’t end until May 16th. It lasted almost a month.

What was the Lodz Ghetto? 

The Lodz Ghetto was the second-largest ghetto compared to the Warsaw Ghetto, and it was one of the first to be built. It lasted from the time which it was built to when it was closed down in August 1944. It was one of the strictest ghettos there was, the rules were enforced more than any of the other ghettos there were during this time. There were around 3,500 to 4,000 Jews that were kept in this ghetto alone. The head person in charge of the ghetto was extremely strict on nazi policies and rules.

What was the Jager report? 

The Jager report was a sheet of the majority of vast murders of the Jewish people starting from July 2nd, 1941 to November 25, 1941. It was written on December 1st, 1941. The Jager report kept up with the killings of Jews daily. The Jager report was written by Einsatzkommando, which was a killing group of Einsatzgruppe A who were considered death squads.

Who was Olga Lengyel? 

Olga Lengyel was born on October 19th,1908. She was taken to Auschwitz concentration camp along with her family because they were Jewish. Before she was saved all her intermediate family had been killed. She was then rescued and was the only survivor out of her intermediate family. She later wrote a book called “Five Chimneys” explaining everything she’d been through while in the concentration camp. I’m sure she explained how horrendous of an experience it was to live through. Today there are still survivors from this awful event. Some have been so scared that they don’t ever talk about it. Others have written books, documentaries, etc. to show the world today what it was like to survive an extreme genocidal act. They all remember how excruciating it was to live through. How awful it was to watch people around you drop dead. How painful it was to be worked until they were sure they were never going to survive through the night. It was an awful experience that people today still remember, especially in the Jewish society that became Israel. It was their background. Their history.

What was the Magda Trocme? 

The Magda Trocme was a movement inspired by a woman who let in a struggling refugee of the Holocaust. After this, it led to people opening their homes to those who had escaped and survived concentration camps. They kept them fed and sheltered. They also helped them get back on their feet so they can start living life again. The act of one woman led to a new organization-type thing to keep refugees safe from torment. These people were kind enough to allow those they didn’t know into their homes just because they were kind enough to do so.

How did the free world find out about concentration camps? 

The free world found out about the camps when American troops invaded a town in Germany. On the outskirts of the town, there was a concentration camp. The troops that found it didn’t know what it was and went back to report it to the captain. They then assembled more troops along with the captain and went to go check it out. They opened the gates and started walking around as Jews came out of the huts and surrounded them. The troops saw fires still burning, dead, shriveled bodies lying around everywhere by the hundreds. They started asking some of the Jews there what this place was and the troops found out that it was a concentration camp. Soon later word got to the government and it was spread through the news of what happened and how awful it was. The free world was learning about what had happened. Then, as the war was ending they found more and more concentration camps. They found them spread across Germany and other places. The free world now knew about everything that had happened.

Who was the 101 first airborne? 

The 101 first airborne during this time were the first group to find the first concentration camp. They were the ones to invade the town and capture it, scaring away the german troops already there. They were the first outsiders to see the burning and charred bodies. They were the first outsiders to see the grateful looks of the survivors to finally be free from that awful, horrid place.

How did the holocaust affect Europe and Israel? 

How did the mentality of the free world enable Israel to become its own state? The Holocaust affected Europe and Israel as Europe’s population decreased stupendously. Also, the remaining survivors came to form the country of Israel, which now only 189,000 survivors are left in Israel. The mentality of the free world allowed Israel to become its own state by saying that they deserved their own area after all that had happened to them.

How did the holocaust affect the world today? 

The Holocaust left a deep impression on the World today. Many of the survivor’s stories have inspired many people today on speaking against racism in the World. It also gave the world a chance to come together because of this extraordinarily pure evil act. The world has become more aware of everything that is happening globally. Still, there is a cold, sadness that remains from that period that people will never forget.

The Holocaust was a horrendous act. It caused over six million innocent lives to be murdered. The world still has the impression of it today. It not only affected America but Europe too. It created a new country called Israel. Jewish society was completely changed from this event.

Credits

1. Kleinman, Tomer. “Did the Holocaust Play a Role in the Establishment of the State of Israel?” Did the Holocaust Play a Role in the Establishment of the State of Israel?, H.Marcuse and Associates, 25 Apr. 2017, http://holocaust.projects.history.ucsb.edu/Research/Proseminar/tomerkleinman.
2. “What Was the Holocaust?” What Was the Holocaust? – The Holocaust Explained: Designed for Schools, London Jewish Cultural Centre, https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/what-was-the-holocaust/.
3. Smith, Helmut Walser. The Holocaust and Other Genocides: History, Representation, Ethics. Vanderbilt University Press, 2003. BOOK.
4. “Adolf Hitler.” Adolf Hitler, American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 1998, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/adolf-hitler.
5. “Search Results — Groups That Were Persecuted.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/search/index.php?langcode=en&group=&query=groups+that+were+persecuted.
6. History.com Editors. “The Holocaust.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 14 Oct. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust.
7. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/oskar-schindler.
8. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://www.ushmm.org/learn/students/learning-materials-and-resources/mentally-and-physically-handicapped-victims-of-the-nazi-era/euthanasia-killings.