I have walked the chilling halls of the Dachau camp on my visit to Germany in 2004, and witnessed the sickening stains of that camps history coated on its walls. I have read countless articles and many books on the holocaust. I have seen movies, watched survivor interviews, and I have studied and continue to study the holocaust. I have done all of these things because I am disgusted by the pain and deprivation of human care that the Jewish people had to endure. I have studied the holocaust all of this time because I wanted to learn about the worst event in the world’s history. Studying the past helps prevent such horrors from happening again in the future.
Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, Solomon Radasky, Dr. Gisela Perl, Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, and millions of other men, women, and children were imprisoned and or put to death because they were Jewish, homosexual, Gypsies, and asocials but most of all, because they were different and less human in the German’s eyes. Millions of those people were victims of the ruthless and disturbing actions of Adolf Hitler, Dr. Josef Mengele, Josef Kramer, Irma Grese, Ilse Koch, Karl Josef Silberbauer, and thousands of other Nazis and SS soldiers. It is important for everyone to know and understand the true tortures that these men, women, and children went through. If not, acts of supreme discrimination, racism, sexism, ageism, and prejudice could lead to another genocide, another holocaust, it could lead us back to the worst years in human history.
Many of the imprisoned lost their entire families, some lost limbs, some lost their mind, and most lost their lives. Death was common in the concentration camps, all of which involved: gas, flamethrowers, bullet to the back of the neck, medical experiment, starvation, dehydration, hangings, sickness, beatings, electrocution, depression, chloroform injections, funeral pyre, and various combinations of them all. It is of the utmost importance that these horrors never leave their mark in our history books again.
If we are to protect our future, our children’s future, and the future others, we need to stress the causes and effects of judging people based on differences. Even though America is the land of the free, where all men, women, and children are created equal despite religion, color, race, sex, and age, there is still discrimination, racism, sexism, ageism, and prejudice. This doesn’t include what happens in Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, and the other North American countries.
I’ve heard people say that another Holocaust could never happen. Truth be told, there are still genocides happening in other countries throughout the world. It is naïve to think that such a thing couldn’t happen again. I bet the thought of such a thing haden’t crossed a single mind at that time. I bet no one thought it could ever happen. Then one day, one man gave the whole of Germany a reason to believe that they could be better than everyone else. Today, in America, there are still men who think they deserve more or are better than women. There are people of Caucasian, Asian, African American, and European ancestries who think that they are better than everyone else. Humanity is full of false pride, and that is exactly what Hitler indorsed. There is not enough humility in this world, and because of that, another holocaust could happen, it just takes the right time, the right person, and the right trigger to set it off and that is why it is important to educate the children of tomorrow on the appalling acts of our yesterdays.
The prevention lies within students and young children. Adolescent minds are still ripe for change, they’re still open for education, and they are not yet programmed to the exact actions of right and wrong. If they can allow our teachers, parents, and speakers education them on the pain and the hate that discrimination, racism, sexism, ageism, and prejudice provokes and how it can cause destruction and death, then maybe it can open their eyes to a future of good. If they can take it in and do what they can to spread the word, to help educate others, then they give the world a chance to walk out of their homes and not fear like the Jewish men, women, and children did. They give the world a chance to stand out in the open for the rest of their lives and not be forces to hide, to die, to suffer from pain, torment, and injustice like millions of Jewish people did. If we can teach students to relate instead of discriminate, the world can be a safer place.
Reference Page
Nyiszli, M. (1993). AUSCHWITZ A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account In (T. Kremer & R. Seaver, Trans.). New York: Arcade Publishing.
N/A. Victims. Victims of mengele. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele/id24.htm
Radasky, S. Survivor Stories. Holocaust Survivors. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/survivors.php
Lagnado, L. M. & Dekel, S. C. (1991). Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. William Morrow & Co.
Wiesel, E. (2006). Night In (M. Wiesel, Trans.). Hill & Wang Pub.
This story, even though I don’t have the complete background behind the holocaust, has a lot of truths about today in it. Nothing could be closer to the truth when the writer explains how we need to educate our populous in order to secure a better and brighter future. The way we live is just not the same with everyone looking for the easy way out of life because that is all we are shown. Without proper education from not only teachers, but parents, and students themselves there is not going to be a tomorrow where as a community we can unite. Instead as a community we will cower and and hide looking for the easy way out. In this day and age the most irresponsible thing we all do is look out only for ourselves. Granted not all the time do we need to look out for others but when we turn against one another we are wasting time. Time that could be spent united with the goal being to survive and learn. But as the human race we create not only classes amongst ourselves but continue to believe that we are better than those around us because of the false images and judgmental ignorance we place on others. To this day all the human race does is destroy all that we have for self gain.