Holocaust Children Essay Example
Children of the Holocaust
Advanced Composition/ ENGL 135
June 20, 2011
Alena Synjova once stated, “ I’d like to go away alone where there are other, nicer people, somewhere into the far unknown, there, where no one kills another. Maybe more of us, a thousand strong, will reach this goal before too long” (Volavková, 1994, p. 50). During the Holocaust, people craved opportunity to escape to a place where there were polite people and no one killed each other. The Holocaust affected everyone, ranging from the elderly to the young children, who were faced with horrific situations. They witnessed the death of the people around them and were forced to live under unmentionable conditions. The holocaust altered non-Jewish and Jewish childhoods because of forced hatred, exposure to violence, and survival based on self-reliance. To begin with, non-Jewish children were lucky they did not have to endure the same pain and suffering as the Jewish children. Unfortunately, still quite a few non-Jewish children were murdered. These were Romani (Gypsy) children who were killed in Auschwitz concentration camps. 5,000 to 7,000 children were killed as victims of the “euthanasia” program. These children murdered in reprisals. They lived villages in the occupied Soviet Union who were killed with their parents (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). During one night alone, 2,897 Gypsy men, women, and children were gassed (Roth, 2001, p. 77). Fortunately, there were still those non-Jewish children who were allowed to live; Nazis wanted to spread their beliefs around to the other Germans. “The Nazi Propaganda Ministry, directed by Dr. Joseph Goebbel, took control of all forms of communication in Germany” (Bachrach, 1994, p. 16). Schools played a major role in informing children of the Nazi beliefs. “Some books were removed from classrooms by censors, other textbooks, newly written, were brought in to teach students a blind obedience to the party, love for Hitler, and
Advanced Composition/ ENGL 135
June 20, 2011
Alena Synjova once stated, “ I’d like to go away alone where there are other, nicer people, somewhere into the far unknown, there, where no one kills another. Maybe more of us, a thousand strong, will reach this goal before too long” (Volavková, 1994, p. 50). During the Holocaust, people craved opportunity to escape to a place where there were polite people and no one killed each other. The Holocaust affected everyone, ranging from the elderly to the young children, who were faced with horrific situations. They witnessed the death of the people around them and were forced to live under unmentionable conditions. The holocaust altered non-Jewish and Jewish childhoods because of forced hatred, exposure to violence, and survival based on self-reliance. To begin with, non-Jewish children were lucky they did not have to endure the same pain and suffering as the Jewish children. Unfortunately, still quite a few non-Jewish children were murdered. These were Romani (Gypsy) children who were killed in Auschwitz concentration camps. 5,000 to 7,000 children were killed as victims of the “euthanasia” program. These children murdered in reprisals. They lived villages in the occupied Soviet Union who were killed with their parents (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). During one night alone, 2,897 Gypsy men, women, and children were gassed (Roth, 2001, p. 77). Fortunately, there were still those non-Jewish children who were allowed to live; Nazis wanted to spread their beliefs around to the other Germans. “The Nazi Propaganda Ministry, directed by Dr. Joseph Goebbel, took control of all forms of communication in Germany” (Bachrach, 1994, p. 16). Schools played a major role in informing children of the Nazi beliefs. “Some books were removed from classrooms by censors, other textbooks, newly written, were brought in to teach students a blind obedience to the party, love for Hitler, and