The Holocaust - Comments

I saw The Pianist the other day in one of my classes and it made me rethink about The Holocaust. If you think about it the entire thing was like a machine, everyone participated in it one way or another like a cog some more than others. Its one thing for one person to kill another person, but for practically an entire nation to kill is another. Its a wonder if maybe in the back of an SS mans mind that he thought about what he was doing was wrong. While it is known many went along with it for fear of being punished for not obeying with others its a wonder.

As much as Hitler is hated, he was a charismatic leader. Our history teacher said, "He could walk into your classroom today, and by the time he left, all of you would be on his side. That's how convincing he was. Even if you might deny it, he'd still be able to persuade you. Sure, he caused the deaths of more than 6 million Jews, but as a person, if you met him without knowing the things he did, he could have been like your best friend." That's just how Hitler was. As a leader, he could have used it for better things, but instead, he decided to silence all who opposed him, and he used Jews, Gypsies, the mentally ill, and the disabled as his scapegoats. He wanted Germany to be ruled by "Aryans" which was an incorrect word. "Aryans" was an Indian word, and his description of an "Aryan" was blonde hair, blue eyes. And he wasn't even an "Aryan." He had dark hair, and dark eyes. That's just how convincing he was. We could say that Hitler would have been one of the greatest leaders in the world, if he had used his power right, and done good instead of evil.. But, if the Treaty of Versailles had been done right, and they hadn't put all the blame on Germany (I mean, there was also Austria-Hungary on Germany's side), maybe World War 2 would have been prevented.... even though there were other factors that contributed to World War 2....I'm not siding with Hitler or the Nazis, but that's just what could have been prevented, and how Hitler actually was...

While this was a powerful, emotional, and very impactful piece of literature, I wouldn't call it an article. Sorry, but the elements of an article aren't there.
I agree wholeheartedly that hate is a terrible thing, but like a user below me, I don't think the word should be hushed. I think it should be screamed and recognized, known for the pain it causes and the terrible thing it is. I simply don't think it should be used in [i]action[/i] or [i]felt[/i].
Also, there were some major flaws in your piece of literature that [b]Lady Flutter[/b] so eloquently pointed out, so I'm not going to repeat them.
You had a pretty good message, though. Good job.

it wasn't the Germans, it was HItler and the Nazis. And they didn't just torture the Jews, they also tortured homosexuals, mentally incapacitated people, and people with birth defects in the concentration camps.

Sorry have to nit pick at the sentence saying that Germans hater Jews. It wasn't all German citizens it was the Nazis and Hitler. The emotion in the article was very good but I feel it could have had more information, dates, locations, etc. But overall not bad.

Sorry, crue is suppose to be cruel. I might have a few spelling errors but I'm not sure...

I agree with [b]hkittyly[/b], Genocide has to be taught, I know some students who are in the 11th grade who haven't even heard about the Holocaust until a few days ago when out US History teacher told us.
Yes it was a crue thing that happened. But that doesn't mean we should ignore it and go on with our lives. I know I'm being a hypocrite because I don't like the fact that we go over board with the 9/11 thing but still.

I'm a Native American and I've been apart of mass-murder as well. And I've always felt pain for those people still affected by the Holocaust because it mirrors our pain.

~Squirrel

[i]There have been many wars, civil and worldwide over the years, the Holocaust being a large one.[/i]

The Holocaust was not the war. The Holocaust was the genocide of six million Jews and other "inferior" races by the Nazis.

[i]A week or two ago a survivor of this situation visited my school.[/i]

I believe the word "situation" is a far too ordinary word for this... Situation :) Maybe the terms "genocide" or "mass murder" or "these cruel and unsual acts" could of worked much better.

[i]She cried the entire time, with every word at least ten tears must have dropped, and I was in awe of her bravery.

This brave woman talked of the torture...[/i]

We get that she's brave, you don't have to tell us twice.

[i]Germans hated their religion and so they tortured them.[/i]

That is very wrong. Hitler and his Nazis tortured them, not Germany. Germany had no idea about what was going on until it was too late. They were in a depression that was far worse than the U.S. Great Depression and they believed that Hitler was their way out - and he was.

Overall this was a pretty good article, but you could of been a bit clearer on your information. Good job at putting emotion into it though.

@The-Joker,
umm perfect is a word frekken is not.
Hitler didn't get bored he wanted a perfect Germany and Jews have been hated all through out history so when Germany had been embarrassed and poor it was easy to blame the Jews

nice article, its great to know that people were taking this learning experience seriously and can appreciate the bravery needed to recount such awful occurrences. The medical experiments, for example, are by far the most disturbing things I've studied. Just a minor correction, the Holocaust was not a war, as you said in your opening sentence, although it did occur during the time of world war two. It is more of an event, a horrid event fuelled by hatred and a clever use of propaganda.

shadowxoxo: Honestly, I've never heard of being forced to eat the dead either, but if the woman who was a survive said it, I believe it. I definitely wouldn't be surprised.

My grandfather was a liberator of the camps. He died in 2007 when he was 86...he wouldn't talk about it until about the end of 2005, the beginning of 2006. It was horrible, and he didn't even want to be a part of it. He was drafted.

This was an awesome article. Besides my grandpa, I've met a couple other people who were in Aushwitz: we went to see a liberator at the local museum and there was a survivor sitting in front of us who told us her story after the liberator was done. It's all so sad, especially when you think of your own grandparents actually having to go into it.

it was good article and i cry every time i here about this horrible time. but the only time i disagree with this article is the part were it said you had to eat your friends. in all the time i have heard about it i haven't heard about them forcing the prisoners to eat the dead prisoners. my great father went to a concentration camp he was not Jewish or anything like that he was a prisoner of war for 2 year. he survived it and died in 2001

I actually cried a litte, i hate even learnign about the holocaust. Its hard to think about, i know i sound naive, but i find this level of suffering actualt painfull to learn about.

The-Joker: The genocide was planned. It was his intentions all along. Of course no one knows the reason but it was planned. Wether it was before or after Hitler came into power, we don't know but he wanted 'the perfect Germany'. He started with the mentally ill and moved on to the Jewish people.

[b]"Germans hated their religion and so they tortured them."[/b]

Just wanted to point out, that it wasn't all Germans.
There were Germans that disagreed with what was going on.
It was the Nazi's.

Last year my teachers took about 70 students to a Holocaust museum. There we also got to hear a survivor speak. When he was done he said that he could still remember perfectly his life for those years. He could still remember the number he was given instead of a name, from when he was seven years old.

When we were there we saw an actual set of the those they had to wear, the necklace(or maybe it was a bracelet) they were given with a number on it and the cup/bowl they had to keep track of to get food and water.

omg, I know.
I recently went on a school trip to Poland, and we went to Aushwitz and Birkenau.
God, it was awful there. It was just so silent and eerie, there are like no animals there at all. No birds or anything. I even went into the gas chamber and the crematorium and it was just so sad knowing how many people had been killed.

I also met a Holocaust survivor and it was horrible to listen too; never mind actually be him. He was such a strong man, emotionally and physically.

If anyone actually wants any photos just let me know and I'll send you them.
Even though it was an emotionally draining trip, it was a great experience.

btw, CharredfRemains, perfect isn't a frikken word, lord sake. Tbh, Hitler just got bored and decided to do what he did, boredom, the same is happening in the middle east right now. But we just don't know it. The english and americans are doing the same ! Maybe even worse because it's a larger population.

I dissagre with one point- you never saying it again.
This word should be said. loudly and often. We should remember it, not hush it.
There's multiple genocide going on today- Burma being the largest, followed by Darfur. Many know of Darfur from the famous publicizing- but Burma has been the largest kept secret. Americans will do nothing because of one of the tribes are our enemy. So we let hundreds of thousands be slaughtered.
It's a crime against humanity, and we should speak that word- holocaust- and show the world that the crime still exists. I will always say that word.
Otherwise, a great article. Well written :)

I'm speechless. Shit, that's sad.