Mara Fernandez – Green High School

Learning to Overcome

One's feelings and emotions towards a certain idea or event can have a powerful effect on their views on the subject at hand. Hitler was a great leader and had a powerful yet negative feeling towards those not in line with his idea of perfection, his Aryan race, especially towards those of Jewish decent. Hitler's views dominated all of Germany and conquered many parts of Europe between 1933 and 1945. As Hitler conquered lands he conquered people as well and those not of an ideal human being with blonde hair and blue eyes were quickly seen as a threat and taken to concentration camps scattered throughout Germany. Hundreds of thousands of families were separated into ghettos or concentration camps where they worked and starved until their brutal treatment left them dead, while millions of others were systematically murdered in gas chambers, incinerators, on death marches, and other cruel and unspeakable means of death. Never will these events evade history for the rest of time as we remember the past in order to reshape our future. One can only hope that the acts that Hitler condemned on so many millions of people will never be seen in our history again.

After World War I socially, economically, and politically Germany was weak with a government that was not supported by the people, war reparations were far beyond what Germany would be capable of repaying, and it's citizens were looking for a way to higher ground. The weak souls of Germany quickly clutched themselves onto Hitler as he fed off of the destabilized society to the top of one of the most powerful and influential nations during World War II. Hitler's core reasoning for the deplorable nation was based on the idea that the Jewish population was ultimately destroying Germany and needed to be cleansed from society altogether. Starting in 1933 when the Nazi Party rose to power Jewish people were immediately cut off from the world with restrictions that excluded them from public life, from working, going to school and living the life that had become so familiar to them. Discrimination against Jews came in forms of both political and physical violence. They included the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, that stripped the Jew's of their citizenship and humanity, and Kristallnacht in which the paved streets of Jewish cities were left glittering in the night when young Nazi youth broke the windows of Jewish homes and businesses while burning down hundreds of synagogues. In the later years of World War II Jews were separated into ghettos where they were shipped off like cattle to labor camps. There men, women, and children, old and young, worked themselves to the bone before dying of starvation or disease. Those left alive by a sliver of hope and determination were sent to concentration camps where they met their final fate along with millions of others. In total eleven million people were killed, six million being of the Jewish decent. Concentration camps were shut down and destroyed as ally troops came upon the camps where horrified soldiers saw the harsh realities of what had only been rumors moments before entering the camps.

After the war came to an end many survivors were left alone and lost in a world that still did not except them. Many were left to defend for themselves while others went on to have children of their own. This second generation of Holocaust survivors were also severely effected by what their parents had endured and the fact that many of their family members including brothers, sisters, and grandparents were killed during the war. The children of Holocaust survivors learned lessons by directly seeing the impact that such terror could have on one person and a family. This second generation varied in the interaction that they received from their traumatized parents. Some parents spoke of the troubles constantly from the day that they children were born; others kept to themselves and acted numbly towards their children involving all emotions. The only way to reshape our future is to learn from our past. These children were forced to grow up with the immediate knowledge that harm and horror were and still are a part of the world. Many children did not appreciate their parents, as many of the parents would treat their children not like people but as objects to prove to themselves and others that they had survived the Holocaust. Children growing up in these homes knew this was not how they wanted to be treated or how they wanted to treat others. Learning from first hand experiences of what can happen to victims of cruelty the second generation of Holocaust survivors grew to overcome the obstacles of pain and tragedy to become successful men and women in today's world. Today these second generation Holocaust survivors have grown to become lawyers, teachers, and doctors while others work in the human services industry in response to what they have learned from growing up and living with some of the strongest people in the world, Holocaust survivors.

It's been sixty-one years since the allies won World War II and concentration camps were put to a stop. Today we must continue learning of the horrors that so many millions of people were forced to face. If we do not learn of the past we are doomed to repeat it in our own lifetime and in the future. Very few survivors of the Holocaust are left to share their story though when shared none of it seems to have been forgotten. The younger generations of the twenty-first century are left only with the knowledge that can be obtained through literature and personal accounts left behind by those who experienced it all. Unfortunately, genocide is still occurring today in places like Bosnia and Rwanda. Why then if we know about our past is genocide still occurring? Until people can understand one another and except one another's differences hatred will consume the good still left in the world. Our generation needs to not learn to hate but learn our past mistakes in order to make our future a better place for all races, religions, and creeds.

The Holocaust was a tragic event in our world's history and shall never be forgotten. I can only hope that the eleven million people who were murdered in the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945 did not die in vain. I dream that our generation along with future generations can change our outlooks on the world and on those who are beautifully diverse. Hatred will always be a part of human emotion but maybe understanding can overcome the hate that people feel towards ideas and people that are to them unfamiliar. Let us not bring the fate of the eleven million people who perished during World War II into our world today. Education and knowledge about the horrors of Hitler can only help us move forward to a better understanding of the people who make up our beautiful and diverse world that we all share.