The Holocaust: Horrors of Inhumane Atrocities and Collective Trauma

The Holocaust is arguably one of the worst, most traumatic experiances known to our earth. We now look back and reflect on the indescribable torture put onto people of many countries, millions of backgrounds, and of many beliefs. Jews, homosexuals, soviet prisoners of war, gypsies, the disabled, Japanese people that were American citizens and many groups more were targeted during this parlous time. The discrimination of these groups started even before WWII was present. As well as continued until after the Holocaust was over.

11 million people have been through trauma that is indescribable, some still with us, and over 6 million plus people gone who have faced inexplicably hard deaths for simply being themselves.

Life Before the Holocaust

Life for groups before the Holocaust was still very discriminatory, considering that there was a lot of anti-semitism taking place leading up to Hitlers rise of power. “On January 30, 1933, Hitler was named chancellor of Germany. After President Paul von Hindenburg’s death in 1934, Hitler anointed himself as “Fuhrer,” becoming Germany’s supreme ruler.

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” (HISTORY, “Hitler Becomes Fuhrer.”) This led to even more campains of anti-semitism, and the overall loss of rights for citizens of the Jewsish community, and other various groups. Many Jews lived in towns or villages called shtetls that practiced Jewish beliefs, such as speaking Yiddish, wearing traditional clothing and more. This made singling them out much easier. According to the British Library, “The Nazis wanted to portray the Jews as subhuman, inferior beings who were interested primarily in their own economic gain or in communism.

The Nazis built upon the negative myths of the Jewish race which had existed for centuries.” (British Library, “Background: Life before the Holocaust”) Prior to the Holocaust rights were not only stripped from Jews, but there was also acts that made society see people with disablilites as unfit for life, or a burden to society. Such as the Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases. This was an example of one act that took place step by step for Hitler to create his overall master race. Along with this the Japanese people in America were striped of their houses and forced to move to various places in the United States, they were in areas known as “Japanese Internment Camps”. Some of these actions took place because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Ultimately bringing America’s involvement in the war..

The Beginning of the Horror

Going into the Holocaust Hitler and his Nazi’s started circumscribing. The Jews were getting rules and restrictions in their own homes, which ultimately lead to Jews being placed into separate neighborhoods called Ghettos and branded with a yellow star. Subsequently, they were rushed and moved into kettle cars. Sometimes they had over 80 people per car with barely any food, water, or room to breathe for days at a time. Following this, people were segregated even more and categorized based on their looks, depending on if they would be strong and efficient enough to work as well as gender, along with many other factors. Some people were even sectioned separately on something they couldn’t control, such as being a twin. These people were taken for testing and other medical practises, some of these people were even spared for life. Considering they were useful to people such as Josef Mengele, otherwise known as the “Angel of Death”. He was the chief medical officer at Auschwitz, to the position of chief physician of Zigeunerfamilienlager. Every experience was different but Elie Weisel describes his first nights as, “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” (Weisel 45) People at the camps were separated from their families, most expecting to see them again. But most not having the chance too. Elie Weisel was separated from his sister and mother and barricaded off with his dad, following this they had to lie about their age in order to survive. Signs as you entered the camp would say things such as, Work makes you free. These signs represented their life. A changed life of pain, torture, and conformity. That would soon become their new normal. A year or so prior to the start of the Holocaust a orginazation was made. This was Aktion T4, known for getting rid of people that were incurably ill, physically or mentally disabled, emotionally distraught, and elderly. Making people with disabilities the Nazi’s first large target. Deeming them unable to provide work and a waste of space. This operation lead to the deaths of over 300,000 disabled. The New York Times stated the data they found connecting these groups of people as, “But it would be years before I understood the connections between the killing of the disabled and the killing of Jews and other so called “undesirables,” all of whom were, in one way or another, deemed “unfit.” (Fries, “The Nazi’s First Victim was the Disabled”) So, ultimately he ruled out the people who he couldn’t force into work labor. Making his plans of a master race come into view.

The Holocaust is known however mainly for the terrible acts that took place during the years of 1941-1945. The killing of over 6 million plus people. Torture is an understatement of what these poor people were put through. Mark Zusak stated the shock of the inhumane acts of this event as, “I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.” (Zusak, The Book Thief) I think this depicts the fact that we will never truly see the horror as grand as we should. People were murdered on a scale never seen before. Almost every seven out of ten Jew residing in Germany was killed. Babies were burnt, people you knew shot in front of you, your mother, father, son or daughter gassed in chemicals. It was a living hell. Some people died over time by starvation, and most were forced to work the killing machines in order to spare their own lives for a few days, weeks, or if you were exponentially lucky months or even years. These people were given no mercy. They were stripped of the right to be human, be yourself, express your beliefs, love who you love, celebrate your culture, and countless more. They lived by routines, small portions of food, and were taught the true meaning of fear. However, they became accustomed to it. To death, and countless amounts of it. Auschwitz was the biggest concentration camp, where over 1.3 million people were sentenced to their deaths. Hundreds if not thousands were killed daily without a second thought. Some people were even tested on as they had genes that were atypical, and not researched on heavily at the time. Ephraim Reichenberg was one of these people, he said, “My brother had a nice singing voice, but I couldn't sing. They injected us at the base of the neck with a certain substance that after the war we found out to be cancer cells.” These were just some of the horrible acts that took place.

Eventually, with the Japanese surrenduring in 1945 the second world war was over. However, the wounds were very slow to heal. You couldn’t go home in fear that you would be rejected by your non Jewish neighbor, your family wasn’t there. You may have not wanted to make it this long. Fretting you did not deserve it. Elie Weisel stated, “One day when I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me.” (Weisel 116) Thats how ill-minded our world was at this point, brainwashing you to think you were not worthy of life. Not considering the nightmare you were put through daily. Considering these challenges there was a significant population of people moving across Europe that were displaced and distraught. In order to hold these sick people responsible for their actions there started the Nuremburg Trials. These trials, “..brought Nazi atrocities to horrifying light. Increasing pressure on the Allied powers to create a homeland for Jewish survivors of the Holocaust would lead to a mandate for the creation of Israel in 1948.” (HISTORY, “The Holocaust”)

In conclusion, the trauma that over 11 million people had to go through, and over 6 million people died for was indescribable. The war was cruel and heartless, as well as heartbreaking. People who lived through this age are very lucky to be able to say they are alive today. The mass murder and genocide that took place during this timeframe is one that will never be forgotten, and never be understood. We have the information to reflect on the past but never the experience. Germany sectioned away people of our earth and killed them because of something they were ascribed to be. Which overall is unbelievable and terrifying. The day in and day out nightmare these people lived through and some died through is something that can hopefully never be repeated. Our world as a whole didn’t properly do this event justice. Considering again, this may have been the most inconsiderate, cold blooded attack on the human race.