Jenna Dutton

Tonya Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102-005
Monday 31, 2015
Holocaust Education
If I had to describe the Holocaust in three words they would be cruel, heartbreaking and
painful, but that still would not recap on what people had to go through. I do not know
everything about this event, but I do know some general background information and dates on
what happened during that time. Jews were tortured and killed by the Nazis, who were German
and ruled by Hitler. The Nazis had many ways of execution for the Jews, some including
starvation, the gas chamber, hanged by ropes or even being shot in the head.
In the mid 1930s is whenever Hitler promoted an Arian society and discrimination of the
Jews. His speeches and propaganda were his tactics to bring Germany on his side. To create the
perfect Arian society, Hitler knew it had to be done in stages. The first stage was discrimination
of the Jews within communities and schools. The Jews were forced to wear yellow stars so
everyone could would know who they were. After verbal abuse, the physical abuse soon
followed. It was the Night of Crystal Glass when Hitler ordered Nazi soldiers into cities and
destroyed Jewish businesses or took them and sold them to true Germans for pennies on the
dollar. Around 1940 is when Hitler ordered the Jews into Ghettos. The Ghettos were separate
parts of the city that were guarded by soldiers. Many Jews died inside of the Ghettos because of
lack of food and very poor living conditions. Jewish children would sneak out of the Ghettos in
an attempt to bring food back into the Ghettos. If they were caught then they would be shot on

the spot. From Hitlers point of view, the Ghettos were not killing the Jews fast enough and death
camps had to be create.
The Jews were shipped by train into multiple types of concentration camps. Once brought
into the camps the Jews were given a tattoo of their number. If babies were brought in they were
taken away from the mother and used as target practice for German soldiers. Men were separated
from woman and children and given the bare minimum. They were either taken to labor camps
or death camps. Many Jews were killed instantly, even in front of their children, if they did not
follow the commands of the Nazis. There were many methods of execution that were brought
upon the Jews. I would say the gas chamber was probably one of the few that would have been
classified as the severest one. The Jews would be told that they were going to be taking a shower
and put into massive rooms, but the Jews did not know they were being set up by the Nazis. The
gas would be let out instead of water, which would kill the Jews after a few minutes. The
amount of bodies that would pile up every day was crazy.
In middle school History class I was shown a video that I needed my parents permission
to watch. The video was called Schindlers List and six years later, I can still picture the video
that I saw but most importantly the harsh things the Jews had to go through during that time. I
do not know why or what causes someone to become that cruel to millions of people but I do
know that I am so thankful I did not have to experience this. Many families were
heartbreakingly killed based on their ethnicity but most importantly, many families had to
experience things that nobody should ever have to go through. The Holocaust is such a broad
subject that I hope to learn more about. After this semester is over and I am finished with my
second level of writing, I hope to learn important information that will help further my
knowledge about the Holocaust.