After World War II began in 1939, the Nazis began ordering Jews to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing so they could be easily recognized and targeted. All Jews were forced to live within certain areas of big cities called ghettos.
Jews were forced out of their homes and moved into smaller apartments, often shared with other families. The largest ghetto was in Warsaw, with its highest population reaching 445,000 in March 1941.
In addition to Jews, the Nazis targeted many other groups of people. People of different ethic and religious backgrounds were at risk as were people who were handicapped or homosexual. Anyone who resisted the Nazis was sent to forced labor camps or murdered. It is estimated that 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. Six million of these were Jews. The Nazis killed approximately two-thirds of all Jews living in Europe. An estimated 1.1 million children were murdered in the Holocaust.
Although many people refer to all Nazi camps as “concentration camps,” there were actually a number of different kinds of camps, including concentration camps, extermination camps, labor camps, prisoner-of-war camps, and transit camps. One of the first concentration camps was Dachau, which opened on March 20, 1933.
Life within Nazi camps was horrible. Prisoners were forced to do hard physical labor and given very little food. The food the prisoners did receive was not nutritious or sanitary in most circumstances. Prisoners slept with three or more people on a crowded wooden bunk that had no mattress or pillow. Torture within the concentration camps was common and deaths were frequent. At a number of Nazi concentration camps, Nazi doctors conducted medical experiments on prisoners against their will. While concentration camps were meant to work and starve prisoners to death, extermination camps (also known as death camps) were built for the sole purpose of killing large groups of people quickly and efficiently.
The Nazis built six extermination camps: Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz, and Majdanek. Auschwitz and Majdanek were both concentration and extermination camps. Auschwitz was the largest concentration and extermination camp built. It is estimated that 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz.
As a result of the Holocaust, the Nazi party leaders were convicted at the Neuberger Trials, and confirmed guilty of crimes against peace and humanity. Even though justice was served in some cases, they never really got what they deserved.
Many Jewish people hid from the Nazis during World War II. They would hide with non-Jewish families. Sometimes they would pretend to be a part of the family and sometimes they would hide in hidden rooms or in a basement or attic. Some were able to eventually escape across the border into a free country, but many hid for years sometimes in the same room.
Watch Daniel's story
Watch the story of Anne Frank
Comment on the blog: Share your thoughts on one or both of these stories.
It just doesn't make sense in Daniel's story, why would the nazis burn the church?
ReplyDeleteOther than that they (not) all are insane!
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DeleteI think that Anne Frank's story, along with many many others, is very hard to read and very sad. Although, I think it was wonderful in history for us to be able to read over her diary entries. I don't think she ever knew how impactual she would be in so much history.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's weird how Holocaust books are literally painful to read. It's hard to imagine someone being so resentful, so full of hate that they would kill millions of women and children.
DeleteBoth Daniel's and Anne's stories are vary interesting. I agree with Anne why can we not treat people fairly. If you look through history even know we still treat each other poorly. I do not get how people think that another human being could be less or insignificant to them we are all human and no mater what you look like, believe in, or act does not change that you are a person and it is stupid for someone to think that you are not as good because God created everyone equally.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's hard to imagine why some people can hate other people by just their religion, race, or ideals. But it's those narcissistic egotistical maniacs who don't believe in God, who raise their kids to believe themselves better than others. When you grow up believing in something it is a lot harder to change your opinion. It is so much easier to hate than to love, so it isn't hard to see why so many people hate others when you look at it that way.
DeleteIt's just hard for Christians to understand this sometimes because we are taught to love, because Christ loves. We know that God died for us, to save us, and we don't deserve the grace he gives us. I saw something once that said something along the these lines:
When I say "I am a Christian", I'm not shouting that I'm perfect, I'm saying that I'm broken and I lean on God to help me be who I was created to be.
If you don't have God in your life, everything goes haywire, because we were created to live in him, and him live in us. People become messed up when the choose to live without God. Our duty as Christians, and followers of Christ is to pray for those without him, to lead by example and lead them to the only one who is truly perfect. :)
I thought both of the stories were very cool (and sad) to hear about but I felt Anne Frank's had more details. It was cool to hear her talk about how everyone in the beginning and the end, are equal. We get caught up in materialistic objects when we should be focusing on if we are actually doing something for the world God has put us in.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the hardships Daniel had to go through. First, him and his family were sent to live in ghetto and be forced to obey the Nazis rules. Second, Daniel got seperated from his father, mother, and sister. Third, Daniel had to go live in a concentration camp. It's hard to even imagine what Daniel and his family went through.
ReplyDeleteI thought both were amazing. they were also sad, she is only 13 years old but going through so much. She seems happy even tho she is in that situation.
ReplyDeleteI think Daniel's story was great and inspiring, but I feel like the video dragged on a little and wasn't aimed at our age group. It's unbelievable the things he and so many others went through. The Anne Frank story is so sad, but it's so wonderful how people recovered her writings over the 25 months she was in hiding. Over the summer I read her book, 'The diary of Anne Frank,' and it was very sad. I think her father was the only one that survived in her family.
ReplyDeleteWriting must have been such an outlet for her. Just imagine, all alone, hidden away, for over two years, with only a few people. They couldn't sing or talk loudly. So she wrote. I think she writes brilliantly, especially for her age. I love it how she remains optimistic in times of such evil and hatred.
I thought that both Daniel's and Anne's stories were sad but really amazing to hear, although Anne's story really stood out to me more. I thought it was amazing how she remained, not nessisarily happy throughout everything, but never lost sight of what was true and tried to see the good in things. It's really shocking what simply writing down you're thoughts and memories can become.
ReplyDeleteI liked both of the children's stories. Annie sounded more mature in her writings. It must have been terrible for the children to be raised in such harsh treatment.
ReplyDeleteBoth stories were incredible. I think it's the little things I would miss the most. Not being able to go outside and stuff. It was good Anne was able to write. She seems a lot more mature (especially the end part of the website) than the movie they made about her gave her credit for. They made her out to be very immature and annoying in the movie. :/
ReplyDeleteI thought the story of Daniel was cool. It was an extremely weird video but I got the gist of it. It would be scary to be in Anne Frank or Daniel’s place. It would be scary to be any jew during WWII! It’s neat that the whole reason we have their stories is because of their diaries!
ReplyDeleteI thought that Daniels story was interesting, especially the fact that he survived considering how many people died! The Anne frank link didn't work for me but I've always loved the story and I know a lot about it. I've seen the movie lots of times and it's so sad how you learn to love all the characters, and then all the sudden they are taken away and killed.
ReplyDeleteAll holocaust stories are hard to read in my opinion because of how sad they are, but I do enjoy learning about what the people had to go through.
ReplyDeleteAnne Frank's story was awesome, I liked how descriptive the ending "speech" was.
ReplyDeleteIt was cool how the Daniel's Story video was in a museum and showed how Daniel's house was.
I have read a book called "Hana's Suitcase". It's about a Jewish girl named Hana and her brother George. Their parents were taken away first, and Hana and George were taken to their non-Jewish relatives. But soon after Hana and George were taken and put in a work camp. After being there a while, They are moved again, but Hana is separated from George, and George promises her that he would find her again. But Hana is killed at Auschwitz when she was 13. George survived and is now currently living in Canada. (I think).
I thought it was interesting in Daniel's story how Daniel's father gave Daniel his medal and how Daniel got a diary, which helped create this story.
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