Remembering the Holocaust
Remembering the Holocaust
By Josephine Smith
1940, the hand of the Third Reich encloses its grasp over Demark, the Netherlands, and Norway causing a great blow to the Allied forces in Europe. As a lion, so they consumed whatever else would satisfy their hunger for world domination. The growing Nazi Empire would go on to conquest the lands of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. These gains of dominance would usher in 1941 with exploding chaos and a coming plan. The revealing of the true cruelty of the Nazi leader would fully break upon the backs of the people who lived in his domain. The former Austrian artist, Adolf Hitler, would this year begin one of the greatest atrocities in the world, the Jewish Holocaust.
The Beginning
The word holocaust comes from the Greek words “holos” and “kaustos”, meaning “whole burned”, so it was with the smoldering hate that spewed from Hitler against the Jewish people. With a great portion of the world under his control, Hitler decided it was time to bring to pass “The Final Plan.”. As the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union began in June of 1941, so would his plan hatch. By the end of the invasion, 500,000 Soviet Jews would be killed by the new Einsatzgruppenwould units. In September of 1941, an order was sent out to through all the Nazi Empire, that a Jew was to wear a golden star of recognition.
As the chaotic year of 1941 was ending, transportation began from the ghettos of Poland to various concentration camps which the Nazis had instated. 1,000 camps and subcamps were created to hold the lives which were deemed “lesser” in T4’s1 eyes. It was at these camps he would institute his “Final Solution”; the massacring of the Jewish and disabled population. The first mass gassing would take place in Belzec, Poland, a means of mass executing that Hitler had been developing since June earlier that year. For the next five years, thousands would be transported to these camps. 1.65 million people were registered to be at the camps at one single time.
Safe Houses
With the growing empire of the Nazis, so grew the unnecessary demand for concentration camps. The golden star which Jews were forced to bear was like a target on their chest. The disabled were targeted also; the Nazi philosophy saying they didn’t wish to live anyway. But with the rise of evil, many times also comes the rise of heroes, people who would stand boldly between the targeted and those who wished to kill them. People such as Carl and Gertrud Lutz issued paperwork to legally give protection to the safe houses of Budapest and as Jews were forced to march many miles to concentration camps, the Lutz’s would pull as many as they could from the doomed crowd and give them legal protection. The couple are credited with saving half of the Budapest Jewish population. The Ten Boom family was another family who rose to save the Jewish people, even though it would result in many of their deaths. Propelled by their unwavering faith in God, the Ten Boom’s turned their house, part jewelry store, into a safe house. The Haarlem home became a place of safety for many Jews who were smuggled there under the code name of “The Watches.”. But in 1944, a patrol of Gestapos arrested the Ten Boom family along with 35 others, but though they searched the house they couldn’t find the six Jews which were hidden there. The family was split and sent away to various concentration camps. Cornelia “Corrie” Ten Boom was the only one to be released. Corrie went on to open a rehabilitation center for concentration camp survivors. She even allowed people to come who had cooperated with the Germans during the war, knowing that Jesus forgave her so she could forgive others.
For I had to do it — I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says, "neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." ... And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion — I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling." - Corrie Ten Boom
The Fall of Hitler
By spring 1945, the order and power which the Nazis had once demanded was all but gone. Their leadership was dissolved, their land reclaimed, their army in pieces, and even the “loyal” leaders were beginning to distance themselves from Hitler. Then in a final move, the Nazi stronghold Walcheren Island was taken by Allied commandos. Now Hitler lay hidden in a bunker, his empire in rubble at his feet, and any hope for power fleeted from his grasp. On April 29th, he shot himself, but not before blaming the war on the entirety of the Jewish peoples. The Nazi Empire was over, but for the Jews, they could still see no end.
The remaining Nazi forces began to pull back from the concentration camps near Allied lines, but it was merely another death march. 250,000 to 375,000 Jews died as a result of these moves. Soon the camps were found and instantly an end was brought to the plot.
Aftermath
This was a happy ending for some Jews who went home after their long-suffering, but many now found themselves homeless and without family. As a result, an unprecedented number of refugees and POWs moved across Europe.
Justice would be earnestly served to the leaders of the concentration camps from the Allied forces. The Nuremberg Trials were held from 1945 to 1946. Twelve offenders were sentenced to death, four sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison, three were sentenced to life in prison, and three more were acquitted.
In 1953, the German government began to give money to some Jews as a recommence for the crimes committed against them.
In their words
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. - Corrie Ten Boom
In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. - Anne Frank
Don’t postpone your happiness until some perfect future date, be happy now! - Eve Kor
My greatest fear is that the Holocaust will be forgotten. Once we survivors are gone, this horrendous crime... must not be forgotten. - Stephan Berger
There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still. - Corrie Ten Boom
Sources
https://www.britannica.com/event/Nurnberg-trials
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/nuremberg-trials
https://www.britannica.com/topic/virtual-museum
https://www.biography.com/activist/corrie-ten-boom
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/voices/boom.html
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