Learning About the Holocaust Directly From Jewish Survivors
Anti-Semitism Before World War II
When you listen to a Holocaust survivor story from a Jewish person, you will likely learn about how the first signs of what was to come took the form of antisemitic laws and regulations in the years leading up to World War II. Multiple nations throughout Europe enacted harsh laws and regulations expressly designed to suppress Jewish people by limiting their economic, social and religious freedoms. A holocaust survivor story can offer valuable insight into the events that ultimately led to the genocide of European Jews during the war. Most of the Jewish victims were killed in concentration camps in Poland and Germany. Some of the most infamous facilities include Dachau, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka, names that echo through the years to this day. German Nazis imprisoned millions of Jews in these horrendous facilities, which were heavily guarded by soldiers and other military personnel and designed with the express intent of creating an industrial scale system to carry out murder on an unimaginable scale.
Horrors of the Holocaust
When you read or listen to a holocaust survivor story, you will gain unique insights and understandings that will give you a more nuanced perspective on the causative factors that led up to the horrific genocide against the Jews in Europe. Some survivors recall their experiences in the concentration camps, where they were exposed to brutal conditions not fit for livestock let alone human life. Other survivors talk about their experiences in remote villages that were destroyed by the brutal German army. Mass shootings of Jewish people and other enemies of the Nazi state were common throughout Eastern Europe during WWII. The infamous SS unit raided and destroyed hundreds of rural communities in the Soviet Union, especially Belarus and Ukraine. The Jewish population of Europe is still to this day recovering from these devastating events. In the 19th century Europe was home to over 90% of the worlds total Jewish population, today less than 10% of Jews worldwide call Europe home.
Browse www.zachorfoundation.org to find Holocaust survivor stories from the ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation.
