Holocaust
"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe."- Elie Wiesel
Review of Events
The assassination of Franz Ferdinand sparks tension around Europe. Countries take sides, and the use of newly found technology is weaponized and used in warfare (World War I).
Treaty leads to collaboration amongst the "Winning" side leads to a significant punishment for Germany. Reparations are almost impossible to pay back, which leaves Germany broke.
With Germany struggling financially, the country places a great deal of faith into America to restore its economy. This epically fails as the American Great Depression destroys any hope of economic recovery in Germany.
With Germany struggling in almost every possible way, citizens grow increasingly more desperate for a solution. Hitler and his supporters rise to energize a base of Germans while placing the blame on its struggles on Jews.
Hitler and the rest of Nazi Germany work toward world domination and the extermination of specific populations of people. 11 million people are killed in the end, leaving the Holocaust to be perhaps the most devastating historical event in our history.
Holocaust Accounts
For the entirety of the Holocaust portion of the unit, there will be four survivors that have written about their experiences. There are several excerpts in the topics following to supplement the materials that are presented. Information about them is below.
Elie
Wiesel
Elie Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Magda
Herzberger
A poet, lecturer, composer, and author of eight published books, Magda Herzberger is one of the few remaining survivors of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis upon the Jewish people during World War II. Against all odds, she survived three death camps: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bremen, and Bergen-Belsen.
Viktor
Frankl
Viktor Frankl is the founder of logotherapy, a form of psychotherapy that he developed after surviving Nazi concentration camps in the 1940s. After his experience in the camps, he developed a theory that it is through a search for meaning and purpose in life that individuals can endure hardship and suffering.
Wladyslaw Szpilman
Władysław Szpilman was a Polish-Jewish pianist, composer, and memoirist. Szpilman found places to hide in Warsaw and survived with the help of his friends from Polish Radio and fellow musicians. Szpilman is widely known for writing a first-hand account of how he survived the German occupation of Warsaw and the Holocaust.