The Resistance Against the Holocaust
In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock, a Jew states, “You call me a misbeliever, cutthroat dog and spet upon my Jewish gaberdine.” Similar to Shylock, Jews all over the world were despised for their loyally held Jewish beliefs, for their ease in accumulating wealth, and the power that wealth has had in certain cultures. The Jews were treated with suspicion and outright segregation as a lower class people. The Holocaust brought this prejudice to the ultimate level of torturing and killing. Because prejudice against the Jews is worldwide, enough people closed their eyes to the horrors of the Holocaust’s attempt to kill all Jews. Although Shylock in the play was a hateful, greedy, and vindictive individual, prejudice …show more content…
In regard to the Holocaust in particular, both groups and individuals across Europe took tremendous risks to hide and rescue Jews causing extreme peril to their families’ and their own safety with little result to the overall. Although the resistance saved many Jews, the total toll of the victimized Jews overshadows that number. For example, one such instance of these actions was in Denmark in 1943 where one of the most famous rescue missions of the Holocaust took place. As the German police planned to deport the Danish Jews from Denmark, a group of Danish fisherman and others hid their Jewish population in neutral Sweden. In that incident, the fisherman rescued seventy-two thousand out of the seventy-nine thousand Jews in Denmark. Another famous group that deserves recognition for their actions in protecting their Jewish population is the citizens of Warsaw, Poland. In one incident, the Polish neighbors protected about twenty thousand of their Jewish neighbors from the Germans invading Poland in an underground organization …show more content…
One of these individuals was Oscar Schindler from the famous film Schindler's List, who protected over one thousand Jews in his enamelware factory. Schindler prevented them from being sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. However, one thousand is a small number compared to the overall six million Jews killed. Another case of individuals that protected Jews were the Ten Boom family. In their efforts, the Ten Boom’s hid people in their home until ultimately the authorities caught and captured the family. Corrie ten Boom and other members of her family ended up in camps themselves; however, Corrie survived. The Ten Boom’s gave their lives to save six Jews. Individuals such as Giorgio Perlasca were able to rescue Jews through another course of action. Instead of the traditional method of hiding the Jews, Perlasca granted the Jews their freedom. Through Perlasca’s influential power, the Italian citizen granted thousands of Jews certificates of safety from neutral powers in 1944. As the Hungarian government would often decree anti-Jewish measures, this certificate would exempt the Jewish holder from these decrees. Jan Karski utilized another method to rescue Jews from the Nazi’s in addition. Karksi met with other leaders to report the mass killings of Jews to allied leaders such as President Roosevelt. Through these actions, the allied leaders deployed rescue operations for Jews. By utilizing
In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock, a Jew states, “You call me a misbeliever, cutthroat dog and spet upon my Jewish gaberdine.” Similar to Shylock, Jews all over the world were despised for their loyally held Jewish beliefs, for their ease in accumulating wealth, and the power that wealth has had in certain cultures. The Jews were treated with suspicion and outright segregation as a lower class people. The Holocaust brought this prejudice to the ultimate level of torturing and killing. Because prejudice against the Jews is worldwide, enough people closed their eyes to the horrors of the Holocaust’s attempt to kill all Jews. Although Shylock in the play was a hateful, greedy, and vindictive individual, prejudice …show more content…
In regard to the Holocaust in particular, both groups and individuals across Europe took tremendous risks to hide and rescue Jews causing extreme peril to their families’ and their own safety with little result to the overall. Although the resistance saved many Jews, the total toll of the victimized Jews overshadows that number. For example, one such instance of these actions was in Denmark in 1943 where one of the most famous rescue missions of the Holocaust took place. As the German police planned to deport the Danish Jews from Denmark, a group of Danish fisherman and others hid their Jewish population in neutral Sweden. In that incident, the fisherman rescued seventy-two thousand out of the seventy-nine thousand Jews in Denmark. Another famous group that deserves recognition for their actions in protecting their Jewish population is the citizens of Warsaw, Poland. In one incident, the Polish neighbors protected about twenty thousand of their Jewish neighbors from the Germans invading Poland in an underground organization …show more content…
One of these individuals was Oscar Schindler from the famous film Schindler's List, who protected over one thousand Jews in his enamelware factory. Schindler prevented them from being sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. However, one thousand is a small number compared to the overall six million Jews killed. Another case of individuals that protected Jews were the Ten Boom family. In their efforts, the Ten Boom’s hid people in their home until ultimately the authorities caught and captured the family. Corrie ten Boom and other members of her family ended up in camps themselves; however, Corrie survived. The Ten Boom’s gave their lives to save six Jews. Individuals such as Giorgio Perlasca were able to rescue Jews through another course of action. Instead of the traditional method of hiding the Jews, Perlasca granted the Jews their freedom. Through Perlasca’s influential power, the Italian citizen granted thousands of Jews certificates of safety from neutral powers in 1944. As the Hungarian government would often decree anti-Jewish measures, this certificate would exempt the Jewish holder from these decrees. Jan Karski utilized another method to rescue Jews from the Nazi’s in addition. Karksi met with other leaders to report the mass killings of Jews to allied leaders such as President Roosevelt. Through these actions, the allied leaders deployed rescue operations for Jews. By utilizing