Many think that the concentration camps were the only obstacles people faced during the Holocaust; however, those were not the only obstacles. This horrific time in world history will never be forgotten because it was a genocide of mass proportions. The Holocaust was the systematic death of approximately 6 million Jewish people through no fault of their own other than their beliefs. There were many obstacles that the Jews faced, including the gas chambers, the cold winters, the traitorous Germans, and the language barriers with some of their saviors. The severity of the obstacles faced by the Jews during the Holocaust depended on age, family heritage, the people around them, and gender. One of the major obstacles faced by the Jewish people
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If a German was communist, then they would be taken away by the Nazis, as shown in The Book Thief. “‘Is my mother a communist?’ Staring. Straight ahead. ‘They were always asking her things, before I [Liesel] came here.’ Hans edged forward a little, forming the beginnings of a lie. ‘I have no idea- I never met her.’ ‘Did the Führer take her away?’... He said, ‘I think he might have, yes.’” (Zusak 115). The well-respected people of the community, the ones who everyone adored and who had a ‘noble’ family history, were usually wealthy, and therefore less likely to be pressured too severely by the Nazis, and could therefore avoid close inspection, allowing them to hide Jews more easily. Families with a history of Judaism in them were more closely watched, and prosecuted more severely, even if they were Catholic at the time. Max Vandenburg, from The Book Thief, had a violent family heritage. “He was nearly two years old when his father died, shot to pieces on a grassy hill. When he was nine, his mother was completely broke. She sold the music studio that doubled as their apartment and they moved to his uncle’s house. There he grew up with six cousins who battered, annoyed, and loved him. Fighting with the oldest one, Isaac, was the training ground for his fist fighting. He was trounced almost every night.” (Zusak 188). Overall, family heritage could make the obstacles in the way of Jews more numerous, or less numerous, and the heritage looked at could stretch back
If a German was communist, then they would be taken away by the Nazis, as shown in The Book Thief. “‘Is my mother a communist?’ Staring. Straight ahead. ‘They were always asking her things, before I [Liesel] came here.’ Hans edged forward a little, forming the beginnings of a lie. ‘I have no idea- I never met her.’ ‘Did the Führer take her away?’... He said, ‘I think he might have, yes.’” (Zusak 115). The well-respected people of the community, the ones who everyone adored and who had a ‘noble’ family history, were usually wealthy, and therefore less likely to be pressured too severely by the Nazis, and could therefore avoid close inspection, allowing them to hide Jews more easily. Families with a history of Judaism in them were more closely watched, and prosecuted more severely, even if they were Catholic at the time. Max Vandenburg, from The Book Thief, had a violent family heritage. “He was nearly two years old when his father died, shot to pieces on a grassy hill. When he was nine, his mother was completely broke. She sold the music studio that doubled as their apartment and they moved to his uncle’s house. There he grew up with six cousins who battered, annoyed, and loved him. Fighting with the oldest one, Isaac, was the training ground for his fist fighting. He was trounced almost every night.” (Zusak 188). Overall, family heritage could make the obstacles in the way of Jews more numerous, or less numerous, and the heritage looked at could stretch back