Steps To A New Life During The Holocaust

“The life of the dead is set in the memory of the living.” (Marcus Tullius Cicero). Over six million lives were extinguished by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Many of these people are nameless to the masses, but are survived by those who were in close relationships with them. After the Holocaust, many attempted to find loved ones, but few had availed. With countless murdered in the tragic event, few loved ones found each other; however, those lost are remembered by those who were given new lives.
The first step to a new life in the Holocaust was the liberation of the work camps, starting January 1945. The first camp that the Allies liberated was Auschwitz, where only a few thousand were found, as the rest were forced to go on a Death March, …show more content…
Over one million children and young teenagers were seen as a continuation of the Jewish existence, a fact that the Nazis did not want to tolerate. Most children that were scheduled to die in the gas chambers either died on the trains carting victims of the Holocaust to work camps or were hidden when the Jewish people were forced to live in the ghettos. When they were in the ghettos, before the Holocaust started, many Jewish children were smuggled out of the ghettos and were hidden from the Nazis in convents, monasteries and boarding schools. Some who could not pass as any other “race” were forced to hide, unable to feel the freedom they once had. The most famous of this kind of child is Anne Frank, who, according to the article “Introduction to the Holocaust,” went into hiding with her family, but were discovered by an anonymous tip from a Dutch caller on August 4, 1944. Anne and her sister were sent to Bergen-Belsen in late October 1944, where they both died of typhus in March 1945, at the age of fifteen (ushmm.org). Those who went into hiding normally survived, but faced challenges when the Holocaust ended. According to Yadvashem.org, “Some were so young when separated from their parents that they forgot their real names and identity” (“Children and the Holocaust”). When the Holocaust ended in 1945, parents began looking for children who they had sent into hiding; however, parents faced many challenges. Their children might have been discovered by German officials, not be with their original protectors, forgotten their identity and not recognize their parents, or have grown attached to their protectors and did not want to leave them. Those who were forced in work camps and had lost their parents faced a deeper concern, attempting to find their family after the tragic events. A famous survivor is Elie Wiesel, who lost his