Unveiling Past Heroes: The Holocaust

Unveiling Past Heroes The Holocaust is a catastrophic part of human history that revealed many heroes through its destruction. The Holocaust was born through Hitler’s twisted “campaign against the Jews” that started with his rise to chancellor of Germany in January 30,1933. He thought that to protect the supreme Aryan race he would have to get rid of all Jews. By the end of Europe’s war in May 8,1945 approximately six million Jews were killed and five thousand communities destroyed. Hitler distributed propaganda against the Jews to his citizens through his Nazi newspaper. The citizens began to believe what they were told through constant exposure to these malicious newspapers. By September 15,1935 the Nuremberg Laws that separated the Jews …show more content…
Jews did not have the right to vote, to see a doctor, and were denied many jobs. Many Jewish families were able to immigrate to foreign countries but most faced strict quotas. Hence, some families would send their children first. With Hitler’s invasion on Poland, he faced the dilemma of having to deal with more Jewish people the more land he took. At this stage, the idea of mass killings was put to action. Six killing centres were set in Poland by the spring of 1942 named Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzec, Maidanek, Treblinka and Auschwitz. These centres were made near railways to easily transport Jews. However, “the camps were liberated gradually as the Allies advanced on the German army”. The Holocaust is an important part of history as it shows how cruelly Hitler treated the Jews even though they were innocent. Many heroes were revealed …show more content…
She joined Zegota when the Warsaw Ghetto consisting of 500,000 Jews was built in 1942 and the cruelty towards the Jews shook her into taking immediate action. She consistently visited the Ghetto to provide the prisoners with medicine, food and clothing. However, despite her efforts approximately 5,000 Jews still died with each passing month. Irena Sendler then decided that she had to get the children out to safety and provide them with a new life. With the help of her associates from the Social Welfare Department, she forged hundreds of documents to supply the children with new identities and recruited as many foster families as she could. She then continued to smuggle children out of the Warsaw Ghetto through body bags, potato sacks, coffins, and through a Church where the children left as Christians. She organized for the children to arrive at their new home, convent or orphanage. The only record of the children’s real identity was kept in jars under her neighbor 's apple tree. Irena managed to smuggle 2,500 children throughout the years of 1942 and 1943 until she was arrested by Nazis on October 20, 1943. She was brutally tortured but did not give up the identities of those that helped her and of the Jewish children. Thus, she was sentenced to death but was rescued when the Zegota was able to bribe a German in charge to spare Sendler. At the end of the war, Sendler dug up her