Historical Events

"For every dark night, there is a brighter day." This is a quote from a famous rapper, Tupac Shakur. It means that people always have bad days and periods of time. You shouldn’t give up either because there will be a time that is better. That is why you should never give up hope. This quote is a great example of what happened during the Holocaust because millions of Jews were affected by the Holocaust, and lost hope. People like Raoul Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler gave these people hope. The Soviet Union also liberated Auschwitz and nurtured the Jews back to health, showing them a brighter day. However the Holocaust still remains to be one of the most horrific times, people stood out to help each other.

Raoul Wallenberg was a hero to many Jews. A Swedish diplomat turned into a legend to thousands of Jews (History.com). One thing he did to help Jews was make passports. The passports kept them safe. They were like certificates of protection. He also set up safe houses for Jews to live in (History.com). He was saving Jews around Budapest. He did more than just save them. He set up whole soup kitchens for the Jews to get a refreshing meal at. People called him The Angel Of Mercy. He was the master of Bribery and Blackmail on rescue missions (Ushmm.com).

Raoul Wallenberg saved many Jews, in many ways. He even talked to Nazi rulers like Adolf Eichmann (Funtrivia.com). It is believed he saved around 100,000 jews. One way he saved Jews was off boxcars. Wallenberg also took people from death marches and saved them. All of his missions were very organized and thought out. His legacy did not last long, after being sent from the U.S War Refugee or W.R.B in June 1944 he was later killed (Ushmm.com). In 1945 he was captured and exterminated. His death was really secretive because we still have no information about it today. People say he was captured and died in Prison (Auschwitz.dk).

Oskar Schindler was not only smart and clever, but very manipulative. He was determined to save Jews, and played both sides too. He was also German. He was part of the Nazi party(En.Wikipedia.org), but secretly favored the Jews. An example of something he would do is spray Jews with water in the cattle cars, and say he was trying to get them wet. What he was actually doing is giving them water. He did a lot of clever things like that. He tricked the Nazis a lot. He was a well known source for saving Jews and many people depended on him. One thing he would do is Employ them and made them work. Little did they know, he was protected them, not making them work.

Oskar Schindler had a different goal at the beginning of his rescuing's. At first, he was mostly in it for the money. He would take the Jews belongings and sell them on the Black Market (Auschwitz.dk). Over time he had a new mentality, he realized saving Jews was more important than making money. He became more dedicated to his work. He would come up with more ways to help and more efficiently.

People like Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg saved Jews, but the Soviet Union ended the holocaust once and for all. The Soviet Union liberated one of the most popular concentration camps, Auschwitz on January 27th 1945 (Ushmm.org). When they went into the camps, they weren't expecting to see what they saw. They heard that the Soviet Union was coming, they tried to leave no evidence, and made the people go on a death march. People that were to weak to go were left to die and anyone on the march to slow would be killed (Ushm.org).

When the soldiers entered the camp, what they saw was devastating. Around 7000 people were there just left to die. They had about 14000 pounds of hair, because they made all of the Jews shave their heads. Also thousands of male and female clothing along with shoes. They tried to destroy all videos and files they had, because Hitler made them keep the deaths on file for proof. They also tried to destroy the showers that killed many Jews (En.Wikipedia.Org).

In conclusion, the Holocaust was one of the world's scariest times, but people were brave and resisted for the right reasons. One person who helped was Raoul Wallenberg, saving plenty of Jews in many ways. Also, Oskar Schindler was another resistor who bravely saved thousands of Jews. Last, but not least, the Soviet Union put a stop to one of the worlds most popular concentration camps, Auschwitz. American Journalist H.L. Mencken once stated "In war, the heroes always out number the soldiers ten to one." Exactly what people like Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg did to the Nazi soldiers. All in all the holocaust was a nightmare on Earth, but people fought until it was over.

“The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” These extraordinary words spoken by Russian novelist, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was proposing to people that right or wrong can be depicted by a certain person. Therefore, Jewish extermination was a big issue, but for some people it was their man priority to wipe the earth clean of Jews. First, the vicious dictator Adolf Hitler was the cause of Jewish extermination. Secondly, Dr. Josef Mengele was a horrible man who tortured the Jews. Lastly, Reinhard Heydrich was a mass murderer. Through the Holocaust, these were only just three out of thousands of men who wanted the Jews exterminated.

To begin with, Adolf Hitler advertised his hate for the Jews in many ways. Beginning with the end of World War I, Germany was in debt to pay for their actions and money used during the war. However, it was hard for them to make the money. Then Hitler came into power, becoming the voice of the Germans. He was the “solution” for Germany. To continue, Hitler found many ways in making the Germans think the Jews were the enemy. Hitler had thought of the Jews as an internal enemy and that they were the cause of domestic problems in Germany.

Continuing on, Hitler found many ways in persuading the Germans to be on his side. For example, Hitler created a “bible” of the Nazi Party. The “bible” included information about racial myth, anti- Semitism, and much more horrible content. Surprisingly the book sold over 5 million copies and was translated into eleven different languages (Jewish Virtual Library). Hitler found many ways to get the Germans on his side. He is the cause of 6 million Jews’ deaths.

Moving on, Dr. Josef Mengele was an evil doctor who tortured the Jews of Auschwitz. Dr. Mengele was known as the “Angel of Death” and was little known as the “White Angel”. Dr. Josef Mengele joined the Nazi Party in 1937 at the age of 20. He arrived in Auschwitz in 1943 and became the selector. He decided if a Jew was to work at the camp or go straight to the gas chambers. Mengele was a very important person in Auschwitz, he was a SS physician. Through his time in Auschwitz he enjoyed performing genetic experiments on Jews, especially Jewish twins. Sadly, Jewish twins suffered the most at their stay in Auschwitz.

Dr. Mengele experimented on 3,000 children or 1,500 sets of twins (Jewish Virtual Library). He thought twins were the perfect experimental specimens. For instance, one experiment he performed was on their eyes. Mengele would take out dead Jews eyes, and use them in an attempt in trying to find the secret of artificially changing eye color (Ushmm.org). In other words, he would use the eyes and switch them with the twin’s eyes. In addition, a survivor described an experiment, “They would take blood from one arm and they gave us a shot in the other.” (Jewish Virtual Library) Also, if a twin died they would dissect their body for a final medical analysis. Dr. Mengele just found different ways to torture and abuse the Jews. When the Holocaust finally ended, only 200 children survived Mengele’s horrific experiments.

Lastly, Reinhard Heydrich was the man who planned out the deaths of the Jews. Heydrich was known as “the Hangman”. He grew his hatred for the Jews from his family(Jewish Virtual Library). Heydrich grew up to become a very important role in the Nazi Party. Heydrich became Chief of the Security Service of the Reichsfuhrer SS from 1931 until 1942 (Ushmm.org). This was the start of his importance in the Nazi Party. However, Heydrich joined even a larger group; he became Chief of the German Secret State Police. Which was the largest police force in the Reich, it was also known as the Prussian Gestapo. In addition to that, he ordered his killing squads to kill thousands of Jews, Polish leaders, communists, and clergymen (Jewish Virtual Library). Heydrich was the biggest mass murderer of the Nazi Party. By this information, you can tell Heydrich helped the Nazis in planning the deaths of the Jews, but it didn’t stop there.

Reinhard Tristan Heydrich was authorized by Field Marshall Hermann Goering on January 24, 1939 to develop a plan for the final extermination of the Jews; this was known as the “Final Solution” (Jewish Virtual Library). Luckily his plans for the final extermination of Jews were not executed. However, Hitler described him as, “One of the best National Socialists, one of the staunchest defenders of the concept of the German Reich and one of the greatest opponents of all enemies of the Reich.” (Ushmm.org) Heydrich received much honor from the Nazi Party.

\ To sum up, there were many psychotic masterminds throughout the Holocaust. First off, Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party and caused the death of 6 million Jews. Secondly, Dr. Josef Mengele tortured the Jews with his horrendous experiments. Finally, Reinhard Heydrich was the secretary of death. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, all men have their different views on what’s right or wrong, but they Nazi Party chose killing Jews as the right thing. Little did they know, there were also other people who wanted to stop the horrible things they did.