Holocaust Unit Summary Essay, Research Paper
I was mostly affected by this unit because it showed me that in the midst of all
the unkindness of the Nazi party, that there were still some people left who were kind
enough to put their own lives on the line to save someone else’s. I didn’t understand,
until the stories and the movies cleared it up, how the people could not figure out that
there was something wrong when they were being pushed around by the Nazi soldiers.
The Nazis were very unkind to the Jews. In the movies it was very evident. For
instance in “Schindler’s List”, I saw that they would shoot people for no reason at all,
or for putting up the slightest resistance. They also killed the people that were bed
ridden and helpless. They basically treated the Jews like they were dirt and they truly
believed that they were no better.
I saw in this unit that with so much hatred towards the Jews, there were still
some people who would put their life on the line to protect their fellow human beings.
Some examples of this from the unit were the people who hid Anne Frank and her
family, the people who protected the Jews in the secret room in the story “The Secret
Room” . I feel the best example of this kindness was in the movie “Schindler’s List” .
He spent the whole war risking life and limb to protect his workers, and in the process
he spent all of his money.
The people were confused about what was taking place during the war because
they were transported in such large numbers. The movies and short stories showed me
why the people didn’t resist the Nazis. One reason is the obvious fact that the Nazis
had weapons and the Jews didn’t, another was that the Nazis didn’t put up with
anything. If the Jews tried to resist in any way they were shot.
This unit really answered many of the questions I had about the Holocaust. The
other movies, stories, and history books seemed to leave a void, this unit filled that
void with accurate information.