It’s easy to believe fake news so I could see why you would believe the Holocaust never happened. 67% of Americans have come across fake news on social media, and 10% of them knowingly spread fake news. I could see why a person could be misled. The Holocaust is one of the most well documented events in history. The Holocaust was a genocide that lasted from January 30, 1933 to May 8, 1945, consequently it resulted in a numerous amount of deaths. Millions of people were affected by this, families torn apart never to be seen again, years of trauma, long term issues, and Victims endured abuse, malnourishment, and more. Many people get false information and mix-ups about this event by a simple google search, for example it is widely believed that all Nazi’s were monsters however they were taught from very young ages that all of this was fine. In Hitler Youth they produced for Germans who were race-conscious, obedient, and self-sacrificing. When Nazi’s first came into power there were 100,000 German youth ranging from 10-18. In the following years enthusiasm, peer pressure, and coercion led to a significant increase in membership. By 1937 the Hitler Youth grew to 5.4 million and in 1940 it had 7.2 million members. Jewish children were not permitted to join these Youth groups so instead they made their own.
You may ask “How did the Holocaust start” well I’ll break it down to you. The Holocaust had many factors as to why it happened, these reasons built up over the years. Some of these factors were that Germany lost the 1918 “First World War”. Many Germans including Adolf Hitler were humiliated by this loss and it was difficult to process, they often looked for scapegoats to blame.
So now that you have all of this information, It’s hard to deny that the Holocaust never happened. The actual numbers and names of victims are unknown but The Registry of Holocaust Survivors currently contains the names of over 195,000 survivors. More and more survivors come forward on apps like Tiktok, FaceBook, and YouTube. Survivors have come forward reliving what they endured. Rina Revah arrived at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany.when she was four years old with her parents. Her earliest memories of toys, which a normal child should have, were after the war. She said she has never had toys or even dolls. These camps stripped kids of innocence, and she and another girl had to play with mud as entertainment. “One day outside the camp I saw a huge, deep cart with wooden side panels that was being pulled by horses. Underneath, two workers were throwing naked bodies of workers into the cart” she said. “At some point the cart overflowed with the bodies, and an officer with long black boots climbed onto it and started to stomp on the bodies in order to make room for more.” A four year old girl shouldn’t have to see this, no one should. I hope this article helped you understand that the Holocaust is a real historic event, it’s just the facts.
Azariah McGrue – DeLaSalle Institute – DMSF Class of 2027