Blog Post #4- Taryn

After reading Night, going to the museum, and reading other documents, I really took away the vastness of the Holocaust, as well as how it still affects people today. Before doing our study on the Holocaust, I knew that millions died in concentration camps and that the Nazis had stereotypes against Jews and the disabled, but I never fully understood the lengths to which they went to annihilate entire groups and religions of people. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum had a display on Operation T-4, which was a secret plan run by the Nazis to have doctors kill their patients if they were “unworthy of life.” The Nazis killed over 200,000 mentally and physically disabled children, which is roughly about the population of modern-day Samoa. In Night, Elie pondered, “Could he exterminate a population scattered throughout so many countries? So many millions! (8)” This really opened my eyes to the vastness of Hitler’s goal, and how much effect it would have, even today. Someone who was killed could have had a granddaughter who solved the trash problem, or how to minimize the world’s carbon footprint. There was so much loss in the Holocaust and all genocides in history and this unit have taught me the scale in which the loss and grief were felt around the whole world. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum opened in 1993, which is recent enough that my parents were in college. That seems crazy, that even 75 years later, people are still alive who went through this, but it is also nice to know that we will never forget, as Elie Wiesel wanted us to. Three million people survived the Holocaust, and there is still a good number around, but the remaining survivors are quickly dying off. So, studying the Holocaust gave me an incentive to keep the legacy alive when true survivors can’t. Germany is still scorned for killing millions of people, and people lost so many loved ones to what Germany and other parties that committed genocide did. In conclusion, this unit for me was very eye-opening into the horrors, but also triumphs of the Holocaust, and its range over decades of pain.

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 1, 2019 at 9:45 AM

    Taryn,
    I can relate to many of the feelings and thoughts you speak of experiencing here. I think it was very brave of you to share such deep thoughts and emotions with the class, I know that would have been difficult for me. I didn't see the Operation T-4 display in the museum. Thank you for talking about it in your post.

    Mary Adams

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