Before starting this project, I never fully grasped the scale of the genocidal crimes committed by the Nazi party. I knew about the concentration camps and remembered learning about them in my 6th grade French class, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to discover.

A week ago, we were fortunate to have the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor speak to our class. She shared stories about her grandmother, showed photos of documents used during the Holocaust, and provided gruesome facts about the camps. These facts will stay with me for years, not only because of their harshness, but also because of the photos, videos, and testimonies that I later consumed which support them.

One quote from the lecture has stuck with me: “If you had a minute of silence for everyone killed in the Holocaust, you’d be silent for 11.5 years” (Clark). I knew about the number of deaths during the Holocaust, but realizing that a minute of silence for each victim would take almost three times longer than the Holocaust itself is staggering. Even now, I can’t fully grasp the enormity of this fact. This lecture helped me truly understand the scale of the Nazi’s crimes. Witnessing children forced to watch mass shootings, hangings, and people dying of malnutrition every day is unimaginable for the 20th century. The only option for getting rid of lice being kerosene is something I never thought possible in my grandmother’s lifetime. This guest speaker’s real-life connection to the Holocaust and the unique insights she shared resonated with me deeply, providing information I hadn’t encountered in any article, video, or testimony before. The personal touch her information/stories had, made it easy for me to relate to her families passed struggles. Her stories also provoked me think about my family, and what would happen if this were to occur to us. Further solidifying in my head that the horrors of the holocaust should never be repeated. This made me pretty emotional, even to the brink of tears, something no other testimony, photograph, or video has been able to achieve. All of those reasons are why it impacted me so deeply. 

However, as I stated before, many other pieces of literature that I later read would make these stories even more vivid. When the granddaughter of the holocaust survivor told us that her grandma didn’t walk for the first year because of malnutrition, I thought back to the scene in “Band of Brothers” where the Jews were being liberated. Most of them couldn’t walk, and the ones who could were struggling. The stories told by the granddaughter, set off a switch in my mind that all these gruesome photos and videos, are real things that happened to real people. 

This information is significant to me because learning about the atrocities of concentration camps like Auschwitz helps illuminate the darkest chapters of human history. It serves as a reminder of the horrors that arise from anger and hate. By understanding the historical context of antisemitism, we gain a profound appreciation for the progress made in combating discrimination and injustice over the past century. Moreover, learning from the past equips us with the knowledge and empathy needed to prevent such horrific events from recurring, fostering a more inclusive and compassionate society for future generations.