More Than Just History

It is more compelling to learn about the Holocaust through first hand accounts of witness testimonials. To me history books have always been dry and boring, readings about the Holocaust were filled with statistics, dates, and general summaries. Reading about the Holocaust from personal accounts of witnesses gives a whole new perspective. I found myself dawn to the witness testimonials. These first hand accounts are more touching, and they bring about feelings of sorrow and fear, almost as if you yourself are reliving their story.

I looked at numerous accounts of Holocaust victims from http://voices.iit.edu/interview.html by just randomly picking names, and watched a few video testimonial clips at http://college.usc.edu/vhi/otv/otv.php.

Its horrible to see the extent the Germans went to during the Holocaust, and to see the fear they instilled in others. They had so much power that their victims had no choice but to listen. In an account from Julian Weinberg, its clearly obvious the control the Germans had. She tells her story of how the SS would break into apartments, and forcefully take people by any means. After victims learned of the intent of the SS, people would willingly travel to the ghettos, in order to avoid inhuman treatment from the SS.

Julian Weinberg talks of how, when the SS broke into apartments, the sick were automatically killed by the SS. If someone was sick they were not spared. In Erna Anolik video testimonial, says that the sick were thrown into the same ditches as the dead. Its horrible to believe that the SS could just eliminate people so easily. Its horrible to see how cold and militantly brutal they were.

I can go on forever about how horrible and sad the testimonials of victims of the Holocaust are, but why hear it from me when you can hear the first hand accounts of the victims. Their stories are touching on a personal basis, but informative in a educational sort of way. I urge everyone to learn about the Holocaust through video testimonials and interviews from the victims.