1207am+Holocaust+Essay

Arianna Mavrostomos 4/22/14 p1/2 __Holocaust Essay__

A Life in the Shadows

The Holocaust was a time in history that will never be forgotten. This was when the Nazis took Jews to camps and killed 11 million people, including many non-Jewish victims. It was a time of horror, and sadness, that people should know what happened. Some parents and teachers feel that sixth graders are too young to learn about the Holocaust, but I disagree. I believe that sixth graders should learn about the Holocaust.

Sixth graders should learn about the Holocaust so they can help prevent something like that from happening again in the future. Sadly, genocides are still happening in other places such as Syria, Africa, Kurds, Rwandan, and Bosnain. My mom believes that “It was a very important time in history, and we keep making the same mistakes over and over again.” Some people may think that only Jews were killed during the Holocaust, but actually 6 million Jews were killed, 3 million Polish Jews, and the other 3 million were Polish citizens. As you can see, many adults believe that only Jews were killed in the Holocaust, but actually, many other people were killed as well.

Its sad to know that kids our age suffered through this, but many didn’t survive. Some people may think that the Nazis were easier on the kids, but if anything, it was harder for children because they had to hide. In the Devils Arithmetic, it states that “ Children came scrambling from everywhere, racing toward the midden heap behind the barracks.” Many of them lived through the Holocaust by luck, and its a miracle that people survived. “ I saw human beings, human beings, that have been beaten, tortured, and denied anything that would make life liveable.” A quote by Leon Bass. That means that people have been mentally and physically hurt during the Holocaust. Think about it. If you were a kid during the time of the Holocaust, would you go in a garbage dump and live, or be clean and die?

We need to remember the Holocaust and the ones who died, and respect those who survived. Because it was such a horrible time, many people pretend like it never happened. Others, take for granted the survivors. Out of the 11 million people who died, 1.5 million of them were kids. Even though some people survived, a lot of people feel ashamed because they lived and so many others people massed away. If you were a survivor, how would you feel?

Even though some people believe that the Holocaust is to inappropriate, harsh, or gruesome for sixth graders to learn about, kids our age were more mature than you think. Some kids might find it scary to know that this happened, and don’t want to learn about it, but others are mature enough to handle the events of the Holocaust. Do you really think that the Jews are so “ Bad” that they have to be eliminated? I don’t. What if you were a Jew in the time of the Holocaust. What would you do? I believe that sixth graders should learn about the Holocaust.

**Return to My Index**

Return to Home Page