The 27th January is Holocaust Memorial Day when people all over the world remember the millions of people killed under Nazi prosecution. The Holocaust threatened our lives as we know it today and often our world still seems very fragile and vulnerable. The UK is, sadly, full of prejudice and hatred. We think it’s important to reflect on the past and learn from it. Kieran has looked into it for us, read on to find out more.
The Holocaust was an event involving the Nazi Germans and European Jews during WWII this event shocked the world.
Germany’s leader at the time, Adolf Hitler, hated the Jews and so put them in run down parts of the German cities before sending them on to concentration camps to suffer and unfortunately die.
To the Jews’ dismay, the camps were advertised as being a nice place where you would have food and a place to sleep. Most of the Jewish men were kept alive as they were strong and were thought to have been more efficient at performing tasks. The women and children were often told they were going to be taken for a shower but were locked inside a chamber which was pumped with poisonous gas, killing them.
This event took place from 1941-1945 all the while, World War II was taking place.
Another way they would kill the Jews was to sit them on the side of a mass grave and shoot them before pushing them in and burying them.
Once the British and other countries invaded Germany, Adolf killed himself before they could find him (as he knew he would be in very big trouble if he was found). This event spread over 4 years and affected over two-thirds of the population of European-Jewish people.
One famous person who lived during this time was Anne Frank. She wrote a diary which you may have heard of – The Diary of a Young Girl. Her story tells that during the Holocaust she and her family went into hiding for 6 years, they lived in some concealed rooms behind a bookcase in their home. In the end, they were found by the Gestapo and arrested. They were split up and taken to concentration camps and sadly Anne and her sister died but amazingly her dad survived this horrific time. He found her diary and had it published.
If you would like to read her book you can find it in all good bookshops and on Amazon
Kieran
Blog Club is held on a Monday evening and is a group of about 20 pupils from Riverview Junior School who choose their own content and with the help of the teachers, create blog posts for you to read.
