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Essays on Holocaust

Hook examples for holocaust essays, the unimaginable horror hook.

Begin your essay by vividly describing the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust, such as concentration camps, mass extermination, and the human suffering that occurred during this dark period in history. Use powerful and descriptive language to evoke emotions in your readers.

The Survivor's Testimony Hook

Share a compelling personal testimony of a Holocaust survivor. Use direct quotes or excerpts from survivors' accounts to provide firsthand insights into the experiences and resilience of those who lived through the Holocaust.

The Nuremberg Trials and Justice Hook

Discuss the Nuremberg Trials and the pursuit of justice for the perpetrators of the Holocaust. Highlight the importance of holding individuals accountable for their actions and the establishment of principles for international law.

The Heroes of the Holocaust Hook

Introduce the stories of individuals who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, such as Oskar Schindler or Raoul Wallenberg. Emphasize acts of bravery and compassion in the face of extreme adversity.

The Lessons of History Hook

Reflect on the broader lessons and moral implications of the Holocaust. Discuss the importance of remembering and learning from this tragic event to prevent future genocides and promote tolerance and understanding.

The Art and Literature of Survival Hook

Showcase how Holocaust survivors used art, literature, and other forms of expression to cope with their trauma and convey their experiences. Explore the therapeutic and documentary aspects of creative works produced during and after the Holocaust.

The Holocaust in Contemporary Context Hook

Connect the Holocaust to current events, discussing instances of hate crimes, discrimination, and genocide in the modern world. Highlight the importance of remembrance and education to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities.

The Resilience and Hope Hook

Share stories of resilience and hope within the Holocaust, such as clandestine education in concentration camps or acts of solidarity among prisoners. Explore the indomitable human spirit that emerged even in the darkest times.

The Forgotten Victims Hook

Draw attention to less-discussed aspects of the Holocaust, such as the experiences of Romani people, disabled individuals, or political dissidents who also suffered persecution. Shed light on the diversity of victims and their stories.

The Role of Witnesses and Documentation Hook

Discuss the significance of witnesses, both survivors and liberators, who documented the Holocaust through photographs, diaries, and testimonies. Emphasize the importance of preserving and sharing these historical records.

Blind Obedience in The Holocaust

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Why People Should Still Be Educated About The Holocaust

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Impact of The Holocaust on Jewish Peoples in Europe and Israel

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The Reasons We Should not Forget The Holocaust

Irena sendler - a person who saved hundreds of lifes during holocaust, homosexuality and the holocaust, the physical and mental impact of holocaust on its victims, the influence of jewish music on the holocaust, the holocaust: historical anti-semitism, the possibility of the holocaust to have been avoided, "after i no longer speak"; a message on the impact of the holocaust in "shooting stars", the boy in the striped pajamas - the holocaust drama, understanding the holocaust through "schindler's list", a nazi’s metamorphosis in maxine kumin’s poem "woodchucks", experiences of the survivors in night by elie wiesel and maus by art spiegelman, the use of visual narrative and formal structure in maus: a survivors tale by art spiegelman, analysis of author’s struggles in night by elie wiesel, holocaust through the eyes of a child in the boy in the striped pajamas, the holocaust: chronicle of murders, analysis of artie's impressions of the holocaust in maus, time of savagery: churchill's speech, diary of anne frank and history of shmuel and bruno, the holocaust: pumping the un government, bassani’s the garden of the finzi-continis: how glass captures and protects the beauty of the past.

1933 - 1945

German Reich and German-occupied Europe

The Holocaust was a genocidal event that took place during World War II, orchestrated by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime in Germany. It was a systematic and state-sponsored persecution and mass murder of approximately six million Jews, along with millions of other victims, including Romani people, disabled individuals, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, and others deemed "undesirable" by the Nazis. The Holocaust was marked by horrific atrocities, including the establishment of concentration camps, mass shootings, forced labor, and the implementation of gas chambers in extermination camps. It was an unparalleled act of inhumanity and racial hatred, driven by the Nazis' ideology of racial superiority and the desire to create a homogeneous "Aryan" society.

One such figure is Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl whose diary provided a poignant firsthand account of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. Her diary, discovered after her death in a concentration camp, has become an iconic symbol of hope and resilience. Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist, is another notable person associated with the Holocaust. Through his efforts, Schindler saved the lives of over 1,000 Jewish people by employing them in his factories and ensuring their protection. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, dedicated his life to bearing witness to the Holocaust and promoting Holocaust education and remembrance. His powerful memoir, "Night," chronicles his experiences in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, is remembered for his courageous actions in saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews by issuing protective passports and providing safe houses.

The historical context of the Holocaust can be traced back to the rise of Nazi ideology and its virulent antisemitism. Hitler's regime implemented a series of discriminatory laws known as the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped Jews of their rights and subjected them to persecution. This was followed by the establishment of concentration camps and the implementation of the "Final Solution" – a plan to exterminate all Jews within Nazi-controlled territories. The Holocaust occurred within the broader context of World War II, as Nazi Germany sought to expand its territories and exert dominance over Europe. The war provided a cover for the implementation of mass murder and allowed the Nazis to carry out their genocidal agenda with relative impunity.

The Holocaust has had a profound impact on international law and the concept of human rights. The Nuremberg Trials, held after World War II, established the precedent for prosecuting individuals for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, was a direct response to the atrocities of the Holocaust, emphasizing the inherent dignity and rights of all individuals. The Holocaust also serves as a reminder of the dangers of prejudice and discrimination. It has prompted ongoing efforts to combat antisemitism, racism, and bigotry in all forms. The Holocaust education and memorialization have become vital tools in raising awareness and fostering tolerance, ensuring that the lessons of the past are not forgotten. Furthermore, the Holocaust has inspired countless works of literature, art, and film, which bear witness to the horrors experienced by its victims. These creative expressions serve as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of remembering the past to prevent similar atrocities in the future.

Public opinion on the Holocaust varies, but it is generally characterized by shock, horror, and condemnation. The Holocaust is widely regarded as one of the most egregious crimes against humanity in history, and the vast majority of people view it with deep sorrow and sympathy for the victims. Public opinion acknowledges the gravity of the Holocaust and recognizes its impact on the world. The overwhelming sentiment is one of condemnation towards the Nazi regime and the individuals who perpetrated these heinous acts. People express profound empathy for the millions of innocent lives lost and the immense suffering endured by survivors. Moreover, public opinion acknowledges the importance of remembering the Holocaust as a means of honoring the victims and preventing future atrocities. Holocaust education and commemorative events have garnered significant support, with many recognizing the need to preserve the memory of the Holocaust as a stark reminder of the consequences of hatred and prejudice.

Film: Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" (1993) is a critically acclaimed movie based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of over a thousand Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. The film vividly portrays the atrocities and human suffering while highlighting acts of bravery and compassion. Literature: Elie Wiesel's memoir "Night" (1956) provides a firsthand account of his experiences as a Holocaust survivor. It is a powerful and haunting narrative that has become a significant literary work, capturing the physical and emotional hardships endured by those subjected to Nazi persecution. Art: The artwork of Holocaust survivor and painter Samuel Bak often explores the themes of loss, resilience, and memory. His paintings depict scenes from his own experiences as a child during the Holocaust, offering a deeply personal and introspective perspective on the tragedy.

1. The Holocaust witnessed the systematic annihilation of six million Jewish individuals at the hands of the Nazis. This accounts for approximately two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe at that time. 2. The Holocaust took place between 1941 and 1945 during World War II, primarily in German-occupied territories. It involved the mass extermination of Jews, as well as other groups such as Romani people, Poles, disabled individuals, and political dissidents. 3. Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest concentration and extermination camp, was responsible for the deaths of over one million people. Other notorious camps include Treblinka, Sobibor, and Dachau. 4. The Nuremberg Laws, implemented in 1935, stripped Jews of their citizenship, rights, and protections. These laws laid the foundation for the persecution and eventual mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust. 5. Rescuers, such as Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg, risked their lives to save Jews from persecution. Their heroic actions demonstrated courage and compassion in the face of immense danger.

The topic of the Holocaust is of utmost importance to write an essay about due to its profound historical significance and the lessons it teaches us about humanity. By exploring the Holocaust, we delve into one of the darkest periods in human history, where millions of innocent lives were brutally extinguished. Writing an essay about the Holocaust allows us to honor and remember the victims, ensuring that their stories are never forgotten. It serves as a powerful reminder of the consequences of unchecked hatred, discrimination, and prejudice. Through examining the causes, events, and aftermath of the Holocaust, we gain a deeper understanding of the depths of human cruelty and the dangers of ideological extremism. Moreover, studying the Holocaust prompts critical reflection on the importance of promoting tolerance, empathy, and respect for human rights. It compels us to confront the potential for evil within society and to actively work towards creating a world that rejects bigotry and embraces diversity. By writing an essay on the Holocaust, we contribute to the preservation of historical memory, promote empathy and understanding, and strive to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated. It is a testament to our commitment to learning from the past and building a more compassionate and just future.

1. Browning, C. R. (1992). Ordinary men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the final solution in Poland. Harper Perennial. 2. Dawidowicz, L. S. (1981). The war against the Jews, 1933-1945. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. 3. Evans, R. J. (2008). The Third Reich at war: How the Nazis led Germany from conquest to disaster. Penguin. 4. Gilbert, M. (1985). The Holocaust: A history of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War. Henry Holt and Company. 5. Kershaw, I. (2000). Hitler: 1936-1945: Nemesis. W. W. Norton & Company. 6. LaCapra, D. (2004). History, memory, and representation: An essay in cognitive historiography. Cornell University Press. 7. Levi, P. (1986). Survival in Auschwitz. Touchstone. 8. Snyder, T. (2010). Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. Basic Books. 9. Wiesel, E. (2006). Night. Hill and Wang. 10. Yahil, L. (1991). The Holocaust: The fate of European Jewry, 1932-1945. Oxford University Press.

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good hook for essay about holocaust

Holocaust - Free Essay Samples And Topic Ideas

The Holocaust, a grotesque period in history, entailed the systematic genocide of six million Jews by the Nazi regime during World War II. Essays could delve into the historical antecedents, ideological underpinnings, and the chilling bureaucratic mechanisms employed to perpetrate this mass extermination. The discourse might extend to the exploration of the global response, or lack thereof, discussing the roles of various nations and international organizations during and after the Holocaust. Discussions could also focus on the enduring legacy of the Holocaust, exploring its impact on subsequent human rights movements, international law, and the collective memory of humanity. Moreover, a comprehensive analysis could include a discussion on Holocaust denial, the importance of Holocaust education, and the ongoing efforts to commemorate the victims and ensure such atrocities are never repeated. Reflecting on the Holocaust and its myriad implications can engender a deeper understanding of the human capacity for both evil and resilience, fostering a commitment to justice, tolerance, and humanitarian values. A vast selection of complimentary essay illustrations pertaining to Holocaust you can find in Papersowl database. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Cause of the Holocaust

The Holocaust took millions of lives, people of all ages. This catastrophe is still impacting people 75 years later. In this, Jews and others were snatched out of their homes and told to bring valuables, thinking they were going to a delightful place. Instead, they would line up and a Nazi would point left or right. If pointed to the right, then they were spared and transmitted to concentration camps. If pointed to the left you were transported to gas […]

Is Holocaust Denial Real?

The Holocaust was the killing and persecution of over six million Jews and other groups such as the disabled, Gypsies, Slavics, homosexuals, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The Holocaust was performed and executed by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s. Although there is overwhelming evidence of the existence of the Holocaust, people still deny that the Holocaust was real and wrong. In fact, only one-third of the world believes the entirety of the Holocaust (Stuart, 1). There are 3 main reasons […]

Deliberate and Systematic Destruction of a Racial, Political, or Cultural Group

This genocide that is going to be discussed was state-sponsored and became known as one of the world's most notorious times to be alive. The official definition of a holocaust is a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life (Merriam-Webster, Holocaust ). When it pertains to the Holocaust, almost everyone knows what it is. It was the mass killing of almost six million Jewish, Slavic, and mentally disabled people by Nazi Germany during World War II. Nazis had the hope […]

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Why did the Holocaust Happen?

Today, the problem of studying the Holocaust is the problem of the recognition of its uniqueness as a historical phenomenon of a universal scale. Before World War II, all conflicts in the history of genocide were based on religious conflicts: mass extermination of people took place on religious grounds. In the twentieth century, religious motives ceased to play a decisive role in determining the group identity of people. The Holocaust was one of the acts of mass destruction of people […]

The Holocaust is One of the Worst Events in Human History

The Holocaust is one of the most horrific events to occur in the twentieth century, it lasted from 1933 to 1945. For years the question that still remains is was this final solution an intentional plan created by Hitler, made ahead of time or was it a last minute decision based off of the circumstances surrounding Germany? These two groups have been in disagreement for years attempting to find the answer when the truth is, there is no real answer. […]

Genocide: the Nazis’ Original Plan

The Holocaust, which took place during 1933-1945, was a devastating period of time when the German Nazi's planned to mass murder European Jews. The literal term 'Holocaust' originates from the Hebrew Bible's term olah meaning a sacrifice that is offered up. This was a frightening time for everyone, Jewish and non-Jewish. Approximately six million people were killed as a result of the Holocaust (Roth). Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany at the time, hated Jews and blamed them for all […]

The Holocaust and Human Nature

There are less than eighty Holocaust survivors today. As they pass away we need to tell their stories so we know the truth. We want to remember them and never forget what they did. Throughout this paper, we will examine the rise, fall and the impact of the Holocaust. We want to be thankful that there some survivors to bring us there stories so we can prevent this event from happening again. Let's not have this event happen again. The […]

Lord of the Flies & WWII/Holocaust Connections

The fear and darkness of the time period had spread to all living souls in surrounding of the terror. William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, takes place around 1950 during one of the evilous events in human history. The Holocaust was a horrible act of exterminating humans for not being the way Hitler, in his mind, pictured for the human race. Lord of the Flies is a novel that has symbols with hidden meanings that historically relate to The […]

World War Ll in History

Over 6 million jews died all in one period of time. All those people died in the holocaust because of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi group. The Holocaust changed the world forever, and is something we will never forget. Jews and many others had to experience harsh conditions, and the Holocaust made such a huge impact on our world. On the evening of April 20, 1889, at an inn called the Gasthof Zum Pommer in the village of Braunau Am […]

Genocide in Germany the Holocaust

Genocide is by definition the intentional, methodical, and targeted destruction of a particular ethnic, religious, or racial group. The term genocide is derived from the Greek prefix genos, which translates to race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning killing. The Holocaust, also known as Shoah, is the most notable and deadliest instance of genocide in the world. The Holocaust began in Germany in the 1930s and expanded to Nazi occupied Germany, until the last liberation of death camps […]

Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust

Introduction Have you ever visited the holocaust museum? Located in Washington D.C., it is a place were we honor the people who died in the Final Solution . The Final Solution was a plan made by adolf hitler to kill off the jews. German authorities persecuted other groups on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds. Among them were Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals. I wonder what the reality was in that time and place. Adolf hitler The one who started […]

The Mass Murder of Six Million Jews

By May 8, 1945, the world lost around eleven million humans consisting of men, women, and children. The years of 1933 to 1945 were known as the Holocaust. If you don't know already, the Holocaust was the mass murder of six million Jews, along with millions of others. It was lead by a blood-thirsty leader known as Adolf Hitler. Who was Adolf Hitler? What was the Holocaust? Who were the victims during the Holocaust? With the masterminds and an army […]

Holocaust Denial and Distortion

The Holocaust has been taught in schools all over the world. I can distinctly remember learning about a horrible genocide that took place during World War II, and it immediately sparked my interest to dig deeper on the subject. There are groups of people out there who do not believe the Holocaust ever occurred, and they are known as Holocaust Deniers. I have read books and articles of those who have been through it all; the selection process, the starvation, […]

The Theme of the Holocaust and the Responsibility

When we see an image in black and white, we tend to believe that such an event only occurred in a history textbook years ago. We think of wars, death, power, the absence of life, and aggression. An image in black and white can create a nostalgic mood or a hopeless feeling like the Holocaust picture presented below. The image background, a grassland, looks dead and dull, no life being born out of it and a gray sky portraying an […]

Why should we Never Forget the Holocaust

I think that it is important to learn about the holocaust and what had happened during it. From the beginning of the holocaust when it all started, 1933, when hitler became power over germany, none of it was right or acceptable. Learning about the holocaust is something that everyone in the world should know about. Knowing what happened should be enough to make sure that this action never takes place again because of how brutal and harsh it was. Humans […]

Holocaust – Jewish Resistance

It is not wrong to say that the Holocaust is the center of Israeli psychology. Unlike most other historical events whose influence is gradually blurred, the impact of the Holocaust on Israeli society has actually increased over time. This process is very complex and difficult to describe in a few pages. However, understanding its dynamics is important in studying about Israeli culture. The Holocaust is also known as the name Shoal, was the greatest tragedy of the Jewish people in […]

Adolf Hitler Ended Germany’s Democracy

Adolf Hitler ended Germany's democracy and doomed six million Jews. To this day, Hitler is one of the cruelest people the world has ever seen because of his persecution of not only Jews but of 11 million people. After reading the book Night and completing my research on the topic of Adolf Hitler Birth - 1933, I have learned so much about the dark period known as the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler was reportedly distant and sometimes depressed as a child […]

The Holocaust’s Bureaucracy of Genocide

The intent of this study was to select and analyze a global event. The event chosen to be analyzed was the Holocaust. The Holocaust occurred in Germany beginning in the 1930s and then expanded to all areas of Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. The event was a genocide in which Nazi Germany murdered about six million European Jews; they also murdered other groups, which resulted in up to seventeen million deaths overall. Germany's persecution of these groups was implemented […]

The Holocaust in Two Parts

The beginning of the Holocaust started when WWI ended. Germany lost the war, and Adolf Hitler got furious at Jews, homosexuals, and religious groups like Gypsies, and also, there was a bit of an economic crisis, so he needed to go Thanos and wipe out pretty much half of all Jews, homosexuals, and persecuted religious groups. But before he could do that, he needed to rise to power. HITLER'S RISE TO POWER The roots of Hitler's particularly virulent brand of […]

Effects of the Holocaust

Even though the Holocaust ended over seventy years ago, it still impacts our society today. As time progresses, more effects of this event are being discovered. The holocaust is a traumatic event that will forever affect the mental health of its victims, as well as their families and our society. The Holocaust has had a lasting effect on its survivors, especially concerning their mental health. Victims of the holocaust have been found to have psychological trauma, along with PTSD. Living […]

The Root of the Holocaust: Darfur

Upon different generations we have seen numerous genocides occur in all areas around the world. One of the most famous genocides was the Holocaust. Though the Holocaust was made aware to the public and caught the eye of people all over the globe, it still fell through the cracks for many years just like a lot of other genocides. Most of the time, genocides are started in silence because the people who are being targeted are kept quiet such as […]

My Hero is Wilhelm Hosenfeld

During the gruesome and horrid years of the holocaust many villains were highlighted, but many heroes remained unseen and were overshadowed by the awful wrath of the Nazis. One of these heroic figures was Wilhelm (Welm) Hosenfeld. He served as a German Captain but quickly changed to a anti-nazi. He did not only become against the Nazis, he started to save Jewish people and sacrificing his life. Learning about Hosenfeld is relevant because we can reflect to these figures to […]

The U.S. Government’s Disregard of the Jewish Holocaust

In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler rose to power and lead the Nazi party to discriminate and murder people of the Jewish race. In the span of four years, millions of innocent civilians were killed. During that time, citizens of the United States had at most their condolences to offer, and the government did almost nothing until the U.S. was directly attacked. Most of the population expressed extreme anti-Semitism toward Jewish people. If they had not been so hesitant to aid […]

Genocide in Germany: the Holocaust

There is much speculation as to why Adolf Hitler may have hated Jewish people so fervently. Some historians suspect that it could be related to his heritage; Hitler's father Alois was born out of wedlock, and there were rumors that he might have been of Jewish descent. Adolf did not have a healthy relationship with his father, leading some to believe that this is a possible explanation for his contempt. Another possible case for Hitler's disgust for Jewish people could […]

Gender and Sexuality: a Historiography and Analysis of the Holocaust

The Holocaust: a genocide in which Nazi Germany, aided by local collaborators, systematically murdered millions of people between 1941 and 1945; an event made possible through meticulous planning and manipulation across multiple dimensions. In an attempt for ultimate control, Hitler preyed upon the vulnerabilities of pre-existing stereotypes and stigmas surrounding gender and sexuality and manipulated his followers in accepting these ideologies. In fact, is arguable that everyone involved within the Holocaust (men, women, children, homosexuals, Jews, those of minority ethnicity, […]

Adolf Hitler and Responsibility for the Holocaust

Adolf Hitler became leader of Germany in 1933. Adolf was a soldier for Germany in the first world war. Germany lost the war due to betrayal from within. Socialists, communists, and particularly Jews were blamed. Hitler joined a new extreme right wing party, The National Socialists German workers Party. He would inspire people with his speeches. On April 1st, 1933 the Nazi party began their plan to remove Jews from society by announcing a boycott against all Jewish-owned businesses. Laws […]

Elie Wiesel and his Father in Night – the Impact of War on Relationships

Elie Wiesel and His Father: A Bond Amidst Atrocities In the Holocaust, 6 million European Jews were murdered because of their race to German. Hitler treated the Jews harshly because the Jews were accused of their racial character. The group of Jews who are homosexuals and gypsies was persecuted. According to the memoir “Night,” written by Elie Wiesel, Jews were sent to concentration camps in wagons with less oxygen and leftover food. Elie bore witness to Holocaust. He witnessed the […]

Jehovah Witnesses during the Holocaust

Jehovah witnesses were one of the groups targeted by Nazi Germany for elimination on religious ground. During the rise of the Nazi, the group had a small but active following in Germany. The problem with the group, as far as Nazis were concerned, is that they were against fighting into the army purposes of waging war. Therefore, their religious teachings were against the Nazi Germany goal of world domination through war and a new beginning of the German nation. The […]

Psychological Pain and Victims of Holocaust

The physical suffering that was experienced by Jewish victims of the Holocaust, through the Nazi's regime of systematic annihilation, is widely known. However, the impact of this trauma was not just at the physical level. The violent and devastating realities of the Holocaust inherently created an intense strain on Jewish religious and spiritual identity. Through the analysis of three primary sources, a memoir, a sermon, and a prayer, I will demonstrate how this strain lead to a variety of theological […]

The Holocaust – Failure of Humanity

The holocaust is not only a tragedy of the Jewish people, it is a failure of humanity as a whole -Moshe Katsav. The holocaust was started by the Germans. Their leader and the person who caused the holocaust to start was named Adolf Hitler. He was wrong for what he did to the Jews and it was inhuman. The human race as a whole failed because we could have done something to stop the holocaust or prevent it from getting […]

Deaths :Around 6 million Jews
Start date :1941
Motive :Antisemitism, racism
Location :Nazi Germany, German-occupied Europe

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How To Write An Essay On The Holocaust

Introduction to writing about the holocaust.

When undertaking the task of writing an essay on the Holocaust, it's crucial to approach the subject with a deep sense of respect and historical responsibility. The Holocaust, one of the darkest periods in human history, saw the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. In your introduction, establish the context of the Holocaust, providing a brief historical background. It's important to acknowledge the sensitivity of the topic and set a tone that is both informative and reflective. Your thesis should clearly state the specific focus of your essay, whether it’s an analysis of the events, an exploration of the consequences, or a discussion of the lessons learned.

Exploring the Historical Context and Events

The main body of your essay should delve into the specific aspects of the Holocaust you wish to explore. If focusing on the historical context, discuss the political and social climate that led to the rise of Nazism in Germany. For essays examining the events of the Holocaust, detail the implementation of the Final Solution, the establishment of ghettos, and the operation of concentration and extermination camps. Use credible sources to support your analysis and include personal accounts where possible to provide a more vivid and human perspective on the atrocities. It’s crucial to handle these details with care, avoiding sensationalism and focusing on factual, respectful representation.

Addressing the Impact and Aftermath

In addition to exploring the events themselves, your essay should consider the impact and aftermath of the Holocaust. Discuss the profound effects on survivors, including the psychological trauma and the loss of entire communities. Explore the subsequent Nuremberg Trials and the establishment of international laws against genocide as a direct response to the Holocaust. Reflect on the global implications of the Holocaust on future generations and its role in shaping contemporary discussions on human rights, racism, and anti-Semitism. This part of your essay should underscore the far-reaching consequences of the Holocaust, both for those directly affected and for the world at large.

Concluding with Reflection and Responsibility

Conclude your essay by summarizing the key points of your analysis and reflecting on the broader significance of understanding the Holocaust. Emphasize the importance of remembering and learning from this tragic event to prevent similar atrocities in the future. Your conclusion should also address the responsibility of individuals and societies to combat hatred, intolerance, and discrimination. A well-crafted conclusion will not only bring closure to your essay but will also inspire a sense of moral responsibility and the need for continued vigilance in protecting human dignity and rights.

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good hook for essay about holocaust

How to Write about the Holocaust

good hook for essay about holocaust

No. 410: Saturday, June 25th, 2011

As in many other things, not being an “authority” on the Holocaust makes it easier for me to formulate some basic ideas about it than for those whose lives and careers are directly dependent on it. I recently read Alvin Rosenfeld’s The End of the Holocaust (Indiana UP 2011), which is mostly devoted to noting the failures of Western culture’s memory of the Holocaust. While I sympathize with most of the views the author expresses, and certainly share his concluding apprehension concerning those in Iran and elsewhere who are happily dreaming of annihilating Israel in a “second Holocaust,” I would like to suggest a different, less polemical perspective on the subject.

The Holocaust provides an extreme version of the paradoxes that arise whenever we attempt to react as individuals to any real-world event. To simply take the event as a given is to abdicate our human responsibility to assign meaning, yet to insist on finding for it a “personal” meaning is to make our own judgment the measure of social value. The Holocaust poses this paradox in a maximally urgent manner because while it presents a spectacle so morally repugnant that we feel obliged to invent a personal way of “testifying” to it, it is a thing of the past that all our acts of repentance and charity cannot redeem. Hence it arouses reactions of denial, minimization, focusing on minor “positive” elements, de-Judaizing, attacks on the “Holocaust industry,” etc., as ways of reducing it to more tolerable dimensions; and at the other extreme, it inspires the suicide of survivors who cannot bear the guilt of having been “chosen” over so many others, coupled with the sense of irredeemable violation that suggests one no longer deserves to live.

But the intensity and frequent moral inadequacy of these responses testifies to the fact that the Holocaust’s historical impact goes well beyond the realm of direct reactions and their exploitation in rhetoric and imagery. To take a controversial example, when “happy” stories of the Holocaust such as Schindler’s List are accused of emphasizing cases that are in fact statistically trivial, I think a point missed is that the “happy ending” reflects not in fact the story of the Holocaust itself but of what is hoped to be its place in history—as the source of a new sensitivity to oppression, including but not limited to the Jewish resolve that has sustained Israel. For the justification for Schindler’s List as “the story of the Holocaust” includes as well the postwar liberation of the European colonies and the Blacks in the American South. Here and in general, I find it more useful to judge such works in their overall historical context rather than as attempted revisions, or re-visions, of the Holocaust. For the real story of the Holocaust cannot be made into a meaningful fiction, since the vast majority of its characters, those whom we desperately wish to memorialize, were not actors at all, only victims.

My thesis has long been that reaction to the Holocaust lies at the origin of the whole victimary trend of modern thought, in both what I consider its praiseworthy accomplishments and those I admire less—although like nearly all political actions ( except those that can be defined in terms of the Nazi-Jew paradigm of the Holocaust, which is why this very designation is, unsurprisingly, paradoxical) these are subject to the Hayekian principle that the “market” is smarter than its participants, so that a policy that may strike me as unjustified may in fact turn out to have a salutary effect on, say, the achievement of racial equality.

On the level at which this thesis is situated, specific reactions to the Holocaust as a historical event are no longer at issue; the question becomes how to understand the overall movement of thought that we claim this event brought about. To answer those who contest this claim, we must define victimary thinking and show how its categories can be conceived as reactions to the Holocaust. The point of such a discussion is not to prove that those who have made use of victimary categories in political and social thought “had the Holocaust in mind,” nor is it useful to argue with someone who denies either the Holocaust’s reality or its significance. The burden would rather be on such a person to provide an equally coherent alternative model, and only at this point would argument become productive.

But in fact the very notion of victimary thinking has no equivalent in everyday discourse, and not surprisingly there really are no other universal explanatory models. Most intellectuals reject the very idea of “victimary thought” and see themselves rather as defending the oppressed against their oppressors. In contrast, those who accept the idea of the victimary and who are generally critical of the phenomenon it designates are not wont to seek justifications for it in history.

Victimary thinking may be defined without circularly referring to the Holocaust. It is the way of thinking for which any difference between ascriptive or “objective” groups that can be understood as imputing values of superiority and inferiority is absolutely condemned as immoral and inhuman. In this context “ascriptive” may be taken broadly to include sexual orientation and religion as well as the usual categories of race, gender, nationality, social class, etc.

Let me now outline, as I have done in a number of Chronicles (e.g., 90 , 287 , 337 , 380 , 385 ,  392 , 399 …) a skeleton history of postwar victimary thinking. In the first phase, which in the United States was the era of “Civil Rights,” the form of victimization that was condemned was de jure inequality, whose obvious parallel with the Nazi-Jew relationship was rarely stated and, I imagine, seldom thought. The point is not that the living memory of the Holocaust was instrumental in creating a sense of repugnance, but that the Holocaust was experienced historically as a demonstration of the evil of differential relationships on racial lines. No doubt the Holocaust itself took place at a moment of history in which a certain (notably anti-colonial) struggle had already begun and must be understood in part as a reaction to it, as a strong assertion of the validity of “racial superiority” at a moment when this notion, so unproblematic in the previous century, had begun to come under fire. But in the next turn of the dialectic, the horror of Nazism itself, even independently of the still little-mentioned specifics of the Final Solution, was sufficient to fuel what turned out to be successful struggles for racial equality and colonial liberation. This phase of history, whose last triumph was the demise of apartheid in South Africa in 1990-91, is to the extent that historical developments may be so considered, relatively unproblematic; today only a tiny fringe would find acceptable, let alone prefer, the racial/colonial hierarchies of an earlier era.

The “Jewish question” was relatively absent from the vision of Nazism that provided the impetus for these developments, which focused less on the six million than on the general horror of Nazi racism and tyranny. In this period the Jews, rather than insisting on their role as victims, tended rather to be ashamed of it; the question commonly asked of survivors was, “why didn’t you/they fight back?”

It was only in the second, mature phase of postmodernism that victimary thinking fully came into its own. At much the same time, the idea of “the Holocaust” acquired currency, along with the now-familiar images of piles of bodies and suitcases, emaciated prisoners, the Warsaw Ghetto in flames, “selection” on the Auschwitz ramp… as well as the iconic and much-abused figure of Anne Frank, to whom Rosenfeld devotes two full chapters of his book. In this second phase of victimary thinking, those who claimed to be or defend victims learned a new rhetoric of results . It was not enough to demand equal rights; to obtain full equality one had to be compensated for past ills, to be granted a “level playing field.” Victimary thinking has operated ever since with this expanded model, with which is associated a deconstructive theory of history. In this perspective, giving Blacks or women equal rights today cannot suffice to reverse not so much the direct results of past discrimination as the mind-set, indeed, the shared ontology of a world that affirms racial and gender superiority/inferiority. Although the domination of many areas of the university system, corporate hiring, etc., by such considerations has provided victimary groups with considerable financial and other advantages, victims are not expected to be satisfied simply to have acquired “rights” and advantages in the present. On the contrary, they are called as witnesses to the applicability of the Nazi-Jew model to human society in general. For from the beginning, the ethical and intellectual values of these societies have been complicit in the oppression of peripheral victims for the benefit of central authority.

The power of the Holocaust model is simple and absolute. If one wishes to claim, for example, that certain social roles are better fitted to men than women—or, say, that marriage should be restricted to that between a man and a woman—the implicit Nazi analogy renders these judgments as ugly as the caricatures in Der Stürmer . It is of great significance that anti-Jewish prejudice, unlike the standard racial variety, is based on the denial of what is generally an objective superiority— one that can be traced back to the Hebrews’ firstness as the inventors/discoverers of monotheism. The Nazi-Jew paradigm colors all other victimary oppositions with an undertone of envy. Whatever the value of the evidence that, say, Blacks are less intelligent on average than Whites, or women less gifted in the sciences than men, there is certainly no evidence that Jews are less intelligent or gifted than non-Jews— au contraire. If victimary groups are persecuted ultimately for their superiority, then no discrimination of any kind can be objectively justified. Hence the existence of statistical differences between groups with regard to success in any given endeavor (unless the victimary group actually does better, as with Blacks on basketball teams or women in college admissions) is considered prima facie evidence of discrimination.

At this point victimary thinking becomes problematic, for it incorporates two contradictory principles derived from the originary moral model. On the one hand, the firstness of the first user of the sign is not allowed to confer an advantage when it comes to distributing the products of the sparagmos; the exchange of signs, and of the things that are ritually distributed as a result of the exchange of signs, is in principle perfectly symmetrical. On the other hand, in more advanced societies the different roles are expected to be distributed according to the ability to perform them and not by victimary categories. The creation of such categories in the postwar era, however obviously necessary they may appear to us, is a radically new development that is best understood as the legacy of the Holocaust. It is in effect the extension of the Holocaust paradigm to the whole ensemble of social relations. Nothing like “affirmative action” had ever existed, even among persons with great sympathy for groups that are today considered victims and that in the past were simply thought of as deprived of equal rights, such as slaves in the South or women not given the vote. Needless to say, this new victimary consciousness has not done away with social hierarchy, but it has eliminated many selection criteria previously considered “objective,” such as aptitude examinations for civil service work, and spawned affirmative action programs of various kinds, not always in compensation for past prejudice.

Rosenfeld’s material offers confirmation of my assertion that results-oriented victimary thought is a product of the Holocaust, not merely in the broad sense that victimary thinkers make abundant and often reckless use of Holocaust analogies, but more specifically that the very outrageousness of the Holocaust metaphor is essential to creating and imposing the new victimary paradigm on human relations.

Let me take as an example a passage quoted by Rosenfeld from Betty Friedan’s 1963 The Feminine Mystique , the key manifesto of American postwar feminism. This passage can serve us as a test case of “how to talk about the Holocaust,” since it lends itself admirably to Rosenfeld’s critique at the same time as its very enormity justifies my argument that the paradigm inaugurated by the Holocaust is at the heart of modern victimary thought.

[T]he women who “adjust” as housewives, who grow up wanting to be “just a housewife,” are in as much danger as the millions who walked to their own death in the concentration camps—and the millions more who refused to believe that the concentration camps existed. In fact, there is an uncanny, uncomfortable insight into why a woman can so easily lose her sense of self as a housewife in certain psychological observations made of the behavior of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. In these settings, purposely contrived for the dehumanization of man [sic], the prisoners literally became “walking corpses.” Those who “adjusted” to the conditions of the camps surrendered their human identity and went almost indifferently to their deaths. Strangely enough, the conditions which destroyed the human identity of so many prisoners were not the torture and the brutality, but conditions similar to those which destroy the identity of the American housewife. . . .

It was said . . . that not the SS but the prisoners themselves became their own worst enemy. Because they could not bear to see their situation as it really was—because they denied the very reality of their problem, and finally “adjusted” to the camp itself as if it were the only reality—they were caught in the prison of their own minds. . . . All this seems terribly remote from the easy life of the American suburban housewife. But is [not] her house in reality a comfortable concentration camp? (48, quoting p. 305-07)

Here is Rosenfeld’s reaction to this passage:

“In reality,” her house is nothing of the sort, and a clear-thinking person knows that the comparison is a foolish one. . . . [W]hat we confront in Friedan’s book goes beyond merely hyperbolic thinking to something close to the shut-down of thought itself. For no one who thinks at all lucidly can possibly see a connection “in reality” between the situation of middle-class American housewives of the postwar period, no matter how bored they might be, and the wartime condition of inmates in the Nazi camps. (48)

In the paragraphs that follow, Rosenfeld attempts to explain Friedan’s use of this comparison, using ideas from Christopher Lasch and Tzvetan Todorov. But at bottom his “explanation” is simply a restatement of the facts. Rosenfeld alleges that “a politics of suffering and victimization has been developing within American society over the past several decades . . . whose proponents draw on the pervasive presence of Holocaust images in order to garner for themselves a certain moral superiority that victims have come to enjoy in our society.” Well, yes, but explaining the use of victimary imagery by “a certain moral superiority that victims have come to enjoy” is mere tautological wordplay.

But the basis for my remark that it is tautological is precisely my theoretical claim that it is truly the Holocaust that is the source of this rhetoric, which is not always as clearly derivative of its model as this particular example. And this means that calling it “rhetoric” and emphasizing as Rosenfeld does the “images” of the Holocaust in Friedan’s passage in fact obscures the real impact of the Holocaust on victimary thought. For these vocabulary elements need not be present in the text, and indeed, the course of victimary rhetoric has been to abandon the Nazi image, except to the extent it can be associated with the “West” and particularly with Israel. When Edward Said proposes “Orientalism” as the model for the West’s dismissive and ultimately oppressive attitude toward its “other,” the last thing he wants us to think of is the West’s oppression of its internal other, the Jews. In principle, at least, Rosenfeld should be happy with this development, as indeed he might be if it were not the flip side of Muslim-inspired neo-antisemitism that reviles Israel while reprinting Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion . But precisely, the filiation of victimary thought with the Holocaust is not one of images but of paradigms, and the paradigm of oppressor vs. oppressed race/social group/gender/etc., is far more durable and significant than images of stacked bodies and false shower rooms.

What we observe in Friedan is an early, and for today’s reader strikingly naïve, use of this paradigm. But let us note how she uses it, before the Berkeley uprising of 1965, before the campus/French revolt of 1968, at a time when “affirmative action” (which dates—dixit Wikipedia—from a JFK Executive Order in 1961) was in its infancy and “diversity,” which college presidents today cannot form two consecutive sentences on any subject without mentioning, was as yet unknown. Friedan cannot claim that her housewives suffer physically, nor even that they are mentally tortured by… whom exactly? The SS is mentioned only to be dismissed, since not even the most uncompromising feminist could find an analogy between these women’s poor husbands and the SS. The real point is that the prisoners themselves became their own worst enemy , that the housewives/prisoners internalize their oppression and adjust to it. Today such language might be accused of “blaming the victim”; it is made palatable only by the extreme nature of the overall model, which allows the assimilation of the housewives’ oppression to Nazism on the condition that it be a Nazism without Nazis.

For the fact that the women’s material conditions are at the antipodes of those of Auschwitz inmates, far from leading us to dismiss Friedan’s comparison as “the shut-down of thought itself,” is precisely meant to caution us against rejecting it. Adjustment is the real problem, and although in the housewives’ world no oppressor is indicated, it is the system of oppression that is at fault. The point of this analogy is that any acquiescence in an oppressive system is the virtual equivalent of accepting the role of the oppressed in the Nazi-Jew model, something that no self-respecting human being should react to with anything but outrage, even unto death. But as Adam Katz would point out, and as the partisans of victimary thinking prefer to ignore, this analogy is only useful to the extent that it is being offered in a social context where it is not valid, where it can have an impact on us precisely because we are not Nazis and are shocked by the accusation that our notion of normality is “really the same as” Auschwitz.

Although Friedan isn’t proposing here anything like “affirmative action,” she clearly shows us where the Holocaust paradigm is going. This is no longer Civil Rights language; it is the language of absolute oppression, a pre-philosophical form of deconstruction, for which any acceptation of differential status—such as adjustment to a preestablished gender role—is equivalent to assuming the zombie-like status of prisoners who go unresistingly to their deaths. This is, to use a word that would have a considerable fortune a few decades later, the state of abjection.

However tasteless its rhetoric, Friedan’s book was instrumental in kicking off a neo-feminism that fifty years later has led American women to attend college in considerably higher proportion and with considerably greater success than men, to run for president, and to enter and in some cases dominate formerly male-dominated professions. Thus in condemning Friedan’s rhetoric for its wild reference to the Holocaust, we risk failing to notice what the outcome of reaction to the Holocaust through the mediation of such rhetoric has really been, leading both to the creation of a more gender-equal world and to the problematization of all remaining areas of non-reciprocity, justifiable or not. It is possible to feel disgust with the assimilation of suburban housewives to Nazi prisoners and yet to understand that Friedan’s overall (and generally valid) point in encouraging suburban housewives to look beyond their current roles is an example of the historical power of the Holocaust to generate victimary thought, independently of Friedan’s or anyone else’s specific use of Holocaust metaphors or images.

To conclude with an example of the persistence of this kind of rhetoric nearly fifty years later, here is an extract from the acknowledgement section of a 2008 UCLA doctoral dissertation.

I am . . . compelled to acknowledge the existence of demeaning plantation politics at UCLA, which also significantly and consistently contributed to my UCLA experience. While I carry a tremendous amount of resentment regarding experiences that can best be described as a new millennium form of Jim Crow, I have also gained a tremendous amount of strength from surviving, overcoming and conquering the demon of racism and the racist demons that exist and operate at the University of California Los Angeles.

The Nazis have been replaced by slave-drivers, but the rhetoric makes the same unbridled use of a stigmatized relationship of oppression to condemn phenomena that the author feels no need to describe in any detail. No doubt this example is more of an expression of personal hurt and resentment than an attempt to make other Black students conscious of their oppression. But this only makes it a more convincing illustration of the persistence of a model that, whatever the imagery used here, has its source not in American slavery but in the Holocaust, which brought forth a victimary paradigm that continues to dominate the postmodern era over 65 years after the end of WWII.

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Introducing the Writing Prompt

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In the first four lessons of the unit, students explore questions about identity, stereotyping, and group membership. This assessment step introduces students to a writing prompt that builds on these important themes and connects them to the history students explore later in this unit. The prompt is designed to serve as both a thematic frame for the unit and a final writing assignment at the unit’s end.

Unit Writing Prompt:

What does learning about the choices people made during the Weimar Republic, the rise of the Nazi Party, and the Holocaust teach us about the power and impact of our choices today?

Because the students have not yet been introduced to the Weimar era, the rise of the Nazi Party, and the Holocaust, this lesson begins with a modified version of the prompt:

Modified Writing Prompt for this Lesson:

How does learning about the choices people made throughout history help us understand the power and impact of our choices in the world today?

This modified prompt enables students to think through larger themes about history and decision making before delving into the specific history in later lessons. This lesson’s activities provide suggestions to help students start to understand the meaning of the prompt and to stake out a preliminary position in response to it. At key points later in this unit (after Lessons 8, 13, 18, 21, and 23), you will be prompted to give students the opportunity to revisit the prompt and consider stories, documents, and other evidence from history that may influence their thinking about it. At these times, students will also have the opportunity to reflect back on, and potentially modify, the initial position they articulate in this lesson.

There are two additional writing prompts that can be used as summative assessments for this unit included in Facing History’s  Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies: Holocaust and Human Behavior . This resource includes lesson plans and writing strategies to help guide students through all phases of the writing process.

Essential Question

Guiding Question

Why study history?

Learning Objective

Students will develop an initial position for an argumentative essay in response to a question about the importance and impact of choices in history.

What's Included

This assessment is designed to fit into one 50-min class period and includes:

  • 3 activities
  • 5 teaching strategies
  • 1 assessment
  • 1 extension activity

Preparing to Teach

Notes to the teacher.

Anticipation Guide Activity

This lesson introduces the  Anticipation Guides  teaching strategy. You might return to the handout  Why Study History? later in the unit to see if students’ ideas about the study of history have changed.

Duration: 1 class period

Related Materials

  • Teaching Strategy Anticipation Guides

Save this resource for easy access later.

Warm Up with an Anticipation Guide

Before the activity begins, hang four signs in the corners of the classroom that read “Strongly Agree,” “Agree,” “Disagree,” and “Strongly Disagree.”

Pass out the handout  Why Study History?  and ask students to read the statements and decide if they strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with each one. They should circle their responses and then write a brief explanation for each choice.

Use the  Four Corners  strategy to debrief the anticipation guide. Read each statement aloud and ask students to stand near one of the signs in the classroom to indicate their response. After students find their positions, ask them to explain their thinking to others in their corner.

Next, ask students in each corner to share their ideas with the rest of the class. As one corner disagrees with another, encourage students to respond directly to each other’s statements and have a mini-debate about the prompt. If students’ ideas change due to the debate, tell them that they are free to switch corners.

  • Teaching Strategy Four Corners

Generate Initial Responses to a Modified Essay Prompt

Next, ask students to return to their seats and take out their journals so they can reflect on the Four Corners activity and start to think about a new and related question.

Write the modified essay topic on the board and ask students to respond to it in their journals. Students might also reference their ideas about one or more of the quotations on the handout Why Study History? when formulating their responses.

Next, ask students to debrief the journal prompt in a  Think, Pair, Share  discussion. Ask students to try to support their thinking with an example from the history they have studied or their own lives. Finally, ask students to share a few opinions or ideas with the larger group.

Tell students that they will build on these ideas in the upcoming weeks as they learn about the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. They can keep all their notes about these ideas in their journals and use them later to help them think about their essays.

  • Teaching Strategy Think-Pair-Share

Exit Tickets

Give each student an  exit ticket  with the following question:

Did today’s class affect your thinking about why we should study history? Did it affect how you think about the connection between the choices people made in history and the choices you make in your own life? If so, explain how. If not, explain why not.

Collect the exit tickets as students leave the classroom. You might share some interesting ideas or patterns at the start of the next lesson. Unless you have permission from the student, we recommend that you keep these anonymous.

  • Teaching Strategy Exit Tickets

Check for Understanding

Observe carefully the discussion that occurs during the Four Corners activity in order to check students’ understanding of the themes embedded in the writing prompt. It is important that every student has the opportunity to talk, either in the small groups in their corners or when sharing with the whole group.

Evaluate students’ responses on the exit cards. While their thinking about the writing prompt will evolve over time, check now for evidence that they have a basic understanding of the question itself.

Dissect the Essay Writing Prompt

If your class is ready, you might introduce the full unit writing prompt, rather than the one modified for this lesson. Using the  Dissecting the Prompt  strategy, students can take apart and analyze the prompt, identifying the historical topics they need to learn more about in the rest of the unit to be able to fully answer the question. This will establish several inquiry questions for the class that are related to students’ broader thinking about the purpose of studying history in this lesson.

  • Teaching Strategy Dissecting the Prompt

Materials and Downloads

Quick downloads, download the files, get files via google, explore the materials, common core writing prompts and strategies: holocaust and human behavior, universe of obligation.

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Facing History & Ourselves is designed for educators who want to help students explore identity, think critically, grow emotionally, act ethically, and participate in civic life. It’s hard work, so we’ve developed some go-to professional learning opportunities to help you along the way.

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good hook for essay about holocaust

Behind Every Name a Story

Behind Every Name a Story consists of essays describing survivors’ experiences during the Holocaust, written by survivors or their families. The essays, accompanying photographs, and other materials, including submissions that we are unable to feature on our website, will become a permanent part of the Museum’s records.

Read the Essays

Marian kalwary.

In normal circumstances, time goes fast, but in the ghetto, it dragged exceedingly long. Every day passed very slowly, as if to spite us.

Green and Hoffer Families

My mother and aunt worked for the Russians until my mother was smuggled out of Poland to the American Zone in Germany, where she lived in a displaced persons camp, Feldafing, and married my father on October 16, 1946. They lived in the DP camp until they could immigrate to the United States in November, 1947.

Naki Touron-Fais

In the car I tried to be excited about finally ending this ordeal, but I felt I was dying from agony and fear. I was trying to find a way out. If we went to Lehonia, it would be the end of us. Nobody knew us there. After a while, I asked, “Where are we going?”

good hook for essay about holocaust

Andrew Glass

Finding a way to remain in the United States as an illegal alien proved to be one heck of a sweet bargain.

Simon Family

While in Westerbork, Selma Simon wrote to her daughters, Ruth and Hilda in England. The last letter was written four or five days before they were deported to Poland in which, sadly, Selma said, “We hope to see you soon.”

When Marcel got the news of her deportation, he knew that he would never see his mother again—the person he adored beyond anyone else. It was with a broken body and a broken heart that he arrived in Paris.

Sima Gleichgevicht-Wasser

Sima could easily pass as a non-Jewish Pole because she had a light complexion and was blonde, but to be able to live as a Pole, she needed a Kennkarte (identification card), and to get a Kennkarte she needed a Polish birth certificate.

Rosa Marie Burger

I saw girls weeping—my friends, girls I had grown up with. Their bundles were placed in the last car and the people were herded onto the train. We lived not far from Dachau.

After three weeks in the ghetto of Czernowitz, we were sent to the camps in Transnistria for three terrible years of poverty, hunger, typhus, and fear for the future. We had hope in our hearts and only that kept us alive.

Ester Lupyan

In the memories of those who lived through the occupation, the recollection of the existence and survival in the ghetto is still frightening. I will only say that out of our family, my mother and I were the only ones to survive.

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Listen to or read Holocaust survivors’ experiences, told in their own words through oral histories, written testimony, and public programs.

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HIST B323 History of the Holocaust

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150 Holocaust Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for good titles for a Holocaust project? This is one of the most tragic parts of WW2 that is definitely worth studying.

🔝 Top 10 Holocaust Questions for Essays

📝 holocaust essay: how to write, 🏆 holocaust essay examples & topics, 📌 holocaust thesis ideas, ✍️ holocaust essay topics for college, 💡 most interesting holocaust topics to write about, ❓ holocaust essay questions.

The most popular Holocaust essay topics are:

  • The Holocaust and its causes
  • Nazi human experiments as a part of the Holocaust
  • Jewish ghettos in Poland
  • The establishment of Auschwitz concentration camp
  • The consequences of the Holocaust

Below you can find much more ideas. In this article, we’ve collected Holocaust thesis ideas and questions for essays. They will suite for middle school, high school, and college-level assignments. You’ll also find tips on writing your introduction, conclusion, and formulating a thesis statement, together with Holocaust essay examples. Write an ️A+ paper with us!

  • What were the ideological causes of the Holocaust?
  • How was anti-Jewish legislation in Germany established?
  • What were the goals of the Nazi Euthanasia Program?
  • How and where were the largest ghettos created?
  • How did the concentration camp system expand across Europe?
  • What were the three types of ghettos?
  • How did the resistance efforts in the ghettos look like?
  • Who were the key opponents of Nazism inside and outside Germany?
  • How did the US government respond to Nazism?
  • What were the consequences of the Holocaust?

The Holocaust has affected millions of people around the world. It is one of the most tragic and problematic topics of history. Holocaust essays help students to understand the issue better, analyzing its causes and consequences.

Organizing an essay on the Holocaust may be challenging, as there are many aspects to cover. We have developed some tips to help you through the process.

First, choose the Holocaust issue you want to discuss. Select one of the titles to work on. Some of the Holocaust essay topics include:

  • Concentration camps in today’s Europe
  • Lessons from the Holocaust: Fostering tolerance
  • Present and future of the Holocaust research
  • The causes of the Holocaust and discrimination against Jewish people
  • How could people have stopped the Holocaust?
  • Political issues behind the Holocaust
  • The effects of the Holocaust on its survivors
  • The factors and issues that contributed to Nazism

You can choose one of these holocaust essay questions or ask your professor for suggestions. Once that you have selected the topic of your essay, you can start working on the paper.

A well-developed structure is highly significant for an outstanding essay. Here are some tips on how to develop a structure for the paper:

  • Think of the Holocaust essay prompts you want to discuss first. You can do preliminary research to see what issues you should cover.
  • Ask your professor about the type of essay you should write. If it is an argumentative essay, you will need to leave space for at least one refutation paragraph and a rebuttal paragraph.
  • Include an introductory paragraph (or several paragraphs if you are working on a longer essay). This paragraph should include the background information on the Holocaust and the problem you have selected. Discuss the goals of the paper and state your main claim at the end of this section.
  • The main arguments of your paper will comprise body paragraphs. You may want to dedicate at least one separate paragraph for each of your claims. The number of body paragraphs is up to you, however, we would recommend including at least three of them. Hint: Make smooth transitions between paragraphs to make your paper look more organized.
  • Remember that at least one body paragraph should state the general information about the Holocaust, its causes, and effects. You may discuss statistical data, global consequences, and primary victims.
  • While working on a refutation paragraph, do not forget to prove that your arguments are more reasonable that the opposing perspectives. You can dedicate a separate paragraph for a rebuttal.
  • A concluding section or a summary should state your main arguments again. You can also include a recommendation if necessary.
  • Important tip: Do not make your paragraphs too short or too long. We would recommend writing between 65 and 190 words per paragraph and not more than 35 words per sentence. Making all body paragraphs of similar length is also a good idea that will make your paper look more professional.
  • Ask your professor whether you need to include a title page and table of contents. Remember that a reference page is a must, as it includes all sources from the essay.
  • If you are not sure that the selected structure is good, search for the holocaust essay titles and examples online and see how other students organize their papers. Avoid copying the works you will find.

Remember to look at the samples on our website to get some ideas for your excellent paper!

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Oskar Schindler: The Man and the Hero (Holocaust Essays)

Holocaust essays, holocaust essays:, oskar schindler: the man and the hero.

The following are essays created by a class studying the Holocaust. If you’d like to send your comments, please contact the instructor,

by April N. Aberly

The purpose of this paper is to shed a different kind of light on who and how we consider a hero. I’ve tried to express what kind of a life and person Oskar Schindler was, and I ask you to evaluate yourself and decide if you could take the kind of risks Oskar Schindler did. As you learn about a man full of flaws just like the rest of us, I know that you too will appreciate the fact that an ordinary man can do extraordianry things.

What is a hero? In my book, a hero can be any number of things. A hero can be someone who loves and cares for you, someone you look up to, or maybe someone ordinary who does the extraordinary. Many people think of their favorite athlete or rockstar. Some may think of a famous speaker or activist. Whatever the case may be, most everyone has a hero. Oskar Schindler is a hero to over 6,000 Jews currently living across the United States and Europe (Hertling, 1997). Schindler was an ordinary man with extraordinary power that he used to save 1200 human lives during the Holocaust of World War II. The question arises : Who was Oskar Schindler the man? Where did he come from? More importantly, what was his motivation for saving so many Jews? Mainly, though, why is Schindler considered one of the greatest heroes of this century?

Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908 in Zwitlau, which is now part of the present day Czech Republic. His father and mother, Hans and Louisa Schindler, were deeply religious. This resulted in a strong Catholic household for Schindler and his younger sister Elfriede Schindler. The Schindler family was one of the richest and most prominent in Zwitlau and elsewhere. This was due to the success of their family owned machinery business (“Schindler’s List,” 1995).

Schindler himself was a very tall and handsome man. Needless to say, he was adored by all the young women. His fancy, though, fell for a beautiful young girl named Emily. After only six weeks of courtship, they were married. Sadly, after only a few months of marriage, Schindler began to heavily abuse alcohol. He also had several affairs resulting in two children out of wedlock. In 1929, during the Great Depression, the Schindler family business went bankrupt. At this time, Schindler’s father left his mother, and she died soon after. Finding himself jobless, Schindler sought work in nearby Poland as a machinery salesmen (“Schindler’s List,” 1995).

The picture being painted of Schindler is not exactly one of high class and morals. Indeed, Schindler was an alcoholic and a womanizer. This leads many to think, how can this man be considered a hero? What would possess him, with all of his power and money, to risk his own life to save the lives of thousands of people he has never met? How did he do it? It was no easy task.

The saving of the first Schindler Jews began in 1939, when he came to Krakow in the wake of the German invasion. In Krakow, he took over two previously Jewish owned companies that dealt with the manufacture and sales of enamel kitchenware products. In one of the businesses, however, Schindler was merely a trustee. Looking more for his own power, he opened up a small enamel shop right outside of Krakow near the Jewish ghetto. Here, he employed mostly Jewish workers. This in turn saved them from being deported to labor camps. Then in 1942, Schindler found out through some of his workers that many of the local Krakow Jews were being sent to the brutal Plazow labor camp. This is where Schindler’s connections with the German government were so useful. Using his know how, he convinced the S. S. and the Armaments Administration, who had set up the Plazow labor camp, to set up a portion of the camp in his factory. They agreed, and Schindler took even those unfit and unqualified for work. In turn, he spared 900 Jewish lives from this one action (Paldiel, 1982).

Then in October of 1944, this time with the approach of the Russian army, Schindler used his connections to receive permission to reestablish his once defunct business as an armament production company in Bruunlitz. After some negotiating with S.S. officials, he was allowed to take with him some Jewish workers form Zalocie. Schindler then succeeded in transferring over 700 Jews from the Grossrosen camp, and another 300 women form Auschwitz. Once in Brunnlitz, these workers were given the best food, clothing, shelter, and medical care that Schindler could afford.

After this successful operation in Brunnlitz, Schindler received word that a train of evacuated Jews from the Golezow camp were stranded in the nearby city of Svitavy. As he had done twice before, Schindler pulled some strings at the top and got permission from German officials to take his workers to the nearby station to rescue the stranded. Once at the station, they forced the doors open to the rail car and removed some 100 half frozen Jews. Schindler’s wife Emile did her best to nurse the ill back to health. Those that did not survive were given a proper Jewish burial paid for by Schindler (Paldiel, 1982). Schindler spent infinite amounts of money not only paying for the upkeep of his workers, but paying the government. Schindler was arrested two times while trying to complete his saving operations. Each time, though, he found a new excuse, or paid a little more money. He risked his life, as well as his family’s lives, to save a race of people he never even knew.

In all of this the question still remains, why? Why did he do it? The answer is that there is no answer. Schindler would never comment on what he did. He never truly gave an answer as to why he did what he did. Ludwik Feigenbaum gave the best description of Schindler that made sense of his actions. “I don’t know what his motives were, even though I knew him very well. I asked him and I never got a clear answer and the film doesn’t make it clear, either. But I don’t give a damn. What’s important is that he saved our lives. Another survivor, Johnathan Dresner suggests, ” He was an adventurer. He was like an actor who always wanted to be center stage. He got into a play and he could not get out of it” (“Schindler’s List,” 1995).

No matter what anyone believes, the story of Schindler touched me. I think to myself, would I have the courage to give up my life for a bunch of strangers? Would I give up all of my comforts and riches with nothing in return? I am a bit bewildered by the story. I wish that I knew exactly why he did the things he did. Yet as the old saying goes, “Some things are better left unsaid.” I think that is what Schindler believed. He saw no reason to give a why. I think that is why he is a hero. He did not want all the pomp and circumstance. He did not want the hero status. I think he saw no reason to brag about what he had done. Schindler knew what it meant to himself and those that he saved, and that is all that mattered. Saving those lives was his return for giving up all he had. He died without much fanfare. He was bankrupt and his last few years were rough. He gave up everything he owned, literally. Yet it did not matter. He gave an unselfish love, of sorts, to the Jews. Schindler is indeed a hero for many reasons. Most importantly, he helped to save a race of human beings, just like you and me.

Hertling, Victoria. “The Making of Schindler’s List.” April 4, 1995. . (8 February 1997).

Paldiel, Mordecai. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Oskar Schindler. 1982. “Schindler’s List.” 1995. . (8 February 1997).

“Schindler’s List.” 1995. . (8 February 1997).

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Organized by theme, these discussion questions examine how and why the Holocaust happened. They are designed to help teachers, students, and all citizens create discussion and encourage reflection about the Holocaust.

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What made it possible.

How did the Nazis and their collaborators implement the Holocaust?

Discussion Question How did the Nazis and their collaborators implement the Holocaust?

What does war make possible?

Discussion Question What does war make possible?

How and why did ordinary people across Europe contribute to the persecution of their Jewish neighbors?

Discussion Question How and why did ordinary people across Europe contribute to the persecution of their Jewish neighbors?

How did German professionals and civil leaders contribute to the persecution of Jews and other groups?

Discussion Question How did German professionals and civil leaders contribute to the persecution of Jews and other groups?

What conditions, ideologies, and ideas made the Holocaust possible?

Discussion Question What conditions, ideologies, and ideas made the Holocaust possible?

Which organizations and individuals aided and protected Jews from persecution between 1933 and 1945?

Discussion Question Which organizations and individuals aided and protected Jews from persecution between 1933 and 1945?

How did leaders, diplomats, and citizens around the world respond to the events of the Holocaust?

Discussion Question How did leaders, diplomats, and citizens around the world respond to the events of the Holocaust?

How did the United States government and American people respond to Nazism?

Discussion Question How did the United States government and American people respond to Nazism?

After the war.

What have we learned about the risk factors and warning signs of genocide?

Discussion Question What have we learned about the risk factors and warning signs of genocide?

How did postwar trials shape approaches to international justice?

Discussion Question How did postwar trials shape approaches to international justice?

Other topics.

How did the shared foundational element of eugenics contribute to the growth of racism in Europe and the United States?

Discussion Question How did the shared foundational element of eugenics contribute to the growth of racism in Europe and the United States?

What were some similarities between racism in Nazi Germany and in the United States, 1920s-1940s?

Discussion Question What were some similarities between racism in Nazi Germany and in the United States, 1920s-1940s?

How did different goals and political systems shape racism in Nazi Germany and the United States?

Discussion Question How did different goals and political systems shape racism in Nazi Germany and the United States?

Thank you for supporting our work.

We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement .

IMAGES

  1. Good Introduction Essay Holocaust

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  2. ⇉Impact of the Holocaust Essay Example

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  3. ⇉Classical Argument

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  4. ≫ Anne Frank in World War II Holocaust Free Essay Sample on Samploon.com

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  5. The Holocaust

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  6. The Holocaust

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VIDEO

  1. Writing Academic English _ Chapter 4 _ From Paragraph to Essay

  2. Essay Writing Contest 2024

  3. Essay Hook Paragraphs for PLC

  4. Holocaust

  5. “The Wicker Chair”

  6. Writing Academic English _ Chapter 6 _ Cause and Effect Essays

COMMENTS

  1. Holocaust Essays

    Once you have created an outline, find a good topic for your Holocaust essay and modify it to match your interests. Writing a conclusion should not be difficult. ... Hook Examples for Holocaust Essays. The Unimaginable Horror Hook. Begin your essay by vividly describing the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust, such as concentration camps ...

  2. Holocaust Essay

    The Holocaust And The Holocaust. The Holocaust was a genocide which lasted from 1942 to 1945 in which around 6 million European Jewish people were killed. It was the result of the Ideals of the past chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler. Hitler came to power in 1933 by capitalising on worldwide events such as the great depression in 1929 ...

  3. Holocaust Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

    69 essay samples found. The Holocaust, a grotesque period in history, entailed the systematic genocide of six million Jews by the Nazi regime during World War II. Essays could delve into the historical antecedents, ideological underpinnings, and the chilling bureaucratic mechanisms employed to perpetrate this mass extermination.

  4. Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies: Holocaust and Human

    This resource provides writing prompts and strategies that align Holocaust and Human Behavior with the ... writing prompts and teaching strategies in this guide ask students to use evidence as they craft a formal argumentative essay. This guide also features effective writing strategies for general use in the social studies or English classroom ...

  5. PDF Common Core Writing Prompts and Strategies

    GIESCOMMON CORE WRITING PROMPTSPrompt #1In the spring of 1945, as the war finally came to an end, the world at last confro. ted the atrocities the Nazis had commited. Alan Moorehead, a British journalist, wrote the fol. owing after visiting a concentration camp:"With a.

  6. How to Write about the Holocaust

    Victimary thinking may be defined without circularly referring to the Holocaust. It is the way of thinking for which any difference between ascriptive or "objective" groups that can be understood as imputing values of superiority and inferiority is absolutely condemned as immoral and inhuman. In this context "ascriptive" may be taken ...

  7. PDF The Holocaust

    The Holocaust was Nazi Germany's deliberate, organized, state-sponsored persecution and machinelike murder of approximately six million European Jews and at least five million prisoners of war, Romany, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and other victims. Holocaust is a word of Greek origin. It means "burnt offering."

  8. What would be a compelling opening sentence for a research paper about

    Quick answer: A compelling opening sentence for a research paper about the experiences of children during the Holocaust might not need to be catchy but rather powerful and empathetic.

  9. Introducing the Writing Prompt

    In the first four lessons of the unit, students explore questions about identity, stereotyping, and group membership. This assessment step introduces students to a writing prompt that builds on these important themes and connects them to the history students explore later in this unit. The prompt is designed to serve as both a thematic frame ...

  10. Behind Every Name a Story

    Language. Behind Every Name a Story consists of essays describing survivors' experiences during the Holocaust, written by survivors or their families. The essays, accompanying photographs, and other materials, including submissions that we are unable to feature on our website, will become a permanent part of the Museum's records.

  11. Academic Paper Writing

    A research guide to help students in Prof. Mark Roseman's History of the Holocaust (Hist-B323). Help identifying scholarly publications, citing sources, defining primary sources, etc.

  12. Essay about The Holocaust

    The Holocaust was the murder and persecution of approximately 6 million Jews and many others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. The Nazis came to power in Germany in January of 1933. The Nazis thought that the "inferior" Jews were a threat to the "racially superior" German racial community. The death camps were operated from 1941 ...

  13. PDF HUMANIZING THE HOLOCAUST

    An Abstract of the Thesis of. Danielle Lewis for the degree of Bachelor of Science in the Department of Art and Technology to be taken June, 2021. Title: Humanizing the Holocaust. Approved: Tyrras Warren Primary Thesis Advisor. 2020 marked 75 years since the end of the Holocaust, often referred to as the.

  14. The Holocaust: Students reflect in award-winning essays, projects

    The Holocaust: Students reflect in award-winning essays, projects. In her award-winning high school essay, Emily Salko asks others to imagine the freedoms that Mira Kimmelman lost as Nazi Germany intensified its persecution of Jews during the Holocaust. "The freedom that we possess is something that we all take for granted each day," she wrote.

  15. The Holocaust and Historical Crisis: A Review Essay

    The fruit of their ration, The Holocaust and The Crisis of Human Behavior, is a. toward a psycho-social understanding of the Holocaust. What is novel about their effort is their attempt to. various insights arrived at by certain of the preceding scholars, those of Arendt and Rubenstein.

  16. 150 Holocaust Essay Topics & Examples

    Select one of the titles to work on. Some of the Holocaust essay topics include: Concentration camps in today's Europe. Lessons from the Holocaust: Fostering tolerance. The consequences of the Holocaust. Present and future of the Holocaust research. The causes of the Holocaust and discrimination against Jewish people.

  17. Welcome

    Hear the testimony of an American liberator. Discover the richness of first person accounts by: Learning about the Holocaust from selected primary sources with historical context; Uncovering surprising connections using tags like activism, propaganda, family, and health and hygiene; Reading diaries and documents in their original language with ...

  18. Any good hooks for an essay about The Holocaust

    KimNovak. Final answer: To start an essay on the Holocaust, consider hooks that use irony, personal stories, or quotes from survivors to convey the gravity of the genocide and engage the reader. Reflecting on the work of historians and the remembrance of victims and heroes can contribute depth to the introduction. Explanation:

  19. 36 Questions About the Holocaust (#1-18)

    During World War II, first-degree Mischlinge, incarcerated in concentration camps, were deported to death camps. 11. What were the first measures taken by the Nazis against the Jews? The first measures against the Jews included: April 1, 1933: A boycott of Jewish shops and businesses by the Nazis.

  20. Oskar Schindler: The Man and the Hero (Holocaust Essays)

    The following are essays created by a class studying the Holocaust. If you'd like to send your comments, please contact the instructor, Jan Haswell: Oskar Schindler: The Man and the Hero. by April N. Aberly. The purpose of this paper is to shed a different kind of light on who and how we consider a hero.

  21. A-Z: Media Essays

    Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust. ID Cards. Explore the ID Cards to learn more about personal experiences during the Holocaust ... Browse an alphabetical list of curated media essays that explore various topics pertaining to the Holocaust and World War II. These essays give a brief overview ...

  22. Introduction to the Holocaust

    The Holocaust (1933-1945) was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. The Holocaust era began in January 1933 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany.

  23. Discussion Questions

    Media Essay Oral History Photo Series Song Timeline Timeline Event Clear Selections ... EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126. Main telephone: 202.488.0400.