Holocaust Reflection

            The Holocaust can only be described as one of the greatest atrocities the world has ever seen. The conditions in the concentration and death camps under the Nazi regime were appalling. The mainly Jewish prisoners were left to starve and dehydrate as they were literally worked to death. In many ways, the terrors that occurred could be compared with the horror of the front lines. In the clip from “Band of Brothers,” the horrendous conditions of death camps were portrayed. Soldiers opened huge shipping crates to find piles of dead prisoners inside. Many prisoners were so malnourished that their arms and legs seemed like sticks, their ribs showed clearly through their chests. In the conversation with the German Jewish prisoner, he described what had happened as the Nazis heard of the approaching forces. They had shot as many prisoners as possible, then burned down many of the buildings with the prisoners still inside.

            In other sources, such as the Buchenwald liberation footage, the Nazi experimental facilities were described. They tested many toxins such as Zyklon B on human test subjects. Cremation ovens were opened, revealing the charred skeletons inside. A company that had previously built ovens for baking created these disposal machines. This moves into another facet of the atrocities of the Holocaust, the “willing executioners.”

            During the Holocaust, “willing executioners” slaughtered prisoners without qualms or regrets. Though they may have believed that the Jews had caused their previous economic misfortunes, they were still able to indiscriminately murder other human beings every day. How they were convinced that the Jews were sub-human is shocking. Regardless of any of the arguments made in the response to Hitler’s Willing Executioners, the simple fact that they were able to kill other humans just like them in such large numbers demonstrates the horrifying belief of Nazis that the Jews were receiving due punishment.