Genocide

The documentary Genocide gave an in depth explanation of the catalysts for Holocaust and information about the brutality that actually occurred during this genocide. It was particularly troubling for me to watch this documentary. I did find Darwin’s Nightmare to be extremely sad, however it was a lot harder for me to relate to on a personal level. The Holocaust is something that I have studied over and over again in school throughout my life. Not only have I learned about it from a historical standpoint, but also from a familial one. Being Jewish lends itself to have a more personal feeling towards Genocide and the events of the Holocaust. But what made this documentary even harder for me to watch was knowing that direct family members of mine had to endure such horrific events as a result of their religion. I do know, for the most part, the extent of the horror and the brutality, but it is quite a different thing to actually watch scenes of it. My grandmother was living in Poland during the outbreak of World War II. She lived in a Polish city with her two parents, younger brother, and younger sister. When the Nazi’s entered Poland, she was separated from her family at the age of 16. The Nazi’s believed her when she told them that she was Christian because she had light hair and light eyes, however the rest of her family was taken to concentration camps. She would never see her parents or younger sister again, however her brother was able to escape a camp and they were miraculously able to find each other again after the end of World War II.

Growing up, we never spoke to my grandmother about what she had endured. I was always very close to my great uncle (her brother), but never spoke to him about it either. All I knew was that he had a tattoo on the inner part of his forearm of a series of numbers. As I grew older and had a better knowledge of the Holocaust, I came to understand what those numbers represented.

It still is very hard for me to wrap my mind around the events that took place and the hatred that motivated these people to carryout these horrific crimes. Watching and listening to the accounts of innocent people being stripped of their clothing and dignity, being brutally beat, or even shot, was horrendous.

Maybe what is even more shocking to me is that this represented the first time that violations of human rights were accepted on a global scale as an issue that needed to punished. The Nuremburg Trials took place directly following the end of World War II. This was the first time in history that perpetrators of war crimes and genocide were being prosecuted and receiving the consequences that they deserved.

Since the 1940s, the fight for human rights has drastically progressed around the world. Up until this class, I never realized that events of genocide still occurred in our world.