Simon Wiesenthal: A Survivor Of The Holocaust

Words: 628
Pages: 3

Whist many prisoners of the camp were of still of a Jewish decent, individuals from many races could be found within. Hitler used his power over the German population to capture civilians in which he felt threatened his power or disobeyed his rules. Survivor of the holocaust, Simon Wiesenthal, recounts his experience within the holocaust stating “For me the Holocaust was not only a Jewish tragedy, but also a human tragedy. After the war, when I saw that the Jews were talking only about the tragedy of six million Jews, I sent letters to Jewish organizations asking them to talk also about the millions of others who were persecuted with us together – many of them only because they helped Jews.” The Nazis party prosecuted many people of a non-Jewish German decent depending on if they were political (Communists, Social Democrats, Democrats), spiritual (Jehovah's Witnesses), or “social” (Homosexuals) opponents. …show more content…
In addition, Political prisoners, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals were predominately sent to Hitler’s concentration camps as a form of punishment. Whilst the members of these groups were not particularly targeted, like the Jews and Roma, for systematic murder, many of these people died in the camps from starvation, disease, exhaustion, and ruthless treatment. The Nazi party did not believe in individuality, believing that to be an individual was egoistic and would tear apart their communal nation. Hitler used his power to shift the views of the German population, resulting in a society formed with an idealistic view which discriminated against millions of people. Millions of people were sent to concentration camps, whilst many believe it was only people of a Jewish or Roma decent, it was instead anyone who didn’t fit into Hitler’s