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"Survival is a privilege
which entails obligations. I am forever asking myself
what I can do for those who have not survived. The
answer I have found for myself (and which need not
necessarily be the answer for every survivor) is: I want
to be their mouthpiece, I want to keep their memory
alive, to make sure the dead live on in that memory."
-Simon Wiesenthal, "Justice, Not Vengeance" (1989) |
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Most of the victims of the Holocaust (Shoah in
Hebrew) were European Jews. In all, approximately
six million Jews perished, mostly at the hands of the
Nazis and their collaborators during the second World
War. The Nazis strove to persecute Jews and commit
genocide, all as part of Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution
of the Jewish Question."
Many Jews during this time were forced into ghettos or
sent directly to internment (concentration) camps.
Conditions in the ghettos were generally poor. There was
great overcrowding; many starved and died of disease.
Gradually, many of the ghettos would be emptied as those
who were forced to live there were eventually deported
to the concentration camps.
In this section of the Museum of Family History, an
attempt is being made to present the story of this horrible period in
Jewish history in both an historical and personal way. At the same time
as this dark
period is discussed in historical terms, a necessary number of
"first-hand accounts" are included in order to provide context. These
stories are told by those who lived through these arduous times. They tell
of their personal experiences and observations with such emotion that
they add a much more impactful to what otherwise might be a simple telling of historical events. |