Jillian Sauve

Professor T. Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT-11003-007
1 January 2016

My preconceived notions of the Holocaust

I believe I was in middle school when I first learned about the Holocaust. We were
assigned a book called the boy in the stripped pajamas. I had heard about the holocaust before
but I was never taught the history behind it. I knew it was a time period where Jewish people
were imprisoned and treated unfairly. My teacher went into slight detail about the holocaust prior
to starting the book. My teacher did not go into gruesome detail about the torcher that took place.
In todays world people are afraid to accept the truth. I believe that school systems should
inform students on the holocaust without leaving any details out. When teachers do not express
the importance of the holocaust it, students lack an understanding for it. I believe that I did not
fully understand what the holocaust was until high school.
In high school we read the book called Night by Ellie Wiesel. Unlike middle school, we
learned about the holocaust for a couple weeks prior to starting the novel. My teacher showed us
pictures and read us other stories that related to the holocaust. We watched many videos on
surviving members of the holocaust. We focused on government corruption that took place in
Germany as well. It was interesting to me that we went into more detail about the holocaust in
English class than history class. Before high school I never knew that the holocaust also targeted
people that were homosexual, gypsies, Jehovah witnesses and people with mental disabilities. I

was very surprised to learn this because I was never taught about the other victims besides
Jewish people in the concentration camps.
I found the book Night to be very interesting and it gave me an insight on how it was
living in a concentration camp. I enjoyed the book because there was detail on abuse that took
place. We learned about the different political tactics that were used such as, propaganda. I was
surprised to learn that they would teach children in Germany about Hitler and to worship him. In
the boy in the stripped pajamas the older sister hangs Hitler posters in her bedroom. The brother
sees them and is confused as to why his older sister is treating Hitler like a god. This is an
example of how the propganda worked. By teaching young children that Hitler was good he
gained more power. This is why he was able to take over Germany.
Hitler believed that Germans were the superior r race. He did not believe that different
races should mix. In a documentary I watched in high school, it explained how he wanted to
separate all races that were not German. The documentary showed how the Nazis would preform
medical experiments on prisoners with mental disabilities. Hitler had many homosexuals
experimented on and claimed he was trying to cure the homosexuality.
I have heard different theories on the holocaust and I have questions as to why some
people believe that the holocaust never took place. I understand there are many conspiracy
theories out there, but what evidence do they have to prove that it wasnt real? I find it hard to
believe that it is at conspiracy theory with all the evidence to prove that it indeed did take place. I
would like to hear more stories from current survivors of the holocaust and what they have to
say.
I am very eager to learn more about the holocaust this semester. I have a good understand
as to what happened during the holocaust but I do not know everything. I want to learn more

about the children during the holocaust. I want to know how they were treated compared to the
adults. I find the holocaust to be very intriguing.