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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. |