Nazi and American Ideology on the Mentally and Physically Disabled

"It's hard to express myself at that time because I was nervous. Look at yourself. You're a bright human being. You are. You're very intelligent. And it was frustrating because it was like a living hell. There was no privacy. It was like living in a concentration camp. I've been beat up so many times when I lived at Willowbrook. I got beaten with sticks, key chains, keys. They'd kick my head through the wall. Only you name it, I had it. I'm not going to die in the institution because none of my family came to see me that often. They called them every five, ten years. The saddest thing is on Sundays when parents would come visit their kids. And I'd look out the window to see who would come and see me. When the clock struck 3:00 in the afternoon it was disappointing because nobody came to visit me or brought me cookies, ice cream, or toys, and stuff like that. "   Testimony of Bernard Carebello on his treatment during his forced stay at Willowbrook State School

 The conditions at Willowbrook (and in various other institutions) were so deteriorated that Hepatitis A was rampant throughout the facility. Just as Ravensbrück doctors, Rolf Rosenthal, Herta Oberheuser and Gerhard Schiedlausky or Auschwitz doctor, Joseph Mengele performed painful and inhumane experiments on their concentration and extermination camp victims, Willowbrook's doctors, Saul Krugman and Robert W. McCollum performed callous Hepatitis A experiments on the children of Willowbrook. It was noted by Paul A. Offit that, "In an effort to control outbreaks of hepatitis, the medical staff at Willowbrook consulted Saul Krugman....Krugman found that Hepatitis developed in 90 percent of children admitted to Willowbrook soon after their arrival. Although it was known that Hepatitis was caused by a virus, it wasn't known how hepatitis virus spread, whether it could be prevented, or how many types of viruses caused the disease. Krugman used the children at Willowbrook to answer those questions.  One of his studies involved feeding live hepatitis virus to sixty healthy children. Krugman watched as their skin and eyes turned yellow and their livers got bigger.  He watched them vomit and refuse to eat.  All the children fed the hepatitis virus became ill, some severely. Krugman reasoned that it was justifiable to inoculate retarded children at Willowbrook with hepatitis virus because most of them would get hepatitis virus anyway.  But by purposefully giving the children hepatitis, Krugman increased that chance by 100 percent." Nazi doctors showed the same lack of empathy. In November 1944, Georges Andre Kohn and several other children used for Nazi medical experimentation at Auschwitz, were injected with tuberculosis cultures in Neuengamme concentration camp which resulted in the children becoming severely ill. The justification being that the victims were seen as sub-human.

Eugenics is the belief that you can improve the human population through controlled breeding. The Nazis believed in racial purity and one of their prime targets was the mentally and physically disabled. In 1933, the laws "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" and "Law Against Dangerous Habitual Criminals" were passed which allowed for the forced sterilization of thousands of mentally and physically disabled individuals throughout Germany. In 1927, Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 which sought to the rise of forced sterilization in the mentally and physically disabled community and the prevention of interracial marriages. By 1930, a majority of U.S. states (30) had passed laws that regarded eugenics. Dr. Joseph S. Dejarnette who was the superintendent of Western State Hospital lobbied for the passing of the sterilization act. Along with writing poetry about eugenics, Dejarnette often complained about how the forced sterilization of the mentally and physically disabled needed to be seen as compulsory.

Bernard Carebello was diagnosed as "mentally retarded" at the age of 3 and abandoned at Willowbrook State School by his mother. Carebello was not allowed to leave until he turned 21, when it was revealed that he had been misdiagnosed and instead it was found that he had Cerebral Palsy. While at Willowbrook, Carebello was not attending any school whatsoever, was abused, and denied hygienic conditions.

 "You can't treat humans like a dog in a kennel. There is no place where you can mass produced care, compassion, and concern for people. It is impossible. It is fundamentally unsound. The assembly line works for add-in does not work for people. 

People need humanity." - Geraldo Rivera, Unforgotten: 25 Years After Willowbrook

Carrie Buck was a victim of Dr. Joseph Dejarnette's advocacy for compulsory sterilization of the mentally and physically disabled. After being raped, Buck was help captive at the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded for feeblmindedness, promiscuity and incorrigible behavior. After advocating for herself in Buck v. Bell, the United States Supreme Court supported the sterilization procedure in finding that it did not violate the constitution.

This is a fictional depiction of Nazi eugenics. The miniseries, Holocaust, followed the Weiss family throughout the war. The first few minutes detail the terrible fate of Anna. Raped by Nazi officers, Anna went into a psychosis. A doctor sent her to a Sanatorium where upon arrival, her and the other patients were gassed. 

This is Geraldo Rivera's expose, "Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace" from 1972 in it's entirety. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this article! Please share and comment about what you think!

Links for further research:
1. http://disabilityjustice.org/the-closing-of-willowbrook

2. http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/archives/FindingAids/fa0017.htm

3. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007057

4. http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/eugenics/4-influence/

Helmuth Hübener

75 years ago on October 27th, 1942, Helmuth Hübener was executed for opposing the Third Reich. Helmuth and his three friends, Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, Rudolf Wobbe and Gerhardt Dewer were the youngest opponents of the Nazis, Hübener being the youngest executed.

The Hübener Group was founded and operated within Hamburg, Germany. Using only a shortwave radio and a typewriter that Hübener borrowed from his LDS branch, the Hübener Group wrote and distributed several different leaflets throughout Hamburg.

In January 1942, Helmuth was hoping to translate several leaflets into French when an acquaintance denounced him. On February 5th, 1942 Hübener was arrested by the Gestapo and after several days of torture Schnibbe and Wobbe were also arrested. On August 11th, 1942 Hübener, Wobbe and Schnibbe stood trial before the infamous People's Court (appearing before the court was equivalent to a death sentence) where Schnibbe and Wobbe were sentenced to 5 to 10 years in concentration camps and Hübener was sentenced to death.

On October 27th, 1942 Hübener was executed by guillotine. 50 years later, Rudolf Wobbe lost his battle with cancer on January 31st, 1992 and 18 years later, Karl-Heinz Schnibbe died from Parkinson's Disease in May 10th, 2010. It was also noted that Schnibbe experienced pain in his knees from the brutality he experienced in Nazi concentration camps.

The Hübener Group.

.

Helmuth Hübener in Gestapo custody.

Links for further research:
1. http://www.hamburg.de/personalamt/helmuth-huebener-ausstellung/

2. http://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/biographies/index_of_persons/biographie/view-bio/helmuth-huebener/?no_cache=1

3. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r3kV_tfzHC4 (This is the documentary about Helmuth Hübener, Truth and Conviction).

In The Midst Of Modern Day Nazism

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out- Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out- Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for Jews, and I did not speak out- Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me- and there was no one left to speak for me." 

-Martin Niemöller

Yesterday, August 13th, 2017, there was a Neo-Nazi, White Supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA. After taking some personal time to process how I feel and to think of what to say, I've learned that I am angry. Beyond angry, in fact, affected to the the point where something must be said and done to fight against the hateful rhetoric that impacts everyone, even if you believe it does not affect you.

Now, my intention behind writing this article is to show that after such a display of violence, it is no longer appropriate to remain in a corner and to talk amongst yourself. The hate, violence and rhetoric that was put on display, threatens your corner and your convictions.

Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet, Transylvania before the Nazis invaded his town, destroyed the Jewish community and deported those remaining. Before the Nazis appeared in Sighet, first the foreign Jews were deported. A friend, Moishe the Beadle, was amongst the group:

"And then, one day all foreign Jews were expelled from Sighet. And Moishe the Beadle was a foreigner. Crammed into cattle cars by the Hungarian police, they cried silently. Standing on the station platform, we too were crying. The train disappeared over the horizon; all that was left was thick, dirty smoke. Behind me, someone said, sighing, "What do you expect? That's war..." -Page #6 of Night by Elie Wiesel.

Now, that type of attitude was not appropriate and is currently not appropriate for our modern day situation. If any of you think that the rally in Charlottesville, VA took place there, only there and only applies to Charlottesville, your wrong. There's another rally currently scheduled for Richmond, VA in September. And, if you look at the last US election, there were thousands of Americans choosing to come out of their racist, Anti-Semitic, homophobic, masoginist closets. After the display yesterday, you can no longer brush off violent, hateful incidents as "no big deal".

On the same page, Wiesel writes, "Days went by. Then weeks and months. Life was normal again. A calm, reassuring wind blew through our homes. The shopkeepers were doing good business, the students lived among their books, and the children played through the streets. One day, as I was about to enter the synagogue, I saw Moishe the Beadle sitting on a bench near the entrance. He told me what had happened to him and his companions. The train with the deportees had crossed the Hungarian border and, once in Polish territory, has been taken over by the Gestapo. The train had stopped. The Jews were ordered to get off and onto waiting trucks. The trucks headed toward a forest. There everybody was forced to get out. They were forced to dig huge trenches. When they had finished their work, the men from the Gestapo began theirs. Without passion or haste, they shot their prisoners, who were forced to approach the trench one by one and offer their necks. Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for machine guns...How had he, Moishe the Beadle, been able to escape? By a miracle. He was wounded in the leg and left for dead...Day after day, night after night, he went from one Jewish house to the next, telling his story and that of Malka, the young girl who lay dying for three days, and that of Tobie, the tailor who begged to die before his sons were killed." -Pages 6 & 7 of Night by Elie Wiesel.

After this heinous act, the people of Sighet still ignored the rising hatred and antisemitism. Now is not the time to ignore a display like this. Instead of silently meeting together, Virginian Neo Nazis have officially decided to march into downtown Charlottesville and soon Richmond. After the Nazis marched into Sighet, edicts began to appear. The Jewish leadership were rounded up, ghettos were created, valuables were forcibly handed over to the Nazis and the Jews were forcibly marked.

Although the Neo-Nazis do not hold as much power as the Nazis that came out of Germany, the point is that violence escalates and hate spreads. Therefore, now is the time to speak up, to let your voice be heard so that you can combat the hate and violence that no longer hides or lurks in the shadows. Fight the Anti-Semitism, the Islamiphobia, the racism, the masogony and the denial of unalienable human rights that is staring you in the face and making its presence known.

*Quotes and facts pertaining to this article are owed to Elie Wiesel's memoir, Night.
Alot of this articke' s content derives from my personal opinion while the other articles on this blog are based off of fact.* 

Jewish Leadership During The Holocaust

Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust was evident in many different forms. There was the Judenrat which was organized over Nazi occupied territories and Ghettos, Kapos (prisoner supervisors), the Lagerpolitzei (camp police), the Blockaelteste or Blockovas (block leader) and the Stubova (room chief) who held power in the Nazi concentration and extermination camps. Throughout historical texts and survivor testimonies, there seems to be a mix of different opinions about the role and behavior of  those that were in leadership. In this article, I hope to bring some more understanding about who exactly those in power were and what role they might have played in using their status and power.

"Looking back, what can one say? Did everyone behave heroically? Of course not. Did some people behave as now we hope that we would not have behaved? Of course, this is true as well. It was part of a vast European enterprise, in which the Jews were, for the most part, utterly helpless. As a historian spanning this whole process, seeing the Jewish police and the Kapos in the camps, the Jews behaved no differently from other communities where you find this massive victimization. I don't think that there is anything unusual about this process. This is what happens when civilian communities are victimized in this particular way: You find a range of reactions and experiences." - Professor Michael Marrus on the Judenrat 

The Judenrat were Jewish councils, composed of individuals with influence and rabbis, within Nazi occupied territories and Ghettos. The Judenrat carried out Nazi policies pertaining to the Jews. The mix of feelings about the Judenrat came from the belief of some Judenrat members that if they gave in to the Nazi's demands, than the greater whole of Jewish community would be saved or seen as productive, therefore used for purposes other than mass murder. For example, The Płońsk Judenrat was influential in obtaining food, detaining the establishment of the Płońsk ghetto, releasing Jews from imprisonment, creating a food kitchen and putting together a children's home. Although the Judenrat could select individuals for deportation in answering Nazi demands, overall, the Judenrat could not control the outcome of their community. 

"They were more or less in command, to the extent where the Nazis would say, "We want five thousand people." And so they had to pick the five thousand people, that's right. And so they would pick the old or the sick or this kind of thing and I remember once a meeting actually where...Monidmarin was his name. And a lot of people, of course, were just so angry with him, you know, he's a traitor and so on.  And I remember what he said. It stuck in my mind, you know. And he said, "Yes, I am doing all these things. I am doing them so that perhaps some of us will survive and if some of us survive, those who survive - and I am still alive - you can judge me then." But he didn't survive. You know, he was sent like everybody else to, I believe, in Auschwitz." - Survivor Leon Saper's Testimony on the Judenrat

Picking prisoners to complete everyday tasks of overlooking other prisoners and running the camp was practiced so the SS could have assistance. 

Kapos were known as prisoner-supervisors who looked over their fellow prisoners (somewhat like a foreman). There is such a mixed range of feelings about the role of Kapos within the concentration and extermination camps because there were a majority who used their power for malicious purposes while on the other end, there were Kapos who aided those around them. 

Dachau Kapo Emil Erwin Mahl after the war, was put on trial for violating the laws and usages of war because he willingly subjected his fellow prisoners to torture. Between January 1st 1942 and April 29th 1945, Mahl participated in killings, beatings and the practice of torture through starvation throughout Dachau. 

     "I know people are always objecting to the ones who worked in the Schreistube and the ones who were kapos. Look, many Jewish kapos did nothing wrong and did no harm to anybody and I defy people who criticize, what would they have done? If a German turns around to you and says, "Du bist ein Kapo," you tell him no? Get lost? What? He'll shoot you. What are you going to do? So the only thing is you could still behave like a human being or you could be a monster, but to criticize people simply for being kapos?" - Dora Love, from her testimony on Life at Stutthoff. 

The Blockaelteste or Blockovas (the term for female block leaders) were prisoners in charge of a concentration or extermination camp block while enforcing discipline. 

Between February 1941 and March 1943, Karl Zander worked in the Sachsenhausen crematorium which participated in mass shootings, hangings and the slaughter of 7,000 individuals, some being Russian POW's. On March 1943, he became the Blockaelteste of Block 17 where he tortured and beat prisoners to death. 

Olga Benario Prestes was a Jewish born Communist inmate of Ravensbrück (search previous articles. There is one with details about Olga Benario) who was appointed Blockova of Block 11 (the Jewish block) in October 1939. Although Benario faced having to carry out tasks assigned by the Nazis and disdain from fellow inmates, over time, Olga used her position as Blockova to help others.

"The days pass. Olga comes to know the women better as she moves around the bunks, and they get to know her and look forward to her rounds; even the 'bourgeois' Viennese stop calling Olga a Red and a Bolshevik cow, because she helps them, telling them t eat slowly to ease the hunger, and to pick off lice from each other's heads. 'Don't give up,' she says. 'Cling close for warmth.' - Page 60 of  Ravensbrück by Sarah Helm. 

The Jewish police were a part of the Judenrat and was responsible for carrying out orders delivered by the Nazis. The Jewish police guarded the ghetto, collected taxes, personal possessions and ransom payments. The police force gathered and accompanied individuals for forced labor pogroms while also looking over sanitary conditions and assisting the poor. Later on, those still in their positions, would round up Jewish individuals for deportation and extermination. 

"What happened to the Jewish police that prompted it to undertake this task? Were they driven out of their minds? Were their hearts excised and replaced with stones? These are hard questions. Certainly, the Jewish police are anything but enviable…! There are various kinds of executioners. There is the kind who slays his brother for a shekel from Judah Iscariot’s hand. Another kind, besides the wages of his treachery, must be fed liquor to the point of intoxication; otherwise, his lowly hands will tremble. Then there are executioners who practice their blood-soaked vocation for the sake of an idea. They are told, “John Doe is not only socially useless but harmful and must be liquidated.” They act on behalf of society; they are liquidators . . . They bought the Jewish police – got them drunk, and drugged them by exempting their children from the decree . . . and by giving them a kilogram and a half of bread per day – plenty of bread, plus sausage and sugar – in return for the bloodstained job. And they did it for an idea, having been told: “If we uproot the teeth, tear off the limbs and bisect the bodies with our own Jewish hands, it may be less painful than if done by coarse non-Jewish hands.” All three speakers had said so explicitly. A resounding hint had been issued: “If you don’t do it yourselves, we’ll do it ourselves.” To avoid that, they preferred to do it themselves. Who should do it but the Jewish police, who in one stroke have been bought off, intoxicated, and ideationally persuaded? No, there is no reason to envy them, the Jewish police." - Josef Zelkowicz in his diary on the Lodz Ghetto Jewish Police

Although Jewish Leadership was evident during the Holocaust, I think it's difficult to despute whether or not individuals who chose to step into those roles were sadists or not. Definitely, there were those, Emil Erwin Mahl, who used their heightened status for negative purposes, however, there are also those who believed they could bring abut positive change or who actually actively aided and assisted those in need around them. I hope that this article could help you see things from a different perspective while providing some knowledge. 

Thank you to Yad Vashem- The World Holocaust Remembrance Center and The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for helping provide content for this article.

Links for Further Research: 

1. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/dachautrial/d3.pdf
(Trial document about Emil Erwin Mahl. On pages 1 and 2, you will find the purpose of his prosecution and the evidence) 

2. http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%203862.pdf
(Interview with Holocaust Historian and Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto, Michael Marrus)

3. http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206389.pdf
(Description of what the Judenrat was and their role during the Holocaust)

4. http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205174.pdf
(Testimony of Leon Saper about the Role of the Judenrat)

5. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1099188 
(Picture and small information piece about Karl Zander) 

6. http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206386.pdf
(About the Jewish Police and their purpose)

7. http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%203224.pdf 
(Article explaining the relationship between the Judenrat and Jewish Police)

8. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005265
(More information about the Judenrat)

9. http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205577.pdf
(Diary entry about the Lodz Ghetto Jewish Police by Josef Zelkowics)

10. http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%202020.pdf
(Explanation of Kovn Ghetto Jewish Police by Israeli Supreme Court Justice Dov Levin) 

Ravensbrück Rabbits

On July 22nd 1942, seventy-five women were called to the Ravensbrück Appellplatz. These women had just arrived from Lublin, all young and fit. The women were inspected by Ravenbrück doctors, Rolf Rosenthal, Gerhard Schiedlausky and Herta Oberheuser, along with Karl Gerbhardt (Himmler's top surgeon) and his assistant, Fritz Fischer. Ernst Grawitz, head of the German Red Cross and an SS physician was also present for parts of the experiments.

Four days later, the group of seventy-five Lublin women were called to the Revier. They were once again inspected by the same group of doctors, eventually selecting only ten for further inspection. From the group of ten, only six were selected for the first round of experiments.

About four days later, the six women who were selected were prepared for experimentation. They were bathed, shaven, given beds and put under anesthetic. In the following hours, the women woke up with hallucinations. Their legs were wrapped in plaster and labelled.

In the following days, the six women were locked into the Revier while their legs swelled and the plaster cut into the wound. Flies were swarming around the rotting flesh while the women drifted in and out of consciousness.  Only three weeks later was the plaster and their bed sheets changed. At the same time, nine new Rabbits were selected and given surgery . By this point, the first round of experiments had proved inconclusive.

In the second round of experiments, it was believed that the tests turned up inconclusive because not enough was done to mimic a battle wound. Therefore, wooden splinters and glass were inserted into the Rabbit's wounds. Larger amounts of bacteria were also used so the infection could spread further. Each new wound was treated with a series of different drugs, sulphonamide drugs or nothing at all.

Although this round of tests proved to also be inconclusive, Ernst Grawitz thought that the injuries of the patients and the drugs used weren't enough. Grawitz was advocating for the next group of women to be shot in the leg.

On September 20th, several other Lublin women were called to the Revier. These women were not shot in the leg, however, they were injected with larger amounts of bacteria and more foreign objects (ex: glass, wood). After several days of leaving the current wounds rotting and undressed, the Rabbits were taken to the operating theater. Over the coarse of the following five days, each Rabbit was injected with several more rounds of various types of bacteria. By that point, the remaining Rabbits experienced excruciating pain in their legs and a terrible thirst.

After the final round of injections, the Ravenbrück Rabbits began to heal or die.

Alfreda Prus, a former student at the University of Zamość was given the label K1. Many suspected Alfreda had gangrene. For days she hiccuped and swore she was going to die. On her final day of life, a new incision was made in her leg. When she returned to her bed, she bled profusely.  She was taken away on a stretcher, only to be heard screaming moments later.

Weronika Kraska was believed to be injected with tetanus. Complaining of a stiff neck, she was forced to drink water due to a locked jaw. While speaking of her two children, Weronika gave out a scream. As her condition worsened, Gerda Quernheim (a prisoner who worked alongside the camp doctors) injects her with a needle.

By the time the first four groups were healing from their wounds, another new group of women were called up to the Revier. On October 7th, 1942, the new group of Rabbits were bathed, inspected by a group of doctors  and injected with various types of bacteria and foreign objects. The women awoke, several days later, with hallucinations, hiccups and stiff necks. A couple days after their injections,  nine out of the original twelve were left.

Alfreda and Kazimiera Kurowska died from an extensive gangrene infection. The bacteria quantities were so large that their bodies couldn't put up a defense. Kazimiera's right leg was completely destroyed. Once the infection began to spread to the right side of her body, she was given a massive dose of morphine. Another Rabbit, Weronika Kraska was injected with tetanus, which killed her.

After the sulphonamide experiments, the surviving Rabbits were left to fend for themselves. The women were left in beds that were grey and sticky, while flies and maggots fed on the puss oozing from their wounds.

In the end, each round of the sulphonamide experiments proved to be inconclusive. Heinrich Himmler, by the end of October, had moved on to new interests.

Himmler believed that Karl Gerbhardt and Ludwig Stumpfegger (Adolf Hitler's future personal surgeon) should investigate the mending of broken bones. On November 2nd, a new group of Rabbits were called to the Revier. The incoming women were subjected to various types of operations: bone grafts, bone splinters, bone breaking and operations on muscles.

In the name of curiousity, dozens of Polish women and eventually women of various other nationalities were mutilated and abandoned. In 1946, four of the Ravensbrück Rabbits were able to give evidence at the Nuremburg Doctor's Trial.

 

Maria Kusmierczuk showing her mutilated leg. On October 7th, 1942, Maria was infected with tetanus bacteria as a part of the Ravensbrück sulfanilamide experiments. Her wound did not heal, leaving the bone exposed and her unable to walk. 

Bogumila Babinska survived two operations on the muscles of her thigh. The operations were performed in November and December of 1942. In 1943, another operation was performed on her shin bone. Bogumila was one of the Ravensbrück Rabbits to write secret messages in urine.  She passed in 1980. 

Barbara Pietrzyk survived bone operations on each leg at the age of 16. Unfortunately, Barbara passed in 1949 at the age of 21. A factor in the cause of her death being the operations she forcibly underwent  at Ravensbrück. 

Jadwiga Dzido. 

 

 

Wladislava Karolewska

Links for further research: 

1. Information about Maria Kusmierczuk:

 https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1156938

2. Information pertaining to Bogumila Babinska: 

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1156940

3. Further information about Barbara Pietrzyk: 

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1156939

 

4. Further reading about Jadwiga Dzido:

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1055329

 

5. More information about Wladislava Karolewska:

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa10043

Welcome to my Holocaust History Blog!

In June of 2013, I posted my first article or post on this blog. It was then that I decided to dedicate my life to studying the Holocaust.

Several years before my first post, the Hübener group is what started my initial study. After reading a fictional depiction of Helmuth Hübener's life, "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti,  I spent my entire summer taking notes from books that I read from a local library. Eventually, I began to build my own library of Holocaust memoirs and historical texts which provided me with first-hand accounts by survivors and the historical perspective of scholars and historians. In 2013, I decided that it was important to continue gaining my knowledge of the Holocaust and to share it. Therefore, I started writing on this blog whenever I found the time in my busy schedule and I talked about the Holocaust in countless projects throughout high school. There was a time that I was actually organizing an assembly with a teacher who's mother immigrated to the USA after experiencing Kristallnacht.

Now, I have recently rediscovered the things in my life that I am passionate about. Five years after my first blog post, writing about the events and individuals of the Holocaust is what I am passionate about. I find it fulfilling to research the lives of individuals who are remembered little or if at all. I find it fulfilling to provide them with a voice and to recognize them as human beings and not as a part of a statistic. I feel accomplished knowing that I work hard on all of my articles. Most of all, it comforts me to know that I do not stand alone in my study of the Holocaust and events of injustice throughout this world's history. I feel comforted knowing that there are others hard at work in giving victims a voice, in providing factual information about places and events and in helping the future and present generations to never forget.

Through my rediscovery and evaluation of my passions, I noticed that I really neglected this blog. It being the New Year, I decided that I want to challenge myself to study, learn and share more. Therefore, I am hoping to post a new article each week. The funny thing is, I have absolutely no problem finding topics, it's the discipline and time that needs some work.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season and they have an eventful year to look forward too. Wishing everyone luck in accomplishing their goals!

- Danielle Hellmuth. 

Livia Bitton-Jackson

Livia Bitton-Jackson (formerly Elli L. Friedmann) is a Holocaust survivor from Czechoslovakia and the author of the Holocaust memoir, "I Have Lived a Thousand Years". Jackson was born in Chamorin, Czechoslovakia (formerly Samorin, Slovakia) in 1931. She lived the normal life of a thirteen year old up until the Nazi invasion of Hungary on March 19th, 1944. She was imprisoned in the Nagymagyar ghetto, Auschwitz, Plaszow, and Augsburg. At the end of the war, she was eventually liberated from the Death Train.

In 1951, Livia Bitton-Jackson immigrated to the United States with her mother and surviving brothers.  The memoir, "I Have Lived a Thousand Years" is a great text for adolescents. It provides a teenager's insight into the Holocaust. She is also the author of two other memoirs, "My Bridges of Hope" and " Hello, America" which provide insight into her life after liberation and the struggles of establishing a new life in New York City.

Links for further research: 

1. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn511231