Orion Griffin: Today in History: The Holocaust

Orion Griffin, The Newberry Observer, S.C.
·4 min read

Nov. 15—On November 15, 1938, the Reich Ministry of Education expelled all Jewish students from public schools across Germany. This followed what is known as Kristallnacht, or "The Night of Broken Glass."

1938 is one of the most important years in Holocaust history. It was the year that Nazi officials stepped up their campaign against Jews across the country. Laws that forbade the change in a business or personal names, that prohibited Jews from certain jobs and entering certain public spaces, such as the public school. Just a year before, in 1937, schools were not allowed to admit new Jewish students. The new law meant that there were no Jewish children in German schools.

Expulsions came after Kristallnacht, a series of pogroms from November 9-10, 1938. The goal was to attack and burn down Jewish businesses, synagogues, and homes and arrest 30,000 boys and men, sending them to Dachau, Buchenwald, and/or Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Members of the Nazi Party dressed as civilians, to "ensure" that the pogroms were viewed as "the German people" and not the Nazi Party's view.

The pogroms helped spread hate and fear across Germany. Many Germans had Jewish friends and neighbors and were aware of the hate the government was enacting. There is very little evidence that supports the Nazis would have punished German non-Jews had the German population spoken against the party. By staying silent, Germany allowed the Holocaust to happen, as the signs had been there when Hitler was elected and consolidated power in 1933.

Following Kristallnacht, the expulsion of students, and the many racist and anti-Semitic laws passed, German Jews set up programs to help each other get out of Germany. There was a large focus on children, with the Kindertransport helping save 10,000 children from extermination. These children were sent to Britain, but unfortunately faced anti-Semitism there as well as suspicious attitudes for being German. 1,000 teens were held in internment camps by the British, who believed they were spies. Many of these children, when they were of age, joined the military and fought against Germany.

Unfortunately, as the world knows, not everyone was able to escape despite their attempts. Much of the world kept their border closed due to their own anti-Semitic beliefs or because they did not believe it was "that bad" in Germany. Those who escaped to Czechoslovakia, France, or Poland found themselves under German control when World War Two and the Holocaust began on September 1, 1939, with the invasion of Poland by the Nazis and Soviets.

For those who want to learn more about Nazi racial laws or the Holocaust in general, you can visit the Holocaust Encyclopedia online for sources. I also recommend a few books.

—Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law, by James Q. Whitman: The book is not just about Nazi racial laws, but how many Nazi lawmakers studied in America to help hone the Nuremberg Laws, such as the blood laws. The book is a really good read and will also teach you about some of America's history with race.

—Flares of Memory: Stories of Childhood During the Holocaust, by Sheila Chamovitz Anita Brostoff: This book contains true stories and personal accounts of survival during the Holocaust. These include stories from Kristallnacht, the Kindertransport, stories of Ghettos, and survival in the camps.

—The Drowned and The Saved, by Primo Levi: Honestly, anything by Primo Levi is going to show with words the horrors of the Holocaust. This is a chapter in his overall book, If This is a Man, which outlines how the camps functioned internally and what happened to those who "drowned" and those who figured out how to "swim."

—Maus, by Art Spiegelman: This graphic novel shows how the children of Holocaust survivors are survivors themselves, having parents who were traumatized by what happened to them. Spiegelman details his parent's survival through the Holocaust, his time in Auschwitz and what it meant and took to survive, and what that meant growing up with survivors for parents. It shows that surviving the camps never ended for many, it just changed.