Why Survivors Are Important!

"I felt terribly guilty for the murders committed in my family by the SS. I was playing outside the Mogilov Podolsk ghetto. This sadist took my little sister, who was only four months old, out of my grandmother's arms, placed her on a stone, and split her in two with an axe. Then he killed my grandmother, my aunt, and five of my cousins. I felt so guilty because until 1997 I never dared tell my story. Now I have broken my silence and I weep, and so I release myself from this terrible burden of suffering.”

This is a story about a Holocaust survivor named Jenny Rozenstain, born in Romania in 1935. She has been living as a hairdresser with two children in Israel since 1950.

People say the true value of history lies in our ability to learn from it, but to do that we must first �remember’ what happened. Jenny Rozenstain is one of the thousands that give us a vivid image of the evil that occurred during WWII.

Even though nobody wants to hear a story about children being shot or people being eaten alive by dogs, these shocking details are what will influence us to change. The details create more vivid images in our heads. Dr. James L. McGaugh said that memory is enhanced when we experience trauma. This explains why emotional arousal has such a powerful influence on how well we remember things. If we were told that millions of Jews died, the information would be too general to impact us. It is because of the personal stories that we can feel sorrow and actually care.

Elie Wiesel, a notable survivor tells everybody, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” Anti-Semitism, prejudice and hatred towards the Jews was the foundation of the Holocaust. Alex Baur, one of the survivors admitted that “they weren’t too concerned with anti-Semitism. It was something they had grown up with; something they considered to be normal.” This seemingly harmless mindset caused a violent outburst resulting in the death of millions of innocent people. Now, the oppressed know that they must protest whenever they can.

The survivors also teach us what our mistakes are and what we must change in order to prevent future Holocausts. Our ultimate mistake was ignoring the past. Humans have continued to disregard the serious issues until it pertained to them. An example of this would be the Armenian genocide in 1915.

They were butchered in the streets and their homes. Leaders, thinkers, writers were killed. Women, children, and the elderly were forced