7808ec+Holocaust+Essay

The Holocaust; Disturbing or a Must Learn If you are wondering if the Holocaust was a case of severe bullying, it was. People were being put down and killed, just because one person didn't like their religion, and they weren't part of his " perfect world". Some people wonder if we should just forget it happened. If people aren't mature enough to learn about history and what happened and why, then they aren't mature enough for life. The Holocaust was a very dark time, and eleven million Jews were put in the camps, but only five million came out alive. I find it hard to believe, that one person got an army full of people who killed people just because they were different from him. Some parents question if their children should learn about the Holocaust. Sixth graders should learn about the Holocaust because they have the maturity to handle the responsibility, the ability to prevent prejudice, and the knowledge to keep it from happening again.

One reason sixth graders should learn about the Holocaust is they are mature enough. They don't laugh at this kind of stuff and say "Oh, that was the past. I don't live in the past, I live in the future." They take it seriously. Most sixth graders know that most people are very sensitive about this topic. If we never learn about it, I know for a fact that I hate not knowing. If everybody but me knows something, I feel bad. I feel like nobody thinks I was mature or important enough to know. But the thing is, sixth graders //are// mature enough. Jane Yolen once said " I hope we can all be small heroes in this big world." When I heard that I instantly knew she wanted kids to know about the Holocaust and then they would be able to prevent it, if someone decides to start another Holocaust. She wrote a poem called the Alphabet of Evil and it is all the names of the concentration camps. People need to know what concentration camps were, what the Holocaust was, and why it happened. People don't just let it slide if they don't know what a part of history was, they ask questions. They don't ask one, they ask A LOT, like " Why would someone do that" and " Is it possible for someone to be that evil?" They want to know and they want answers. Sixth graders especially, should learn about the Holocaust.

Another reason sixth graders should learn about the Holocaust is the effects prejudice had on it. The Holocaust wasn't somebody just saying "kill them, they're different," it was a bully saying that. Adolf Hitler thought that just because they were different from his perspective, they was different to everyone else. What he didn't realize is that he was different to the Jews. Like in The Crayon Poem, the last line says "We are a box of crayons. Each of us is unique, but when we get together, the picture is complete." What that means is that nobody is the same as anybody else, and when we are together, the world is complete. When there is only one group of us, one part of the picture is done. Also, when we learned about Rachel's Challenge, an innocent young girl who was so sweet to everyone she met, never judged anyone, and was killed in a school shooting. That is like what Adolf Hitler did. He took innocent people, if they were under a certain age, killed because they wouldn't be able to work, and if they were old enough, worked most of them to death, or they eventually got killed. Somebody said, " They came for the Jews and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew, but when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." That person was taken away in the Holocaust and nobody dared to speak out and save them, just because they were different. Prejudice was a big problem, and still is today.

Lastly, we have to do whatever it takes to prevent this from happening again. But George Santyana once said " Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it." What that means is that people who don't want to learn about history, will repeat it. Good and bad history. Like, repeating the Holocaust would be bad. America getting it's freedom would be and example of good. It is so shameful and people still can't believe it happened. If it does happen again, somebody is more likely to speak out and stop it before it starts again. Whoever that person is, will be honored in history forever. If nobody decides to stand up to that person causing the Holocaust to repeat, then the whole world would have to feel bad. They let people die just because they were to scared to risk their lives to save millions of people. They would know what would happen because it has already happened before. So it would be very predictable.

Even though the Holocaust was a sad, horrible, depressing time, people need to know why it happened, what it is, and what happened in it. I think that it is a disturbing topic to study, but important to learn why Adolf Hitler was so prejudice against Jews. Do you think it was fair for them to be killed for speaking in Yiddish if they were in a concentration camp? I don't. If kids our age were being killed in the Holocaust, why can't we learn about it? Kids our age experienced it! Sixth graders have the maturity, the knowledge to prevent it, and ability to avoid prejudice, so sixth graders should definitely learn about the Holocaust.