Holocaust Survivor Stories

Taking the time to learn more about the past is one of the best ways to make sure that it isn't forgotten and that the mistakes of it aren't repeated in the future. In terms of the Holocaust, it may sound hard to believe but the fact is that the number of people who claim that the Holocaust never occurred is growing. That's why remembering the Holocaust survivor stories is so important.
 
Today, you can find Holocaust stories in numerous places. Plenty of documentaries exist that allow you to watch interviews with those who survived, there are numerous online websites devoted to cataloguing their accounts, and even feature films have been made telling the stories of these survivors.
 
Whether it's stories of surviving a concentration camp, tales of escaping Poland before the Final Solution was put in place, or some other story of making it through this atrocity alive, there is no question that the terrible things that occurred in Europe during the period from 1942 to the end of WWII are among the worst that humans have ever dealt with.
 
Tales from Auschwitz, for example, include stories of people dying of starvation regularly, stacked up like cordwood, and burned. Those who arrived didn't realize they were in a 'death camp' and among the most painful tales are those about young children trying to find games or ways to stay entertained. The stories of broken families, dead bodies burning, and prisoners packed so tightly into cattle cars that they couldn't move are too numerous to count.
 
Other tales of hiding in attics or making an escape across the border are filled with fear, close calls, and sacrifices. Throughout it all there are common themes – hope, fear, and the hatred of the Nazis against those they worked so hard to destroy.
 
There's no question that as Holocaust survivor stories continue to be archived that some may be forgotten, and there is no way to select the most important ones from all the terrible stories. But the key is to always pay attention to them and to use the stories to make sure that in the future these atrocities never occur again. We can't erase the past, but turning a blind eye to it will only cause more problems down the road. Facing the horrors of the Holocaust is a part of life that we all need to accept as terrible, horrific, and all-too real.