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Emily Blythe
01/13/16
Weekly Response 1
Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
Weekly Response 1
I believe it is of great importance for schools to educate students thoroughly of significant
events that have impacted the entire world, such as the Holocaust. Considering I was raised in
North Carolina and there was no requirement for the teachings of the Holocaust, my social
studies classes skimmed the surface of informing students of this tragic event.
From kindergarten to a senior in high school, all of the information I learned were brief
summaries on how the holocaust was a tragic event, how many people were killed, Hitlers
malicious intentions, and Anne Frank. In 11th grade all social studies teachers required each
student to read The Diary of a Young Girl, which I found particularly interesting due to the
extenuating circumstances that such a young girl had to endure throughout her daily life. The
diary recounted many events that took place in this dark time and included explicit details, which
I also found intriguing. Also, via pop culture, I have encountered many examples of the
holocaust including movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates or even Inglourious
Basterds. In every movie almost each and every scene features an extreme amount of violence,
terror and torture that is all used to show the realness of the events that were occurring in
Germany at the time.
When most individuals think of the holocaust, the first thing that comes to mind is the
idea of genocide, or mass murder of (usually) innocent individuals in order to assert some form
of dominance upon a group of people. Throughout my scholastic career, I have learned about
many tragic events such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or the attack of the twin towers in the

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United States, however the holocaust is an event that particularly stands out to most people due
to the often horrific acts of violence that occurred. Acts such as barricading individuals in gas
chambers, mass shootings, starvation, and even burning people to death were forms of
extermination for this group of individuals.
Stalin, Zedong, even Julius Caesar are some notable names of famous dictators, however
one that most are familiar with is Adolph Hitler. Hitler was known to be the leader of the
holocaust, one who had a vision to create his own utopia in the country of Germany in route to
eventually rule the world. Hitler enforced genocide throughout the land of Germany by killing
those who were Jewish, as he believed them to be different and dirty, as he saw these
individuals as a threat to his rule. He then created the vision of a perfect German, which was
introduced as the Aryan race. The Aryan race is classified as one with blonde hair and blue eyes,
Hitler even began killing his own fellow Germans if they did not have these qualities.
In conclusion, I have learned from my past education that the holocaust is known as the
mass killing of Jewish people in order to create a group of people who all look the same, act the
same, and are under the rule of a dictator: Adolph Hitler. When it comes to the reality of the
genocide that occurred, the numbers are truly remarkable. It is believed that 6 million Jews were
killed in this mass murder, simply due to the persuasiveness and rule of Hitler. In addition to
killing many Jewish people, Hitler also sought out to kill anyone who went against his views,
those who tried to escape, even those who talked wrong about the dictator in order to assert his
form of dominance upon a country. In addition to these horrific acts, Hitler kept his people from
having their own opinions by shielding them from the outside world. In order to accomplish this,
he sought out to destroy any evidence of newspapers from countries outside of Germany as well
as burning any form of books that his people could read. Hitler was seen as a master

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manipulator, simply due to the amount of information he kept from his people as he realized that
they cannot fear what they do not know.