"When they came for the gypsies, I did not speak, for I am not a gypsy. When they came for the Jews, I did not speak, because I wasn't a Jew. When they came for the Catholics, I did not speak, for I am not a Catholic. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak." This quote is found on the wall at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. This is just one example of a bystander. During the time the Holocaust took place there were bystanders and those who rescued. Why did some people choose to be bystanders and others choose to be rescuers? What influenced the way they believed?.
The Holocaust was the extermination of the Jews and other people whom Hitler considered inferior. It took place from 1933 to 1945. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany led this effort. About 12 million people were murdered, half of them being Jews. When Hitler took over control of Germany, everything changed. Hitler had a very strong prejudice against the Jews. He wanted to create the perfect race of blonde haired, blue eyed Germans. His followers, who were the soldiers in the camps, were called Nazis. They enforced all the killings that Hitler wanted done. There were many other people involved in this massive genocide. Different people were leading the murders and other groups of people were being killed, not only Jews. There were many doctors who ran tests on people, but didn't care if the patients were hurt or even killed. All surgeries were performed without any anesthetic. These are just a few of the things that happened in the Holocaust. There are many things that happened that are impossible to imagine or are just too horrible to think about. .
Rescuers are those who, at great personal risk, actively helped members of persecuted groups, primarily Jews, during the Holocaust in defiance of Third Reich policy. They were ordinary people who became extraordinary people because they acted in accordance with their own belief systems while living in an immoral society.