Impacts of the Holocaust
Holocaust has been described as the world worst crime against a group of people. It was aimed at eliminating Jews and facing them out from the corners of the earth. Its impact continues to be experienced up to this day. It impacted both on the people’s lives and to the large extent changed the course of our history. It changed people’s ways of lives, careers were chattered, hearts were broken, properties were destroyed and above all millions of lives were lost. There is nothing that can be done to undo the untold misery that was visited on the group of people who were hated by the Germans to an extent of wiping them out from the face of the earth.
[1]One of the main impacts on those who were involved in this untold misery was the psychological effects. They were put under very humiliating conditions, hunger and a lot of suffering characterized their lives. This caused trauma on these people such that their mental status was never to be the same. Up to this date some people who survived these atrocities have never fully recovered, there have been reported cases of suicide as a result of the aftermath of the Holocaust. Herbert Kelman (2001) in his work described holocaust as the most dehumanizing crime ever meted on a human being and it will be hard for him to forget what he witnessed. He notes that intergeneration manifestation of trauma continues to be seen even on the third generation of the holocaust survivors. This points the strong effect this crime against humanity had on the lives of those who were involved and their future generations.
It is estimated that close to ten million people lost their lives, this qualifies the act against humanity as genocide. The many lives which were lost continue to haunt the world up to this time as families come into terms of what their families went through during this time of suffering. Europe alone lost close to ten million Jews .Some areas in Eastern Europe which had higher population of Jews were completely destroyed leaving only a handful number of them in theses areas.
After the world war two a period when the atrocities against the Jewish race were witnessed, Jews migrated to different parts of the world. Some settled in the United States of America, Canada and even in other European nations. These people were running away from the regions which they considered hostile to them. Once in these new homes, the survivors tried to establish new families to replace their lost families. It is during this period that they formed groups which were to help them come into terms with the sufferings they had experienced in the hands of the Nazis.
[2]The aftermath of the holocaust is greatly associated with the establishment of the Israel state. There was a strong will to create a Jewish state to settle some of the Jews who were not comfortable living in Europe and other parts of the world where they felt they were not save. The establishment of the Israel state was not an easy task, they had to fight with the Palestinians who occupied the region which the Jews believed rightfully belonged to them. This led to a full scale war in the attempt to liberate the Jews and find a place for them where they can settle. This is something which continues to haunt the Jews up to this time as this region has never known any peace. It has remained a region in turmoil as the Arabs fight to reclaim regions which they describe as rightfully their own. The conflict in the Middle East can partly be traced to the holocaust.
Holocaust changed the political shape of many nations especially in Europe, after German was defeated in the second world war ,a change in the government preceeded.They were made to pay for the crime they meted on their fellow human beings. Billions of dollars were paid as compensation to the victims who survived the worst atrocities ever meted on human beings.
Holocaust had far reaching effects in the history of the mankind, many books, documentaries, articles, movies and plays have been made to show the world what happened. There materials have been sold in millions generating billions of dollars in terms of revenue. The impacts of the holocaust continue to be felt in many ways; in our political dispensation, our lives and in many other aspects.
Bibliography
Arnow, D. The Holocaust and the Birth of Israel: Journal of Israeli History 15, no. 3 (1994).
Herbert, K Dignity and Dehumanization: The Impact of the Holocaust on Central Theme of my Work, University of Michigan Press (2001)
[1] Herbert, K Dignity and Dehumanization: The Impact of the Holocaust on Central Theme of my Work, University of Michigan Press (2001)
[2] Arnow, D. The Holocaust and the Birth of Israel: Journal of Israeli History 15, no. 3 (1994).
