Survival | Seared Souls: S.C. Voices of the Holocaust - Episode 9

Holocaust survivors discuss the determination that was required to survive under the horrid conditions. They discuss the gas chambers, the starvation, and illness, and waking up with a corpse next to them. Some people would go to the wire (the fence), intentionally to be shot. The story of sisters being reunited, only briefly, is told.

As Germany lost ground to Allied Forces, the Nazi SS transferred Jews from camp to camp. Death marches began for prisoners barely clinging to life. The story of two friends being offered a ride on a horse-drawn flatbed, but refusing to ride, is told. After the horses took off, submachine gun fire rang out. On a train with about 150 people packed into a wagon, standing for ten days, some died. Snow that was scooped up allowed some to survive. People went crazy and behaved like animals. Only about 20 survived. Fighter planes began shooting, and some were able to escape and run amid a hail of bullets. A lost bottle of cod liver oil became a delicacy that preserved life.

Standards

• 7-4 The student will demonstrate an understanding of the causes and effects of world conflicts in the first half of the twentieth century.
  • The influence of both world wars and the worldwide Great Depression are still evident. To understand the effects these events had on the modern world, the student will utilize the knowledge and skills set forth in the following indicators:
    • 7-4.5 Summarize the causes and course of World War II, including drives for empire, appeasement and isolationism, the invasion of Poland, the Battle of Britain, the invasion of the Soviet Union, the "Final Solution," the Lend-Lease program, Pearl Harbo...
    • 7-4.6 Analyze the Holocaust and its impact on European society and Jewish culture, including Nazi policies to eliminate the Jews and other minorities, the Nuremberg trials, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the rise of nationalism in Southwest...
• USHC-7 The student will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of World War II on the United States and the nation’s subsequent role in the world.
  • In defense of democracy, a government may need to confront aggression and ask its citizens for sacrifice in wars and providing foreign aid that, in turn, affects the practice of democracy at home. To make informed political decisions about when and ho...
    • USHC-7.4 Summarize the economic, humanitarian, and diplomatic effects of World War II, including the end of the Great Depression, the Holocaust, the war crimes trials, and the creation of Israel.