The Holocaust

The Holocaust is without a doubt one of the darkest stains on human history. The desire to exterminate an entire people from a continent, and the brutality in which it was attempted, is, frankly, horrifying.

My school hosted a local speaker who was a survivor of the Holocaust, and his story was eye-opening. Hearing a firsthand account of the atrocities of that period was an intense experience. He spoke of things that we as Americans (I pray hopefully) don't think about. Families being forcibly seperated, innocent people being shot in the streets, infants being bashed to death against walls because they were crying for their mother--all of the above were not only witnessed, but commonplace.

I find it hard to comprehend such brutality against your fellow man. But, in every single account of the Holocaust I have read or seen, it's right there in your face.

One book that does an outstanding job of depicting the Holocaust is the MAUS series by Art Spiegelman. Both of his parents were survivors of Auschwitz, and the two graphic novels tell the story of Art's father, Vladek, using animals as the main characters. But the story is not lightened by using animals as the characters-- it is a very realistic, and at times graphic, account. I recommend it because it is not only a true account, but it also provides an interpretation of images related with the Holocaust that we don't normally see, but at the same time are very accurate.

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