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The Holocaust

The term Holocaust is defined as mass destruction or slaughter killings of people,

especially caused by fire. In other words, the Holocaust means a Jewish sacrificial offering that

was entirely burnt on an altar. Therefore, historically the term Holocaust also known as Shoah,

refers to the genocide that involved Jewish Mass killing in Europe during the Second World

War. Over six million Jews were murdered across Europe by Germany Nazis and their

collaborators led by Adolf Hitler of Germany. The six million Jews murdered from 1941 to 1945

during the Second World War accounted for two-thirds of the total Jewish population in Europe.

The essay will focus on the definition of the term Holocaust as expressed by several authors and

as depicted in the novel “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” as well.

Firstly, a website article entitled ‘The Holocaust’ defines the term Holocaust as the “Nazi

Germany’s deliberate, organized, state-sponsored persecution and machinelike murder of

approximately six million European Jews” (The Holocaust, np). When the Nazi regime

overthrew the ruling government and took power in Germany, it viewed the Jewish race as

inferior and did not deserve to live. Jews were considered as Aliens who were not welcome in

Europe. Hitler began a campaign that involved stripping Jews of their jobs and property. The

Jews were expelled from their jobs in military, judicial, and all civil service sectors in all the

Germany controlled land. The Jews' synagogues were burned down and destroyed; they were
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also deprived of their Citizenship and were referred to as unwelcomed aliens in Europe. As a

result, Jews became to blame for every negative thing that had faced Germany in the past years,

for example, punitive Versailles treaty, economic depression, and the defeat during the First

World War. When Hitler rose to power with the Nazi Regime, he authorized the sweeping of all

Jews from the face of Europe. As a result, the Holocaust began, which the Nazis referred to as

the final solution to the Jewish problem (Mayer, 2). Deportation of Jews all over Europe began,

and many Jews were deported to concentration camps equipped with gassing facilities. On

arrival to the concentration camps, the Jews were gassed with poisonous gases such as chlorine,

and their bodies completely burnt in alters. The other was taken to execution camps in the forest

where they were brutally murdered. As a result, the Holocaust involved the Jewish mass killing

and burning in alters true to its definition.

Secondly, the term holocaust is also expressed in the novel ‘The Boy in the Striped

Pajamas’ by the story of a boy called Bruno. Bruno was the son of a Nazi German army

Commander, during the Second World War. Bruno’s family is forced to evacuate from Berlin

and move to their new home in Out-with (Boyne, 5). On arrival at their new home in Out-with,

the area is desolate and boring to Bruno. Earlier along in Berlin, Bruno loved exploring, and as a

result of one day in his new home, he walks along the fence despite being forbidden, and in the

process, meets with a Jewish boy named Shmuel. Bruno recognizes the Striped Pajamas Shmuel

was wearing as the one he usually sees through the window. The two boys become great friends

despite their differences, such that Bruno sneaked through the fence to visit Shmuel. Shmuel tells

Bruno how he was abducted by soldiers and ended up in the camp. One day Bruno's mother

convinced their father to go back to Berlin. This action saddens Bruno since he was not willing

to leave his friend. As a result, the next day, Bruno dresses striped pajamas as his friend and
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sneaks into Shmuel’s camp to explore and assist his friend to search his father he has not seen for

several days (Boyne, 88). The soldiers' round-up prison match arrives before Bruno could sneak

back to their side, and as a result, the two boys end up in a dark room, and Bruno is never heard

again. Later Bruno’s boot and clothes are found at the fence, and his father realizes what had

happened to his son. As a result, the novel shows the differences between the Nazis and Jews and

the suffering Jews were subjected to by the Nazis. Definitely, Bruno died together with other

Jews during the prison match up, a clear indication of Jewish persecution and mass-murdering by

the Nazis as defined by the term Holocaust.

Lastly, the article entitled ‘Holocaust: untold reality’ expresses the term Holocaust

similarly by referring it as the Jews mass killing during the Second World War. The articles

focus on the Jews' mass killing in the concentration camps by the Nazis. The Jews were executed

in the concentration camps by bullet firing in the death pits, or by carbon monoxide in the

combustion chambers. The Auschwitz and Treblinka execution camps were refereed to as death

factories where many Jewish were killed, and their bodies burned in the combustion chambers by

the Nazi regime. The Jews' bodies were completely burned in alters and oven after being killed

by the poisonous gas in the gas chamber. The Jews were also starved to death in the

concentration camps by heavy forced manual labor and lack of food. The article depicts that

“Belarus was both the epicenter of European mass killing and the base of operations of anti-Nazi

partisans who actually contributed to the victory of the Allies” (Snyder, 7). Conclusively, the

term Holocaust refers to the deliberate mass killing of people, especially by fire, as described by

the articles, referring to the Jewish people mass killing in Europe during Germany’s Nazi regime.
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Works Cited

Boyne, John. The boy in the striped pajamas: A fable. Ember, 2007.

Mayer, Matt A. "History and the Holocaust." (2007).

Snyder, Timothy. "Holocaust: The ignored reality." The New York Review of Books 56.12 (2009):

14-16.

The Holocaust. Retrieved from

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/holocaust.