p. 103) ‘ “Civilization must struggle with the memory of the Holocaust because it cannot afford to bury it.” -Emil Fackenheim’ (Resnick p. 11)The world knew that the Jews were being persecuted behind enemy lines, but the stories that did escape across the front lines were so horrifying, so grisly and inhumane that most believed they were exaggerations. ‘ “A certain degree of reserve is necessary in handling all this material… particular [survivor narratives]… the Eastern European Jew is a natural rhetorician, speaking in flowery similes… sometimes the imagery transcends credibility…” -Gerald Reitlinger, The Final Solution’ (Kreiberg p. 1) "To some it was inconceivable that a country as civilized as Germany could be part of a mass-murder scheme." (Resnick p. 73) Resnick quoted the historian, Louis L. Snyder who said, refering to a U.S. battalion as it entered a Nazi death camp, "Battle hardened veterans inured [used] to the sight and smell of death, were sickened by what they saw in these pestholes." (Resnick p. 90) Resnick also quoted Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, an American general, who said that he had "never at any time experienced an equal sense of shock." (Resnick p. 90) “By the end of the war, as many as six million Jews had been killed.” (McFee p. 1) “In all, the Nazis killed nearly six million Jews between 1933 and 1945. At least 250,000 Gypsies…were murdered. In addition, another five million non-Jews…met their deaths in Hitler’s camps.” (Resnick p. 11) In all, nearly 12 million non-combatants died at the hands of their Nazi murderers. The Holocaust is not only a testament to the brutality and inhumanity of one people against another. It is a testament to the stupidity and irresponsibility, brought on by desperation, of a people who blindly gave power to an evil man, one man, a man named Adolf Hitler. The ...
