Forgiveness

Forgiveness

            How do you question someone else’s forgiveness? Before you can begin to forgive you have to know the meaning of the word, the definition Merriam Webster’s dictionary gives for the word forgive is to cease to feel resentment against(Merriam-webster.com). The Jewish people suffered greatly at the hands of the German’s during the Holocaust. They were experimented on, forced to do hard labor, and killed yet some of them were still able to find forgiveness.

As I watched the video Forgiving Dr. Mengele my heart ached. The way the Jewish people especially the twins that the doctor experimented on was just horrible. He would take them and place them in a room naked for six to eight hours every day so that they could be observed (Forgiving Dr. Mengele).Dr. Josef Mengele who was also known as the Angel of death experimented on people with unique hereditary traits(Rosenberg). To think of some of the things that these people went through is overwhelming. If one twin died then the other one was killed with a lethal injection to the heart so that an autopsy could be performed to see if there were any similarities in death as there were in life.

When arriving at Auschwitz the Jewish people were gathered on a ramp where they were separated. Some people were sent to the gas chamber to immediately die while others were kept alive for labor purposes. The ones, mostly strong, healthy males, who were selected for labor were dehumanized and given numbers which were their new identities. They were not allowed to keep any of their personal belongings and their heads were shaved to take away individuality (Rosenberg).  Once the process of dehumanization was done they were told what happened to the other members of their family and many of them died from grief. Life in the camp was torture not just physically but mentally.

Over 6 million Jews were killed 1.5 million were children (Hitler’sChildren.com).  Most of the prisoners were placed in the gas chamber, while others simply died from the torture and conditions that they were forced to live in. Once they died they were then sent to the crematorium to be cremated. Many survivors recall the horrendous smell of the burning bodies, they did not know what the smell was at the time. The majority of the children died from the experimentation that they were put through. There were about 9 million Jews in Europe before World War II, and 2/3 of them were killed by the end of the war(Hitler’sChildren.com). There was no compassion for these people.

There are some people who may say that the Holocaust never happened and it is impossible to kill that many people. Some of the survivors have forgiven the Germans and the Nazis for what they did to them and their families. Others say that they will never be able to forgive and that is their preference. Some may feel that Mengele was not wrong for his part in what happened and that the experimentation was alright. The fact remains that millions of people lost their lives for no reason other than they did not look how someone else felt they should look.

The attempted genocide of the Jewish people was senseless and it takes a strong person to forgive the acts of experimentation, forced labor, and murder. Forgiveness is a personal choice and no one has the right to tell someone they are wrong for being forgiving. Eva Kor said “forgiveness means what was done to me no longer brings me such pain” and I do not think I could have said it better (Forgiving Dr. Mengele). Everyone needs to learn to let go of the past and forgive. Forgiving is not forgetting just because you let go of the pain does not mean that you are letting go of the memories