The Holocaust

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Antisemitism permeated German and European society in the early 20th century. The Nazi Empire, in particular, regarded the Jewish people as a threat to the “purity” of the Aryan race. It enacted legislation, most notably the Nuremberg Laws, to strip Jews of their freedoms. The atrocities culminated with the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.” This “solution” led to mass killings of over six million Jews and five million “undesirables”—gypsies, the mentally handicapped, homosexuals, and political agitators. Extermination camps like Auschwitz and Dachau are testaments to the Holocaust and the horrific consequences of prejudice and racism.

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  • Original author: Clio
  • Created Date: 20 Nov 2008
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Pastor Andre Trocme

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France

“These people came here for help and for shelter. I am their shepherd. A shepherd does not forsake his flock. I do not know what a Jew is. I know only human beings.”

Andre Trocme, a Protestant pastor in the small French mountain village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, uttered these words in the face of Vichy authorities during World War II. Andre Trocme, along with all the citizens of his village, rescued 5,000 Jews from the Nazis by hiding them in their town and assisting them in escaping to Switzerland or Spain.

Andre Trocme was a pacifist and teacher, who encouraged his followers to resist the Vichy and Nazi regimes. The town of Le Chambon hid Jews in private homes, on farms, and in public institutions like boarding schools. Several times Nazi officials arrived in an effort to find Jews, but the citizens of Le Chambon never revealed their secret. The Vichy government knew what Trocme and his followers were doing and Trocme was eventually arrested but avoided staying in jail for long. Andre Trocme’s cousin, Daniel Trocme, was sent to Majdanek where he died. This kind of intimidation meant Andre had to go into hiding while his wife continued his work until the end of the war. In 1990, the town of Le Chamon-sur-Lignon became the first community honored by the Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. Amazingly, not one townsperson ever revealed any Jew to the authorities. Andre Trocme and those around him saved Jews because it was right. They were an example of doing what’s honorable in the face of great danger.


Yes, the Nazis did all this, and it was horrible, what horrible things they did to people, It sickens me for what happened at Auschwitz (spelling?), and it sickens me more, when I hear people make jokes about it or even when ignorant, evil people DENY that it happened. I luckily haven't met anyone who has denied that it happened, but I've seen people on the news, and heard of others who denied that it happened...ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR !@#$%^&* minds? Any and all mass executions or even exterminations of human beings is just plain evil. I can't think of any other word for it. What did those people do to deserve that? I think too that even some of those Nazis were brainwashed and victimized by Hitler and did his bidding just to stay alive. But you know their shoes, I'd have faced the gas chambers myself than to allow myself to be a part of that horrific time in history. Hitler was an evil being, not even worth being called a man. He was a monster, a true, evil monster. If anyone deserved to die in the gas chamber, then thrown into a shallow grave like a piece of trash, it was him.

13 Feb 2010


20 Nov 2008