Holocaust Survivor Essay Example
One of the many important and most memorable incidents of World War Two would be the Holocaust. During the Holocaust, the Germans who were known as the Nazis, considered the Jews to be “enemy aliens”. As part of this, the Nazis thought that “Aryans” were a master race. Therefore, they decided to destroy the Jewish race, and created genocide. The Jews were put into unbearable torture at many concentration and death camps. In fact, 6 million Jews were killed in this incident; however, there were many victims who survived this anguish. One of the many survivors was Simon Wiesenthal, who survived the Nazi death camps and began his career as a Nazi hunter. Simon Wiesenthal was born on December 31, 1908 in Buczacz (Lvov Oblast, Ukraine) and died on September 20, 2005. Unfortunately, Wiesenthal’s father was murdered in World War One, which forced him and his family to vacate Lvov Oblast and arrive to Vienna. Simon Wiesenthal graduated from the Gymnasium in 1928, and was ambitious to apply for an admission at Polytechnic Institute, located in Lvov. Due to the discrimination towards Jewish students, his admission was rejected and he attended the Technical University of Prague instead, where he earned a degree in architectural engineering. Later on, in 1936, Simon married Cyla Mueller and worked in an architectural office. Everything went smoothly, until Germany and Russia signed an agreement to share Poland. At this time, the Russian army invaded Lvov and began the Red Purge of the Jewish merchants, factory owners and many other workers. In addition, his stepfather was arrested and eventually died, and his stepbrother was shot. With no options available, Simon Wiesenthal worked as a mechanic in a factory. During the time where the Russians were banished by the Germans in 1941, a former employee of Wiesenthal helped him and his family escape from the Nazis. Unfortunately, the escape failed and he and his family were separated into labour concentration or death camps. In