It is widely accepted that approximately 6 million Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust. As well, records kept indicate that 200,000 gypsies, 3 million Soviet prisoners of war, over 1 million Polish and Yugoslav civilians, and 70,000 men, women, and children with mental and physical challenges were murdered. It is unknown how many homosexuals, political prisoners, resistance fighters were killed. It is just known that they were. (Source: "The Holocaust for Beginners" by H. Bresheeth, S. Hood, L. Jansz. Icon Books, 1994)

It is one thing to consider the magnitude of such atrocities by reading the numbers of people killed. But the astounding implications of the mass murder of such a large number of people are almost impossible to grasp. Each number represents a lost life, a family broken or destroyed, and untold suffering. Each lost individual also represents the loss of unknown intellectual, artistic, economic, and athletic contributions to mankind. How can one grasp such things?

Perhaps the implications of the Holocaust are just a little easier to grasp if one turns to consider the experiences of individuals who survived the horrors of the Holocaust. Though millions died, there were some who survived the midnight knock at the door, the ghetto internments, indeed, who even survived the the death camps and the winter death marches to nowhere.

Some of these people, these survivors, have courageously decided to relive their Holocaust experiences. In writing, in video, and even by traveling to symposiums to talk to high school students, many survivors have chosen to share their experiences and insights with the next generation.

In this learning module, you will meet six survivors who will reflect on the question "How did you survive the Holocaust?". By reading their stories and viewing movie clips of them, you will come to understand just what it took to survive.

Perhaps by meeting a few of the brave survivors of the Holocaust, you will be able to put a more human face on those incomprehensible numbers. Perhaps you will also be inspired to ensure that future generations will never have to suffer another Holocaust.

Please select "Lesson One".
It should take less than five minutes to complete.