Holocaust writing contest: Second and third place middle school division winners
Eighth-grader Marin Rogers, of Chase Middle School, took second place in the 17th-annual Eva Lassman Memorial Writing Contest with her essay “Indifference: The Mind of a Murderer,” while eighth-grader Vanessa Zacapantzi took third place in the division with her poem “Indifference.”
‘Indifference: The Mind of a Murderer’
A wise man once said, “wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must — at the moment — become the center of the universe” -Elie Wiesel
Wiesel, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, gave an inspiring speech about the “Perils of Indifference,” and his words will continue to ring in our ears for generations. His understanding of the Holocaust is not only above ours, but it is something that very few of us can even comprehend because unlike him, we have not lived through a genocide. However, we can take what he has given us and put the future into our own hands to make sure that it never happens again. Indifference is very much an active problem in our society, and it is what allowed the Holocaust to happen in the first place! We as a country have our own history, but we still played a significant role in the events of WWII. The question is, could we have done more to help? The answer is yes, and those who showed indifference during the Holocaust helped not the abused, but the abuser. (Elie Wiesel)
When the United States got involved in the war, we had a lot of problems going on within our country. The people were split in their opinions between our participation in WW I, which divided our society and took a devastating blow on our economy. Jim Crow laws were also being set, and some government officials had an “America First” mindset, meaning that we would only give jobs to U.S. citizens and focus on rebuilding our country. We were emerging from the Great Depression, so we were lacking the space and resources needed to house a large number of immigrants, and our soldiers were still recovering mentally and physically, so no one was really ready to go back to war. And besides, why should we have cared about something that was happening so far away? You could sit here and make a list of reasons as to why Americans were so indifferent during the Holocaust, but that does not mean that we couldn’t have done more to help. Multiple countries were closing their doors, and while America was known to be a country open to immigrants, a lot of people felt betrayed when we did the bare minimum. Not only that, but news of Nazism wasn’t foreign to the United States; updates about Hitler and the antisemitism in Germany were published in newspapers all over the country, as this quote states, “It has been a favorite pastime of the SA men (the Assault Division) to attack the Jews and one cannot avoid the plain language of stating that they do not like to be deprived of their prey” (George Messersmith, U.S. Consul General, Berlin, July 26, 1933). About 93% of Americans disagreed with the mistreatment of Jews, but less than 30% of them wanted to allow immigrants into the country. They wanted to help, but they didn’t take the steps they needed in order to really make an impact.
While most disagreed with the antisemitism, what a lot of people don’t realize is that even after the Holocaust America wasn’t exactly a “safe haven” for Jews. The few thousand every year who managed to get their hands on a visa often faced discrimination and were fired from their jobs. While we might not see it, antisemitism still exists today, and other groups of people face similar discrimination. When I look on social media, I see headlines popping up about crises happening all around the world. Some people try to make a difference, while others treat it like an internet trend and move on once the next big thing happens. Some examples are the war in Ukraine, unfairness towards members of the LGBTQ+, and racial inequality. These are all things that we continue to fight for in our modern society, but when some of us see this unfairness happening in public, we choose to ignore it in hopes that someone else will step in. Knowing that people are targeted for something that they were born with, like the color of their skin, is baffling to me. In fact, a statistic shows that, “Of all 4,930 victims of reported hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity, 48.5% were ‘victims of crimes motivated by offenders’ anti-Black or African American bias,’ compared with 15.7% as ‘victims of anti-White bias,’ 14.1% as ‘victims of anti-Hispanic or Latino bias’ and 4.4% of ‘anti-Asian bias.’” (www.bbc.com). It’s infuriating how many people suffer every year because of something they cannot control, and even officials during the Holocaust understated how badly we need to do something about it, as this quote suggests, “we have talked. We have sympathized. We have expressed our horror. The time to act is long past due” (John Pehle, Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, Jan. 15, 1944). The indifference that we see today is exactly what sparked the Holocaust, and we must remember that a genocide can absolutely happen, even in the United States.
Indifference can be shown in many ways, and while ignoring things may be the easy way out, by doing so you are no better than the perpetrator. People don’t need your sympathy; they need safety in numbers. They need people to rely on. They need someone to stand up for them when at their weakest in order to keep going, because if we allow this indifference to consume our country, then we won’t have anyone to save us when we’re at our weakest. So, I urge you, regardless of your race, religion, or political views, to stand up for those in need, and to make our country a better place by never being a bystander, because at the end of the day, thoughts cannot stop murder.
‘Indifference’
What is it really?
Ignorance?
Avoidance?
Pretending that everything is
Okay?
“Indifference is always
The friend of the enemy,
For it benefits the aggressor
— Never his victim.”
Indifference is
Not helping it stop.
Always benefiting the enemy.
The Holocaust
Why was America indifferent to this?
Millions killed.
Children and Adults.
Sisters and Brothers.
Mothers and Fathers.
Grandmas and Grandpas.
All family.
All suffering.
And for what?
There are so many ways to ask this question.
What did America do to stop this?
This is the danger of
Indifference.
Did America hold back from doing anything
For their own benefit?
Because they felt it was easier
To let things play out like they did?
They were so indifferent
That even some of America’s largest corporations
Continued to do business with Hitler’s Germany
And they gave them what they needed
To invade other countries.
Indifference.
America was so Indifferent that they had a committee
An America First Committee
This was created as an Anti-War Group
To keep America away from getting involved
With World War II
Charles Lindbergh
Was one of the most famous spokesmen in this group
But he was also the most
Controversial.
On September 1941 in an America First Rally
He said:
“The British and the Jewish races, for reasons which are not American,
Wish to involve us in the war.”
Lindbergh said this in a way that made the British and Jewish races seem
Stupid.
Dumb.
Crazy.
They asked themselves:
How dare they want to involve the United States to fight?
How dare they want to fight against Hitler’s attacks?
How dare they want to have the freedom that everyone deserves?
How dare they want to be treated equally like everyone else?
But this is the only thing that they wanted.
Freedom.
Equality.
Why didn’t Americans do anything to help?
Because they were scared.
Because why intervene when you can be safe?
Elie Wiesel had the same question that we ask now:
“Why was there a greater effort to save SS murderers after the war
Than to save their victims during the war?”
Because Americans were scared.
And because of Indifference
We lost millions.
Martin Niemöller
Was a Lutheran pastor in Germany
He sympathized with lots of Nazi ideas
And supported “radically right-wing political movements”
Then Adolf Hitler came along
And he became an outspoken critic of Hitler
And Niemöller said one of the most truthful quotes:
“First they came for the socialists,
and I did not speak out
— because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out
— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
And I did not speak out
— because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me
— and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Woah.
Truth hurts.
Indifference hurts.
Because when we’re indifferent to our world’s problems
Who is going to be there for us…
When we need help?
This is the danger of
Indifference.
But what now?
What can we do now?
58% of Americans believe that a Genocide could happen again.
68% of Americans believe that anti-Semitism is still present in the US.
How sad.
That after everything that happened.
Some things stayed the same.
1,350 Adults over the age of 18 were questioned
And only 89% of them had heard of the Holocaust
But why not 100%?
Why only 89%?
Only 20 states in the United States are required
To teach about the Holocaust.
Why not all 50?
What can we do today to change this?
What can we do to not be indifferent to this?
My call to action is to fight.
Yes.
Fight.
Fight for equality.
Fight for freedom.
Fight for what America is supposed to be.
We must fight to have all 50 states teach about the Holocaust.
We must fight to stop genocides from happening ever again.
We must fight to stop people putting others down for being different.
We must fight to show people that no matter your
Color.
Race.
Ethnicity.
Religion.
Sexuality.
Gender.
We are all
Human.
We were indifferent once…
But never again.