Not Asking for Agreement, Just Tolerance

The museum of tolerance was a heart touching, life changing experience that I hope everyone could be a part of. The first time I went it really changed the way I see other people and the way I treat other people. It is there because of errors that humans made, it is there to make us learn from them yet we seem not to be open to it. There are a lot of things that reminded me of situations going on right now somewhere else, far or really close; things we sometimes allow to happen.

Firstly, we went back to history, to remember those scenes we were not supposed to repeat; the holocaust section of the museum. This is always the most shocking part because it allows us to understand that part of our history by displaying material evidence that we can see and believe. World War I finished in 1918 when the British and French defeated Germany . The overwhelmed country had then no army or air force and was in great debt with other nations for reparations. A massive depression attacked this northern land and jobs were scarce; forty percent of the population was unemployed.

It was during this convenient time, in 1924, when a failed art student from Austria was released from prison. He had been a really brave soldier throughout the war but was never promoted because nobody believed he would have been a good leader. By the time he came out of prison, the German residents would accept anything as a reason for their misfortune, so this prisoner by the name of Adolf Hitler decided to write a book while he was imprisoned to satisfy the inhabitants’ needs. The book was titled Mein Kampf which is German for My Struggle; its main idea was to blame less than one percent of the population; the Jews for every terrible thing that was happening to the country.

Soon after, the frantic hopeless people started to consider his idea, even though it might seem insane now it was a very explanatory suggestion for them; “Get rid of the Jews and all our problems will be solved.” The anti-Semitism was rapidly spreading everywhere and after losing the presidency charge once, he was elected in 1933 by a vast majority as a candidate from the Nazi party, recognized by their famous symbol; the swastika. Hitler wanted to eradicate the Jews from earth, and only England stood up against it. That was until Germany decided to try to conquer the U.S.S.R. (what is now Russia ) because of all its land and power, but the German army just found the country another enemy.