Holocaust

I never really believed in Satan, or that there was pure evil in the world, until I came here.

My mother had that talent for endowing any place she was with dignity and charm. She behaved elegantly and politely, and thus hoped to change the world.

It seemed to me at that moment that the peril hanging over us, the horrors we had seen at Babi Yar and elsewhere, made it all the more vital that we love each other, never hurt each other, always be truthful and gentle with each other. Helena understood that also. I could see it in her eyes, sense it in her sighs, and small cries, and reluctance to let go of me.

I have never been a very brave man," Uncle Moses said. "Nor I," Zalmann added. Eva smiled at them. "You are brave enough.

No one will believe a crime that big. People will say, "Impossible, they could not kill that many, torture that many, be so cruel." People will say that there are limits, that human beings stop at some point. But they didn’t stop.

I still did not cry. I tried not to think of her. I had loved her too much, too intensely. In danger all the time, we had clung to one another. We had lived several lifetimes in our years together. Now she was gone.” - Gerald Green, Holocaust

I don’t fear anyone, Russians, Americans, any of them. I did a job. I obeyed orders. I am a soldier.” Kurt shoved me away. “You know, you may just manage to cheat the hangman with that kind of logic. But I hope to God you don’t.

They choose not to believe. Or they think we are lying. The crime is so enormous, they won't believe it. That's what the Germans are counting on.

I knew something about myself. Killing was indecent, depraved. I would not get used to it. One killed to survive, to keep one’s loved ones alive. No good attached to ending the lives of others. That Ukrainian kid had parents, a family, hopes. Like the millions of us now dying for no reason.

The sight of that stupid boy’s terrorized eyes, the knowledge that he was finished, would never see a sunrise, or a girl’s face, or swim in a clear lake again—all these rattled me, made me wonder if I were the bloodthirsty avenger I’d imagined myself to be.

They have fooled the world. Or else the world doesn’t give a damn. What confounds me is that no one seems to ask what right they have to put us in prisons at all. The assumption seems to be that it’s all right for Jews to be jailed and treated like dogs, provided they aren’t murdered.

If they want to kill us so desperately, then surely we are worthwhile, valid, of importance to the world.

All the ghettoes were being wiped out. The Germans were killing all the Jews.” “But why? Why?” Helena asked. “They don’t need reasons,” I said. “Any excuse works for them, because they have the guns and we don’t.

Periodically the International Red Cross, or some neutral—the Swedes, for example—will demand an inspection of a concentration camp. They are brought here. And so they are shown the bank, the cinema, the bakery, the shops—and they are asked for their approval. What are those Jews complaining about? The Führer has given them this beautiful city." "And they get away with it? The inspectors believe them?" Karl felt he was losing his mind. "Maybe they want to believe," Felsher said.