Author: Paul Roland
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing Limited
Year: 2020
182 pages
I have often pondered about the events of the Holocaust, most specifically about why no one seemed to have fought back and why no one went to the rescue of the Jewish people.
Why did it seem as if everyone walked into the concentration camps and into the gas chambers like sheep to the slaughter?
Why did the ally countries allow such atrocities to happen?
In this short, easy-to-read book, using what few first-account stories could be found, Paul Roland gives the reader some insight into what was happening on the front lines of the Holocaust.
I learned that the events of the Holocaust are a lot more complicated than is what is seen on the surface. There were, in fact, pockets of resistance groups. But they were untrained, unarmed people trying to defend themselves against a highly-trained German military and all of the cohorts the Nazis were able to coerce into believing their stance on Jewish people being "subhuman" and requiring elimination.
I was very surprised to discover that despite "photographic evidence and an eyewitness account" sent by David Szmulewski about what was taking place in Auschwitz, "the Allies refused to mount a bombing raid on the Polish railway line". (p.178) Roland wrote that the Allies refused to believe that events like this could be happening in 20th century Europe.
This book was a quick read packed with interesting and eye-opening information, astounding numbers of people sent into the camps versus the minute number of people who escaped with theirs lives.
The events (and the statistics) of the Holocaust still blow my mind and I will continue to read more books about this horrific piece of human history.
Knowing that ally countries stood by and did nothing is painful, but not surprising when examining other historic events of cruelty and genocide.
Hopefully, one day, we will learn from history and make actual meaningful change to our present treatment of our fellow human beings.
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