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  • Essay / Arek Hersh – a story of a Holocaust survivor

    Arek Hersh, born in Sieradz, Poland in 1928, was born into a Jewish family with 4 other siblings. Ten years later, Arek Hersh suffered from the politics of “Polenaktion”. Arek Hersh claimed that Adolf Hitler's invasion completely changed the course of his life. This led Arek and his family to emigrate across borders to live with relatives in Lodz. In September 1939, a policy was implemented: Jews in Lodz were required to wear the Star of David armband or yellow stars on their clothing to distinguish the Jewish people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Around 1941, Arek Hersh's father was summoned by authorities to work in a labor camp, but he fled. This incident will later happen with Arek's brother where the result will be the same. The authorities realized that no one from Arek's family was in the labor camp, so Arek was forced into the camp, unfortunately he was not as successful. In the Otoschno labor camp, where Arek Hersh took his first shower in six months, had his hair shaved, and received the new name “B7068,” tattooed on his arm by a Nazi guard. “I survived because I worked for the camp commander, he must have taken pity on me because he left me bread when I went to his house,” Arek said. “It was a tough camp, people were being beaten around me, others were being hanged and I was terrified but I got used to it. » Two years after being in the Otoschno labor camp, Arek was one of eleven camp survivors out of 2,500 people and was sent home to Lodz. A few months after his return, Arek and 4,000 other Jews were crowded into a church awaiting their fate. Arek came out of the church to beg for water from one of the guards, the guard asked him what his job was and he responded with “Schneider” or “tailor”. Arek was then separated from the church and placed in a work group. It was the last time Arek saw his family. A week later, Arek learned that his entire family had been taken to an extermination camp where they were gassed, shot and murdered at the Chelmo extermination camp and placed in mass graves. Arek claims that “they were simply murdered because they were Jewish.” In 1944, the Germans decided to liquidate the ghetto and transport the population of Lodz to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Birkenau. Arek witnessed punishments, hangings, several beatings, and endured hunger and other horrors that took away almost all his will to live. As the Russian army advanced into Germany, Auschwitz was evacuated and sent on a "death march." Arek walked for several days without food and with minimal clothing in 25°F heat to another camp in Germany. Where a few days after his arrival he was liberated by Allied forces. “I was desperate to survive, I wanted to know what life was like,” Arek Hershzxcsdf said. Arek Hersh suffered the policy known as “Polenaktion”. Polenaktion refers to the loss of residence permits, arrest and/or expulsion of any foreigner, including Jews of foreign origin born in Germany. Polenaktion was overall a racist policy that only favored the Aryan people. In 1938, Hitler invaded Poland and claimed it as NDSAP territory, hence the policy of Polenaktion was introduced in Poland. This affected 17,000 Polish Jews and 12,000 of them were ordered to fill a single suitcase with their belongings and were forced to leave their hometown. The Nuremberg Law.