Who are Survivors?
The overwhelming majority of the victims of the Holocaust died in the gas chambers at the extermination camps. A small minority did leave the camps alive. These survivors resettled throughout the world, often in Israel and North America.
Smith, P. (2017). Holocaust: PTSD in survivors and those who survive the survivors. In P. Joseph (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of war: Social science perspectives (Vol. 1, pp. 797-800). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483359878.n302
- During the reign of Adolf Hitler, approximately 6 million Jews and millions of others were murdered in ghettos, concentration camps, and extermination or forced labor camps.
- From the 1933 German census, less than 0.75% of German citizens were Jewish (Holocaust Encyclopedia).
- After Adolf Hitler took power, an estimated 37,000 Jews emigrated from Germany in 1933 after the Nazi takeover in January that year (Holocaust Encyclopedia).
- The true number of deaths and imprisonments will never be known due to the burning of camp and ghetto records prior to liberation by Allied forces.
Infographic to show the number of European Jews that died by the end of World War II due to national socialism.
The gold persons represent the 2/3 of European Jewish population that died, and the white persons represent the 1/3 of the population that survived.
Discussion Question
How can learning from individuals who experienced the Holocaust teach us about history?
Further Research
Other resources may be found in the Wright State University Libraries' Catalog and databases.
Choose "View Entire Collection" or "Dunbar Library - Books" from the drop-down box near the Search button.
- Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust TestimoniesConsists of video testimonies of Holocaust survivors, witnesses, and liberators
Core Scholar: Holocaust Oral Testimonies Video Series
- Faces of the Holocaust
Renate Frydman's Faces of the Holocaust Project took place from 1985 - 1987, in cooperation with the Wright State University Television Center, with support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. The second round of interviews was conducted in 1994 and 1995. These programs were created specifically to supplement the Holocaust curriculum in the classroom and as a resource for Holocaust education.
Books from University Libraries' Catalog
Surviving the Holocaust by Call Number: DS134.85 .B47 2011ISBN: 9780415997300Publication Date: 2011Anthology
Holocaust Survivors in Postwar Germany, 1945-1957 by Call Number: DS134.26 .F45 2010ISBN: 9780521429580Publication Date: 2010Anthology
Holocaust Survivors by Call Number: D804.3 .T34 2007ISBN: 9780313336768Publication Date: 2007-05-30Personal Narrative Dictionary
