Through the Eyes of Children: Social Oppression Under Nazi Rule from 1933 to 1938 Reflections of Three Holocaust Survivors

This paper discusses the experiences of three Berlin native child survivors of the Holocaust through analysis of their oral testimonies. Their unique voices help shed light on the various ways in which lives were forever changed for those who were legally identified as Jewish in Nazi Germany by way of social oppression. This paper highlights three key years that each survivor discussed at length in their testimonies: Hitler’s Chancellorship in 1933, the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, and Kristallnacht in 1938. Ultimately, this paper argues for the importance of these years and labels them as being a crucial part in the events that led up to the Holocaust and carrying out of the Final Solution, in regards to the victims, perpetrators, and bystanders