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The Struggle to Survive !
By: Elaina White, Rachel James, Ashley Adams, Gabriela Najar, Paige Thompson ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Page 1
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Dorota lived in the city of Oswiecim located in Poland where she experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. Along with her lived her older sister whom she admired, two younger
brothers whom she adored, and her loving mom and dad. When the Holocaust began, the city that they lived in turned into one of the biggest concentration camps, forever changing their lives. !
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The family had their daily routine of going to work and school. Their lives flipped upside down in the year of 1942 when the Nazis came and captured her parents. Terrified,
heartbroken, and in a panic, Dorota and her sister knew there was no other option, but to care for her younger brothers and try fleeing to America.!
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The first step to freedom and safety was to find a way out of the country. The sisters’
first thought of escape was a ship to America, which they would board for many weeks. The children were starting to lose hope and to starve from the lack of food available, it
was very important for them to find a better future. They knew they had a long journey ahead of them on their road of escape. Day after day, they ate whatever scraps they
could find while walking to a train station that would take them to Germany. This is where they had to begin if they wished to hold any hope of living in America.
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After days of treacherous conditions, miles of walking, growing sadness, and eating only scraps, the train station finally greeted them. Here, swarmed hundreds of Jews whom
wished to start a new life in America by boarding the S.S. St. Louis. Dorota carried much curiosity as to how this ship would get them to their much dreamed of destination. It
turned out the St. Louis would take immigrants from Germany to Cuba, and from here the many immigrants would anxiously await their quota number to see if they even had an opportunity to flee to America. !
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After days upon days of waiting to discover if they would ever be accepted, hope was
lost, but prayer was not. With an overwhelming amount of immigrants attempting to enter the U.S., Dorota quickly learned that immigration policies had been tightened. Admissions into America were also cut by half. The long and dreadful process began when Dorota and her siblings were required to take an extremely hard security test, since they had
relatives in Germany. This "relatives rule" was one that Dorota particularly felt angered
about mostly because she felt immigration policies should be lessened to help struggling people, not the opposite.
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As security tests continued, Dorota was not surprised when they were denied their
quotas. She was scared to tell her brothers the devastating news being so young and with the undeniable truth that they are most likely living without parents.!
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Going to Germany to hide with her relatives was an option. However, once in Germany, Dorota and her siblings would have to be very careful. Especially in Germany, everyone was required to carry papers that specified their religion and occupation. Nazi soldiers
could stop citizens and ask to see these papers at any time. If not careful, Dorota and
her siblings could be caught. The Naturalization Act had been passed in America in 1940, which made it tougher for Dorota to seek permanent shelter in the U.S because it narrowed the amount of people who were eligible for citizenship. !
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As time went by and Dorota continued to struggle to survive, her and other suffering
Jews learned horrible news of the policies in America. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. decided to suspend naturalization proceedings for the German, Italian and
Japanese immigrants. In addition, the U.S. only took 132,000 Jewish refugees from
1939 to 1945, which is only 10% of the judicial quota. Instead of making immigration
policies less strict, the U.S. tried to persuade Latin America and Europe to welcome more Jewish refugees.
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Dorota and her family were unable to travel to America due to the increase in these policies and the years dragged by as the war continued. In 1944, a Jewish member of the U.S. government convinced President Roosevelt to become more involved in helping the Jews. He created the War Refugee Board, which created refugee camps in the U.S., North Africa, and Italy. !
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With many obstacles in the way, Dorota and her family were unable to move to America. The war made it very dangerous for her and her older sister to travel with two young
boys through Europe, so they were forced to keep hiding. To prevent the horrors of this
global war from happening again, the United Nations was created. This organization was meant to pacify international disputes and prevent world wars or any such conflicts.
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When the United Nations got up and running, they did many things to help the world. One of the many things was the creation of the State of Israel. Israel was created as a homeland for the escaping Jews. Despite the United States denial, Dorota and her family were helped by the U.S. through its support of the creation of Israel. Dorota saw this as the perfect opportunity for her family to escape the dangers of Europe.
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“I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have faith in it now.�
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Overall, Dorota and many other Jews affected by the war were unable to move to American due to the strict immigration policies and transportation draw-backs, but the creation of Israel provided a safe refuge. The Holocaust motivated many immigrants to move to the new country, allowing a sufficient enough population to form a state. The Allied powers won the war in the end and Dorota and the other persecuted Jews were able to return to a happier lifestyle.
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Works Cited!
http://www.voltairenet.org/article168535.html! http://kawumainc.blogspot.com/2011/03/civilians-massacred-while-world.html! http://www.tyleralpern.com/denial.html! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt's_record_on_civil_rights! http://www.jdc.org/about-jdc/history.html! http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/plonsk/ghetto.asp! http://www.factsofisrael.com/blog/archives/000520.html! http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/nov-29-1947-united-nations-partitions-palestineallowing-for-creation-of-israel/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0! http://history101ph.tripod.com/id2.html! http://www.kingsacademy.com/mhodges/07_Special-Documents/Historical-Documents/ 1947_Truman-Doctrine.html! http://www.formerdays.com/2012_02_01_archive.html!
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/presquote.html! http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/kurenets.html! http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/gallery/gallery2.htm! http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/ccphototoc.html!
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"1940 Nationality Act." US Immigration Legislation Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. !<http:// ! library.uwb.edu/guides/usimmigration/1940_naturalization_act.html>.! "Creation of Israel, 1948 - 1945–1952 - Milestones - Office of the Historian." Creation of Israel, ! ! 1948 - 1945–1952 - Milestones - Office of the Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. ! ! <http://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel>.! "Immigration Policy in World War II." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., ! ! n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/world-war-! ! ii/resources/immigration-policy-world-war-ii>.! Kleinman, Tomer. “Did the Holocaust Play a Role in the Establishment of the State of Israel?”! ! Did the Holocaust Play a Role in the Establishment of the State of Israel? USCB Oral ! ! History ! Project, 1 Jan. 2003. Web. 09 Feb. 2014.! ! <http://www.history.ucsb.edu/projects/holocaust/Research/Proseminar/tomerklein!! ! man.htm>! "U.S. Presidents & Israel." Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, n.d. ! Web. 26 Feb. 2014.! ! <https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/presquote.html>.! WGBH. “America and the Holocaust.” PBS.PBS, n.d Web. 10 Feb 2014! ! <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/peopleevents/pandeAMEX90.html>!
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