Memoir:
It has been so long since the day I joined the enemies of my past self since I became a murderer and since I chose the coward’s way out. What a terrible person I am. Is it really worth it to lose the few friends I have right now to get my no longer existing friend to forgive me? I guess I will see…
They were so happy, a big family that did not accept their child, sure they were poor, lower class, but they were happy none the less. That is of course when September 15th, 1935 hit. The day we were all expecting since the moment Hitler came to power. Everyone I had ever known was Jewish, and they were all sent off to wear Yellow Stars. I was somehow traced back as German.
So I became a Nazi and was sent off to become a barrack commandant. I was scared of what would happen if I stopped obeying my orders, so I continued. I killed who knows how many barracks to keep myself alive. I had seen so many faces whose cheeks were going concave, and I did not help a single one. Not even my friend, my only real family member, who showed up in dirty rags. I worked him until he looked identical to the tattered fabric hanging off of his shoulders. Not even when he tried to climb under the fence did I help. Instead, I was ordered to shoot him dead, an order I followed, but not before I saw the betrayal in his eyes, the hatred. A look I never forgot, a look I saw in myself every day after that in the mirror. A look I got so tired of seeing that I ran away from it and from everything I did.
Analysis:
World War II, more specifically, the Holocaust, was a depressing moment in history which caused the slow suffering death of over five million Jewish people. It is well known that the cause of their deaths was from German Nazi soldiers, despite the fact that many were possibly not even German, only people trying to stay safe from the terror they caused. The above writing piece is a fictional memoir based on this time in WWII. It is written in the first person in the perspective of a Jews who turned into a Nazi soldier. The character in the memoir was lucky enough to be considered safe by the Nuremberg laws despite being Jewish. In order to stay on the good side of the soldiers, he became one himself. Killing others to keep himself safe, even killing his old childhood friend. This demonstrates how in WWII things could turn in an instant. No matter how safe one felt, there was always something to change that safety. The suffering Jews felt during the Holocaust was not the only suffering there was. Some Nazis must have also suffered emotionally from hurting so many people. From making people like themselves work to a pulp while they watched. The Holocaust was a time that caused the torment of many humans, a time that will hopefully never be repeated.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/never-before-seen-document-reveals-nazi-soldiers-struggle-2014-7