On Friday the 27th I learned about the Holocaust, and more specifically about Helene Melanie Lebel. She was born September the 15th, 1911 in Vienna, Austria. Her story is very interesting. She was the older of two daughters born to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, In Vienna, Helene had a Catholic childhood. Her father died when Helene was only 5 years old. When Helene was 15 years old her mother remarried. In 1933, when Helene was 19 the first signs of mental illness. She was diagnosed as schizophrenic, and she was put in Vienna’s Steinhof Hospital. Two years later, in March 1938, the Germans conquered Austria and Germany.
In 1940 Helene was still held in Steinhof and wasn’t allowed to go home even though her mental illness had gotten better. Her parents thought that she was going to be released soon. But instead, Helene’s mother was told in August that Helene had been sent to a hospital in Niedernhart, Bavaria. Helene was really taken to a jail in Brandenburg, Germany, where she was stripped of her clothes, and then brought into a shower room.
Helene was one of the 9,772 people gassed at the Brandenburg “euthanasia” facility. She passed away in her chamber from “severe schizophrenic excitation,” according to the records.
After reading this story I realized that Helene was only one of the people that died for no reason. I learned that Helene was one of the 9,772 people gassed, which is so sad. I can’t even imagine that happening to a family member or friend. Remembering the Holocaust is a very important thing that we should always do. It’s so important to remember because it was such a terrible thing that should never happen again, and I find it really makes you realize what humans can do as a species. The most crucial thing is to educate future generations about the Holocaust, and this is one of the many ways to do that: avoid simple answers to complex questions. The history of the Holocaust brings up hard issues about how people act and the situation where choices have to be made. Stop oversimplifying. Instead, focus on telling the hard details of the past. You should encourage people to consider the many parts and events that led to the Holocaust and often difficult and unclear decision-making.
Thank you for reading.
Noa Tili