What happened to adults during the Holocaust?

Answer 1

I wasnt there when it happened, I was born in 1971 but I can tell you what little I have learned myself. Very few Jewish children went into hiding during the persecution because no one wanted to take them in, children were more likely to make a noise than adults, if a chilld cried or screamed all of a sudden it would give their hider and protector away and their lives would have been at risk too. Anyone caught hiding or protecting Jews would be sent to the labour camps and treated the same as a Jew being persecuted. For every Jewish person in hiding there was often a non Jewish person looking after them to fetch food and look after basic necesseties.

One such child in hiding is the famous Anne Frank who wrote in great detail what it was like to be growing up and going through puberty in hiding. Not only is her diary an endearing account of what it was like for a young Jewish girl to grow up being deprived of all the things that she should have been doing but its also a revealing account of what it was like for some in hiding, the fact that they could not go out in the fresh air for many, many months and the fact that they had to keep very very quiet.

Two children that I know of who were given shelter from persecution and almost certain death were written about in the book, "Claras war" by Clara Kramer. She was in hiding in Poland for eighteen months and unlike Anne Frank who died of typhoid in Bergen Belsen (I think it was bergen Belsen camp) Clara survived by extraodinary circumstance, Clara and seventeen other Jews (including two children who I think were very young) were hidden in an under ground bunker underneath a mans house. Mr Beck put his own life and his families life at risk by hiding 18 Jews underneath his house, this was just a big hole scraped by their own hands and other hand made tools, there was enough room to eat, sleep and cook in but not enough head room to stand. Mr Becks's wife would knock on their hatch door (a clever door concealed in the wooden parquet flooring) and hand down some food, their toilet was a bucket in the corner. by the end of the eighteen months though, none of them could walk or barely stand and they were severely mal nourished.)what helped in their survival was the fact that Mr Becks had numerous nightly visitors including the SS, at one stage the men who drove the trains to the camps were staying there, this helped in their survival as the SS men could witness the fact that Mr Becks wasnt hiding anyone. also Mr becks was a renowned anti-semite so people wouldn't have believed that he was capable of doing such a kind thing. This book is titled, "Claras war" by Clara Kramer and is really quite an extraordinary tale.

Another book I have read of a child who survived the war was titled "surviving with wolves" by Misha Defonseca it has been a while since i read it so i cant remember what country she was in, but this little girl of six survived by walking accross the country on her own living in the woods and stealing food, she became desperately starved of companionship and affection until she came accross a pack of wolves that she started to sleep with, this young grl recognised that her survival owed to the fact that she was so young and on her own, it was when families that were together when it became impossble to become invisible, a six year old girl trecking through the woods however would be easy to dismiss. She was acutely aware of her own survival and threat of death and danger especially when she travelled through towns and saw other children in hiding. These children didnt last long, often hunger would draw them out. In one incident Mish recalls how lots of children were in hiding, in a sewer underground. The SS drew them out by placing chunks of bread near to the sewer and on the road, The SS knew that hunger would draw the children out eventually.

these books you will be amazed by their stories they are;

"Diary of Anne Frank"

"CLara's War" by Clara Kramer

"surviving with wolves" By Misha Defonseca

There is also the story of Corrie ten Boom who lived (I think) in Amsterdam and had a special room made by the dutch resistance to hide Jews in. This room was cleverly concealed and was designed by an architect. The Gestapo had become good at finding hiding places, they had seen it all- hollow sounding walls; they knew how to find a false floor and room by their expertise, but Corrie ten Booms little hiding place was very cleverly concealed and impossible to spot, It was only small but hid (I think) up to six people for six days when the Germans went on one of their killing sprees, massacring Jews inthe streets and rounding everyone up. Not many escaped. Clara Kramer spoke in her book about ho in her home land there was 50,000 Jewsih people. After the war she discovered only 50 had survived. some of those had been in hiding and possibly onlya small handfull of those were children.

Corrie Ten Boom has written several books including one called the hding place, she also traveled the word speaking out against racial intolerance throughout her life- being famous for the wisdom and eloquence of her words.

Lastly,I remember also reading this book "Five chimneys" A Jewish woman was being transported in a cattle truck to the concentration camp, as she had heard about these transportations she had hidden a hack saw in her shoe, She had a toddler child with her, she hacked an escape route through one of the bars and planned to jump out, she made one of the other Jews in the trucks promise her that they would throw the girl out after her, she could not bear to do it her self incase she didnt survive the jump- if the baby had been thrown out of the truck without anyone to care for her she wouldn't have survived. So she jumped out first and the girl was thrown out after. Lots of people did jump from these cattle trucks but ended up with broken limbs and being dependant on being found by someone who would help them, many were handed over to the Gestapo for a reward, some peeple handed over "jumpers" as a means of a regular income. The woman made it to a farmhouse and a farmer agreed to look after the little girl only. The little girl had blond hair and could have easily passed for a little arian child. Unfortunately, even though both mother and child survived the war, the baby had severe head injuries through the jump and lost all memory of time before the jump. she grew up with someone else for a mother and consequently didnt have a bond with her real mother but at least they both survived and the mother managed to save her daughters life, which wasnt the case for nine million other Jews.

Answer 2

There were quite a few adults that died in the Holocaust. There are no accurate records that indicate exactly what this number was.

Answer 3

Adults and children were slaughtered in the Holocaust.