What It Means To Be a Survivor -- Sophie Weisz

Sophie Weisz was born on the 23rd of February, 1927 in a small village called, Valea-lui-Mihai in Romania. She attended middle school in a nearby Oradea, since her hometown only had a elementary school. Sophie loved to dance in the large living room of their home as her older sister, Agnes, played the piano. In 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, the Jews felt safe in Romania, that was until Hungary annexed the region in 1940, not two years later they joined the German forces. 

In 1944, Sophie and her family were forced to go to the ghetto in Oradea. They were later deported to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. Sophie, her mother, and her elder sister were moved hundred miles north for forced labor. The prisoners were asked to entertain the German soldiers at Christmas; Sophie danced to the music of the ballet Coppelia in a costume fashioned from gauze and paper. The Germans gave her extra bread and soup, that she shared with her sister, Agnes.
Sophie and her sister escaped while on a forced march in February 1945. Her Mother and Father died in the camps. She emigrated to the United States in her later years. 

I'm not sure how I would feel to lose almost everyone I knew in a mass genocide. I don't think I could ever live with myself knowing that I survived while others who probably deserve it more didn't. Maybe it would be the fact that I wouldn't be able to be myself ever again knowing that someone almost made my family, my religion extinct. I'm sure it was hard for Sophie to live with herself. It must have been. Knowing that innocent people were killed just for what they believe is really heartbreaking for me. I'm happy she at least had her sister, Agnes, and that they escaped together. If everyone I knew was gone and all I would have left is my sister, I'd be completely grateful and would probably never leave her.

Effects of WWII on the German People

The effects of WWII on the German people in many different ways; Social, as well as Military differences. One of the social effect were women in the workforce, while, most men went off to war. When the men came home (those who survived or weren't imprisoned) in the decades that proceeded the women went back to the home to take care of the family and housework. Another social effect was the trail of rape that Red Army left behind them, women of all ages were wounded and left distraught during this time. Experts say, between several tens of thousands to more than 2,000,000 were victims of rape, often repeatedly, leaving the women of Eastern Germany's attitudes effected towards sex and leaving a gap between men and women for a long time. Some still feel this effect today. 

The military effect are more positive, World War II was the mark of advancing aircraft and guided missiles making the battleship, along with the coastal firearms, obsolete. Hiroshima was hit with some of the first atomic bombs, making World War II the start of the Nuclear era.