During the Second World War many people died in the holocaust. Of course not all of them had the same ending, some of them managed to survive. One of this survivors is Abraham Lewent. Abraham was one of the many Jews who received a horrible treatment during the war. In his testimony he narrates performing forced labor in Warsaw when polish anti-semitism was increasing. To understand the testimony is first necessary to describe the situation better. The anti-semitism, which is discrimination towards the Jews (Dictionary Reference), was increasing within the people of Poland. But this feeling didn't appear from the night to the morning, in general Jews in Poland lived in an anti-semi environment, but without violence (humboldt). So during the war all this anti-Jewish environment increased.
Returning back to Abraham's testimony. He said that he had to carry water from the river which were like four miles. He and his sister had to take two pails of water and walk. They had to pass through a polish neighborhood, where some polish kids took the pails and threw the water to them making them go back again. Abraham explains that this happened in a time where Germany took over the city and every citizen was on his own, he also says that people knew they had lost their country. He says that with the help of the German, polish people felt that they could do everything they always wanted to because all of the hate they had against Jews.
What's the meaning of Abraham's testimony? Considering the elements of his testimony, Abraham talks about the hate that polish people had against polish Jews, but that hate didn't get violent until they had support of others. What Abraham communicates with this is that people that live with you can hate you with no reason and can cause pain to you. So in other words the theme would be don't trust people you live with because they can make you suffer.
To conclude Abraham's testimony of the holocaust teaches us that people are capable of feeling so much hate with no reason, and they are able to cause you pain. His experience shows us that people are able of much violence towards innocent people.
Bibliography:
-"Abraham Lewent". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. June 9th, 2015<http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_oi.php?MediaId=1084>
-"Conditions for the Jews in Poland". Humboldt. Web. June 9th, 2015<http://www2.humboldt.edu/rescuers/book/Makuch/conditionsp.html>
-"anti-Semitist". Dictionary Reference. Web. June 9th, 2015<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anti-semitism>