Children were especially vulnerable during the Holocaust. The Nazis advocated killing children of “unwanted” or “dangerous” groups in accordance with their ideological views, either as part of the “racial struggle” or as a measure of preventive security.The fate of Jewish and non-Jewish children can be categorized in several ways children killed when they arrived at the camps; children killed immediately after birth or in institutions; children born in ghettos and camps who survived because prisoners hid them; children, usually over age 12, who were used as laborers and as subjects of medical experiments; and those children killed during reprisal operations or so-called anti-partisan operations.
In the ghettos, Jewish children died from starvation and exposure and lack of adequate clothing and shelter. The German authorities were indifferent to this mass death because they considered most of the younger ghetto children to be unproductive and hence “useless eaters.”
Upon arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau and other killing centers, the camp authorities sent the majority of children directly to the gas chambers. SS and police forces in German-occupied Poland and the occupied Soviet Union shot thousands of children at the edge of mass graves. Sometimes the selection of children to fill the first transports to the killing centers or to provide the first victims of firing squads resulted from the agonizing and controversial decisions of Jewish council (Judenrat) chairmen. The decision by the Judenrat in Lodz in September 1942 to deport children to the Chelmno killing center was an example of the tragic choices made by adults when faced with German demands. Janusz Korczak, director of an orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto, however, refused to abandon the children under his care when they were selected for deportation. He accompanied them on the transport to Treblinka and into the gas chambers, sharing their fate.
Finding a rescuer was quite difficult, particularly one who would take of children for a period of years. Some individuals took advantage of a persecuted family’s desperation by collecting money, then reneging on their promise of aid—or worse, turning them over to the authorities for an additional reward. More commonly, stress, anguish, and fear drove benefactors to force the Jewish children from their homes.
Organized rescue groups frequently moved youngsters from one family or institution to another to ensure the safety of both the child and the foster parent. In the German-occupied Netherlands, Jewish children stayed in an average of more than four different places. Some changed hiding places more than a dozen times.
Among the most painful memories for hidden children was their separation from parents, grandparents, and siblings. Separation tormented both parents and children. Each feared for the other’s safety and was powerless to do anything about it. Youngsters and parents often had to bear their grief in silence so as not to jeopardize the safety of the other. For many hidden children, the wartime separation became permanent.
These children were tortured, starved, beaten, and killed for no reason other than hatred and evil. In (Mark 10:14) we read: But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased and said unto them,”Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.” His heart was grieved just as ours should be because of the treatment of His children. Let us pray for the peace and protection of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6) that this will “never happen again”.
To read more about children during the Holocaust please see United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem..
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