Henry Allen | S.C. Voices: Lessons from the Holocaust

The Horry County native was sent to Fort Bragg, N.C. and then to Europe in 1945. In April 1945 at Orsdorf Death Camp, he saw stacks of dead bodies and those left alive suffering from acute malnutrition. At Mulhausen Concentration Camp in Austria, he found wagons full of bodies stacked like cordwood; a gas chamber lined with shower stalls; a crematorium. Those still alive were malnourished to the point of little communication. The soldiers secured Pershing Airfield in Austria and moved prisoners into barracks that had been converted into hospitals. Thousands came in; hundreds died from malnutrition. Many talked about their camp experiences. He feels we need to encourage children to finish school and to get involved in politics in order to prevent ever having a dictator like Hitler again.

Standards

• 5.3 Demonstrate an understanding of the economic, political, and social effects of World War II, the Holocaust, and their aftermath (i.e., 19301950) on the United States and South Carolina.
  • 5.3.CE Analyze the cause and effect of government-sponsored policies within the United States and Europe related to the status of different groups, to include the Holocaust.
• 6.5 Demonstrate an understanding of the development of global interdependence from 1920 to the present.
  • 6.5.CE Explain the impact of nationalism on global conflicts and genocides in the 20th and 21st centuries.
• 7-4 The student will demonstrate an understanding of the causes and effects of world conflicts in the first half of the twentieth century.
  • 7-4.0 The influence of both world wars and the worldwide Great Depression are still evident. To understand the effects these events had on the modern world, the student will utilize the knowledge and skills set forth in the following indicators:
    • 7-4.5 Summarize the causes and course of World War II, including drives for empire, appeasement and isolationism, the invasion of Poland, the Battle of Britain, the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Final Solution, the Lend-Lease program, Pearl Harbor,...
    • 7-4.6 Analyze the Holocaust and its impact on European society and Jewish culture, including Nazi policies to eliminate the Jews and other minorities, the Nuremberg trials, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the rise of nationalism in Southwest...
• 8.5 Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of world events on South Carolina and the United States from 1929 to present.
  • 8.5.CO Compare South Carolina and U.S. wartime contributions and demobilization after World War II.
• USHC-7 The student will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of World War II on the United States and the nations subsequent role in the world.
  • USHC-7.0 In defense of democracy, a government may need to confront aggression and ask its citizens for sacrifice in wars and providing foreign aid that, in turn, affects the practice of democracy at home. To make informed political decisions about whe...
    • USHC-7.4 Summarize the economic, humanitarian, and diplomatic effects of World War II, including the end of the Great Depression, the Holocaust, the war crimes trials, and the creation of Israel.