Grace Holley

February 7, 2016
UWRT 1103-007
Professor Wertz-Orbaugh

Children in the Holocaust

In looking at general topics of the Holocaust, I have always found the topic of
children in the Holocaust fascinating. In most camps, the children were immediately sent
to death but a few lucky ones got the chance to make an effort at surviving by going to
the camps. Being a young person, I cannot imagine having to have suffered through all
this terror the Nazis inflicted on them. I want to inquire on this to have an idea of what
the characteristics of children surviving the camps were. Was it a game of pure luck or
was it a certain age that had a better chance of survival?
I do not have much background knowledge of this topic. In most Holocaust
testimonies and films the survivors went to the camps at a young age but I have not
noticed a consistent age range of the survivors. As children were scattered all throughout
the Nazi camps, each had a different way of working the Jewish people, so I assume each
camps had different survival rates.
In conducting my research I think two sources with be the most helpful: personal
testimonies and statistics of the survivors. Testimonies will give a good idea of the actual
conditions they were under, similar to the testimony of Reva Kibort. The statistics will
show the actual number and a rough estimate of the age ranges that survived and passed
away.
The main questions I have in concerning the proposal are what were the key
factors of survival and what happened to the children orphaned throughout the Holocaust.

Were these kids put in a foster home? Were these kids considered less desirable
because of what they had been through? What were the key factors of making it through
the camps or was it really just a game of chance?
Two angles to analyze this inquiry would be to look at it through the eyes of a
child survivor or to just look at the facts and factors and interpret it that way. Just
looking at the topic through only one of these angles would allow the inquiry to not be a
thorough one. A complete inquiry needs to have several angles analyzed and several
resources used.
In forming my inquiry question, I have one main question that I am basing my
research on. Though, my question allows a few follow up questions that can be answered
to extend my research and knowledge. A few of the follow up questions are: it is well
known that children are some of the most resilient age groups, what were the factors that
made survival possible? What was the most consistent age group that was able to
survive? Where were the most deadly camps for children? How many children that
survived the camps ended up being orphaned?

Reflection on my peer response:

In providing feedback to Madelines inquiry proposal, I was not only was able to
provide constructive criticism to her, I was able to find some areas I needed to work on in
my own rough draft. I was able to help Madeline focus her inquiry question. Due to the
nature of this assignment, the inquiry question can be a little scattered and unorganized.
It was helpful to clean up her inquiry question, which in turn assisted me in making my

inquiry question more concise. I highlighted Madelines strengths and weaknesses of her
proposal and offered ways to improve.
With Madelines specific inquiry question: Did all Nazis fall to obedience? I
gave suggestions in a way to organize her thoughts. I suggested using a combination of
testimonies, statistics, and possibly new stories or articles from that time. Madeline had
already gone ahead and started research so she had a lot to work with. I encouraged her
to shorten her finding to only include the most important finding due to the vast nature of
the topic.