The Holocaust is known worldwide as a mass genocide towards the Jewish people. This is true, but not just Jewish people were targeted by the Nazi party. Homosexuals and Gypsies were also targeted, along with Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Polish, and people with handicaps. From this targeting of distinct groups and the stereotypical acts that were conducted, the biggest lesson of the Holocaust can be derived: do not judge others on beliefs, looks, or personality; everybody deserves their happiness. In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, the story and journey of a Jewish boy throughout the concentration camps is told. It shows the mistreatment of others while giving a first person view of the hell that Elie went through on his own. This viewing of mistreatment has taught the world a valuable lesson that should never need to be relearned.
The targeting of homosexuals by the Nazi party is only one example of the cruelty that was the Holocaust. Hitler was a man who desired perfection and strived to achieve it, forcing and luring people to follow these beliefs of ultimate perfection. To him these homosexual people tainted the “perfect aryan race,” and he did not want that. This mistreatment of a targeted group is very stereotypical, because somebody being homosexual does not mean that there is an imperfection within that person. This taught those in the Holocaust and those born after it, homosexual or not, that they cannot help who they are and what they do. A personality makes up who a person is from the inside out, and the idea that some personalities are not good enough is not just. Each person has his own right to be an individual, and just for being homosexual that right of freedom should not be taken away.
Even in the modern day gypsies are targeted and spoken to in a manner as if they are below everybody else, not that gypsies do not do bad things, because everybody does bad things, but that does not make them overall bad people. This “low ranking” of persons, gypsies included, is what started the Holocaust in the first place. The lesson in this is all the same, just put in different terminology depending on the situation. Treat others with the respect that everybody deserves. An example of this mistreatment from Night is when Elie and his father get to their first camp. When they arrive they are assigned to barracks, theirs was controlled by a gypsy man. Both of them were considered below the aryan race, but it matters not because the gypsy is still in control in this situation. Elie’s father, not knowing better, asks to use the restroom and is beat by the gypsy man for it (39). This struggle for power and what is right and wrong is a prime example of hardships due to poor judgement in the Holocaust.
The most widely stereotyped group in the Holocaust was the Jewish religion. In Night, Elie was of the Jewish religion and had to live through this decade of judgement and poor treatment himself. (67) Jewish people were punished just for following their religion’s beliefs and their God. This punishment and unjust treatment of a religion/race is not right, no matter what “justification” is to be had by the oppressors. Elie’s family was taken from their home in Transylvania in the blink of an eye (17). They were also split up, malnourished, beaten, and killed in the Holocaust camps due to the fact that the Nazi party believed themselves to be superior to these innocent people. They could not help where they came from and who they were, just like the other millions of people who were killed. This time in history is sad and can be reflected upon to show the big picture, one of the many lessons that can be taken away, do not judge others for what they themselves cannot help.
The world lived in now and the world that existed during the era of World War II are two different places with people who have different mindsets. Back then, people had to live in constant fear, a fear of not knowing whether their sexuality, race, religion, and even genetic makeup could be targeted and put under fire. This puts an entirely new perspective on how those who are different than others are not bad because they are different. Being different is a trait to take pride in, not to be punished for. The lesson to not judge others should not be forgotten or pushed aside, as should the occurring and remembrance of the Holocaust.