Holocaust Upstander/Bystander

After reading so much about the up standers and bystanders during the Holocaust, I think I understand a little about why people chose to stand up or stand by. First I would like to talk about why people became bystanders and stood by while they saw these horrible things happening to their neighbors, colleagues and friends. I believe the main reason why they stood by is because of fear. They saw how badly the Jews were being treated, plus the threat of being killed if they stood against the Nazis. People had to think about their families and themselves before they thought about other people. They were afraid for their lives and for those of their loved ones. Another major reason why people stood by was because they felt it didn't concern them. During Literature Class we read a poem written by a priest who spent eight and a half years in a Nazi concentration camp. In his poem he talked about how the Nazis came for the Jews, communists and trade unionist but he never spoke for them because he was none of those things. Until the Nazis came for him, then because no one was left to stand up for him he was taken. See being a bystander means being a person who witness but is not directly affected by actions of perpetrators but because they stand by and don't do anything they help shape their society in major ways. What the poem taught me was that because people never stood up for others the Nazis didn't have people standing against them so they did as they pleased, which was a major point in the Nazi success. On the other hand being an up stander means standing up for what you believe in and doing against what the perpetrator is doing. During class we learned about both Jewish resistance and non-jewish resistance. I know that the Jews could only do little because they had the Nazis against them but they managed to stand up for the reason of have the state of mind that if they are going to die they might as well die fighting. Jews started armed revolts in the ghettoes and attacked German tanks and soldiers. They joined Soviet partisan units to harass German soldiers and did everything to preserve their religion and traditions. Non-Jewish people helped too. Many people refused to join the German military and sheltered Jews in their homes. In fact they tried to assassinate Hitler although they only killed a high ranking Nazi Officer.

Since I started learning about the Holocaust, I keep asking myself whether I would have been an up stander or bystander. Honesty, I feel like I would have been a bystander because I would have been afraid. I'm always worried about the well being of my family so I think I would have been a bystander.