if u could go back on time to the holocaust why would you do it? and what would you do?

Question

if u could go back on time to the holocaust why would you do it? and what would you do?

Answer 1

What a curious question! This had me thinking a good while. Would I want to visit a part of history so horrible? Why would I want to in the first place?

I would choose to visit Hungary in 1944. The round up and direct extermination of the Hungarian Jews has to be one of the most efficient acts of the Nazi's. Auschwitz worked overtime processing the Jews from the endless transports from that country. In Elie Wiesels book "Night", he describes what it was like to be a hungarian Jew totally oblivious to what had happened to the Jews in other countries. He was a teenager at the time, but I have spoken to survivors who lived in Budaphest and all have said the same time, they had no idea at all as to what was awaiting them or what had happened to others elsewhere.

I would like to see how the media was controlled and how the population was so complacent about the treatment of the Jews. Just how much information was available to the Jewish population as a group as opposed to some leaders and did they know things and not fully understand the significance, or did they think they were far enough away not to be worried, or was it they really did not know anything about what was happening. I suspect the latter as most news went west toward the allies, but it is a time in History that has left me wondering and it would give me an opportunity to see just what the circumstances were at the time.

Would I change anything? I would like to but what can one person do to change the outcome of the Nazi Machine. One cannot change history. It serves no purpose. We learn from history but do not re-write it or interfere with events. Kind of like the prime directive in Star Trek, watch and observe but let events unfold as they should.

Answer 2

For some reason, I am very intrigued by the Holocaust although it was a gruesome and dismal time in history. I think it would be interesting to go back in time to World War II. I would try to notify people that the Holocaust was actually going on, because many didn't know and were slower than they could have been getting past the Germans and into the concentration camps.

Answer 3

To put a bullet through Adolf's head
(maybe Hermann Goering's too)

But really to stop the entire thing.
We must also think about: how did it change the world for the better. I know, I know, it may sound very insensitive and I do agree, of course, that millions of deaths are something to be deeply mourned, but what did it do to help the world? Did it open up its eyes? Did it stop many more smaller genocides from occurring? (I know there are many still going on today but think about how many more there could have been.)

And NO, I am not saying the Holocaust was good or acceptable in any way. Just saying.... something.

Answer 4

Okay Brenda - "If you could go back IN time, who would you do it?" Like most people, I am curious. I would go back in time to see what it was really like back then.
"If you could go back IN time to the Holocaust, why would you do it?" The Holocaust happened over several years - it did not just take place on one day. Millions of people died in Europe during the Second World, why would I choose one group (the victims of the Holocaust) and not another (the Soviet POWs)?? Why would I give one group preferential treatment in your hypothetical question, Brenda?

I wouldn't - it is as simple as that.

Answer 5

it'd be almost impossible to change anything that great. you'd have to strangle hitler as a baby and then get away from the law...

but the holocaust TIME?

you'd litterally have to disemble the einsatzgrupen.
what i'm getting at is it'd be like saying : could you take down the communist government in the 60's if you were dropped off in time there? (maybe if a drastic event like nuclear war had occured)

its not like 9/11 like where you could call in to the feds.

Answer 6

History provides us insight into humanities past mistakes and successes. Obviously, the holocaust was one of those mistakes. We have learned much from the atrocities of this period in history, and therefore the past should be left in the past. Let’s move forward. Extermination is still happening today in many parts of the world, its just that we don’t see it on CNN.

Answer 7

Well, this is not a clearly defined question. In what country, as what nationality, religion, etc. I mean, it would be easy to say, sure! if one lived in America or Canada or Africa or Portugal or Spain. As Goering said, "I wouldn't want to be a Jew in Germany now."

If I could go back in time to that time I would want to do it only if I could accomplish something; if I could hide someone, or save someone, or harm someone evil. I think I wouldn't mind dying then, if I could do that.

Philosophers used to ask, if you could go back in time to when Hitler was a child, knowing what he would become and do, would you go back and kill him, if you could? Would you?

Answer 8

I'd take a squad of removalists/mercenaries and re-plunder all that plundered gold and art and hide it somewhere conveniently out of the way, return to the present and buy a small south american country and found a technocratic scientific utopia.

Answer 9

Observe and nothing more. I think this topic has been the theme on many sciece fiction and speculative books over the years. Like physicists think, trying to make any alterations in the past could have dire consequences in altering the future.

Here is a physisist's point of view which applies in interfering the holocaust as well:
Tso-Cheng Hsiao's Opinion

Time travel is a very complicated topic, as it lies on a thin line between science fiction and reality. According to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the best theory of time and space known until now, there is nothing in the laws of physics that forbids time travel. The theory implies that time travel may be very difficult to achieve, but not impossible. The possibility of time travel involves the extreme concepts of black holes and wormholes. Although the concept goes into much depth and complexity, all we need to know, is that black holes offer a way to travel through space, as well as through time; and that wormholes are like tunnels through space and time that connect different regions of the Universe. However, there are some problems that put the possibility of time travel into doubt.

The most general concern is the possibility of paradoxes. For example, if we could travel through time, imagine what would happen to a time traveller if he (or she) travelled back in time and killed his own grandmother at birth. In theory the time traveller will therefore never be born, so the journey could never have been made in the first place. But if the journey never occurred then the grandmother would be born which means the time traveller would have been born and could make the journey. The answer to this paradox touches upon different angles. One of the answers uses interpretations of the quantum theory, stating that parallel worlds are created when history is changed or altered. According to one interpretation of quantum theory, each of these worlds is just as real as our own, and there is an alternative history for every possible outcome of every decision made. Alternative histories are created and branched out from the decision points, just like a tree and its different branches, leaving the original history intact, therefore eliminating the paradox. This means that if the traveller kills the grandmother, an alternative history and a parallel world will be created; therefore, in this new parallel world, the young grandmother never existed and the traveller was never born, and the original world (and history) remains intact. Essentially, because of time travel and alteration of the past, the end would result in two differing present worlds instead of one.

A different possible paradox questions the outcome if the traveller was to meet himself in the past, what would happen then? Many science fiction movies regarding time travel suggest that if that event was to occur, then that person will cease his existence.

This brings up another important issue, in order to be able to travel through time we would need a time machine. Building such a device would be extremely difficult, since it involves the manipulation of black holes, not to mention the incredible cost. This is also another reason why the eventual possibility of travelling through time seems more of a stretch than closer to the present.

Many people still regard the idea of time travel as science fiction. This is an acceptable view because the actual time travel has not yet been established. However, many scientists would argue that the possibility of time travel seems more realistic than science fiction as research and studies keep proving that despite scepticism, time travel might one day be feasible.

This idea of time travel is more than just exciting. If a time machine is ever invented and made properly, life would change in certain ways. Considering the assumption of parallel worlds, our world can never be affected by any changes done by any time traveler, since parallel worlds would be created every time a change takes place in history. This suggests that going back in time will serve only as a study and observation of the past, since no matter what you change in it our current world will be untouched.

Let’s say you go back into the past to prevent someone’s death. By changing the history and natural occurrence of events, this would create a parallel world to hold the new alternative history. But what if that person dies in some other form because it was part of destiny for him to die? After creating this new parallel world, the future and the present of this world will no longer follow the pattern of the traveler’s world. Anything could happen. So although that person was saved from death in this new parallel world, he can still die under a different circumstance in an alternative universe, which was created when the past was altered.

Time travel is more complex and sophisticated than simply going back to the past or going forward into the future. It involves quantum mechanics, black holes, wormholes, parallel universes, and many other theories and ideas. It involves many possibilities that have no right or wrong solutions. It involves tons and tons of paradoxes that simply seem to have no answers and are never ending questions. Everything is hypothetical. Whether or not time travel will ever occur is very uncertain, although foreseeable in the far future. Whether or not time travel is actually helpful to mankind is also unclear. This is even more so when it is suspected that the past cannot be altered, thus it is destiny that controls everything. Even if you go back into the past to change something, you won't be able to achieve it successfully. If something is supposed to happen, it will, no matter what you do. So if this is so, time travel to the past can only be used as a study, observation, and learning device, rather than a device to be used to fix or change events from the past. Until an actual time machine is built and time travel can be conducted, all these questions and hypothetical answers will remain nothing but educated guesses and uncertainties.



Michael

ADDENDUM - sigh, alas how the truth hurts,