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BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 468
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 468 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 468
READING PASSAGE – 2
HOLOCAUST REVISITED
A. During the end-phase of World War II, as Soviet armies were marching into Germany during 1944-45, police units quickly followed. In Poland, the communist Office of State Security reportedly refilled former Nazi camps and prisons with civilians rounded up by these police units. Many of these civilians were Germans innocent of any offence. Their only offence was that they were German.
Nearly 80,000 people died as a result of the actions taken by the State Security in camps and prisons. In these institutions, prisoners were beaten, tortured, starved and even killed. One State Security unit which operated in Upper Silesia, has been much examined by scholars. The town of Gliwice, it operated in, was formerly part of German territory. All of the commanders of this unit as well as approximately three quarters of the men were of Jewish origin. One researcher, John Sack, drew much of his knowledge based on interviews of the Jews, Germans, and Poles, from the region.
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While recognising that the Jews in the unit were provoked due to the circumstances of the Holocaust, Sack acknowledged that it was painful to realise that Jews themselves were responsible for the deaths of German civilians, which included men, women and children. According to Sack, these civilians were never Nazis or even Nazi supporters, but simply Germans. This was very similar to how Jews were exterminated in Nazi death camps solely because they were Jewish.
B. One of the most classic techniques of Holocaust denial has been to relativise or minimize the atrocities by the Nazis, by comparing them to other horrific incidents. A good example is what took place in Gliwice. Others transpose the actions committed by the Nazis to that of the British concentration camps during the Boer War in Africa. Others compare it to the terror bombing of German cities during World War II. Another example is to compare the Nazi outrages to that of the purges and gulags of Stalin’s Soviet Union.
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C. During the 1980’s, German historian Ernst Nolte suggested that the Third Reich was a product of Soviet terror and that the atrocities which were perpetuated by the Third Reich was a result of Germany experiencing massive internal reconstruction and expansion. While his writings unleashed an international outcry, he never denied the Holocaust. This was unlike those on the political right, who have sought to deny or minimise the Holocaust.
Despite the uproar over Nolte’s conclusions, we can see this in the light of German historians attempting to come to terms with the enormous blight caused by Nazi Germany, and approaching the problem of how to interpret the course of modern German history. Essentially, they are asking: where did things go wrong? This form of questioning, in which historians question how the Nazis came to power as well as how the Holocaust came to happen, is legitimate. This is not denial or minimising the Holocaust. It is a far cry from those who do deny that the events ever happened or that the events themselves are merely interpretations.
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D. During World War II, ethnic Germans were an overwhelming majority in both Germany and Austria. The two largest minorities spread across interwar Europe, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, were Germans and Jews. The war and the Holocaust produced solutions as to what to do with both populations. The Jews of Central and Eastern Europe who survived were often unwilling to return to their former homes. Those who did return typically found their property destroyed or occupied by others who would not give it up.
This prompted thousands to move westwards from Poland, Hungary and other areas following a wave of anti-Semitic pogroms in 1946. The countries of Western Europe were largely reluctant to absorb Jewish refugees and those Jews who thought of travelling to Palestine were prevented by the British who held the territory. Thus, European Jews seemingly had nowhere to go and were without hope of finding a permanent home. In 1948, the creation of Israel opened the door for these Jews and resulted in Europe losing the central focus of life for the Jewish people.
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E. German minorities in Eastern Europe also fled westwards after the war. An estimated 5 million ethnic Germans moved during the period of 1944-45. Over the next three years, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia expelled another 7 million from their borders. Despite Hitler’s dream of turning Central and Eastern Europe into a land for German settlers, the area was now empty of both Germans and Jews.
Questions 14-20
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
14. Why did Polish State Security imprison civilians in former Nazi camps and prisons?
A. They were retaliating against Germany because of the War.
B. These civilians were supporters of Nazis.
C. They were striking out at anything German in retaliation for the War.
D. They were punishing German civilians for their active involvement in the War.
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15. The author feels that the treatment of German civilians in Gliwice by the Jewish officers of the State Security unit was
A. justified because of the Holocaust
B. a provocation for mistreatment of civilians during Holocaust
C. no different from how Jews were treated in Nazi death camps
D. no match for the scale of Jewish extermination in Nazi death camps
16. Why is ‘relativise’ a classic technique of Holocaust denial?
A. It shows how other events are different from the Holocaust.
B. It makes other incidents of atrocities seem different from Holocaust.
C. It helps realise how the Holocaust is just as bad as other events.
D. It downplays the Holocaust by comparing it to other events.
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17. Why does the author mention the happenings in the town of Gliwice?
A. To suggest that what happened at Gliwice was an exception to what occurred throughout Poland.
B. To give an example of how German civilians were treated by the communist State Security.
C. To present an explanation for actions taken by the State Security.
D. To provide evidence that contradicts previously stated facts.
18. Nolte was among German historians who were seeking to
A. come to grips with the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany
B. inform how things went wrong and led to war
C. reinterpret the modern history of Germany
D. discover what went wrong so as to create the Nazi regime
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19. During interwar Europe, both Jews and Germans made up which of the following in Central and Eastern Europe?
A. The two largest minorities
B. The two smallest minorities
C. The two largest majorities
D. The two smallest majorities
20. The aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust was that
A. Western Europe was empty of both Germans and Jews
B. Central Europe was settled with Germans, but empty of Jews
C. Central and Eastern Europe was empty of both Germans and Jews
D. Palestine was peopled by both Germans and Jews
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Questions 21-26
Which paragraph (A-E) has the following information?
21. There are some thinkers that virtually negate the Holocaust atrocities.
22. The German civilians killed at the behest of State Security were not supporters of Nazi atrocities.
23. The Jews displaced during Holocaust were often denied entry into their own homes in Germany.
24. People quoted different events in history comparable to Holocaust-like atrocities.
25. There was mass expulsion of ethnic Germans from parts of Eastern Europe after the World War.
26. Tens of thousands of innocent Germans got killed in State Security prisons.
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ANSWERS
14. C
15. C
16. D
17. B
18. D
19. A
20. C
21. C
22. A
23. D
24. B
25. E
26. A