Eli's Blogs towards Holocaust/World War iI
I am on my final blog. I thought I would never get here. This project helped me certainly a lot in my learning. Honestly, my teachers were smart to do this assignment because it gave the students a different way to share their information they learned. It helped me personally a lot because I am not good at tests and quizzes on this; when I was able to create a website it relieved some of my stress. Instead, of doing long tests we get to share what we learned in a fun way. I have learned many interesting things and seen so many incredible artifacts, videos and articles about this era. It was a true experience to spend so much time on learning and talking about the Holocaust and its left behinds. From the beginning of this project I thought it would be a confusing project to do, but at the end it turned out to truly be fun to share my opinions and findings. After all this time well spent on my project, I am going to look back and be proud of myself to be able to create this IDU. Who ever looked or keeps looking at my website, I hope you enjoyed it and understood everything. Overall, I thank all the people who got to see my website, and get to see the project I worked on.
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In the Holocaust Museum I was amazed by one specific artifact that truly blew my mind. I got to see on of the railroad carts all the jews were transported in to the camps. We were allowed to go inside the cart, so that made the experience even larger. When I first stepped inside the cart I quickly smelt the scent of the strong wood the cart was made out of. When the smell went into my nose it just made me uncomfortable. I started tearing up while looking around inside, it was genuinely uncomfortable because right when I walked inside the cart I instantly pictured all the jews cramped up together, barely even being able to breathe. I thought as if I was one of them and it got me emotional to stand in there. Before I left I knew from facts that the soldiers fit up to 80 people in one cart. The cart was not large one bit. It made me feel bad for them and it was just so real to me. My mindset was changed completely on this trip because I got to see such realistic important artifacts, pictures and articles from this morbid time and event.
When I was visiting the FDR Memorial there were many quotes on the bricks and the walls of the memorial. We were told to write down a quote that stood out to us. The quote that stood out to me was, "More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars." I wrote this one down because right when I saw it I agreed. I agreed 100% that there should be an end to the beginning of wars. It would have been the best if we put the end to the beginnings of wars, for they wouldn't even take place. Overall, this quote I analyzed is powerful because the world today should look at that personally. Franklin D. Roosevelt had such a fascinating opinion and statement. Wars shouldn't even be present anymore, they are unnecessary. The fact that countries began wars to me is meaningless. I don't understand what goes through peoples heads these days, and why they think they need to fight and kill people about it.
In class today I was looking at an article from a lady named Tove Schoenbaum Bamberger.. The article was about how her and her family moved and rushed out of Germany before the jews were fully targeted. She discussed how when they were on the boat going to Sweden, and they all had to stay quiet, and they were just all happy to get out. On their way, a big boat came towards them, but it was the Swedish patrol boat, to come and get them. They made it to Sweden, and they lived with their grandparents there. I certainly though it was amazing that that miracle happened to them. I'm tankful, that they just got out of the Holocaust, just like that. I wish, definitely wish that all the jews that were in the Holocaust, could of left Germany earlier and moved out of the country, so the scar in history called the Holocaust, wouldn't of happened.
Our teacher Mr. Moore had a really awesome surprise. He brought in artifacts his grandfather who was part of World War II took from an abandoned house. These artifacts belonged to a man who lived there, and no one knows who he is. Mr. Moore showed us a German soldier hat with silver rings on it determine the mans rank.. Also, we were shown many badges and objects with the swastika symbol embroidered on it. We found out, that he was a nazi, but we don't know who the man is. I was scared when we were shown these artifacts to be honest. But, at the same time I was surprised and interested, and amazed, It amazed me because these objects and clothing from a nazi soldier in the 1940's, was in the hands of our teacher, and was to be seen with our own eyes, Most people, wouldn't be able to experience such a bold thing as this was. It was just better, for my teacher told a story the whole time showing us the artifacts, that his grandfather told him. Honestly, that made it 100% more interesting to listen to. All I have to say is that it was an outsanding and scary experience to see these artifacts.
There was one section in the end of the book, which made me get chills up my spine. In the book the passage said, "Don't forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for himself, and you can not think of others. Not even your father. In this place, there is no such thing as father, brother, friend. Each of us lives and dies alone. Let me give you good advice: stop giving you ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore." Noah. That almost made me cry, I couldn't even imagine what he would be feeling in that moment, saying, that he can't think of his father. He can't think of having a mother, father, brother, sister, or friend. How can he just forget them? They are important people in his life, that showed his so much in the world. I know personally that I wouldn't be able to just shut my father out, he is part of my life. I also, got very upset when he said your OLD father. What did he mean by old father? I would want to punch that guard, because he is my father, not my old; he's still alive. It would be very hard for me to just to say goodbye to my father that quick. It just wouldn't and isn't right. To conclude, it broke my heart, and it just had to be such a meloncholy experience for him to go through. I know it would be for me, no doubt about it.
Yesterday in class, our teacher Mr. Moore showed us a video showing examples power of authority. To back it up, we were trying to connect the power of Hitler and the troops had to this video we watched. In the video, these couple of volunteers were chosen to come do an experiment in a lab, where they were tested on seeing what they do when they are told to do a command not in their comfort zone. When I was first seeing the video, it came to me that I sort of saw what the Holocaust, and all the soldiers were feeling. They were just following the directions they were told by Hitler, and didn't really think of doing anything else. Farther in the video, this one guy who was an actor was told to sit in an electric chair, which if he answered a question wrong he would receive a shock. The shock increased as the number of wrong answers were shown. In another room there was normal people who were told to shock the guy, where he wasn't actually being shocked, but the non-actors didn't know that. They thought he was actually being hurt. I was actually feeling bad for the normal people who volunteered because they kept asking the scientist, are you sure this is safe, and just kept going. This is a great connection, because it shows that they believe that the scientist knows what he's doing, so they trust him, but are still hesitant. It all brings it back to the Holocaust, for when they thought Hitler was indeed doing the right thing, when we all knew he wasn't. In conclusion, I can finally see now how the soldiers might have felt and the jews also. People these days are so connected to the power of authority, assuming that they know everything, and are doing everything right. I believe we should reconsider that. People should think differently really understand a situation that is occurring to them or to the world.
The rise of Hitler first was introduced when after war he was upset with the German government because of their low power. The government at the time, was weak and Hitler didn't like it. After this, he then formed the first nazi group, "The Brown Shirts". They were fighting over the communists. Just from this bit, I believe Hitler has become very rigid and strong in his opinions all the sudden after the war. He wanted to go right into the politics, I think it's strange. After, Hitler interfered his thoughts, he definitely wanted to be part of the government, for he found a certain group in the government that would get him more powerful. He then finds out, that this group lead the problem with the economy, which was bringing down the german government. Right there, I believe that that group Hitler joined was stupid, for not to think how fast Hitler tried to come in and take over. Hitler realizes that the Weimer republic isn't strong, so they are staying on the side. He is going to use this weak government to go against the government later. Hitler was being very smart in this situation, I admit even though, it's not the right answer, I think. He joins the German Worker's Party, because he believed the brown shirts were to violent and he believed to get more friends he needed to be about politics. What? He doesn't want to be violent? Then what was the whole Holocaust about? I can't even see how this was a statement written down. He sure, didn't care about violence later on, in something named the Holocaust.
I was reading the book Night the other night, when I stumbled across a passage in the book, which made me have to stop and just think. The part in the book was, "We were walking slowly. The guards were in no hurry. We were glad of it. As we were passing through some of the villages, many Germans watched us, showing no surprise. No doubt they had seen quite a few of these processions... On the way, we saw some young German girls. The guards began to tease them. The girls giggled. They allowed themselves to be kissed and tickled, bursting with laughter." After I read that, I really had to think of what I just read. It would make me so upset if I saw that. If I was being transferred to another camp in misery, then see happy villagers, and girls laughing and not even caring about me, I would be astonished and disappointed. I would try to escape and go to the local village, even though they knew I was a Jew and they would report me. The couple seconds of freedom I would be given would make me somewhat happier in the moment. Furthermore, I would predict that Elie or anyone being transferred would feel that shot of feeling nothing. They weren't worth anything, people didn't even look at them. Personally,I have a huge doubt that was ok.
In class yesterday my teacher, Mr. Moore brought up a very bold statement, saying, that Hitler somehow got everyone in all Germany to believe in one culture, and that one culture was of the German's. As I was saying German was so smart that over they years and many failures, he got the entire country of Germany to look at the Jews as bad people, and not to be human beings. I just can't believe this man, Adolf Hitler could be this smart in his ways. Personally, he was a very intelligent man with smart ideas, even though they were not smart at the same time. When, Hitler first started ruling all Germany, I was thinking, "How can so many people actually think killing innocent people is a good idea?" For instance, I would say Hitler actually brainwashed all Germany. It's amazing how he can do such a thing.
Also, I was told about how the soldiers and police that were in charge of the Holocaust refused once to killing the innocent jews because they didn't show any harm to them. I don't understand, it should of ended there. I'm suprised that the soldiers didn't stand up for themselves more, than they did. It doesn't make any sense to me. Furthermore, when the jews were put into the gas chambers and the soldiers didn't know who was going on, they were just putting the gas in the chamber. My thoughts through that, were that I would throw a big fit during that, because I would feel more guilty not knowing who I am killing then knowing who I am killing. |