Julie's Blog: May 2012

The course Facing History in Ourselves is an awesome course that ultimately will give you the opportunity to find who "YOU" are. With visual movies, documentaries, and readings students will be able to understand exactly what happened during the Holocaust. Students will be able to put themselves in the scenarios that people living during the Holocaust had to go through. Overall students will look at their choices and viewpoints and decide who they are and who they want to be. I heard about how this course is really beneficial and interesting so I did a little more research about it. I found out that we will be looking in-depth at the Holocaust and decided I definitely wanted to learn more about it. All my life I have learned why the Holocaust happened and that it was a terrible war but I never learned about the sort of brutal things that actually happened and how the prisoners reacted. I decided it was time to learn what really happened. I am a senior, girl at Westborough High School and I have lived in this town my entire life. I have been taught everything I know from Westborough public schools. This course is something that I will remember as well as learn from and apply to my own life. I know that people with authority, even if they are just one person, have so much power over others. People can be manipulated to do awful things and think that they are justified only because the person in power told them so. One person can cause a war and one person can end one, even if that war is bullying or any sort of present day issue in society today.

This course was extremely beneficial to me. Not only did it really give me the knowledge about an important war in history, but it also made me question who I am. Every documentary or movie we watched in this course I would try to put myself in the shoes of the prisoners. I am Jewish so seeing the Jews go through such an awful time really struck home with me. Growing up in a small, safe town and never going through anything remotely close to what the Jews did during the Holocaust made it difficult to imagine what it was like. Seeing these movies and documentaries would almost bring me to tears. I hated watching these awful things, thinking that if I was alive during this time this awful murdering could be happening to me or my family.

I really thought about my life and actions and how I can improve on them in the present. Discriminating against looks, religion, or actions of other people is the most terrible thing a person can do to another person. Watching what the Nazis did to the Jews is murder and totally unjustified in society today. Bullying and making fun of other people is just as terrible. Teenagers every day are being tortured at school and then committing suicide. This is the present day Holocaust. We need to stop this now before it escalades. I’ve learned that any form of bullying to any person in the world is completely unacceptable. I have also learned that I live in a time period that is very safe and easy. When I complain about how much homework or chores I have to get done I look back and want to smack myself. The problems I have in my life do not even come close to comparing to the problems of the prisoners during the Holocaust. I have become very, very grateful for the life I have and a lot more considerate of other people feelings. I have also realized that one person can make a huge difference in society whether it’s a good one or a bad one. Hitler was one man and he manipulated millions of people to murder, making them think it was OK. This power can come from just one person and in society today it can do a lot of good. If one person can create a war then one person can end one. I know now that I do have a lot of power in this world and I can use it to do well in this world. All I have to do is try to use my voice to speak up against the authority.

Watching documentaries was very beneficial to me as well as very interesting and sometimes appalling. One documentary that I remember was the lady who wrote a letter snitching out her neighbor and today she was denying what she had done. It infuriates me that she clearly knew what she had done and wasn’t able to admit to it. Also some documentaries we watched of a man who said something like I had to do what I had to do. I was watching and said to myself, no, you did not have to do that. No one was forced to go along with Hitler. Anyone could have not partaken in murdering innocent people. It’s their own life and their own choices; no one but them is to blame. When we watched the Pianist I was first able to look into the individual lives of the Jews and see that they were treated extremely unfair. This movie was very meaningful to me. I have seen this movie before and the last time I watched it I was a lot younger. I wasn’t really knowledgeable about the Holocaust. Learning about the Holocaust through documentaries and then watching the Pianist gave me a whole new viewpoint. It wasn’t just a movie anymore it was real life. This scenario really happened and that sunk in with me during this movie. I started to get really emotional thinking that this innocent loving family had to be tortured and torn apart, as well as live in fear. When I saw the Jews being shot in the street while trying to run away as well as when the old man was thrown off his balcony in a wheelchair I was really upset. I couldn’t believe that this actually happened in the world. The Nazis acted as if it was some sort of sport and it really disgusted me.

When we watched the Warsaw Uprising I was given again a whole new perspective. I was under the impression that the Jews didn’t fight back at all and that they tried to escape but never revolt. When I saw these brave people going against the Nazis I had extreme respect for them. They know that the Nazis have more numbers and power but they still had the bravery to fight for their lives as well as everyone else. I’m so glad I got to see this movie and learn that there was rebelling of the Jews. The most meaningful part of the entire course was the Death Camp Footage that we watched last. I had so much more knowledge about the Holocaust before seeing this footage and I understood everything that was happening. I was cringing and holding my tears back throughout the entire thing. I couldn’t believe the real footage I was seeing. I think it was the most horrific terrible thing I have ever seen in my entire life and it will be forever. The expressions on the people’s faces and the number of dead bodies I saw were just unbearable. I couldn’t believe that what I was seeing was real. I will remember these images my whole life and I will remember how awful the Germans treated people and how inhumane it was. This course has really given me knowledge about the Holocaust as well as taught me a lot about who I am. Lastly it gave me the perspective and the tools to make a positive difference in my life as well as other peoples.

Julie's Blog

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Introduction

What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me

Works Cited