Journal #6: Movie-Life is Beautiful

Journal #6

Movie: Life is Beautiful

The last movie that we watched in conclusion to our holocaust unit was Life is Beautiful. I enjoyed this movie very much. Even though the holocaust is a very upsetting and horrific topic, this movie had a little bit of happiness to it. Guido, the father, had a wife named Dora and a son name Giosue. They were all Jewish except Dora, the mother. Guido and his son were taken to the cattle carts to be shipped to one of the labor camps. Dora found out they were gone and wanted to get on the cart as well. Even if she wasn’t Jewish, she was going anywhere her family was going. Once Guido and his son arrived at the concentration camp, Guido told his son that this was whole game and if you win the game you will win a huge tank. Giosue loved to play with toy tanks. Guido put himself in many risky situations to make his son feel comfortable and that nothing bad was going to happen to them. I believe Guido was very strong on the inside to keep pretending this was a whole game, so his son would feel secure. He did everything to keep them alive. Guido almost made it to the end, but then he was killed because he was pretending to be a woman to go see his wife. Guido loved his family and he wanted to make sure his wife was still alive.  I admire Guido for taking these risks because of the love he had for his son and his wife.

Journal #5: Lola Margulies-Holocaust Survivor

Journal #5

Holocaust Survivor Lola Margulies

During our Holocaust unit, our grade was fortunate enough to have a holocaust survivor come to our school and tell us her story. I thought Lola’s story was absolutely amazing. She was only 12 or 13 years old when she experienced the horrors of the holocaust. As she explained her story, there were many times that she would say, ‘I share my story with people so they never forget what the Nazi’s did to us.’ I think it is so important, as well, to keep people informed about the holocaust and to prevent any more from occurring. As Lola continued, there was one particular part of her story that caught my attention. Lola’s father kept trying to get people to take his family, hide them in a wagon, and cross a boarder line to a safe country. One day, Lola’s father came in with the news that a man was coming by with a wagon to take Lola and her mother. Lola went into a hysteria attack and kept screaming that she wouldn’t go without her father and brother by her side. The man driving the wagon got scared that someone might hear her screaming and bolted for the door. Lola’s father was so mad because they could have been able to save themselves. The day after, the father comes back with interesting news. The man, who was supposed to take Lola and her mother across the boarder, was caught by a Nazi soldier. Everyone in the wagon including that man was shot and killed. If Lola didn’t have that hysteria attack, she and her mother could be dead. Surprising enough, her hysteria attack had saved her and her mothers life. This was very interesting from because I believe as if everything happens for a reason. There was a reason Lola had a hysteria attack. If she didn’t have a hysteria attack, she could possibly be dead.

Journal #4: Oprah Interview with Elie Wiesel

Journal #4

Oprah Interview with Elie Wiesel

One of the most interesting videos to watch during this unit was the interview with Oprah and Elie Wiesel. During this interview, Oprah was able to take Elie back to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany. What used to be a camp is now a museum in remembrance of the holocaust and the tragedies that occurred. During the interview you could tell the Elie wasn’t very comfortable being back in Germany, specifically at that camp. Elie described that when he was at the camp, he never noticed that there was a forest behind the camp. He never paid any attention to it. He also remembered the first night of his arrival. “It was a beautiful night” he said to Oprah. As they walked around, Elie was able to show Oprah where him and his father slept. Elie described that he never remembered walking around the camp. Anywhere Elie had to go or anything Elie had to do, he had to run for it. As Oprah and Elie walked around, they came to a building that had many suitcases with people’s names on it, mountains of baby shoes, and the most disturbing part, a huge mountain of hair from the slaves at the camp. When watching this part of the interview, I felt really sad because seeing all the suitcases and babies shoes really made an impact on me. It’s very hard to explain. This tragedy is so inhumane. I can’t even fathom the idea that someone can have the power to completely exterminate a human race. Children, babies, men, women, grandparents, they were all ordered to be murdered by one person. Its heartbreaking to see the possessions of people who think they are going to return for their things, but never do. 

Journal #3: Night By, Elie Wiesel

Journal #3

Book: Night By, Elie Wiesel

In English class we read the book Night, by Elie Wiesel. This book is about Elie’s story and how he survived the holocaust. His survival was absolutely remarkable, but there were some passages in the story that had definitely caught my attention. One chapter in the book, Elie was describing the living conditions when everyone was in the cattle cars being deported to a different camp. There were at least 100 people crammed into a tiny cattle car. Now by this point everyone is almost skeletal, so many were able to fit in one car. As the days past, people became sick or completely mad. The car began to smell repulsive. There was no bathroom, so everyone had to urinate or do #2 in the car. If I were in that car, I wouldn’t survive because the smell would kill me. As the days past, Elie explained how men would beat each other up when a tiny piece of bread was thrown into the cart. It amazed me how much someone would do to get a little piece of bread. They were all starving and they all became savage fighting for a tiny piece of bread. Not only were the acting like savages, people were treating them as if they were animals. As the cattle cars were traveling through small towns, people were throwing money and other things into the cars. Treating the Jews as if they were something no one has ever seen before. Reading this definitely made me sad and a little mad because if people saw what was going on and why the Jews looked the way they did. I don’t understand why no one wanted to help the Jewish race? This was one passage in the book that definitely caught my attention by far. The whole book caught my attention. 

Journal #2: The Pianist

Journal #2

Movie: The Pianist

The Pianist was a very good movie. This Jewish man named Szpilman had a wonderful life, being with his family and doing what he loves, which was playing the piano on a radio station. One day as he is playing the piano, a bomb explodes by the radio station. This is the beginning of the war and formation of the ghetto. Szpilman and his family are all Jewish. Soon after the bomb, the Nazis are making all Jewish civilians wear white bands with the star of David on it and move them all the a ghetto in their city. Eventually, the ghetto would be cleared out and the Jews would be sent to a death camp. As everyone is walking to get on the cattle car, a man saves Szpilman from going on the car. Szpilman was helped by many people to survive the holocaust. After a while, he started to run out of food and water. Szpilman became terribly sick and now the whole city was a battlefield, so no one could help him. There were bombs and fires everywhere, not only in the ghetto. There was no one to be found in the city and Szpilman needed to find shelter. He was able to live in an attic until the war was over. One night, a Nazi general found him. He asked what Szpilman did for a living and he replied saying he was a pianist. Luckily there was a piano for Szpilman to play for the General. The Nazi General thought his talent was remarkable and wanted to help him. He provided Szpilman with clothing, food, and water. In the end, Szpilman became world known and very successful pianist. I enjoyed this movie very much because I loved watching a video where a Nazi actually helped a Jew survive. It reassures people that there was some “good guys” during the holocaust who wanted to help Jews instead of demolish them. The Nazi general was in fact a “good guy”.

Journal #1: Sophie's Choice

Journal #1

Movie: Sophie’s Choice

This unit has been all about the holocaust. We read different stories and articles about the holocaust, but we watch videos as well. One video that caught my attention dramatically was a small scene in the movie Sophie’s Choice. Sophie, the mother of two kids, was sent to a concentration camp. Her children went to the concentration camp as well. As everyone was waiting in line to move into the camp, a German solider said he thought she was beautiful and would like to be with her. Sophie took this opportunity to say to this officer that she was catholic, not Jewish. She said her kids were catholic as well. Since this officer was very fond of her, he said she could leave the camp, but with only one child. Sophie had two children by her side, a boy and a girl. Sophie kept saying ‘Please, please don’t make me choose. I couldn’t choose’ but the soldiers wouldn’t let both of her children survive. The choice was either they all die or Sophie and one child could live. In the end, she had to give her daughter up and kept her son because she knew her daughter had no chance of surviving. When I watched this scene, it definitely brought tears to my eyes. I could not imagine how a parent in that situation would feel. How could you choose only one of your two children to live? I know I wouldn’t be able to choose. When the solider took the daughter to the gas chamber, I have no words to explain how I felt. I felt so terribly sorry for Sophie. No parent would want his or her own child to die.