Blog # 6

Q-1
What scenes of images are most powerful for you, and why? What lessons or messages did these scenes offer?

A-1
The most powerful image to me was the rows and rows of dead bodies lying on the ground. Studying the Holocaust we hear about deaths. This image brings those stories to a realistic vision. The Scene I’m speaking of showed me that no age or gender was spared. As Mrs.Weissmann said while telling her story, people drop dead in their tracks. Without even a look they kept on walking.

Q-2
How did the Nazis dehumanize Jews? How did Gerda Weissmann work to overcome dehumanization, and who helped?
A-2
In the story Mrs.Weissmann tells of the Nazis separating families. The Jews were captured and treated like animals. They lost all control of their own lives. The who what when and wheres of their lives were all dictated to them. All these orders turned ordinary people into animals in the eyes of the Nazis. Though Mrs. Weissmann did not speak of some other ways that they dehumanized people in her story, I can infer by the books I have read, and the book we are reading in class. Some other methods used by the Nazi Germans was when the people had arrived in the camps, they were stripped of all their clothes and forced to walk through the towns naked from head to toe. After that they were herded into a building, where every bit of hair was shaved off their entire bodies like sheep shaved for their wool.


Q-3During her ordeal in Nazi camps, Weissmann says she fantasized about enjoying a simple morning with her family or deciding what dress to wear to a imagined party. What simple things in your own life do you think you would fantasize about if everything were taken away? What ordinary things do you think you take for granted?
A-3
In the movie, she explains that all her possessions were taken away from her and her family as well. If all my possessions and/or family were taken away from me I would not be able to stand it. I would of course miss my family the most and I would most likely fantasize about them. Out of the ordinary things I use every day, what I probably take for granted the most would be my electronics. For example, when the power goes off at home, I’m fine until I realize that the TV is out and my electronics are not charged. I probably take my television for granted the most.. The TV opens up a world of learning and education for me.

Q-4
This film focuses on the persecution of Jews in the Holocaust, but others also were murdered, including Soviet prisoners of war, Roma, gays and lesbians, and Communists. In what ways do you see persecution happening in today's world? What groups you see being targeted? What can be done to work against such prejudice and intolerance?
A-4
In today's world I see prosecution in many places and in many ways .A lot of times people are prosecuted for being different. Some people have a hard time accepting others for who they are, what they look like or what they believe in. Today, Gays and Lesbians still have trouble being accepted. I feel some older people still have trouble leaving the belief of slavery in the past. Religion and politics are always subjects that cause friction. Quakers believe that everyone is equal. The golden rule of Quakerism is to treat others the way you want to be treated. I believe in this and think that if others would understand this belief, tolerance of others would grow.

Q-5
In many ways, this film is about hope for the future. Who are the heroes of the film? What do they do that makes you feel hopeful? What can you do to help make the world a better place?

A-5
In Gerda Weissmanns case, she probably saw anyone who treated her nicely as a hero. When listening to her story I narrowed it down to three true heroes. Throughout her life, Gerda's father has truly been a hero. He shows his heroicness in June, before winter when Gerda had to walk, he tells his daughter to wear her ski boots instead of her normal shoes. This pays off when time comes for her to walk throughout the winter with hundreds of other women. The boots kept her toes warm and protected her from frostbite. Another hero reveals herself when Adolf Hitler comes to inspect the camp Gerda now calls home. This woman was the chief of Gerdas deviation of the camp. Gerda was ill that day, so she was not working. This woman, out of the goodness of her heart, made Gerda get up and work. This was a heroic move because if Gerda had not been seen working she would have surely been killed on the spot. The last, and probably the most heroic person in Gerda’s life is now her husband. After being abandoned by the German escorts, a young US officer comes to where they have been dumped. Gerda tells this man that they are all Jewish. The man replies to her that he is as well. After this all the remaining women are taken and saved by the United States. This managed truly here, for he saw what others have passed. He saw a young lady standing in the middle of the doorway with no one to care for her and to look after.

Blog # 5

Today in class we researched and explored the National Holocaust Memorial Museum website. Some of the information I read on the website I could directly relate to the books my class has been reading on the same subject. Milkweed, the book my group is currently reading, is about a boy, who is an orphan, living on his own in the streets of Poland while struggling to survive. On the National Holocaust Museum website, I found an abundant amount of information relating to orphans and the ghettos where the characters now live. The ghettos are remnants of the towns that have been ruined by the Germans in their pursuit of control, which are now fenced in by cement walls topped with barbed wire. These towns where once productive communities that people lived in. Now holding areas for these same people and others all controlled by the German forces. “After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, more than two million Polish Jews came under German control.” This is a direct quote from the website about the ghettos in Poland.

Like in Milkweed, children became orphans every day. According to the Website, when in the ghetto, in order to survive, children had to be resourceful and make themselves useful. Small children in the Warsaw ghetto sometimes helped smuggle food to their families and friends by crawling through narrow openings in the ghetto wall. They did so at a great risk, as smugglers who were caught were severely punished. This also happens in Milkweed, Uri and Misha Pilsudski escape the ghetto through holes in walls in order to feed themselves and their friends they now live with in the ghetto. Like Mr. Abraham Lewent says in his interview in 1989, “every day you walked out in the morning, you see somebody is lying dead, covered with newspapers or with any kind of blanket they found.” The author of Milkweed also references this when Uri and Misha Pilsudski are walking the streets and they see a man with newspaper spread over him. Uri explains what it is and that it is the right thing to do. Also in the book, Misha Pilsudski depicts the look of newspaper spread over a young boy and that you can tell because only one piece of newspaper covers the entire body. Most of this death is caused by starvation. Germans deliberately allowed only a small bit of food to all men and women, hoping that it would exterminate the population in the ghetto. Which, like I said, is the leading cause of the escapes and returns of most of the younger population in the ghetto.

Same and Diffrent blog #4

The two books I have read, Milkweed and Emil and Karl, have both similarities and differences. The topic that both books share is the Holocaust, which is a similarity. A difference between the books is that the stories take place in two different parts of Europe. Emil and Karl takes place in Austria, Milkweed’s setting is Poland. The leading characters in each of the books are two teenage boys.

Emil and Karl are the main characters of the self-titled book; Karl being the protagonist character. Milkweed has two main characters, Misha Pilsudski and Uri; with Misha Pilsudski being the protagonist character. Karl and Misha Pilsudski are both orphans. How they became orphans is different; Karl knows when and where his parents were taken from him. Misha Pilsudski has no memory of his parents or what happened to them. Karl and Misha Pilsudski are also alike in the fact that they are not Jewish, but they are not of the same heritage. Emil and Uri enter the story to assist the main characters. Although they play the same role, Emil enters as Karl’s friend of the same age. Uri enters as an older more experienced brother like figure. Emil and Uri are both Jewish.

The similarity of all four boys, Emil, Karl, Misha Pilsudski, and Uri is that they are all running in search of safety from the grasp of the Nazi Germans, A.K.A. the Jackboots. Circumstances out of their control force them to take different paths.

Milkweed Blog #1

For the 2nd book club, I was assigned the book Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. The Main character in the book is Misha Pilsudski. Misha Pilsudski doesn't know who he is, what he is or where he is, all he knows is his life as a gypsy and his friendship with a boy named Uri. Uri teaches him all about the world that he lives in, with Jackboots (Nazis) coming through this small town hundreds at a time and children running through the streets steeling bread, clothing, and other necessities needed to survive. Uri, who is another contributor to the story, is a red haired orphan Jewish boy who has taken Misha Pilsudski under his wing and is guiding Misha Pilsudski through the terrors of this town and of the War (WW2) that surrounds it. They both live in the cellar of an old abandoned Barbershop in the middle of town. The story really doesn’t kick off until their home is raided by Jackboots in the middle of the night. Uri wakes Misha Pilsudski up and tells him we have to go, he protests until they hear noise from upstairs. Uri and Misha Pilsudski run out through the cellar doors and escape into the darkness of the night. Now the problem is they know that people are after them and that they have nowhere to go. They are left to make their own decisions to hopefully lead them to safety.

Blog 2 (Night)

I read the passage from the story Night today in English class. It is written in first person by someone on a horrific train ride. The narrator never gives any clue as to what gender or age they are. When I read it, I assumed it was a teenage boy. I realized by the end of the passage that my assumption was never confirmed by the narrator. I can infer that the ride was horrific from all the descriptive details the narrator gives. Lack of space, food, water and light was mentioned at different times in the 5 pages. The first paragraph states “Lying down was not an option, nor could we all sit down.” Another statement was there was no air. Second paragraph “After two days of travel, thirst became intolerable, as did the heat” is another statement that supports the idea of the bad accommodations.

About the 6th paragraph, the narrator lets the reader in on the why and where of the train ride. The narrator tells about the German officers and their rules. This information along with the previous details leads me to infer that the trip destination is not going to be pleasurable.

The next few pages of the passage introduces us to another passenger. Mrs. Schachter, she had already been greatly affected by the Germans when her husband and older son were taken from her. Now, her journey is too much for her to handle. It appears to the others, in the locked train car, that the woman is going crazy from this horrible experience. I think that maybe she is the only one aware of what is to come. Her nightly rants about seeing fire. One time she specifically addresses the Jews and says “Jews, listen to me,” she cried. “I see fire! I see flames, huge flames!” Why would she call the people Jews? The people had to know something about what was to come for them at the end of this trip. Why couldn’t they make the connection to what this grieving woman was saying? Maybe had they not been so scared, they would have seen what she saw.

Blog 1

Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn starts with a thrilling opening. The main character Karl, who lives in Vienna, is alone in the apartment he lived in with his mother. This scene takes place minutes after witnessing three large men invade their home and take his mother away with force. The last thing the men said was that they would be back for him. So now Karl must flee before they return. He chooses to go to an old friend's house. Emil is a Jewish boy who was a classmate of Karl's and a close friend at one time. Due to the changes happening in Vienna, teachers were forced to teach the Aryan children that Jews were dirty commoners and not equals. Emil was bullied and taunted by other classmates and eventually forced him out of school for his own protection. Emil's mother asked and insisted that Karl not be seen with Emil for fear of both the boys’ safety. Karl now hopes that the friendship he had with Emil will be enough to persuade Emil and his family to shelter him and take care of him during this hard time. The setting of the story takes place in Vienna Austria within the 1940s, a time when Jewish men, women, and children were being separated from the rest of the city because of their religion. The problem so far is that Jewish people are being treated unfairly and that penalties can and are being given to Jewish people and non-Jews that help them.

Philadelphia Flyers home game opener

The Philadelphia Flyers have begun the 2011-2012 season with two away game wins;leaving the Flyers with a two game winning streak, certainly catching the eye of the National Hockey League (NHL) and its fans. It is now time for the Broad Street Bullies to come back to Philly, and bring another one home against the Vancouver Canuck's. Starting at 7:30 PM, the national anthems will be sung, and the game will begin.

LETS GO FLYERS!!!!