...just followed him. That's how the Germans felt. It wasn't their choice to be a Nazi, it was either be a Nazi or be living on the street hungry and thirsty. I don't blame the kids of Germany for liking the Nazis and Adlof Hitler, they were brainwashed at a young age while they were desperate. But the Nazis treating the Jews like worthless animals wasn't right no matter the cause. I feel bad for the Jews who were killed during the holocaust. But I feel worse for the Jews who became Nazis and killed their own race helping the Nazis. I can't imagine helping killers kill my friends and their families. It was I tough time in places where the Nazis owned. Jews didn't have any rights they were killed on sight and are sent to a concentration camp. The whole Jewish race murdered. That's over one million people. For me a group of people killing someone is the biggest sin ever, but the whole German army just killing every Jew they saw just because the thought they were destroying the world. Just thinking about being in the holocaust makes me realize how easy I have things in America. All the suffering the Jews had to go through and I'm here in my house with the air conditioner on typing this essay on my iPad I got for free, I am so great full. ...
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...Horrific Holocaust Events Being the oldest child was never the easiest job in the world, and then the Nazis began their reign of absolute terror, which made its even worse. I was a triplet actually so it’s not like I had a baby brother and sister, however, I without a doubt was the strongest mentally of the three of us. We all just had turned 16 less than two months ago. None of that matters though, not since they bombarded our house and threw us all into what people were calling a “ghetto”. Finally, the day has come; the whistles blew my eardrums near to death as the high pitch screech roared out the machine. My family and I shuffled out in our clothes which now just draped over and bodies; if you can even call it a body. Everyone had grown...
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...the Nazis killed Jews are by gas chambers, mass shootings and, concentration camps such as Auschwitz or a lot of the other death camps. The reason Hitler wanted to kill all the Jews was because he thought they were the reason the Germans lost The Great War. That’s why Hitler came up with the idea of the Final Solution. This is why I would not forgive him because he was under the jurisdiction of Hitler, he was a trouble man. The people that Karl killed would not forgive him. Karl shot up the house and threw grenades. He watched people burn while standing in the window holding children. I would feel sad, but this situation has never happened to me. Knowing the SS killed my family they would never be forgiven by me. A moral question the Holocaust, requires us to dig deep into our hearts, souls, and minds. We need to think about issues we don’t want to think about. I feel that Simon Wiesenthal did the right thing by walking away in silence. He was not in a position and had no right to forgive the SS man, Karl, for his murders of other people. I also believe that Karl did not deserve full forgiveness for his actions by someone who did not suffer from those actions. I feel that we should honor the dead and the murdered by allowing them to forgive their perpetrators on their own terms. ...
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...In Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spiegelman presents not only his father’s Holocaust narrative but also his own personal narrative, especially with regards to his relationship with Vladek. Readers learn that Artie and Vladek do not always get along, and there is a palpable tension between them. Vladek seems frugal and argumentative, while Artie appears self-centered and uncaring. In both cases, the characters’ faults are not glossed over. They are portrayed realistically, with positive and negative traits on full display. These portrayals accomplish two different goals for Spiegelman: one, they emphasize Artie’s interest in accuracy as opposed to sentimentality, and two, they allow the audience to discover Artie’s own personal trauma—namely,...
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...drawings are being left "for posterity," Berger finds something more important at work here (qtd in Berger 576). Instead he argues that it is through personal narrative (and art) that latter generations can truly comprehend the horror of this action (and others like it). He likens the images to "hell" and labels the action as one of terrorism--one that can never be justified no matter what political side one supports or what aims one hopes to accomplish. Response: Based on the types of readings I have assigned for this class, I don't think it should be any surprise that I believe in the power of the personal narrative. So, on this point, I completely agree with Berger. Reading the number of those who died in the Holocaust, or lost their loved ones in Pearl Harbor, or fell with the Towers on 9/11 has a power on its own. But it is too easy to become immune to numbers. A personal narrative prevents an audience from de-humanizing an issue, and hopefully focus on what is truly important. Rhetorical Analysis: Berger makes two rhetorical choices that are especially effective. The first is that he interweaves excerpts of personal narratives into his own essay. While these narratives support his point, he does not refer to them orexplicate them in any way. Instead he lets them speak for themselves. Since his point is that the personal narrative brings history into "living consciousness," this move highlights his thesis (575). Second, he uses language that polarizes his readers. By using...
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...shaped by their representations in the texts you have studied. Refer to your prescribed text and at least TWO other related texts of your own choosing. History can be defined as “the methodical record of public events” where memory is defined as “the faculty by which events are recalled or kept in mind”. Thus history and memory interrelate as history can be seen as the contextual justification for memory. “The Fiftieth Gate” is a poignant interweaving of history and memory. The text follows protagonist, Mark Baker an historian, son of Holocaust survivors Genia and Yossl (Joe), on an historical journey through memory, to uncover the origins of his past and act as a catalyst for future generations to also connect with their history. Mark Baker’s journey through history and memory is also executed through his conventional ideas that memory is biased and less valid than history. There are numerous references to the discrepancies between the personal memories of his parents and the documented history Mark as an historian believes. In this way it is apparent that Mark is on a quest for verification, “my facts from the past are different”. This displays the flaw Mark traditionally notes in memory and his need for historical evidence. As responders accompany Mark on his journey, they also encounter the complexity of simultaneously being a son and an historian. This attested via the following when Mark collates his parent’s memories with documented historical evidence “His was a past...
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...when written history is presented, it has been edited and re-edited by a secondary source writer, rather than composed by actual witnesses, which proposes a problem; that of the interjectory of the writers own interpretation. Lost is the authentic perspective or narrative from an actual person of a past event. Recorded oral history preserves the viewpoints of individual voices, whether wealthy or poor, having personal knowledge of past events through spoken assessments, recollections and...
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...The personal account, Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist by Yossi Klein Halevi captures the emotions of a Holocaust survivor in a way that other historical sources are not able to. The memoir is about Halevi’s story growing up as the son of a Holocaust survivor in Brooklyn in the 1960’s-70s. When reading this memoir it is important to understand, memoirs are primary sources that follow a single person’s first-hand account and focuses on a specific event or experience, not their entire life. Other historical sources are usually broader and depict a period of time rather than singular personal stories. A memoir is limited as a primary source; Memoirs are limited to only one individual's point of view, rather than an analysis of many people's perspectives...
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...The Holocaust: Effects of Dehumanization in Art Spiegelman’s Maus War broke out in Europe in September of 1939. Everything went downhill from then, Germans began to take over and minorities such as Jews were quickly forced to go to concentration camps, these horrible camps were stationed all over Europe. One of the main camps in Poland was Auschwitz. Opened in May 1940, it was an extermination camp located in southern Poland in a small town named Oswiecim. The camp consisted of three separate camps not far from one another so that communication could be kept between them. These three camps included: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II–Birkenau and Auschwitz III–Monowitz. Auschwitz I was classified as the base camp where prisoners mainly worked, Auschwitz II–Birkenau was the main extermination camp where prisoners went to die in a variety of ways after being too weak to work, and Auschwitz III–Monowitz another labor camp, which held prisoners who worked at a German chemical factory, IG Farben. The killing methods ranged from being lined up at a wall and shot to being put into ‘showers’ that realized a toxic gas. Once the prisoners were dead, they were then burned in the crematoriums at the camp. Essentially the prisoners of the labor and death camps were treated as objects and not as the humans that they were. Many might even go as far as refer to the Germans as heartless for doing the things that they did to the innocent Jews and other monitories. Art Spiegelman’s Maus shows...
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...tell you. When looking at Mein Kampf (My Struggle) by Art Spiegleman, Resurrection by Frederick Douglas and What Sacagawea Means to Me by Sherman Alexie, it is very easy to miss the point that each author is trying to get across. Although each of these stories was written for a different audience the stories being told are very similar in nature. One purpose of each story is to tell a story, which is why both authors used narration in which to do so. Narratives are usually very sequential in nature. Using narration when telling a story helps to draw people...
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...Clarens I. Desir Professor Matthew Lau EN 101 6 February 2014 Regine, Beyer. “Life after the Holocaust” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Revised Edition. N.p., 10 June 2013. Web. 8 May 2014 Regine, Beyer’s article. “Life after the Holocaust” (2010), asserts that he learned that human being cannot be reduced to one period of their lives, even though it might have been the determining one, and About the strength of mind and spirit in sometimes frail bodies. About forgiveness, and not being able to forgive. About mutual sympathy and respect despite age and cultural differences. He made it he’s purpose to look for people who tell their story well (without sounding "professional” in any way) people whose stories can provide a different view on aspect of the overall story we have taken for granted. Base on the article Beyer is writing to Holocaust survivors, and anyone who’ve had their lives affected in any way cause of the Holocaust. He’s purpose was to get their stories out there, because those stories made a big impression on he’s life. Children during the Holocaust. “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum”. Web. May 8 2014. “Children during the holocaust” (2013), prove that children were especially vulnerable doing the holocaust because the Nazis advocate killing children of “unwanted” or “dangerous” groups in accordance with their ideological views, either as part of the “racial struggle” or as a measure of preventative security. The Germans and their collaborators...
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...How has Jane Yolen made use of the features of a fairytale to explore the themes in Briar Rose? Jane Yolen’s novel Briar Rose (1992) combines enchanting fairy tale elements with realistic historical attributes to create an engaging representation of personal discovery/the horrors that defined the holocaust/OR answer Q. Yolen unfolds her narrative through multiple narrative layers and literary techniques to convey the central ideas of human determination and resilience, and the significance of memory to bring back to life an anonymous past. Through the themes and literary techniques that Yolen utilises, the parallels of Briar Rose to a fairy tale are developed into a family history. Human resilience and the ability to rise above suffering is a significant notion that Yolen powerfully acknowledges in Briar Rose, which also establishes a parallel to the common fairy tale element of good triumphing over evil. This is significantly brought forward through Josef’s vivid illustration of the ugly horrors of war he experienced as a partisan during World War II. Unlike Gemma’s fairy tale, Potocki’s eloquent story in the novel is sustained and uninterrupted, adding a sense of authenticity to his narration and providing a sense of realism to the disturbing and frightening experiences that he and Gemma had survived. It is an honest recollection that does not glorify – portraying the partisans as “survivors, not heroes”, and provides detailed descriptions revolving around the Nazi...
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...How has Jane Yolen made use of the features of a fairytale to explore the themes in Briar Rose? Jane Yolen’s novel Briar Rose (1992) combines enchanting fairy tale elements with realistic historical attributes to create an engaging representation of personal discovery/the horrors that defined the holocaust/OR answer Q. Yolen unfolds her narrative through multiple narrative layers and literary techniques to convey the central ideas of human determination and resilience, and the significance of memory to bring back to life an anonymous past. Through the themes and literary techniques that Yolen utilises, the parallels of Briar Rose to a fairy tale are developed into a family history. Human resilience and the ability to rise above suffering is a significant notion that Yolen powerfully acknowledges in Briar Rose, which also establishes a parallel to the common fairy tale element of good triumphing over evil. This is significantly brought forward through Josef’s vivid illustration of the ugly horrors of war he experienced as a partisan during World War II. Unlike Gemma’s fairy tale, Potocki’s eloquent story in the novel is sustained and uninterrupted, adding a sense of authenticity to his narration and providing a sense of realism to the disturbing and frightening experiences that he and Gemma had survived. It is an honest recollection that does not glorify – portraying the partisans as “survivors, not heroes”, and provides detailed descriptions revolving around the Nazi...
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...Although the Holocaust took place almost half a century ago, it still leaves behind profound repercussions not only on its direct survivors, but also on their descendants – the second generation. In her book The Generation of Postmemory: Writing and Visual Culture after the Holocaust, Marianne Hirsch coins the term “postmemory” to describe how parents can pass on their traumatic memories to their children, and how these memories consequently become an integral part of their lives and their identities. Indeed, biographies and psychoanalytical research have proven that many descendants of Holocaust survivors display psychological symptoms similar to those of their parents, despite the fact that they were born many years after the Holocaust. Although many critics insist that postmemory does not qualify as actual memory because the children have not lived through the Holocaust themselves, postmemory is indeed a legitimate form of memory. Furthermore, when compared to memory, postmemory is equally traumatizing and painful. Although postmemory is a frequent theme in many works from and on the second generation, its validity is still debated. Hirsch first defines the term as the relationship between the second generation and the memories they inherit from their parents by means of stories, images and behaviors among which they grew up. Karein Goertz, in her essay “Transgenerational Representations of the Holocaust: From Memory to ‘Post-Memory’” also describes postmemory as “a hybrid...
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...In this narrative, a woman named Bronia serves as a courier delivering Aryan documents and passports to Jews in different parts of Poland. She is working to smuggle Jews to safety. One night while she is on the train she meets a young officer. This man tells Bronia that in Zhitomir he ordered the shooting of many men, women, and children. Bronia brings back the news of the awful killings to the town’s leaders. They tell her that those things would not happen where they live, and she should not stir up trouble by telling others. This story can be compared to the section of the book in Night when Moche the Beadle returns from being expelled by the Hungarian police. He tells the people of Sighet about the awful things that happened to him and...
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