“What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to
Me”
There
are no words worthy enough to explain the impact this course had on me. The
films I watched and the information I learned benefited me as both a student
and as a person. When signing up for Facing
History and Ourselves, I knew that it was going to be a difficult course to
handle considering that it involved an in-depth look on the Holocaust. Though,
I was not prepared for the graphically accurate films and pictures I would soon
see. Watching films such as, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, as well as “The
Grey Zone,” made it very difficult for me to watch without shedding a tear of how these innocent people were treated. The graphic
violence, the cruel conditions, and the sadness all together left me sitting in
shock after each class. Each day, the class was shown a deeper look into the
truth behind the Nazis and their actions, making me realize the extremities of
the Holocaust and its aftermath.
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| "The Grey Zone," one of the movies we watched in class involving the Holocaust. |
Being
Jewish myself, I had some previous knowledge about the Holocaust from both
Hebrew school and earlier history courses. I always knew that the Nazis’
actions were inexcusable, and the torture they caused upon the Jews seems
almost animalistic. Even though I had previous knowledge about this subject,
the films and pictures I watched over the past semester will be forever
implanted in my mind. For example, the film “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”
was one of the most meaningful films to me. This is because it was very
interesting to see the Holocaust from the point of view of a young boy, whose
father was a Nazi. Bruno, the boy whose father was a Nazi, did not understand
the Holocaust or what was going on. He just wanted to make a new friend;
therefore, he sneaks out every day to the barbed wired fence and visits
Schmule, a Jewish boy his age being held captive at the concentration camp. The
saddest part to watch for me was the innocence of these two boys. Seeing Shmule
starving, dirty, and weak at only 8-years-old was almost unbearable to watch.
Shmule and Bruno were able to see past their religion and still want to be
friends. When Bruno dies in the end because he snuck over to Shmule’s side to
help him look for his father, I couldn’t help but cry. Bruno, only 8-years-old,
died in the gas chambers because he wanted to help his new friend, Shmule, find
his father. The fact that Bruno died from the same gas chambers that his own
father supported and enforced, left me feeling sick inside. I felt that this
was so unfair that Bruno died trying to help a new friend, while so many Nazis
who tortured and killed innocent people were still alive. Leaving the class
feeling sad, and frustrated after watching this film makes me realize that this
movie truly had an effect on me.
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Here is a picture of Schmule (left) and Bruno (right) talking through the barbed wire in the movie,
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." |
Another
lesson in class that had a huge impact on me was the photo album from Auschwitz
that Mr. Gallagher revealed to us. Though we watched several films in class
showing the Jewish people at the concentration camp, as well as walking to the
gas chambers, seeing real photos made the Holocaust seem more real to me. The
photos showed women and their young children, looking helpless and starved.
Other photos revealed men who have not eaten for days at the camp, with bodies
resembling a skeleton. The album also included the pictures of the
extraordinary amount of people being shipped off to the concentration camp,
only to die two hours later. These pictures that I held in my hand showed real
people; they showed real faces of children, women, men, and grandparents who
all had no hope left. The main reason why seeing this photo album was so
meaningful to me was because I was finally able to put a face to the stories we
have been hearing and watching in movies all semester long in class. Every time
we watched a movie or film based on the Holocaust, I always had in the back of
my mind that these were still just actors. But when I held those pictures in my
hand, I saw the faces of real people, not just actors. To this day, I still
find it hard to believe that there are some people out there that do not
believe the Holocaust ever existed. I find those people to be truly ignorant,
considering there are several sources of evidence and real photographs of the
Nazis and their horrific actions upon thousands and thousands of human beings.
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| "The Auschwitz Album" |
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| Here is a picture of a starving concentration camp victim also from the Auschwitz Album |
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Here is a picture from the actual Auschwitz Album.
|
A
specific lesson and continuous class discussion that was also very meaningful
to me was the class debates about bullying and being a bystander. In class,
several discussions came up about bullying and whether or not any of us have
ever been bullied or been the bully ourselves. We constantly talked about how
bullying can affect a person physically and mentally, and how being a bystander
can almost be as worse as being the actual bullying. After every lesson, Mr.
Gallagher always brought up the idea of not being a bystander, and was always
able to relate our recently watched film to the topic of bullying. These
discussions really got me thinking.
I began to realize that the Nazis were nothing more than bullies
themselves. They were able to shut out an entire mass group of people, solely
on their religion and were able to get a way with both murder and indescribable
acts of torture against innocent people. These “bullies” succeeded in getting
what they wanted because of the thousands of bystanders who sat back and
watched these animals take over. If more people stood up for the Jews and the
people being put into the concentration camps, the Nazis would have had a
harder time getting away with as much as they did. These discussions involving
bystanders and bullying really impacted me more then I would have expected.
Knowing that all it would take was for a group of people to say that what the
Nazis were doing was wrong to put an end of the Holocaust, made me very
frustrated. I feel that because I have watched these films on the Holocaust, as
well as viewed real photographs, I understand the meaning of a bystander much
better now. I know that I will not ever want to be a bystander now haven taken
this course and seen what can happen when too many bystanders sit back and
watch victims suffer.
The
decision to take this course was one of the best decisions I could have made.
Though, the films and material we watched and discussed in class was tough at
times to bare, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Knowing the truth of
the Holocaust had a greater effect on me and made our class discussion much
more meaningful. I definitely feel I am a changed person for the better after
having taken this course. Having the opportunity to experience this course only
makes me want to strive to someday make a difference.
