Holocaust AOW Impressions Blog

One impression that I had was that there are things about the Holocaust that people don't think about. When you think of the Holocaust victims you probably think about Western European Jews. Many of these people were killed, but there was another demographic that was victimized. According to Kezia's article, mentally ill and physically disabled people were rounded up and killed. They were first gassed, but then neighbors complained so they starved them to death. People forget that these people were also part of the enormous massacre. Another thing that people don't know is that the Soviet Union and the Nazi's starved innocent towns, according to Dylan's article. These powers would cut off all of the food supplies going into the towns. This was the way that they controlled them. The cause of this was that one in five people died in the Ukraine. These are facts that are overlooked because people aren't fully educated. 

Another impression that I had was that Holocaust related events are happening today. Some people compare Syrian refugees to Jewish refugees. Jackson's article says that many Jewish refugees weren't allowed into the country because they were thought they were spies. Americans didn't want to be in fear of people watching them, so many were turned away. Today, Syrians are turned away because they are thought that they are terrorists. Again, Americans are afraid of refugees. It seems that history is repeating itself over again. Another event that is related to the Holocaust that is happening today is that siblings have been reunited. Hazelle's article talks about how a brother and a sister have been reunited after sixty-six years. These siblings were separated when the sister had to go away to a working camp when they were young. Very recently they saw each other with the help of the Red Cross. The Red Cross has helped over 500 families with the same impact. 

 

Character Traits Nicks Story

There was around three traits in the video that I though of while I watched the video about Nick. One trait that Nick possesses is courage. He can go around without being embarrassed of his disability. Many other people wouldn't want to go out in public in his condition. Another trait that I thought of is  perseverance. There was probably many times in his life that he didn't want to go on and he wanted to quit. However, he persevered and now he is extremely happy about his situation. The third trait that I thought of was uniqueness. The disability that he has is extremely rare. This means that he is unique, this could have been good or bad for him. He made it the best of what he has and he isn't mad at life. So, he made it for the good.

I can relate to this because of when I persevered through swimming. A couple of years ago I couldn't go in the water without holding my nose. I would be scared if I let my hand off of my nose because water would go up there. This past summer, I had learned how to to do it without holding my nose. It took me a long time and water would keep going up my nose but now it is barely a problem. This relates to Nicks story because I didn't give up and he didn't give up either.

Berlin Memorial Activity Blog

        During this activity I learned a few things about how Hitler and the Nazi's enforced their laws. One of these things was that at the very beginning of the Nazi rule, the laws were mild. They didn't go full out cruel on these people yet. Very gradually, they turned the Jews into objects. Another thing I learned was that Hitler and the Nazi's destroyed the Jews psyche. By enforcing all these laws and restrictions, they made the Jews outcasts. They didn't have the same rights as the Aryans so they felt different. An example of this was that they couldn't go to the same schools. This made this kids think that they weren't good enough which lowered their morale. The point of the Nazi's doing this was to make the Jews weak so they wouldn't fight back.

         I think this monument was built because Germmay wanted to honor those who passed. Perhaps they felt like they owed it to them to memorialize them. They probably felt horrible that they sheltered the murder of millions of people. By putting up the monuments, Germany might have been saying sorry. The dead can't be brought back so they educated people so this wouldn't happen again. The monuments showed people what could happen if history repeats itself.

         Over the years of the Nazi reign I noticed that the laws were not passed all at once. The first year they passed many laws to show who had power. All of these laws acted as a new playground bully saying that they were in charge and no one could disobey them. Also, many new leaders have many different rules once they come into office so it wasn't that unusual. Then the next year they didn't pass as many laws to maybe not scare anyone off. The Nazi's didn't want there to be a huge outbreak with other countries so it was milder. As they had more power they made more laws that they could easily enforce. This resulted in the harsher laws that applied to many people.
       
        One restriction I would have the most trouble dealing with was not being able to graduate. This would really get me distressed because I could have been going to school for many year to be a doctor, for example. To be a doctor you have to attend school for more then 4 years. All of that hard work and money would go to waste. I would have to start another profession that I wouldn't be as passionate about. Another restriction that I would have a lot of trouble dealing with would be the inability to testify in court against an Aryan. This would be problematic because an Aryan would most likely do something violently towards me or my family. I would want justice and compensation for whatever they did. The German or Germans would get away with putting me in danger and I couldn't do anything about it. This would really make me distressed.