One Survivor questions

1.      What scenes or images were most powerful for you, and why? What lessons or messages did these scenes offer?

a.     The scene where they showed woman skeletons and how women were dyeing one by one because of starvation and lack of health were just awful. I don’t know how the Nazi men and woman could just watch as these woman and girls died a painful deaths all because they didn’t have proper health and clothing. I think those scenes left a message in my head that said the Nazi’s were really that awful and hearing it from a living, breathing survivor really left that impression in my brain, that the Nazi’s were ruthless and didn’t care about anyone.

2.      How did the Nazis dehumanize Jews? How did Gerda Weissmann work to overcome dehumanization and who helped her?

a.     The Nazis in general dehumanized Jews by starving them, shaving all their hair off, and taking away all their clothing, these are the basic ways they dehumanized Jews. Gerda overcame dehumanization by hanging her thoughts on little things that didn’t matter at the moment but getting lost in her thoughts she said saved her life because she didn’t think about what was going on around her.  Her friends ultimately did help her even though they died in the end they helped her and she helped them.

3.      During her ordeal in the Nazi camps, Weissmann says she fantasized about enjoying a simple morning with her family or deciding what dress to wear to an imagined party. What simple things in your own life do you think you’d fantasize about if everything were taken away? What ordinary things do you take for granted?

a.     I would dream about the moments with my family that I thought I would have again and took for granted because those are the rare memories you don’t want to forget. I would also fantasize about being with my friends and all the happiness that came from one simple moment with them. I think I take for granted are the ordinary moments with my family that happen over and over again, but now that I think about it those moments might not always be there. Also, my belongings because we think about things as a given not a privilege and when world war II happened and people were forced from their homes they didn’t have much, so that makes me think we take our material things for granted.

4.      This film focuses on the persecution of Jews in the Holocaust, but others were murdered, including soviet prisoners of war, Roma (Gypsies), gays and lesbians, and Communist’s. In what ways do you see persecution happening in today’s world? What groups do you see being targeted? What can be done to work against such prejudice and intolerance?

a.     In today’s world you see a lot of persecution happening on the internet and all around us, people are constantly putting other people down. I know that isn’t to serious but it still can hurt people. On the internet you see a lot of persecution towards gays and lesbians because they are “different.”  I hear about gays and lesbians being targeted and it doesn’t sound nice at all. People always say stuff they don’t think is bad but in the end it still comes to the facts that it is wrong. I think we can be more careful about what is said and or posted on the internet.

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

a.     The heroes of this film are Gerda because she is living proof that what the Nazis did was wrong. Gerda makes me hopeful because she survived the awful death march and watched her friends die in front of her. She gives me hope that if anyone could survive the terrible disasters of the holocaust that I can survive anything. I think I can help make the world a better place by never giving up hope and always supporting people and giving hope to the people who need it most.

Marika Blog #3

I read one article on Budapest, Hungary and the Germans taking over Hungary. Some background knowledge I have acquired is, that Budapest was a huge safe haven for Jewish refugees until the Nazi invasion. This quote from an article on Budapest show us just how many refugees’ there were, “Before the war some 5,000 refugees, primarily from Germany and Austria, arrived in Budapest.” I also have learned that Hungary and Germany were allies, and until March 1944 Budapest was a safe place for Jews.

The research I have done so far reveals many connections to my book, Marika. In one of the articles I read they talk about how when Budapest was overrun by the Nazis, Jews were ejected from their apartments. This got me thinking about how Marika and her family live in two apartments, and when the Nazis invade if they will be forced from their homes?  Also in the same article it talks about how Jews located in Budapest weren’t automatically sent to concentration camps, but rather scattered in buildings marked by the Star of David.  The back cover of my book talks about how Marika and her family go into hiding. This quote talks about how Jews went into hiding and who assisted them in doing it, “Many Jews searched for places of hiding or for protection. They were aided by Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg and other foreign diplomats who organized false papers and safe houses for them.” In Marika, Marika and her family made fake birth certificates and I wonder if they made them for hiding reasons. Apa, Marika’s father often yell’s at her brother over doing poorly in school because he fears his son will be sent to a labor camp for not having a job. When the Nazis over took Budapest they scared everyone and sent many people to labor camps, “The Arrow Cross instituted a reign of terror in Budapest and hundreds of Jews were shot. Jews were also drafted for brutal forced labor.” This quote is brutal but illustrates what happened in Marika’s town in the mid 1900’s. I anticipate that when Marika’s family does run into trouble it will happen very quickly without much warning. In the book Marika is finding out she is not wanted by how kids and adults are starting to treat her and her family.

Quotes from: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "BUDAPEST” http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005264 12-1-11