Exploring the Holocaust in Eastern Europe

Understanding the Holocaust

2010-04-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

It's weird to read about your world in a history textbook.

I just finished reading several chapters in my AP World History textbook. It very accurately relays to the reader all of the facts and occurrences about the variety of situations our world has faced. It clearly describes different wars, different organizations, different processes of development. Nonetheless, it is very weird to read about your world in a history textbook. It just doesn't feel right. A textbook presents material as raw fact, but that is not how someone experiences it. For example, reading about 9/11 -- I read the facts, how it happened, when, where, what the effects were. And it makes sense in my academic mind. But that isn't how I remember it. I only remember sitting at my second grade desk listening to my classmates getting called down to the office one by one to go home for some unknown reason. That is how I experienced it, but no textbook will ever share the memories of some second grader halfway across the country.

With that in mind, I realize that I will never truly be able to understand the Holocaust- I wasn't there. Hence, I, along with everyone else, rely on the materials we have to try to understand it. A textbook does a fine job of providing me with the facts and events, but another very helpful source in my quest to understand is stories, whether fiction or non-fiction, and they are the thing that really help to understand what happened from an emotional standpoint.

As a class, we have been reading Mila 18 -- a novel focused particularly on the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. About two weeks ago I reached the point in the book where I could not put it down- the characters and the plot gripped me and I have been reading any free moment I have. I finished it this morning, closing the book with a feeling of grief, sorrow, and, oddly, contentedness. So many had died and their lives had been destroyed, but the Jews in the ghetto were illustrated as brave soldiers fighting with an obscene kind of passion. At the same time, they were illustrated as being just like you or me, trying to deal with relationships or trying to improve their piano skills -- but unlike you or me in that they experienced those things amidst the terror of the ghetto. Reading Mila 18 left me with a kind of understanding about the Holocaust, in particular about the Warsaw Ghetto, that I don't think I could ever obtain from a history textbook.

I understand that fiction isn't necessarily the best factual source and that it can't justify the experience of someone who actually went through the Holocaust. But I never will go through the Holocaust, and reading the experiences of normal people will be as close as I can get to understanding what really happened and what I might have been thinking or feeling if I was there. Novels and books like Mila 18 are the resource that allow me to understand. I can picture the street corner upon which the Warsaw uprising started, I can picture escaping through the sewers, I can feel the emotions and the tensions penetrating the room during the last Seder in Warsaw before it was burned to the ground. A textbook can't give me that.

-Erin Miller

Reflections

2010-04-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

I am in a flurry of emotions right now about the entire trip. I'm scared and nervous about flying so far away from home. I'm excited because I've never been to Europe. I just really don't know what to feel.

Five months ago if you asked me why I wanted to go on the Eastern Europe Trip my response would be to go "see the sights" and "enjoy the awesome food", none of which really hold the clout or significance this trip has come to mean to me.

Before this seminar I guess you could say I was very disjointed from the rest of society. I didn't feel the pains of the people when I saw horrible things happening on TV. I felt so disconnected. I wanted to feel something, but it was difficult because I was not there. I couldn't fathom the horrors or see and hear the things that were a part of these people's everyday lives.

Now I can sing a different tune. Ms. Vander Pluym presents the Holocaust to us from a very individualistic standpoint, and although I wasn't there these methods she uses (i.e. creating a circle of things we felt defined who we are) recreates the emotion and the heaviness of the situation at hand.

I feel this seminar asked us to submit our lives, opinions, personalities so that they may be reshaped and reformed to fit the perspectives of those who were living during the time of the Holocaust. Now I'm not saying Ms. V is treating us like prisoners were treated during the Holocaust or is having us run around spreading propaganda or anything of that sorts, but the text we read and the discussions are powerful.

A few times while reading Mila 18 I had to stop for awhile then continue on because the events were so intense and so swift. I could literally feel the fear and the stress and the confusion of the characters. The loss of hope and the weariness of the situation. Every seminar I leave feeling a little more attached to the world and its people. Now I can look forward to this trip knowing that I'll get more out of it than a few good stories and a hand full of pictures.

Signed,
Chelsea Brown

The Inculcation of a Mad Man

2010-04-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

I think what many of us would like to know is how on earth could someone be so naïve and follow Hitler and his ideologies. Before joining this trip I had always wondered how Hitler rounded up the entire German population and led them on his path to destruction. However since we have already seen the outcome of his reign of terror it is almost outlandish to us that any sane human being would want to join him and his mission.
Before we being to answer this question we must consider the current state of Germany after WWI. The Versailles Treaty that had in essence brought Germany down to its knees in front of the world angered many German’s. Germany was in a state of poverty and depravity. And to bring them out of this, they needed a clever leader who with great zeal would bring them out of their misery. Hitler promised the people a new Germany, he told them that they must rise out of their state of submission and reclaim what was rightfully theirs. He innovated Germany and industrialized it like never before. He had taken Germany to new heights in an effort to regain what it had lost from the restraints put on it by the Versailles treaty. Therefore to the German citizens that had been impoverished by the effects of the outcome of WWI, Hitler was a hero for believing in Germany and willing to give them a hand.
He manipulated the population into thinking that following his path was the path to German supremacy and glory. His use of the Hitler youth stirred up the young into following him. I am sure that any teenager struggling to find something to identify with would willingly join the Hitler youth as an outlet for expression. The Nazi (National Socialist) party ensured that everyone would work for the common good of Germany, they would be glorious citizens whose country needed them during this important time in German nationalism. If someone were to tell you that they would help you reclaim what you once had while taking part in a national project how could you refuse, and I bet you that while doing this you would gain a sense of pride for your country. They were almost blinded by nationalism and pride, blinded by race for German glory.
When going back to the main question how could someone follow Hitler and his ideals, we must also ask a counter question to be fair, how could someone refuse a chance at regaining what they had lost? Although this may become very frustrating it is essential that we put ourselves in the shoes of the German people during this time. If we do not then we are blinded by the knowledge we have of Hitler’s outcome and do not gain the full scope of the situation. The German people were in a time of dire straights therefore I as an observer from a different time period can do nothing but point out the obvious bigger picture. And this is what Hitler avoided by boosting German pride and despite his clear thought of exterminating anyone not of the Aryan race, people were given no time to think it through and realize that he was serious and would carry out these plans of mass ethnic cleansing.
The path that Hitler took to manipulate the German population, and the current the state of the country is similar to other instances in history where clever leaders had manipulated a deprived population of people that following them would be the key to their sovereignty. This as seen many times throughout history resulted in mass genocide.

I did not live during this time therefore I am only an outsider looking in.

-Montana Fredrick

Survivors

2010-04-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

I write this entry during the holiday of Passover, the commemoration of the Jews' exodus out of slavery in Egypt. While I could go on explaining all the laws and customs that go along with this sacred week to the Jewish people, a famous Rabbi once said that every one of our holidays can be summed up with the phrase "They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat!" While this quote is in fact quite humorous, after thinking about it for some time I realized how scary and accurate this message is. And no, I'm not refering to the part at the end about food. The usage of the word "they" could mean any number of nations who have tried, and sometimes succeeded in, murdering large numbers of the Jewish people simply because of their religion: the Egyptians, the Persians, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Spainish, the Nazis. A great deal of our festivals that are not based on events from our holy book the Torah, such as Hannukah and Purim, are about our people's abbility to overcome oppression and save our lives from those who have tried to destroy us. This sets us apart from other relgions. The more I thought about this, the more I realized that Judiasm is really based on survival, both in the sense that it is one of the oldest religions still practiced, if not the oldest, and that throughout time Jews have always been persecuted but in the end they have been able to triumph. In terms of the Holocaust, when we think of survivors we think of the few lucky individuals who were able to live through the horrible atrocities that Hitler and the Nazis commited on millions of innocent people. In our final seminar before spring break, our group of 18 students watched an interview from Steven Spielberg's Shoah Project, which is a documentation of thousands of Holocaust survivors stories. While the phrase "Never Forget" is famous in reguards to the Holocaust, we could see from this particular survivor's account that he had a difficult time remembering exacty where he was and happened to him during this terrible time in history. The human brain is not always the most reliable resource when it comes to studying this event, but sometimes it is the only way for our generation to understand what truly happened to these people, even if we are left with fragmented memories of the old and weary.

In a way, the Holocaust is as much a part of the Jewish people as Passover. While some may argue that Jews should be able to "let things go" and "move on," if we forget the events and horrors of the Holocaust then we are forgetting who we are as a people. The Spanish Inquisition, the war between the Romans and the Maccabees that is commemorated through the holiday of Hannukah, and the Exodus from Egypt are all aspects of our history, and so is the Holocaust. There is a difference between dwelling on our pain and sorrow and learning from it. I think the Holocaust has a great deal to teach us about the wrongdoings of humanity. However, I also think there is a lesson one can learn about hope and moving forward. Looking back at that famous quote, I know there will always be another "they" that will do horrible things to our people at some point in the future. This is not me being pessimistic, just realistic. Antisemitism will never truly go away no matter how many times we say "Never Again." But the pride, stregnth, and determination of the Jewish people will never go away either. Continuity and prosperity are as much a part of us as suffering and sorrow, but if we learn to take the good with the bad then we can see what it really means to be a survivor, and if we learn to listen to those who have been through unimaginable horrors then we will realize how big a difference one life can make.

-Sarah Lawson

Memorial

2010-03-23T05:35:00.000-07:00

Towards the beginning of the year Ms. Vander Pluym told our group about the different memorials we will see when we travel to Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. I remember Ms. Vander Pluym asking us what we thought a proper memorial was. She told us to keep the question in mind, how to memorialize such devastation and loss because we will be creating our own memorials. Memorial, it is different for everyone. Some feel a memorial is names carved into a wall while others feel it is stone structures in a field.

I was thinking a great deal about how to accurately construct a memorial that represents the Holocaust. I came up with the idea of making a box constructed completely out of glass and covering the walls of the glass would be a black curtain. People would have to take the initiative to pull aside the curtain and see what is behind the curtain. I equate my memorial to how Hitler covered up the persecution happening throughout Europe. In reality people would be able to see right through what Hitler and his assistants were doing if they only had the courage to peel away the veil Hitler used to cover his actions.

I feel there is no right way to accurately memorialize the Holocaust. Each memorial depends on the person and how they interpret the event. Memorial is different for everyone-there is no scientific method on how to make a memorial-it all depends on people and their actions and reactions to events.

Sania Durovic

My Inspiration

2010-03-07T18:35:00.000-08:00

In our world, it is undeniable that genocide is deplorable and should be stopped; yet, only a very few times has the term genocide been used. The proposition that people live in twilight between knowing and not knowing is naïve. After reading about the many possible rationales for why the Germans committed the atrocities of the Holocaust, I still feel as if a disconnect exists between these analyses and the actual thoughts of the perpetrators. Throughout the past semester, and especially in the past few weeks, I have learned so much more about the Holocaust, about genocide, about why the world should not allow something so atrocious to happen ever again. There has been such an emphasis on the psychology behind it, and I think I now understand why.

This trip, this emotional and intellectual journey on which our group is traveling, is not just about the events, which we could learn about through books. Instead, we are on a mission to learn about the latent evils of humanity, and the willingness to turn against one group because of our own racial and cultural prejudices, which are feelings that we must temper even now. The purpose of our trip is to go to these places seem by many as the sites of the world’s worst instance of genocide and to grasp why it is necessary for our world to truly commit to the ideals of “never again.”

Since Raphael Lemkin created the term "genocide" and brought it to the attention of the international law community, there have been many instances where information is available readily for people to read (in highly esteemed publications, mind you) about acts of genocide. I will concede that it is possible that in the case of the Holocaust, because nothing like that had been brought to the attention of most people, that would have been hard to believe; once that happened and people learned about what occurred, people should not ever have doubted the possibility that genocide could occur again.

Everyday citizens like those in Nazi Germany look the other way because it does not suit them to challenge what their government is doing. They believe in their own survival above that of any other person, especially people not related to them. Therefore, if a Hitler is committing genocide, but that genocide is not aimed at their ethnic or religious group, then they will look the other way so long as they are safe. It is this belief that attracted me to this opportunity to go on this trip, to have the ability to learn more in-depth about the signs that we must look for in order to prevent the emergence of the evil that has scarred the history of humankind. It is our duty as the next generation, and my obligation as a part of it, to make sure that the deaths of 11 million people do not just become another piece in a history book, but rather a lesson in what we must strive to avoid at all costs.

Genocide has happened many times, and through my study of this one in particular, I hope to find the answer to preventing another one।

-Grant Beard

2010-02-28T16:58:00.000-08:00

It is hard to find the right way to begin writing about a trip to study the holocaust. Originally, I came from a school and neighborhood with few if any people who were Jewish. Because of this, I felt everything I learned about the holocaust was almost foreign to me. While in grade school learning about the holocaust I got the feeling that I was being taught about an event that had no real connection to any of my grade school classmates. My history teacher would often describe the holocaust using phrases like “those Jews”, “those Nazis”, “those camps”. I felt then as I do now that the holocaust should have a deeper meaning than simply an event that involved “those” people and places. When presented with an opportunity to go on a trip to visit the places that I had only read about in books I jumped at it. I do not think it is possible to truly grasp the significance of the holocaust if one does not visit the camps and other historic sites first hand. There is only so much words in text books can teach you about the holocaust, the human element of the event you can only grasp when you are walking through the camps where millions of people met their end. Only then, I believe, can someone understand how horrific the holocaust truly was and not pass it off as just another event in another history book.
-Nick Bocanegra

2010-02-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

For starters: I'm not Jewish nor do I have any close Jewish friends; my family is 100% Mexican and probably had not come in contact with another culture until they arrived here, in the United States, probably less than 20 years ago. In fact, I had never stepped into a conversation where the other person didn't have my skin color, my culture, nor my familiarities until i stepped into the doors of Walter Payton High School. Some can find it hard to believe, but for me it was normal. In my opinion, this is where the beauty of my high school comes in. The blending of cultures, faces, skin colors, and personalities all come together. It's in this building where all our traits and ideas that would otherwise be called different, conviniently blend to make one culture; a culture creatively crafted to be our own "Payton" culture. Within all of this, we come out with stories of our own such as that of the Holocaust which are important to each of us in different ways.
I know you've probably visited this site to get some answers. Probably to find out why a group of 18 students want to embark on a great journey with two amazing teachers, or to possibly find out what ties we may have with the Holocaust, but most importantly, to realize why this trip is important to us. For me, this trip is important because of culture and history. What the Jewish population underwent during World War I was a tragedy and one that should never be forgotten. But in my opinion it's not only about the Jewish culture and history, it's about that of humanity as a whole. The culture I talked about earlier (as the "Payton" culture) is the one I'm more or less trying to get at. It's not an individual one but a mutual one shared by everyone. In the end, we all have the same feelings of embarrasment, sadness, happiness, and anger. We strive for "better lives" so that our kids and their kids can have a good as a life as we did if not better. This is just the same for those millions of people that lost their lives in the Holocaust. Their stories, hopes, dreams, pains and joys should also be remembered.
There are many reasons why i want to go on this trip. For one, I want to appreciate and acknowledge a part of history important to many of my collegues in a specific manner through their own Jewish culture. I also want to use this trip as a rememberance of what humanity went through at one point in time. I want to remember that they're not just a war in a history book but that they were people with amazing stories of their own. Lastly, I want to take away from this trip something of my own,something unexpected that i will only find while on the trip.

Sincerely,
Violet

Preparing

2010-02-17T19:51:00.000-08:00

I sit here at my computer thinking, where could I possibly start. We are in the middle of a journey, that I don’t think any of us will forget. We sit in class and learn about one of the most unforgettable things in our world’s history and try and grasp what happened. The hardest part about spending hours on end trying to understand how this could happen, and trying to understand the man behind it all, is knowing that I will never be able to fully grasp it. No matter how long someone has studied the dynamics of the Holocaust, no one can feel, or comprehend fully what life was like, because with out the shared feelings of those people, you can’t possibly understand fully. It’s one thing to spend a whole year going through every event and every detail of the Holocaust and another actually going to these places we have read about. I was asked by a fellow student’s parent “How are you going to prepare yourself for something like this?”, the question took me by surprise at first, but now that I have thought about it, I can’t prepare myself. None of us can possibly prepare themselves to walk into something of this intensity. Knowing how hard it is to read, and visit museums about these events I can’t possibly imagine how, not only I, but all of us, will react and feel.

-Jasmine Hooks

Just Some Thoughts

2010-02-04T10:51:00.000-08:00

The Holocaust is one of those events that everyone can relate to, whether you had a family member die in the Holocaust, you partake in anti-genocidal rallies and clubs, or you just think that such horrific acts such as this one should never happen again. Never again. That phrase can mean many things. Never again shall Jews be mass-murdered. Never again shall one man influence a whole society with his words. Never again shall another genocide occur. But they already have. Rwanda, Darfur, Armenia, and so many others are part of the elite club called "Genocides of the Past Century." So what does never again mean? Everyone interprets the Holocaust differently, some to the extent that it never even happened. But no one can dismiss the lessons we can learn and have learned from the event.
It is important to learn about the Holocaust because of these lessons available to society. That is why I am going on this trip. Regardless of my family members who were brutally murdered, regardless of my grandfather who escaped Czechoslovakia 6 days before Hitler invaded, regardless of the fact that I am a Jew. I am going on this trip to get the experience of touching the grounds where my people were killed, an experience that means something different to everyone, and therefore it is the job of everyone to learn about the Holocaust. No one can tell you how to feel about the Holocaust, it is solely up to you. It is your job to feel what you will feel, and learn what you will learn. I've always thought that I hold onto knowledge best when I can relate it to my own life, and my theory proves true in learning about the Holocaust. I forget historical facts about China because as much as that knowledge is valuable, I can't relate it to my life like I can with the Holocaust. For some reason, the Holocaust just sticks. I don't know why, and no one can explain why to me, but I like to think it sticks because of the phrase never again, and because of the photographs of victims whose faces stare blankly at me, no emotion, no life. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are principles that this country stands for. So why did the German's feel that the Jews did not deserve life? Why do we feel that it is wrong to cut down trees and deprive them of their lives? I don't know, no one does, and that is what is so sickening. That approximately 11 million people can die and no one has the complete answer, why them? Why anyone or anything? Why is there this need to be better and stronger and more "macho" than someone? Even for dogs, who is best in show? This human desire to be better rules all, and in terms of the Holocaust, it killed all.

Never again, what does it mean to you?

-Dale G.

2010-01-29T09:01:00.000-08:00

I'm beginning to get frustrated. Frustrated with an excessive self-absorbed unhappiness of my culture and religion--the self-sympathy of Jews in regards to the holocaust.
I slumped in a chair, my mind racing with vexation as I listen to a circle of Jewish students (who had all attended the same Jewish elementary school) arguing for the importance of education of the holocaust as the supreme historical event. The class was 20th Century Global Conflicts and we were discussing genocide, so the holocaust was a likely topic to examine. I, however, was not willing to listen to the self-empathetic tone of my fellow classmates when they spoke of the holocaust, as if the entirety of the atrocities of the Nazi regime had been directed at their family, as if Jews are the only ones who can understand the pain experienced by the European Jewish population, as if the epithet "Never Again" has been fulfilled.
This narrow view of genocide, of the holocaust, hinders the potential lessons we can learn from the event itself. The lesson of the holocaust, is one for all people. It is one that must be learned because the problems are still with us.
The Jewish community must also move on. It is important to learn and educate but it is also important not to dwell. For this reason, I signed up to go on this European "holocaust" trip. My grandparents, a rabbi and rabbi's wife, will not travel to Germany. They will not accept the new generation of Germans as different people than the previous Nazi generation, much to their unrest. They have not, and will not forgive the Germans. I do not judge them for this. I, however, do not want to dwell. I want to work toward "Never Again" and as the survivors are leaving us, this is the time to learn. It is now our generations responsibility to set precedent for the meaning of the holocaust, for the lessons we can learn from it but also for the way in which we use that knowledge. Let that knowledge join us, help us fight for "Never Again", not further divide us as a global community, the divisions of which caused the holocaust in the first place. Yes we can join together and let the words Never Again define our achievements, not our lack there of.

-Gabriel Frankel

The Holocaust in Print

2010-01-27T14:24:00.001-08:00

One of our topics of discussion this week was memorializing the Holocaust, and if fictional art forms (like books, movies, etc.) about it were "OK." I remember our speaker from the field trip saying that she does not feel pleased whenever she sees/hears about them. I never knew people felt this way. I personally enjoy fictional books and movies about the Holocaust, like "Milkweed", and "Number the Stars," I absolutely love those books, so when I heard her say that, I tried to remove myself, and put my feet into her shoes to try and come to an understanding as to why she would feel the way she does. Sadly I can only try to understand, I think my understanding is clouded because of my love for those books and movies. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to take part in something that a survivor would find disrespectful to them. I can understand why she might feel the way she does, but I cannot empathize, which I guess is OK, but for myself personally, empathizing is not enough. So I will keep trying. The conversation did get a bit heated though, some felt the same way I did, while others agreed with our speaker. I'm just glad I am able to use true knowledge, from a survivor, on their feelings about such things, helping me to broaden my horizons, and use a larger viewpoint than I have before.
-Maleia Ransom

2010-01-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

This past week, I went with the rest of the seminar to see the holocaust museum in Skokie, Illinois. I didn't know what to expect. I had never been to a holocaust museum before, let alone seen any actual artifacts from the event. One of the most moving items I saw at the museum was a train car that was used to transport prisoners (mainly Jews) from the ghettos throughout Europe to concentration and death camps. It was off to a dark corner in the museum, and there was a concrete ramp leading up to the doors of the train car from which people could walk inside a small portion of the train car. Standing in the middle of the train car, it seemed larger than life, a dark, hulking prison. Under other circumstances, the car would have seemed to be exactly what it is: just a large, old, rotted, wooden train car. But in the museum, knowing what purpose it had served in a different time, the train car seemed to have an especially ominous quality. The fact that what was really a very un-extraordinary object could be used to carry out such an unbelievably sinister purpose seemed to me an analogy for what I think is one of the most important lessons humanity needs to take away from the Holocaust. So many Nazi supporters, soldiers, and even officers in charge at the concentration and death camps claimed to have not known what was occurring inside the camps or to have just been carrying out orders from there superiors, and that was the reason they committed the murders that they did. The Holocaust was carried out by what were once ordinary people, who under the fascist dictatorship of the Nazi state, were manipulated into carrying out the Holocaust. In contemporary times, other genocides have occurred under similar regimes, such as that of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. However, in all of these genocides, just as during the Holocaust, there have been ordinary people that have stood up to such regimes to stop genocides. There are many stories of such people from the Holocaust, such as Catholic convents that hid Jewish children or Miep Gies and Victor Kugler who hid the Frank family. Although humanity has yet to find methods by which to prevent further genocides, the effects of these genocides have been softened somewhat by people who have stood up to injustices and refused to participate in such killings. If I learn one thing from this entire experience, I would like to learn to be one of those people who stands up to injustice and has the courage to stop genocide.

-Ben Gastevich

Opening our eyes...

2010-01-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

I remember watching Life is Beautiful about six years ago and being moved by the story. It made me question how discrimination can have such an effect on people and how intolerance and hatred can be taken way out of proportion. I think that it is our job as citizens of the world to try to eliminate discrimination in the hope of avoiding yet another Holocaust. I guess that is why I chose this trip because I have been discriminated against and in some way I think it is my/our duty to stop the cycle of hatred by opening our eyes and hearts to new cultures, religions and people.

-Jessica Z. Martinez