The place you start from

“hugged her the way I wished I’d hugged Mama that last day we parted at the gate”

pg 144, Halina

After I had finished this part all I could think of is how Halina has had to be someone she isn’t she’s only thirteen, and has to already help somebody when she has a tough situation to deal with herself. It is really an eye opener showing what these kids had to become in the Holocaust

they had to grow up in such a small amount of time. they had to step up and not become a bystander “Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.” This should apply to Halina a lot because she didn't have to comfort Batya at all but instead she got involved because she had to be strong for the both of them.

I think this involves growing up so I can connect this to people who live in bad neighborhoods and how they have to grow up fast. some people who live in ghettos have to grow up fast and learn quickly because of the cruel place they live in. Which in my opinion really hits what the Holocaust did for Jewish kids. I think its really sickening considering that kids in bad neighborhoods can have similar situations to the Jewish kids who were in hiding in the Holocaust. I think this should change I think their should be no more bad neighborhoods and no genocide. http://psychology.about.com/od/nindex/g/nature-nurture.htm this is a link hat has some information that's very interesting. This link is talking about Nature vs Nurture.

Sadness

“Sadness alone can kill us. We have to be thankful for small things.” - Eli. Page 96, of Escaping Into the Night.

I agree with this quote and understand the part of where he said “Sadness alone can kill us” because if you’re sad and emotional, you’re just going to be thinking about all the negativity in your life and not be thinking of the things you have, and should be thankful for it because there's others that don't even have what you have that can help them survive even by just a little. And it can probably or will lead you to suicide possibly, because at one point you’re just not going to be able to take it all in and you’re gonna feel like you’ve had enough of it, that’s why you don't look at the bad side. So it’s good that Eli’s thinking that way.

This reminds me of how people, such as Tyler Clementi, feel hopeless because of bullying... and other teenagers on the news committing suicide because of bullying. They don't understand that there's people out there that love them, like their parents and friends. They just look at the bad stuff going around them, and start to feel hopeless and lonely, when they’re really not alone. I don't think bullying is right because no one deserves to be bullied, it doesn't matter what race they are or religion. And the victims that commit suicide may feel like they’re hopeless or lonely, but you just gotta keep you’re head up and do something about it. Take a stand for yourself.

just showing what the Jews were forced to go through

A Choice To Take You're Life or Have It Be Taken

“I wished I had a suicide pill or something, because I knew if they tortured me, I’d probably break down and tell them everything.” - Halina. Page 30 of Escaping Into the Night

When I read this quote, what runs through my mind is WHY the Jews? They didn't do anything wrong, and it’s impossible to deserve something like this, when they did nothing wrong.  I’m not saying that it would've been alright to take away some other type of religion or races rights, I just want to know like why did they kill just the Jews and made them feel worthless. This shows that Hitler’s Nazi soldiers and everyone else that worked for him, did brutal stuff to the Jews. Because who would rather choose to die over than to just be tortured?  

I think that mostly everyone at the Holocaust felt the exact same way as Halina. But with Halina, she’d rather just want to take a pill just so she can die right there and then. Instead of having the Nazis’ torturing her and killing her. That's pretty bad. It’s a shame knowing that Hitler treated them like they were just unworthy to live.

Those Choice-less Choices.

“But I couldn’t hesitate. I just had to do it. I aimed the gun through the window, straight at the center of his back, then pulled the trigger”- Halina, pg. 141 and 142, Escaping into the Night I thought this quote was beautifully written, it is short but powerful and meaningful. It reflects on her options; it’s her choiceless choice. She really has no choice, either let Batya die, or all escape safely and shoot a Nazi in the process, so she really had no choice. I think that was the best choice for their situation, and I think about how hard it must’ve been for Halina and Rueven to shoot an officer, because I’m sure 13 year olds don’t want to take anyones life away! I’m sure many people had to go through this as well while in the Holocaust, even in the Holocaust museum there was a woman talking about in an interview, that she had to shoot an officer in her own building so the children she was sheltering would be safe. I would never want to be in that situation, especially at this age, but whatever it takes for you to survive and to help your loved ones survive. A real life connection I have to make would have to be relating this to the homeless, and people living in the streets or in poverty. It’s kind of a weird connection, because most homeless people don’t go out and shoot officers, but they share a strong connection of doing anything to survive. They beg for food, money, and help, and do what they have to do to make it through to another day. They both struggle to find food and its hard to have good hygiene, or maintain being healthy. So they compare a lot to each other, especially with shooting the officer, expressing the will to survive. Annie

Anti-Semitism

Reflect on one of the readings you've received since starting the Holocaust unit. In other words, share your thoughts and feelings and explain your thinking by citing a particular passage or quote from the text.

“While millions were murdered outright through the use of gas chambers and other methods of extermination, hundreds of thousands of others died from disease, starvation, and slave labor.”  

What stood out to me the most was how the quote said “millions were murdered” and then later another “hundreds of thousands” died by another way, instead of being put into the gas chambers. Like how is it possible for the Nazi soldiers to wake up every morning and decide to kill hundreds of people and torture them ?

In the reading of “Antisemitism: A History of Fate”, I learned what the word Anti-Semitism meant, and I don’t think its right at all. I don’t think that people should be judged based on what they believe in. I can’t even imagine soldiers killing people for fun and it all being legal. Hitler treated them like they were nothing, and like they were unworthy to live. It’s nonsense. Jews did not deserve to live that way, nor die the way they did during the Holocaust.

Good over bad

In her diary, Anne Frank wrote that she believed “most people are good.” Do you agree with Anne? If so, why, and if not, why not? (Echoes and Reflections) I do agree with Anne, most people are good. In a time of terror, or even just like this week the Boston Marathon bombing, even though there are people who caused the terror, there were more people helping out. The good over takes the bad in this world, that’s how I think of things, instead of the negative, always think of the positive outcomes in tragedies. Especially in the Holocaust, although we lost 11 million people, we gained knowledge, stories, and survivors. Countries and people gained strength from the bad experiences. They give us strength by expressing the message that it does get better. We’ve seen the survival stories, how they got through the struggle, and it gives us strength to realize that we can too. So yes, there are bad people out there, but Anne Frank had a point - most people are truly good, which can prove to have the biggest impact on our world.