Veda's Blog: May 2012

Facing History and Ourselves is a course that helps you develop and understand yourself by putting yourself in the shoes of people who had to live through extreme situations. It helps students to comprehend what is moral and what their true identity is. The course explores many topics including racism, tolerance, and power through historical events. Students view a variety of films and documentaries encompassing these topics. The main historical event that students learn about is the Holocaust. They are shown the development of Nazi Germany and how the hatred for the Jewish people began. The course then follows the Holocaust as it progresses into the genocide. The reason I chose to take the course was because of advice from people who have taken the course before. They said it impacts you and changes the way you view issues. I wasn’t completely sure what the course focused on but after the first day of class I realized that the environment of the class differs from a normal high school classroom. We are free to discuss our opinions on the film we watch which allows students to understand and develop new perspectives. There are many different aspects of me that make up who I am as a person. . I participate in taekwondo and have achieved my second degree black belt. I work at Kumon, which is a math and reading tutoring center. I think an important part of my life was impacted from moving various times during my childhood. I was born in New York but moved to Los Angeles and then San Francisco and then finally to Westborough. Being exposed to the different environments really influenced my perspectives on different issues. This course was able to allow me to expand my views even more.

The Facing History and Ourselves course allowed me to view history in a different perspective. The course explained events in the past in more detail and helped to answer questions that have always been left unresolved. It taught me how to look at situations in my present life and past events through all points of view. The discussions in class and through the blogs allowed me to share ideas and understand other perspectives on issues. The course had a more real-life concept than other courses I have taken. Through documentaries and motion pictures I was able to fully comprehend how the horrific events in the past could happen. We discussed issues that other courses would refrain from talking about and move past the sheltered views of past teachings. The atmosphere in the classroom was open which made the environment comfortable for discussions and disagreeing. The understanding I gained in this course will help me be more accepting as I learn about different viewpoints and meet people from various backgrounds and cultures. And to make sure the appalling events of the past never recur again as the students in my generation becomes the new leaders of the nation and the world.

The class discussion and blogs helped me to understand new and different perspectives on issues. While discussing with other students and listening to the significance other groups found in the films and documentaries I realized that there are more than one way of viewing an issue and often it is difficult to know what the moral/ right thing to do was. When discussing the film “Sophie’s Choice” my group was challenged by what they believed they would have done if they had to make the same decision as Sophie. The significance of choosing between two children is a choice that is difficult to even understand. While some groups focused on the decision, like my group, others viewed the film as portraying the cruelty and inhumanity of the Nazi soldiers. The blogs helped to expand the discussions we had in class.

In “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” the power of the Nazis was evident in the actions of the people. Bruno’s mother was clearly affected by the actions of the Nazis after she realized what was being done at the concentration camps. She was able to speak up against her husband but instead of trying to stop the actions of the Nazis she made the decision to move away, avoiding the issue. The Nazis were too powerful which caused people to be afraid to speak against them. Most German citizens were brainwashed by the Nazi beliefs like Bruno’s sister. She began to blindly believe that the Jewish people were evil through the teachings of her tutor and one of the Nazi soldiers. When the Jewish man was beaten for accidentally spilling wine one of the soldiers was beaten up. Bruno’s sister later told Bruno that the man deserved it because he was Jewish which clearly demonstrated how the propaganda of the Nazis had made an effect on her as well as most other Germans.

I was unaware of any Jewish revolts against the Nazis until this course. In “The Warsaw Uprising” Jewish people were able to sneak in and collect weapons into the Jewish ghetto and rebel against the Nazi soldiers. This was a powerful message for me because it showed that the Jewish people did not willingly accept their fate. I also think it was impactful that the Jewish people had an effect on the Nazi soldiers who believed that they could force a group of Jewish people to dance for their own amusement. I also thought it was interesting how the actions of the Nazis were recorded by a camera crew to show the power of the Nazis and record the Jewish people as evil. In my opinion the propaganda that the Nazis brainwashed the German citizens with was one of the main reasons the Nazis were able to gain so much power.

The situation of the Jewish prisoners in “The Grey Zone” demonstrated the ability of the Nazis to force Jewish people into moral conflict. These Jewish prisoners were forced to trick Jewish people into the believing they were entering showers instead of the gas chambers. They were also responsible for running the crematoriums. Many scenes in the film showed the effect of the responsibility on the prisoners. When they were trying to calm the Jewish people who were about to enter the gas chambers one of the prisoners tried to make a man give him his watch. After the man refused the prisoner beat the man to death. This scene had a large impact of the way I viewed the situation of these prisoners. They were just trying to save their own lives for one more day at a time but paid the price of having to kill thousands of other Jewish people. Many of the prisoners knew that their fate would be the same but in order to live for four more months they tried to justify their actions. The prisoners ‘attitude towards the doctor surprised me. They believed that he was helping to kill other Jewish people for his and his family’s own benefit but the prisoners were basically performing the same act. Another scene that impacted me was when the prisoner was explaining to the girl they saved about their jobs at the death camps. When he told the story of the old Jewish man who had to cremate his children and grandchildren I began to understand the guilt they felt for what they were forced to do. Although they didn’t have enough control or power to completely stop the death camps they were had to choose between death and an immense amount of guilt. When they destroyed two of the crematoriums they felt that even though it was a suicide mission they would be able to save the lives of others or at least send a message to the Nazis that they would not blindly follow their orders.