While reading this
passage, the first thing I began to think of was how could humans treat other
humans so cruelly? I can’t even fathom what it would be like to live in this
time period whether you were German or Jewish. What the German people were
doing to the Jewish was inhumane and cannot be justified. One section I could
not believe actually happened was when Elie said, “A truck drew close and
unloaded its hold: small children. Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my own
eyes…children thrown into the flames” (32). If I were the person that had the
job of harming these innocent children I would
not be able to live with myself. I know that if they didn’t do their job they would be shot, but I think that
killing people would be more difficult to live through than being shot for a
religion I believe in. I would have been crying constantly if I were put through this torture. These events definitely clash with my views of what I consider
right and wrong because I don’t think anyone under any circumstances should be
treated as less than someone of the same species. Everyone should have a free
choice of religion because that shouldn’t change how someone looks at you as a
person. It is not fair that throughout history, the Jewish religion has been tormented so much; they have never done or said anything against any other ethnic groups.
I think that having
this book written from a Holocaust survivor’s point of view makes it a lot more
heartbreaking and emotional. How can someone not feel upset or sad when they
hear first hand how these people were treated? This book grabs the attention of
the reader more than a history book about the Holocaust ever would. When Elie
said, “Twenty more steps. If I was going to kill myself, this was the time…I
bit my lip so that my father would not hear my teeth chattering. Ten more
steps. Eight. Seven. We were walking slowly, as one follows a hearse, our own
funeral procession…” (33) I could not even imagine having to go through something
tragic like this when he was the same age as me. I wouldn’t be able to even
keep walking because I would be so nervous and shocked. Also, I would be completely
devastated if I was ever separated from
my family and couldn’t keep in touch with them to know if they were okay. I am
extremely close to my family and would be worried sick if I couldn’t see them
anymore at all. I find it very hard to read Night
because I hate hearing about what they had to go through while they were
imprisoned at the camps. I know that if I was ever put in that situation I wouldn’t
have been able to keep my spirits up. I am still interested to keep reading to
see how Elie was able to make it out of the camp alive.
I definetely agree with what you have said here. After reading, the thing I find most difficult to digest would be how cruel the Germans were to the Jews. Personally I can't even talk bad about someone or insult someone without feeling guilty afterward. I do agree when you say that many Germans went through with killing the Jews out of fear. I'm aware that they didn't want to be killed themselves, but it's still no excuse. I'd rather die respectively doing a noble act rather then live my life with the deaths of so many others on my conscience. Also I understand what you mean when you say reading about the Halocaust from someone who was actually there does make it even more unbearable to hear. Absolutely any history book could recount these events, however they would not be able to express the raw emotions and feelings that someone such as Elie who was there could. At the bottom I have provided the link of a website that gives details of the Halocaust from a more historical stand point. It's easy to see the difference in the description of events such as the paragraph on the ghettos compared to Weisel's explanation of the ghettos. Overall I think it is much more real hearing these stories from the victums' and the Jews' point of view, for they know personally the effects of this time. The website also contains a chart at the bottom that shows the number of Jewish deaths that occurred at this time that I find dispicable, I think you will be able to understand my feelings after seeing the large numbers.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/history.html
I share you feelings regarding the death and enslavement of the Jewish children and adults alike. I, too, included the quote about the truckload of children in my response because I was absolutely appalled that any human being could act in such an unforgiving manner. The link posted is a picture of a smoldering pile of dead humans in an open field. If you look closely, you can distinguish arms, legs, and possibly a few faces. It is a very disturbing image, just dead bodies stacked on top of each other about eight feet high or so. This was unfortunately a common sight in concentration camps. However, as for the fact that one would be crying constantly if they had to kill innocent children, this might be so initially, but over time, one would become desensitized to such images. People who frequently watch horror movies experience the same effect. When the mind is exposed to something gruesome, frightening, or even surprising, it stores the memory and thereby becomes a "normal" part of ones life. The next time the mind is exposed to a similar situation, it has already built up a stoic wall that prevents us from experiencing strong emotions towards it again. So, the more one watches gory horror movies, the less one becomes affected by them. This is the same for those Germans who were in charge of burning or gassing the adults and children at the concentration camps. Eventually, they become desensitized to the images.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I would like to point out is your statement about how the Jews haven't done anything to provoke such violence against their race and religion. While they may not have physically angered the world, they "technically" killed Jesus, who was actually a Jew. In the Catholic religion, the religion worshiped by nearly all European countries, the Bible speaks of the day Jesus was put on trial for preaching the Word. Pontious Pilate, the judge, wished to let Jesus go because he knew Jesus was right about everything he had said. The townspeople, however, wanted him executed. Pilate, under pressure, announced Jesus guilty and sentenced him to crucifiction (another misconception about his death is that crucifiction was a special type of tortuous death, when in reality, it was one of the most common execution methods of the time). Basically, the Jews killed Jesus, one of their own, and since the Catholic religion is centered around him being the only son of God, everyone became quite angry at the Jews. Unfortunately, this has been the ongoing trend for hundreds of thousands of years. People sometimes take religion too seriously and it has dire consequences. Religion is just man's way of making reason of cosmic and earthly phenomena that they do not understand fully. Sadly, the living will never know if the claims of their own religion are really true...
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