"Night" 02.26.16

Prompt: How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person?

Elie changes a lot throughout the book, but mainly inside his religious viewpoints and beliefs. In the beginning of the book, Elie is deeply studious in his religion. In fact, the first 5 pages of the book is just about finding himself a mentor to teach him Talmud, and to mentor him throughout his walk with God. On page 3, Elie says, "I was almost thirteen and deeply observant. By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple." Elie was very dependent on God and trusted God deeply. He was deeply rooted into his studies of Talmud, and had a strong faith.

This is completely different to when he was entered into the concentration camp. In bad situations, we sometimes question God, but Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us: "trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths." This means that even in the hard times, we still need to trust in God because he will direct us into the right paths. Unfortunately, Elie decided to rebel against God and question why he would, "...sanctify His name..." and "...thank Him." Elie is so angry with God and in my personal opinion confused, that he even goes as far to say, "never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes." I feel that he is confused with what is going on because he even says inside the interview with Oprah: none of the Jews had even heard of Auschwitz before they landed spots and positions in the notorious and infamous death factory.

Elie's personality towards his father changes as well in the middle and end of the book. In the middle of the book, his dad was his survival, his hope. Elie really shows loyalty to his father on page 99. Elie and the Jews were riding in a cattle car to another camp, when he notices his dad is dead-like. He begins to tap on his father, trying to awaken him when they begin to throw the corpse out the car. When they try to throw his father out. Elie decides to beat his dad, trying to wake him up in order for him to stay alive. This shows that Elie was not ready to give up his dad and was still having hope the two can survive together. Another time Elie shows worry/loyalty towards his dad is when Elie says on page 91, "a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed. 'Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has done." This shows not only his loyalty and fear of abandoning his dad, but also his true relationship to God. Even though Elie believes that God, is basically dead, he still has little faith in him. But what's the saying? "Faith the size of a muster seed can move the mountain..."

However, towards the end of the book, his view on his sick and dying father begin to change. After the Blockälteste tells Elie that there is nothing the doctor can do for his father anymore, he begins to tell Elie how he should begin taking his father's rations. Elie begins listening to his entire lecture, and begins thinking deep down to himself that he could have a higher chance of surviving because he would have two rations of bread and soup. Elie says, "He was right, I thought deep down, not daring to admit it to myself. Too late to save your old father...You could have two rations of bread, two rations of soup..." Although this is only for a split second, Elie still thinks survival instinct; every man for himself.

"Night" 02.18.16 *WARNING*

Prompt: Draw a picture for what you just read.

Warning: This drawing may be offensive to some people.

Inside my drawing, I wrote Nacht, in big block letters to represent the title of the book, just written in German. This didn't really have any reference to recent reading, but a reference to earlier in the book during Kristallnacht. 'Nacht' didn't have much of an impact on the book, but I believe it represented the beginning of the downfall for the Jews and other minority groups. Underneath Nacht, I wrote "why, but why would I bless Him?" This refers to page 67 in the new book, during Rosh Hashanah. During Rosh Hashanah, Elie completely shuns God and begins to start his rebellion. The 'NEVER' written underneath the quote represents the list of visions Elie says he will never forget. 

The children hanging from the ropes, (yes, is very graphic, but represents a piviotal moment in the book as well.) The children not only represent the actual hangings, but previously when he mentioned the quote above NEVER. Elie says, "Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves?" This reminded me of the kid that was hung because he was preparing for a rebellion. If you look closely, every hangmen holds the Star of David. I drew this in their hands because earlier in the book, Elie tells his dad internally, "then what killed you father?" 

The flames above the Nacht refer to one of the 'nevers.' If you look inside the flames very closely, I wrote 'God' diagnally in cursive. This represents when Elie says, "Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes." This reminded me of the cylindrical room inside the Holocaust musuem that had the names rising up into ashes. I drew my flames kind of like the room, with God and Elie's hopes rising with the ashes because he has lost hope and faith.  

AoW Impression Blog

We haven't done a gallery walk in so long, I forgot you learn so much during them! Here's a few things I did learn; survivors were demanding Israel to help the Syrian refugees, Holocaust survivors are more prone to getting mental diseases, a man escaping a gas chamber, and a survivor educating kids about the Holocaust. 

I think out of all articles, Sebastian's and Justin's article was the most powerful and something very important for the world to know.  Their article talked about Holocaust survivors demanding Israel to help the Syrian refugees. I think this was a very important topic for everyone to hear because we make a big deal about learning about the Holocaust and the terrible events that went on in it, but we never really focus on the Syrian refugees. These kids are going through the same event that the Jewish children went through, but no one is helping them. After fear of terrorist attacks, everyone shut down their borders. I am just interested to see what will happen in the end. 



In Emily's article, I learned that Holocaust survivors are more prone to be diagnosed with a mental disease than an average human. When Emily was explaining her article, it reminded me of when soldiers come back from war and they are also more prone to being diagnosed to a disease, because of the experiences they went through. Doctors tested a Holocaust survivor's brain and then compared it to a test on an average person's brain. They discovered the Holocaust survivor has a 26% higher chance of being diagnosed than an average human. Some Holocaust survivors can experience hallucinations and hear voices because of their experiences. 

A lot of people were killed inside a gas chamber, and hardly anyone escaped the terrible, unfair punishment. I always thought if someone managed to escape they ran away or commited suicide against a fence, but I would've never guessed this; a man escaped the gas chamber because he was an electrician. Siari's article discussed a man who was in line to be placed inside the gas chamber, but he escaped because he was an electrician! Talk about a miracle! One piece of information that was quite saddening however was the man had watched his family die inside the gas chamber. 

Evie's article interested me a lot. I think it was a very positive article along with Sebastian's and Justin's. Her article was about a 86 year old teacher who survived the Holocaust, and was a teacher for 25 years. He (or she, I cannot remember) believed it was important to teach about the Holocaust and also to teach not to hate. I think this was a very important message because people live a life full of hatred that denies them any type of joy, but someone who has like an actual, valid reason to hate, teaches others to hate. 

'Terezin' by Hanus Hachenburg Butterfly Project 02.08.16

II'm ThingLink Key:

Blue represents hopes, dreams, and fears, mood, tone, author's purpose, and imagery. Overall, the poetry analysis.

Black represents symbolic representations, colors, and textures. Overall, the butterfly explanation.

Yellow represents the MLA citations for the extra information sources.

Green represents the extra sources of information. Overall, the additional options.

The A represents a symbolic representation for the butterfly. It is a different tag because it was, to me, the most symbolic picture on the butterfly. It is filed under the butterfly explanation. 





Terezin by Hanus Hachenburg;

That bit of filth in dirty walls,
And all around barbed wire,
And 30,000 souls who sleep
Who once will wake
And once will see
Their own blood spilled.

I was once a little child,
Three years ago.
That child who longed for other worlds.
But now I am no more a child
For I have learned to hate.
I am a grown-up person now,
I have known fear.

Bloody words and a dead day then,
That’s something different than bogie men!

But anyway, I still believe I only sleep today,
That I’ll wake up, a child again, and start to laugh and play.
I’ll go back to childhood sweet like a briar rose,
Like a bell which wakes us from a dream,
Like a mother with an ailing child
Loves him with woman’s love.
How tragic, then, is youth which lives
With enemies, with gallows ropes,
How tragic, then, for children on your lap
To say: this for the good, that for the bad.

Somewhere, far away out there, childhood sweetly sleeps,
Along that path among the trees,
There o’er that house
Which was once my pride and joy.
There my mother gave me birth into this world
So I could weep . . .

In the flame of candles by my bed, I sleep
And once perhaps I’ll understand
That I was such a little thing,
As little as this song

These 30,000 souls who sleep
Among the trees will wake,
Open an eye
And because they see
A lot

They’ll fall asleep again. . .”

~A little about Hanus Hachenburg~

"In the 1940’s HanuŠ Hachenburg, 1929 - 1943/44, and other young boys, aged twelve to fifteen, lived in Barracks L417 from 1942 to 1944, or Home One, which the boys referred to as the Republic of Shkid. The Jewish boys secretly produced a weekly magazine called Vedem (In the Lead) at the model concentration camp, Terezin.

From the Hanus Hachenburg website. 

I commented on everybody's blog who posted their thinglink onto Blogger. 

Berlin Memorial

         When completing our own classroom memorial,  I learned that Jews were stripped from every right an average German citizen had. I learned that Jewish doctors, teachers, and pretty much every Jewish business were shut down or destroyed during Kristallnacht in 1938. I also learned that Jews were first rationed on food and clothing, and later banned. For example, like milk and eggs. One piece of information that I realized by looking at the timeline is most of the events, like bans, and rations, took place during 1938, and 1942.

         I think the Berlin Lamppost Memorials was made to honor/remember those who had to live through the Numerbergh Laws. Think of the reason we have memorials today, we usually build memorials to honor those we respect, and to remember. I believe the reason the memorials are in Berlin is, Berlin is the capital of Germany, and Germany is the dominant country that disrespected the Jews. I don't necessarily think Germany regrets what took place, instead I feel they want to at least remember and show their condolences to the families who have lost their offspring and relatives.

         As stated before in the first paragraph, certain years there was an abundant amount of laws set, and in others there were little to none. However, sometimes only one law was needed to show the impact on the Jews and the true terror of the Nazi reign. For example, in 1945 there was only one event that had taken place, but it was a very important event. In 1945, the war was coming to an end and in order to save their own behinds, the Nazis destroyed/got rid of any and every piece of evidence that showed any racial superiority over the Jews.

       I think the restriction I would have the most difficulty with would be the rations of food, and later the bans on certain items. I think I would have the hardest time dealing with these restrictions because, you could live without entertainment and Non-Jewish friends, but you can't live without milk and eggs because, they hold certain nutrients that you need to intake in order to be healthy. Without the certain nutrients you could become very sick and unhealthy.  One law I would be fine with living under is, not being able to talk to other kids that are not Jewish because, I think I would be upset at them for living perfectly fine whilst my family was just trying to survive.