Never before had i felt guilty sitting in my nice house, and eating a home cooked meal. Not until now. So what makes me different then the 6 million jews that were killed in the Holocaust? Nothing. Nothing but time. The course Facing History in Ourselves has allowed me to open my mind and reflect. It has provided me with the necessary and accurate information to educate myself and form my own opinions. Whenever i have learned about the Holocaust in the past, educators seemed to only tell you as much as you need to know to have a basic understand of what happened. This course not only provides me with massive amounts of information and first hand accounts of what exactly happened, it goes deeper and shows you the emotion and the terrible struggle this was for these people. It showed you the desperation, and fear that the Jew’s experienced. It showed me the ruthless brutality that the Nazi’s demonstrated on Jews. Facing History opened my eyes to the truth. Although i have been learning about the Holocaust all my life, this course brought out a completely different emotion then the Holocaust has brought out in the past, fear. Often you hear about random people who decide to kill someone, or a few people who judge others based on their race or religion, but these people are usually over powered by the good people in life who believe everyone is equal. The fact that an entire nation was brainwashed by the Nazi’s makes me sick. What makes us less vulnerable then we were over 60 years ago? How could an entire nation possibly believe that the solution was to kill all people who were not like them. How did this get so far? Why are people capable of this? I have never been so frightened in my life. I have been to the Holocaust museum in both Israel and Washington DC and as a Jew my parents did there best to teach me all about the Holocaust, and I’ve always felt sad and ashamed, but i do not think i ever truly was able to internalize it all, until now. I am so angry that we let this happen. I am so angry that innocent people’s lives were taken and I am extremely angry that anyone had to experience what these people had to go through.
Everyday I looked foward to going to Facing History and learning something new. This class opened my eyes to things i did not know about the Holocaust. Until this year i had absolutely no idea that the Jew’s tried to fight back, I had always thought they just stood there helpless. It somewhat comforts me to know there were some people who were still willing to stand up for what they believe in, even if that means dying for it. The movie “The Gray Zone” really did an excellent job representing the resistance and the risks these Jews took. It does an amazing job demonstrating how hard life in the ghetto’s, and concentration camps was, and most importantly it demonstrates a person’s will to survive. These people were tortured and antagonized day after day. They were starved, beaten, and weak, yet they still managed to wake up every morning and fight for their lives. This helped me regain my faith in this world and the people in it. Life is worth to much to give up, and your opinion is worth to much not to be heard. Another film that got to me was “The Boy in The Striped Pajamas”. I liked this film because it shows that not all German’s agreed with what the Nazi’s were doing. It gives me great relief to know that there were some people in the world who could not be brainwashed. The film that got to me the most was the “Nazi Death Camps.” I could not believe what i was seeing. I felt so guilty that i was alive and sitting there watching all these people suffer. The way their skinny dead bodies, were thrown carelessly into piles, made me sick. Jew’s were nothing, worthless. Jews were left a lone to suffer. It has been hard for me throughout high school to figure out who I am. I have had such a tough year, sometimes its hard to tell. There have been so many times i have thought of myself as weak and useless. But after taking this class i realize just how strong I am. Unlike those killed in the Holocaust i have a chance to voice my opinion, and i have the chance to be free. I have the chance to make sure nothing like this will ever happen again. Facing History has shown me that i am a sensitive and empathetic person. I was so touched by the films that we watched, and i felt like i was in their shoes, i tried to feel what they felt. I saw so many innocent people die throughout this course, it has made me value my life so much more.
It is rare that a student is lucky enough to have a teacher like Mr. Gallagher. A teacher who is interested in educating us and providing us only with the facts, so that we can form our own opinions. I signed up for this course, not only because of the subject matter, but because of the passionate and refreshing teaching style that Mr. Gallagher is known for. In his class i feel like my opinion matters and he has inspired me so much that i feel i might be able to make a difference in this world after all. I am truly grateful that Mr. Gallagher is doing the one and only thing he can do to help these people, letting their stories be told. I remember sitting in class when Mr. Gallagher showed us the pictures of when the Americans liberated the death camps, i didn’t just look at them. I looked into the eyes of each person of every picture, and thought i see you, i know what you’ve been through. I want them to know that they mean something, i want them to know they didn’t deserve to die.
