Life is Beautiful

This movie was probably my favorite one at of all of the Holocaust based movies we watched. Although it was during the holocaust and very upsetting, there was something about it that made it happy at the same time. Guido, the father of a little boy named Giosue and husband of Dora, had such a positive attitude during the whole movie. He told his son that being in the concentration camp was a game and that every day all of the hard tasks they had to do were only to gain points so that they could win a real tank since he loved his little toy tank that he owned. Guido did this so that Giosue wouldn't get upset. Guido made sure he was always in hiding and that his son was happy. During the movie, the mother, Dora, was separated from them in the camp since she was a woman and he would do things such as call to her on the loud speaker to show her that he was still alive and thinking about her. He did everything he could to keep his wife and son protected and happy. One part of the movie that really just put me in shock was when he came across the giant pile of dead bodies. It was beyond disturbing. Toward the end as he goes to look for his wife, he puts his son in hiding in a little metal box and tells him not to come out until there is absolutely nobody around. As he looks for his wife he is caught by a soldier and shot. He risked his life for his family. When the camps are liberated Giosue comes out of the box and a Russian solider pulls up riding a tank and gives the boy a ride. This made him think he won the game. It was the tank his father had been talking about. While riding the tank he sees his mother and runs into her arms. It is a beautiful scene to watch them reunite and thinking about how their loving father/husband had risked his life for them so they could be together.

The Pianist

The Pianist was a very good, heart warming movie. Of course throughout the course of the movie it wasn't very heartfelt but towards the end when one of the Nazi soldiers helps the jewish musician survive while they were clearing out the ghetto, it gave hope that not all the Nazi's were evil. This movie was about how the pianist struggles to survive while the warsaw ghetto was being destructed. He has to find food and even gets sick. A couple decides to let him in and stay with them, but as the ghetto gets destroyed, the place where he was staying gets bombed because it was right outside of the ghetto. Luckily he escapes and finds himself to be back in the ghetto hiding in a house. Struggling for food he finally finds a jar of food. As he goes to open it it falls and he turns not to pick up the jar but to see a Nazi standing right in front of him. The Nazi asks him what he does and he tells him that he is a pianist. The Nazi makes him play the piano for him and then keeps him in his hiding spot and tells the other soldiers that the house is clear so they don't go in and find him. Every day the Nazi solider would bring him food and tell him to hang in there because he would be able to go free soon. He asked him his name so that when he was freed he could listen out for his music on the radio. Eventually the Russian soldiers come to save the jews and everyone comes out of hiding. He finds his family and the concentration camps are liberated. The end of this movie is very heart warming seeing the Nazi help out the pianist and then him being freed and finding his family at the end.

Lola: Holocaust Survivor

Lola's story about her experience in the holocaust was outstanding. Getting to listen to a holocaust survivor speak was extremely rewarding. Lola told us that her main goal in sharing her story was so that it could continue to be passed on to future generations since soon there will not be any holocaust survivors left. I believe it is our generations responsibility to really pass on the horrors of the holocaust so that people never forget it. Lola's story was something I will not forget hearing about. She was able to stay away from the concentration camps and was in hiding underground at a barn. What amazed me about Lola's experience was that there were a few times where she should have died, but luckily something got in the way every time to prevent that from happening. Every time she was supposed to be taken somewhere to hide she would have hysteria attacks because she wouldn't leave her father behind. These attacks saved her life. One example i remember was that she was supposed to go in a wagon and be taken somewhere to hide. She had a hysteria attack so the guy wouldn't take her. Later on she found out that the wagon had been searched on its way to the hiding and the people in it were shot. If she were in that wagon, she would have been dead. Lola's story was extremely depressing but it was somewhat uplifting at the end when she told us that her father and brother had opened the door to the hiding spot and reunited with her after she thought they were dead. She was living underground for nine months with only some soup and bread which eventually they ran out of. Listening to her speak was amazing and listening to what she went through was like nothing I had ever heard before.

The Butterfly by Pavel Friedmann

The poem, The Butterfly, was written my a boy named Pavel Friedmann while living in the ghetto. Many of the children in the ghettos wrote poems to keep themselves busy. This boy died in Auschwitz on September 29th, 1944. He was kept in the ghetto for seven weeks before being sent to Auschwitz. I found this poem to be very touching. He says that once he entered the ghetto he never saw another butterfly. I think that the butterfly in general just represents a happy, beautiful life. Pavel says, "That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don't live in here, in the ghetto. I feel like the boy is really trying to say once he entered the ghetto life became unhappy and miserable for everyone. I think this because in the beginning of the poem he mentions pretty things such as the sun and how it is dazzlingly yellow. Then towards the middle when he mentions the ghetto, the poem becomes much darker and more upsetting. This also shows us how conditions in the ghettos were very bad. Pavel says, "That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don't live in here, in the ghetto. This was one of the many poems we saw during global, but this one stood out. His use of something so simple as a butterfly just seemed to really relay the message of how when life goes bad, we begin to appreciate the really little things more.

Oprah and Elie at Auschwitz

Seeing Elie Wiesel go back to the concentration camp to where he was taken as a child was really amazing. Trying to imagine the thoughts that were going through his head during it was almost impossible. The fact that he literally showed us where he last saw his mother and sister, and where they were probably burned was unbelievable, in an upsetting way. I found it pretty amazing that he was willing to go back there. You would think that after all that he witnessed at that camp, he wouldn't want to go back. He was probably having horrible flashbacks. When they entered the museum I am pretty sure everyone in the classroom's mouth dropped at the amount of shoes and baggage there was. It really touched us all when we saw all the babies shoes. It was beyond upsetting that the Nazi's had killed so many children. When they saw all the shoes, not only babies, Oprah says, "…behind every shoe is life, is a person." This shows the significance of each shoe and how they represented someone who did not make it out of the Holocaust. Another significant quote said by Elie was, "How many Nobel Prize winners died at the age of one…two?" This quote is significant because it shows how the children that died in the holocaust never got a chance. Who knows what these kids were capable of, but it didn't matter because they were just automatically killed, without being given a chance to show the world what they were capable of becoming.

Night: Elie Wiesel

"Where is God, where is he?" This quote was said in Elie Wiesel's novel about his experience during the Holocaust. This quote is very significant because it shows how victims of the Holocaust questioned their beliefs while they were brutally abused by the Nazis. If you were them would you question your beliefs? It must have been difficult for the Jews and other victims of the Holocaust to believe that God actually existed. How could he let something so horrible happen to the people that have faith in him and worship him? Elie Wiesel’s novel, really gives a good view on how the people were treated during this horrible time period. They were thrown in concentration camps, beaten, killed, and starved. The things that were done to them were  completely inhumane. Elie's novel was really eye opening and made me feel as if everyone needs to be more aware of what goes in in the world. It also showed me that human nature is capable of being very evil. Elie lost both his sister and mother early in his time in the concentration camp. He had to live knowing that they were both burned to death in the crematorium. The only thing that kept him going was his father, then eventually, his father died as well. Elie witnessed so much and lost his whole family during the holocaust.  His experience should influence everyone to really appreciate what they have, because at any given time, you never know what the human race will do to completely tear you apart.