One Survivor Remembers

           Today in class, we watched a short film about Gerda Weissmann, a Holocaust survivor, and her memories. Gerda is a Jew from a small town in Poland. One of the most powerful scenes, I thought, was when Gerda was shoveling coal from a train car. She saw another train coming and thought to herself, if I jumped onto the tracks before the train came, it would be over in a few seconds. She remembered a promise that she made to her father that she would never commit suicide. There will be an end to the horrors.

           The Nazis dehumanized the Jews because, in many cases, the shaved their heads and made them all wear the same clothes. Gerda worked to overcome this dehumanization communicating with her new-found friends. She made a bet with her friend, Suse Kunz, that they would or would not be liberated, or freed. They bet a quart of strawberries. Gerda thought that they would be liberated. The two friends used that as a reason to push through the hardships of working in the labor camp.

           If I were in Gerda's shoes when she had to hide in her basement, I would fantasize about going swimming in a refreshing pool. I think that I would also fantasize about going to school and seeing my friends. I think that a few objects that I take for granted are running water, which I use every day several times, and electricity, which I use almost all day. I also take food for granted because I eat three meals every day.

           I think that some people, such as foreigners or aliens, are being targeted in persecution and racism. I think that to stop this from happening, we, as a human race, would need to recognize that there are many different kinds of people all over the world, and that they should all be treated the same way.

           In the film we watched, I think that the stereotypical heroes are the American soldiers who physically rescued Gerda and many other women. However, I believe that Gerda's heroes are her father, who symbolically persuaded her not to commit suicide. I also think that Suse was another one of her heroes because of the bet that that had. for the quart of strawberries. Gerda probably had many other people who helped her through the Holocaust.

Relationship Between *The Boy Who Dared* and what really happened

           In The Boy Who Dared, Helmuth talks a lot about wanting to become a Hitler Youth, but he doesn't really talk about what that means. Becoming a Hitler Youth meant “trying out” at about the of ten. After four years of proving your dedication, you became a Hitler Youth. Once you were a hitler youth, you basically helped the soldiers with some things. The primary purpose for the Hitler Youth was to train young men to become “Storm Troopers.” In 1936, membership to the Hitler Youth or The League of German Girls became mandatory for all boys and girls between the ages of ten and seventeen. This served several reasons but the main reason was to raise children to the Nazi beliefs.

           When boys turned eighteen, they were forced to enroll in the armed forces or in the Reich Labor Service. In 1944, men as young as sixteen were forced to defend Germany as Allies were crossing the border to attack. The fact they were forced to do all this is just awful. Nothing should be forced upon someone who doesn't want to do it. Young men and women were forced to join the Hitler Youth. 

Comparing Characters from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas to The Boy Who Dared

           Bruno, from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is much younger than Helmuth, form The Boy Who Dared. Helmuth does not has a father, but Bruno does. Bruno's father is a commandant for the Nazis. They both want to be german soldiers when they grow up. They are both somewhat oblivious to what is happening in the world. Bruno is free and not under captivity, but Helmuth is in a jail cell. Helmuth and Bruno are both brave german boys. However, Helmuth is seventeen and Bruno is only nine.

           Bruno is motivated by his friendship with Shmuel, but also by his hatred of Lt. Kotler. Helmuth wants to become a Hitler Youth to make his mother proud. Bruno's passion for exploration is why he help look for Shmuel's dad, but it is is also what gets him killed. Bruno thinks that Adolf Hitler is rude and has bad manners, but Helmuth just hates him. 

                                                                  The Boy Who Dared
                                                        Story by: Susan Campbell Bartoletti
                                                               Blog by: Harrison Young

          In The Boy Who Dared, Helmuth is a seventeen-year-old boy who is in jail during the Holocaust. Helmuth is a Mormon from Hamburg, Germany. The reason he is in jail has not yet been brought into the story. He has been in jail for 264 days. He has flashbacks to when he was younger.

          Helmuth flashes back to when he was 3 or 4. He was holding his mother's hand walking through the crowd of a parade. A german soldier came up to him and asked him if he wanted to be a soldier when he grows up. Helmuth says yes. I am wondering if he regrets this while he is sitting in his jail cell.

          Helmuth comes back. He realizes that it is Tuesday. Helmuth doesn't like Tuesday. That's the day the executioner works. 

                                     Questions and inferences for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

                                                                   Story by: John Boyne                                                                        

                                                                Blog by: Harrison Young                                                                 

          So far, Bruno has looked out his window and his arms dropped to his side and what he saw made him feel cold. He brought up what he saw somewhat casually when he said, “The other kids don't look at all friendly.”(p. 26) I inferred that, since there were unfriendly looking kids behind the house, they might have been sad or depressed because they are in what I inferred to be a German Concentration Camp. Another reason why I think that it is a Concentration Camp is because the narrator describes the fence to be very tall, maybe even taller that the house they are in, and having barbed wire spiraling around the top of the fence.

          A question that I have about what is to come further in the story is, will Bruno approach the fence that is outside his window? I can make a prediction that he is going to approach the fence because, while Bruno is a young boy, I do not the he is the boy in the stripped pajamas, who the book is named after. Although, my theory might be incorrect and Bruno might be the boy in the striped pajamas. Another question that I have is, will Bruno's father will be introduced further so we can be sure about his position?

The Beginning of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

                                                               By John Boyne

          

          In the beginning of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne, you are introduced to the main character, Bruno. Bruno is a nine year old boy who is living in Berlin, Germany during the time of the Holocaust. Bruno's mother seems like a regular mother from the time of the Holocaust. Bruno also has an older sister who he refers to as “the helpless case” which we can infer means that she has a mental illness. Bruno's father is an officer of commander for the Nazi's. The family has to move away from /berlin to some other place that Bruno does not like. He doesn't has his three best friends living close to him anymore. He has moved so his father can be closer to his station and so the family is safer.

          The house that the family has moved to is much different that their old house. Their old house was five stories tall, where their new house is only three stories tall. Their new house was on quiet street but you still saw people every once in a while. Their new house is basically in the middle of nowhere. There are no people walking on the streets. There are no other young boys for Bruno to play with. However, there is one thing that the new house has in common with the old house. It has a slanting window that Bruno can look out of. In the old house, if he looked out the slanting window on the top floor, he could see straight across Berlin. In the new house, if he looks out the slanting window in his bedroom, it makes him feel cold on the inside.

The Flower Garden

           The Flower Garden is a story about a woman who has lived in a town for her whole life. A woman named Mrs. MacLane moves in to a cottage that the other woman, whose name is Mrs. Winning, wants. Mrs winning lives with her husband and two kids, along with her mother and father-in-law. Mrs. Winning seems jealous of Mrs. MacLane's garden, as well as her house.

           The author, Shirley Jackson, foreshadows the end of the story with the names of the characters. The name Winnings indicates that Mrs. winnings will get what she wants. Mrs. Winning and Mrs. MacLane are friends throughout the majority of the story, but towards the end of the story, Mrs. Winning and Mrs. MacLane become lesser friends and might even dislike each other. The end of the story is somewhat open ended, but you can infer that since Mrs. MacLane's garden was ruined, she will move back to New York and will sell her house. Since Mrs. Winning wanted to live in the cottage and have the magnificent flower garden, therefore, she got what she wanted.

           I can prove that Mrs. Winning and Mrs. MacLane weren't friends at the end of the story because the author said about Mrs. Winning, “she wanted desperately to go over and take Mrs. Maclane's hand and ask her to come back and be one of the nice people again.” I can support my inference about the end of the story because Mrs. MacLane said, “Leave it alone Mr. Jones. Leave it for the next people.” she said this about a large branch that fell from a tree during a storm.