class assesment

overall the class was fun and I enjoyed most of the films. the class taught me a lot from not being so biased to knowing how to write better. I really enjoyed the laid back way the class was run and the fact that we were encouraged to argue about topics brought up. although I did not enjoy all the essays, it was a good learning experience.

essay: final

Alan Burkhart

Enc1102

Tues. 6-8:00

Holacaust and It’s Effects

            During World War II, Adolf Hitler thought of himself and his race as superior to others. This mind set caused him to assentially dominate and attempt to wipe the Jewish race off the face of the Earth. In this event over six million Jews were killed via gas chambers, mal nutrition, and even some were killed by soldiers in lines being shot to death. Although he was wrong, Hilter believed all he was doing was for the good of the planet. Even after the near six and a half million deaths, there were numerous survivers that still live today. “It is not so easy to do this interview. Last night I did not have a minute's sleep. When I sleep, I dream, I dream, I dream. We did not know who was going to be left alive. "Don't forget, tell the world" was the last thing our friends said before they were taken to their deaths. You cannot keep it inside.” Joseph Sher, a survivor of a loabor camp in the Holocaust remebers the final words of friends and family just before they were taken away by German soldiers and SS associates. Born in the little Polish town of Krzepice, Joseph was raised by his moher with his two brothers and three sisters. His mother was in today’s terms a stay at home mom, while his father was a well educated tailor. He met his wife through his beautiful sister Freida. While dating his future wife, they heard of safety in Russia. The two got married and headed for the border. Once they reached Russia, they were denied entrance. They returned to their town and tried to live as happily as they could. Joseph was taken to a labor camp for nine months where he was beaten and antaginized brutally in that period of time. In that time, the men ranging from the age of 20-80, were expected to work with minimal food and water, diseased conditions, and freezing tempertures. With no plumbing, they were expected to deficate in a ditch where they might have been shot by German soldiers using their guns as toys to mess with the men working. Joseph had two friends, a doctor and a professor. The two men did all in their power to get joseph out of the camp. After being their for nine months they were able to get him back home. Upon his arrival home, he became ill and was put behind a wall made to hide him unitl he was better. After his illness passed, he was taken with his brother and cousin along with eight others to a factory owned by the chief of the Gestapo. They were there for 10 weeks before the factory was no longer in need of that many people. When they returned, Joseph learned that his mother and sisters were killed because they were of no use. Joseph found his wofe a few days later and moved in with another couple. They were in a small room with a bucket to use the bathroom. One morning before work, they were surrounded by soldiers and taken to Treblinka. They spent the remainder of the war from 1943 to 1945 in a slave labor camp. The couple was lucky in this time of turmoil; Joseph was a tailor for the German officers while his wife carried boxes of ammunition to the trucks. His wife Rachel, had a better fate than most women whose job was to reload shells for the German army. These women turnd yellow from breathing in all the lead; once yellow from disease, they were taken away and never to be seen again. All the people knew where they were taken. The diseased women were taken to the cemetary, shot and burried as they were of no use to the Nazis anymore. Certain Jews were selected to be the policemen ion the ghettos only after they bribed the Nazis with gold and other valuble items. One day as Jospeh was working, he saw almost fifty men brought into a room one by one and struck on the head with a sledge hammer. Their bodies were toted to the cemetary where they were burried along with all the other bodies of Jews in that labor camp. By 1949 they had their first child and came to New Orleans to be with Rachels aunt. They came across by ship as some of the first few survivors. As their children grew, they feared that their past might affect the lives of the kids. Now every time he hears the words “God Bless America”, he thinks back to his past and utters the phrase to himself truly thankful for the oppurtunity to get out of Nazi Germany with his life and family. The holocasut affected millions of people during its time and has still been affecting people today.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources

Sher, Joseph, Mr. Survivor Stories. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013

final journal

the holocaust was a devastating event affecting millions of people. the German army targeted the Jewish race an sought to wipe them from the earth. Hitler was in charge of the Nazi propaganda and responsible for the death of over 6 million men, women, and children. few people survived the horrific event, and even fewer are alive today. in the documentary, a women tells her story about her experience. as a twin she was experimented on along with many other sets of twins. her sister survived through the holocaust, but died of kidney failure years later. through the film, she explains how the events happened, and what she was feeling during these times. in the end she forgives the man responsible for her sisters death, and makes a second trip to the location of where her parents and the rest of her family was brutally murdered. one would think as humans we would have more of a conscience than to let someone walk into another country and execute millions of people as Hitler did. however, it took some time before much was done to stop the genocide from taking place in Germany and Poland. even now, millions of people are affected by the events that took place in the 40's. this event should be a learning point for the rest of the world and should teach us all to not be so passive about things like racism or hatred.

Miss Representation Journal

The documentary we watched as a class really opened my eyes at how this country treats women and how we expect them to be. The way young girls are discouraged by society and encouraged by women who are photoshopped to try to achieve perfection is sick. Women cannot possibly think that they could look beautiful with all the pressure from the media and the magazines with fake women in them. This documentary shows the real life struggles with young girls and the what they really face in their everyday life. From cutting themselves in depression, to starving themselves in desperation of perfection, these girls put themselves through hell and back just so they could look like a person who has been altered by the computer to look a certain way. Our society needs to go back to how they used to be and accept women for how they are not what they look like.