Which was the motto used by survivors of the Holocaust?
"Never again"
Mr. Crow: This was the shortest blog entry ever! However, the content is very powerful. Never again? For who? For Jews, for gypsies or for mankind... Due to the extense extermination of Jews during World War II, this motto seems to perfectly apply to them, but now 2009, the Israel government has started a cruzade to vanish some of the Palestinian terrorists, in the attempt the army has depleated some of the most powerful weapons in the world. There is one Jewish woman called Hedy Epstein that said: "My lesson is when I see injustice--I don't care who is responsible--I must do what I can. That's why I'm here. I speak out against Israeli policies in the US, also," Epstein said. "I'm not anti-Israeli. I'm opposed to the policies and practices of the current Israeli government as they relate to Palestinians." Epstein noted, "the motto for Holocaust survivors has been "Never Again", meaning never again for Jews. As I stood next to the 25-foot high cement wall in Qalqilya, I coined this phrase, 'Never Again (for Jews), Again by Jews.'"
Source:
http://www.afsc.org/ht/d/ContentDetails/i/3706
martes, 31 de marzo de 2009
jueves, 26 de marzo de 2009
The Last Chip of Hope
A sudden moment of tension prevailed inside the wooden cabin. The leaves were afraid of the chilling howl of the wind. The shiny edges of a woman’s long, silver earring reflected the face of a smooth, finely carved ivory pair of eyes moisten by the salty breeze of the sea. A shattered piece of glass stayed motionless in the floor. A mystical human hand approached a bottle of wine, poured the burgundy liquid, and took a sip from a peculiar Bohemia wine glass that was missing the very chip that remained in the floor. The ochre leaves were still moving, but inside the room…Joy and celebration were instantaneous.
Pliashka was next in the near future. The caravan of Romani people began a quick journey to elude some Panzers near the area. The caravan stopped near a recently destroyed village, but they kept going until they found a safe place near the Bakony Mounts. Inside the village they had found a full bottle of brandy that they would use for the Pliashka, besides they would wrap it with a bright, orange handkerchief that shined due to the enormous quantity of beads.
The groom was very nervous even though this was not the marriage. He was completely sure about marrying her. That day friends, relatives and the other caravan members including the very disrupting bear tamers gathered to drink a bit of the brandy bottle that hung a gold coin necklace for the bride. The young man’s father had the bottle in his hand, and he passed it to his son, not yet married, but purely in love with the bride. A sudden thud hit the bear cage, Hungarian officers started to come out from the forests. A pack of fifty officers, every single one was powerfully armed, marched towards the Romani. Bears broke the cages, and raced towards the officers knocking about twenty of them. The Pliashka had not gone as expected. The Romani people set off with the caravans, but now a pair of tanks surrounded the convoy. It was all lost…
Matheo, the groom stood inside a chariot paralyzed with terror. The hungry officers had come to extinguish the nomad Romani. Matheo grabbed the bottle until it shattered into pieces in his hand. Pieces of smashed reddish crystals pierced Matheo’s hand. The Romani community was cornered, and offered to cooperate with the wildebeests. No cooperation was the trade.
They were led to Mauthausen located to the west of where they were caught. Matheo stood at the gates of the labor camp. The crystals in his hand were still piercing his flesh deeply. Mauthausen had the hideous reputation of being one of the worst concentration camps by the end of the War. The roads to Mauthausen had been destroyed, and food was far more rationed than before. The Romani male survivors were dispersed in the many blocks. The physical conditions of them were far better than of other fellows. Mauthausen was imbued in a dark atmosphere of melancholy and sadness. Inside the camp hours were days, days were weeks, weeks were months, months were years, and years were eternity.
Matheo remained in the camp for 2 years. The lacerations from his hand worsened as he lived. His plump face of rejoice when he was to get married with Kreili, the best dancer of all Hungary, had faded away. The color of his face had turned bluish, and his acrobat muscles were no longer strong to survive the beatings of Mauthausen. Somehow he managed to keep going as he saw how his fellows plummeted, even the forceful bear tamer had become tamed.
He had no hopes in encountering Kreili again. He had been so close to happiness, but the extermination of their kind was due that day. Mauthausen became weaker every day. Troops were sent to the battlefields because they were losing battle by battle. One night the ally army broke into the camp, and stared shocked at the horrid conditions in the camp. They soon freed everyone. Matheo stood besides the few Romani survivors in the heart of a new land, where they knew nothing except their own existence.
The female blocks were freed as well, might there be a possibility that Kreili was still alive… Matheo closed his hand forcefully. The salty breeze covered a pair of grey ivory pieces. An orange handkerchief swiftly fell from the sky. A chip of crystal stayed motionless on the earth.
Pliashka was next in the near future. The caravan of Romani people began a quick journey to elude some Panzers near the area. The caravan stopped near a recently destroyed village, but they kept going until they found a safe place near the Bakony Mounts. Inside the village they had found a full bottle of brandy that they would use for the Pliashka, besides they would wrap it with a bright, orange handkerchief that shined due to the enormous quantity of beads.
The groom was very nervous even though this was not the marriage. He was completely sure about marrying her. That day friends, relatives and the other caravan members including the very disrupting bear tamers gathered to drink a bit of the brandy bottle that hung a gold coin necklace for the bride. The young man’s father had the bottle in his hand, and he passed it to his son, not yet married, but purely in love with the bride. A sudden thud hit the bear cage, Hungarian officers started to come out from the forests. A pack of fifty officers, every single one was powerfully armed, marched towards the Romani. Bears broke the cages, and raced towards the officers knocking about twenty of them. The Pliashka had not gone as expected. The Romani people set off with the caravans, but now a pair of tanks surrounded the convoy. It was all lost…
Matheo, the groom stood inside a chariot paralyzed with terror. The hungry officers had come to extinguish the nomad Romani. Matheo grabbed the bottle until it shattered into pieces in his hand. Pieces of smashed reddish crystals pierced Matheo’s hand. The Romani community was cornered, and offered to cooperate with the wildebeests. No cooperation was the trade.
They were led to Mauthausen located to the west of where they were caught. Matheo stood at the gates of the labor camp. The crystals in his hand were still piercing his flesh deeply. Mauthausen had the hideous reputation of being one of the worst concentration camps by the end of the War. The roads to Mauthausen had been destroyed, and food was far more rationed than before. The Romani male survivors were dispersed in the many blocks. The physical conditions of them were far better than of other fellows. Mauthausen was imbued in a dark atmosphere of melancholy and sadness. Inside the camp hours were days, days were weeks, weeks were months, months were years, and years were eternity.
Matheo remained in the camp for 2 years. The lacerations from his hand worsened as he lived. His plump face of rejoice when he was to get married with Kreili, the best dancer of all Hungary, had faded away. The color of his face had turned bluish, and his acrobat muscles were no longer strong to survive the beatings of Mauthausen. Somehow he managed to keep going as he saw how his fellows plummeted, even the forceful bear tamer had become tamed.
He had no hopes in encountering Kreili again. He had been so close to happiness, but the extermination of their kind was due that day. Mauthausen became weaker every day. Troops were sent to the battlefields because they were losing battle by battle. One night the ally army broke into the camp, and stared shocked at the horrid conditions in the camp. They soon freed everyone. Matheo stood besides the few Romani survivors in the heart of a new land, where they knew nothing except their own existence.
The female blocks were freed as well, might there be a possibility that Kreili was still alive… Matheo closed his hand forcefully. The salty breeze covered a pair of grey ivory pieces. An orange handkerchief swiftly fell from the sky. A chip of crystal stayed motionless on the earth.
martes, 24 de marzo de 2009
Fourth SOS
Pages 67-85
These pages have become some of the most exciting and sensible of the book as Elie and his father underwent slection, took important decisions, and started the march towards a new camp.
One of the main events of these pages is the celebration of the Jewish New Year which was not celebrated as always. Elie still thinks where had God gone? Had God forgotten about them? as well as other religious tribulations.
The tension grows more and more when the selection takes place, and Elie had avoided being written down as well as his father. Akiba the drumer did not have the same luck. However, a second eselction is held in Elie's father's block. His father left him his knife and spoon. Those items were the last remains of the Wiesel family. Soon Elie learned that his father had again passed the selection.
Some time after Elie has his foot operated by a Jewish doctor that behaved quite benevolent towards him showing a bit of decency in Buna. Elie would stay for at least two weeks in the infirmiry, but he left it as the concentration camp was soon to be evacuated. Those in the infirmiry woudl be left there, and the others were off to another camp. He went to see his Dad, adn take a decision that would make their lifes lucky or more miserable than they were. They decided to march with the others. One night later they started the journey at night with SS officers running behind them during winter.
It made me angry that if they had stayed in Buna inside the infirmiry, perhaps they would have been freed by the Russian Army, both his father and himself.
Germans have started to lose in the eastern battlefield. The predictions for the German armies were not appealing. War was on its last legs, but the mass murders and tortures in extermination camps were still happening, and faster than ever.
One brilliant point in the book is when it mentions that Adolf Hitler had been the only one that had kept all the promises for the Jews. The tactic of evacuating the concentration camps was constant in the eastern border when Germany declared war to Russia, and Germany started getting surrounded by the Allies. No sooner had the Russians crushed the German borders than SS officers began the onslaught of every living soul in a camp.
These pages have become some of the most exciting and sensible of the book as Elie and his father underwent slection, took important decisions, and started the march towards a new camp.
One of the main events of these pages is the celebration of the Jewish New Year which was not celebrated as always. Elie still thinks where had God gone? Had God forgotten about them? as well as other religious tribulations.
The tension grows more and more when the selection takes place, and Elie had avoided being written down as well as his father. Akiba the drumer did not have the same luck. However, a second eselction is held in Elie's father's block. His father left him his knife and spoon. Those items were the last remains of the Wiesel family. Soon Elie learned that his father had again passed the selection.
Some time after Elie has his foot operated by a Jewish doctor that behaved quite benevolent towards him showing a bit of decency in Buna. Elie would stay for at least two weeks in the infirmiry, but he left it as the concentration camp was soon to be evacuated. Those in the infirmiry woudl be left there, and the others were off to another camp. He went to see his Dad, adn take a decision that would make their lifes lucky or more miserable than they were. They decided to march with the others. One night later they started the journey at night with SS officers running behind them during winter.
It made me angry that if they had stayed in Buna inside the infirmiry, perhaps they would have been freed by the Russian Army, both his father and himself.
Germans have started to lose in the eastern battlefield. The predictions for the German armies were not appealing. War was on its last legs, but the mass murders and tortures in extermination camps were still happening, and faster than ever.
One brilliant point in the book is when it mentions that Adolf Hitler had been the only one that had kept all the promises for the Jews. The tactic of evacuating the concentration camps was constant in the eastern border when Germany declared war to Russia, and Germany started getting surrounded by the Allies. No sooner had the Russians crushed the German borders than SS officers began the onslaught of every living soul in a camp.
viernes, 20 de marzo de 2009
Fourth delivery
What is the Final Solution?
It is the plan thought by high rank officers from the SS and the Nazi government to eliminate the European Jews. The plan was decided in the Wannsee conference.
Which was the first alternative for the Jews before the Final Solution?
Froced emigration to Madagascar
Mention two of the most important SS officers.
Juluis Schreck
Heinrich Himmler
What is the D Day?
It is the Day when general Dwight Eisenhower ordered a militar operation to land troops via parachutes near the coasts of Normandy so as to invade the German territories.
It is the plan thought by high rank officers from the SS and the Nazi government to eliminate the European Jews. The plan was decided in the Wannsee conference.
Which was the first alternative for the Jews before the Final Solution?
Froced emigration to Madagascar
Mention two of the most important SS officers.
Juluis Schreck
Heinrich Himmler
What is the D Day?
It is the Day when general Dwight Eisenhower ordered a militar operation to land troops via parachutes near the coasts of Normandy so as to invade the German territories.
jueves, 19 de marzo de 2009
Delivery three
Why were the prisoners marked or tattoed on their forearms? Does this has any religious implications for some groups?
Prisoners were tattoed on their forearm as means for an easier registration and identifiaction for roll calls. There are religious implications for the traditional jews that obey one of the commandments that say: "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord."
Who were the Kapos? Why did fellowmen fear their leaders?
Kapos were authorities within concentration and extermination camps. They usually carried instructions from the supervisors from the SS. Kapos usually feared their leaders because if they didn't follow correctly instructions, and was severe towards his inmates he would suffer more severe consequences like being sent to the extermination camps as soon as possible.
When did Elie learn about the rest of his family?
Elie's father died around 1945 from dysentery, starvation and extreme fatigue. His mother and little sister were slaughtered when they arrived to Auschwitz the first days. Bea, Hilda and Elie were the only survivors.
SOS 3 47-65
In this part of the story Elie and his fahter are transferred to Buna, and they were sent to a Kommando that arranged electrical devices. Elie was requested for a visit to the dentist to remove his gold teeth. Elie avoided the removal, but later he had to give away the crown to Franek the foreman. Both Elie and his father endured Idek's rage. Elie met a French woman, who talked briefly to him in German, and he later encountered her in the subway. One day Elie's kommando was not required for work, he casually saw how Idek abused of a Pole girl. Elie soon got lashed many times unfairly.
One Sunday the place where Elie's father worked was raid by American planes, fortunately his fahter had survived unlike the poor man that crawled towards tha cauldron of boiling soup.
Many hangings were proformed during that lapse of time so as to serve as a warning for the inmates. The tragic death of the pipel could make anyone shed a tear.
Now that half of the book has already been read, the continuous feeling of hatred toward those people is unbearable. Beatings, hangings, starvation, fatigue, unfairness are starting to convince me that Elie's posture towards God is not that wrong, and still there are those who pray and trust in divinity. I cannot believe there can be anyone who thinks all these cases are a set-up form the Jews for the Wolrd to pity them.
Mr. Crow: My grandfather's witnessed the executions in Buna, and they told me the faces of the Jews who were forced to wath the corpses were unable to shed a tear, to express a feeling. They told me some of them were dead being alive.
Prisoners were tattoed on their forearm as means for an easier registration and identifiaction for roll calls. There are religious implications for the traditional jews that obey one of the commandments that say: "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord."
Who were the Kapos? Why did fellowmen fear their leaders?
Kapos were authorities within concentration and extermination camps. They usually carried instructions from the supervisors from the SS. Kapos usually feared their leaders because if they didn't follow correctly instructions, and was severe towards his inmates he would suffer more severe consequences like being sent to the extermination camps as soon as possible.
When did Elie learn about the rest of his family?
Elie's father died around 1945 from dysentery, starvation and extreme fatigue. His mother and little sister were slaughtered when they arrived to Auschwitz the first days. Bea, Hilda and Elie were the only survivors.
SOS 3 47-65
In this part of the story Elie and his fahter are transferred to Buna, and they were sent to a Kommando that arranged electrical devices. Elie was requested for a visit to the dentist to remove his gold teeth. Elie avoided the removal, but later he had to give away the crown to Franek the foreman. Both Elie and his father endured Idek's rage. Elie met a French woman, who talked briefly to him in German, and he later encountered her in the subway. One day Elie's kommando was not required for work, he casually saw how Idek abused of a Pole girl. Elie soon got lashed many times unfairly.
One Sunday the place where Elie's father worked was raid by American planes, fortunately his fahter had survived unlike the poor man that crawled towards tha cauldron of boiling soup.
Many hangings were proformed during that lapse of time so as to serve as a warning for the inmates. The tragic death of the pipel could make anyone shed a tear.
Now that half of the book has already been read, the continuous feeling of hatred toward those people is unbearable. Beatings, hangings, starvation, fatigue, unfairness are starting to convince me that Elie's posture towards God is not that wrong, and still there are those who pray and trust in divinity. I cannot believe there can be anyone who thinks all these cases are a set-up form the Jews for the Wolrd to pity them.
Mr. Crow: My grandfather's witnessed the executions in Buna, and they told me the faces of the Jews who were forced to wath the corpses were unable to shed a tear, to express a feeling. They told me some of them were dead being alive.
jueves, 5 de marzo de 2009
SOS 2
The chapters read contain powerful experiences and images that make one's skin shiver. It was unbearable how the Wiesel family and the Jewish community form Sighet was taken like cattle to the cruellest extermination-concentration camp... Auschwitz. The moment Elie as a 15 year old teen saw the sign Auschwitz, everything was doomed for him and his family. It was a very suspenseful detail the one of Mrs. Schachter that kept shouting in the middle of the night that she could see flames, then one can feel so overwhelmed when Elie was able to see the chimney of the Crematoria, and when he started walking toward the chimney, and watched the faces of the babies burning inside it was tremendously shocking.
The distorted minds of the German officers are often portrayed in many descriptions, in most caese they are true. What surprised me was that chief of a labor camp where Elie and his father had been sent because he was terribly different. It is so sad he was switched for being human...
One of the medular parts of this chapter is the strong disbelief inside Elie towards God and religion itself. In terms of fiction Elie would fit in a very dynamic and round character because he is undergoing a process of tranformation where his knowledgeand new experiences are mixing with the touch of the survival instincts that make anybody grasp to a weak possibility of life.
Gestapo officers are cold as wet stone, even towards those who have a nose just like him, towards those who had an innocent childhood just like him, towards mothers, sons, daughters and humanity itself. It is a merciless self-attack...
Mr. Crow: Mr. Mengele appeared unfortunately... That is a proof that shows that science can be a key of dementia, eternal hatred, hideous experiments and a distorted mind. Lies are sources of short instants of happiness and tranquility...How sad it is to know the truth at the risk of death...
Location of concentration and extermination camps
1. Auschwitz-Birkenau: both extermination and concentration camps (1940)
2. Bergen-Belsen: Concentration camp (1943)
3. Dachau: Concentration camp (1933)
4. Treblinka: Extermination camp (1942)
5. Gleiwitz: Concentration camp (subcamp of Auschwitz)
Concentration vs extermination camps
A concentration camp is basically a place where the segregated groups were sent during World War II (Germany and United States). They were confined in large areas,and were put in the worst conditions. There are several types of concentration camps which include work camps, prisoner camps, holding camps. Concentration camps are not exclusive of Germany and Mr. Funny Moustache, but also Unites States, the extinct Sovietic Union (USSR)and even Japan. These countries built concentration camps to hold war prisoners. Mistreat is a common feature in these sites regarldess the origin of the camp.
Extermination camps in contrast are exclusivley meant for the disappearance and destruction of a targeted groups of people. I have thought of many synomyms for this horrid places... Camp Death, Agonic camp, Nightmare camp, Breathless camp and others which I prefer not mentioning.
Mr. Crow: The Angel of Death as Elie Wiesel says lives in these camps. There is; however, a light relation between concentration and extermination. Concentration camps often lead into an extermination camp. The mediums of death are quite diverse, a piece of psychological terror is present in the heart of those who were/ are doomed to die.
What is a ghetto?, Where were they stablished?
A young man threw himself from a thrid floor down in the Warsaw ghetto,but for he had not eaten since the past week. Another woman killed herself with one shaving blade because she had no medicine left for her disease...
These and more were some of the unbearable conditions that many Jews suffered prior to the sickening concentration and extermination camps that awaited them not too far from their current homes. Jews had been confined ever since Renaissance when they were sent to the worst parts of Venice. Later they began to gain power and money, and they soon became powerful, wealthy and educated. World War II began, and Adolf Hitler confined again the Jews in filthy and smallparts of the city wher he and his comrades embargoed food, medicines, and other basic supplies. The ghettos served as the antechamber of concentration and extermination camps not only for Jews but also for Gypsies. The ghettos for Jews were oftne called Kibuks.
Mr. Crow: I feel so awful when talking about confinement, concentrationes, and all this stuff; however, it is needed. The main ghettos during World War II were Lakhva,Belarus; Ghetto Litsmannstadt(second largest after Warsaw ghetto), German Poland; Lemberg ghetto, Ukraine; Krakow ghetto, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; Kaunas ghetto, Germany; Vilna ghetto, Lithuania; and most importantly the Warsaw ghetto which was the largest ghetto during World War II. The ghettos I mentioned are far less than the existent. If you want to know more about them, look at the image. I think there are over 50.
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