Bye Bye Blogging!

***SPOILER ALERT!***

My reactions for the ending of the novel I Have Lived a Thousand Years were mostly shocked reactions and relief. The reason I was shocked was because of the way they were treated towards the end. When everyone were put into trains and were being taken away and how Elii kept thinking are we being liberated or not? And once the trained stopped they got out of the trains saying they were liberated but then were put back into the trains. It was all confusing and the way Elli compared the situation as if it was a game was kind of sad. Because to think about it, in a way it was like a game. They were treated like dolls. And how they were told to line up by the side of the train for soup but instead they started shooting. I mean it's awful how they planned it out and nobody probably even thought they were going to shoot, they were all so hungry and desperate they just wanted something to eat! Its just so cruel. And how everyone slowly started dying it was heartbreaking. But in the end it did all come together and the way Bubi and Elli and her mom made it out through all the difficulties. It was like a relief. Because I always thought for some reason that Bubi wasn't going to make it. The theme would most likely be fear for the end.

My final thoughts for the project are that, I have learned a lot from it, especially from blogging. The thing I loved about blogging was that I could put my own thoughts and thinking and compare it with the book and the events happening in it, and it sometimes I could compare and relate the events in the book to what’s happening now. And I guess my way of thinking must've improved somehow maybe even a little bit because the way we expressed our writing into a blog has to have some sort of change in our thoughts. And I think doing a project like this was important. It taught teenagers like us to notice how cruel and awful the Holocaust was, and how we should not repeat the same mistake again. Even though some bits of it its going on today, such as racism, bullying, abuse of power, etc. But the whole Holocaust all together should never happen again. And at the same time we should remember it, for all those people who died and for all those people who survived.

Final Blog Post!

****SPOILER ALERT!!***

My reactions to the ending of this novel was mostly joy I was really happy that she got to live and go back to her hometown with her brother and mother. And since I guess her hometown meant a lot to her since in the beginning the last thing she said while she was leaving was if she was ever going to be able to see her hometown again. But after that she moved to America, which I wasn’t expecting at all. But at the same time I was sad that her father and everybody else didn’t make it and she couldn’t even say goodbye to them for one last time. But overall I really did like the book because it always kept me wondering what was going to happen next and if Elli and her mother were going to be able to see their family ever again. Or if they were going to be hurt even more and how they made it to survive what was going on with them, like in the part when all the Jews were being shot at in the boxcars and what they did to get through all of that alive. One major theme that I think that was always in the novel was fear. I think this because Elli and her mother were always scared that they were going to be killed or be tortured. Another one was the constant fear that they were going to be separated or lose each other, since their love really grew over this time.

My final thoughts on the project was that it was way more funnier than I thought it was going to be. I had lots of fun blogging about this book and I really liked reading it too! It was something about this book that made me not want to put it down and keep reading but I couldn’t and that drove me so crazy! I also think that I liked the constant feeling of fear when something bad was happening or something bad was going to happen. I think that I have learned that no matter how bad things are at the moment to not lose hope and  to keep your head up high. Elli really showed that to me because she was around my age and throughout the whole Holocaust she was strong and was always taking care of her mother even if she was barely able to walk. Why a project like this is important for teenagers to be a part of? I think because it really makes you think “outside the box” and you think about the whole lesson even more and it helps you understand it more. Thank you contributors  for participating with us and making this so much fun! I really did have lots of fun and i enjoyed seeing what some of you had to say. Thank you!(:

Believing a Lie

“A new dimension has been added to our identity. A number freshly tattoed on our left arms. I am no longer anonymous. I have a name. It is A-17360.” Elli, I Have Lived a Thousand Years, Chapter entitled “Tattoo” ( AUGUST 8, 1944)

Elli had lost her identity and become part of all the other people. They had all become the same no one was different. She was dehumanized, they weren't treated like humans at all. I think what Elli meant by “I am no longer anonymous.” That she has something she can be called and is getting back some of the things she lost. Such as being known by her name and not by “stupid dogs”. Even if her “new” name “A-17360” wasn’t really a name but a number. I think that the name-calling was not good but the number was barely any better because the numbers didn’t represent anything it only meant that you were another body in the camp. Because to me thats what it felt like the were treated to me.

Can one letter and five numbers give you an identity again? Elli’s mother grew accustomed to her number and when the lady officer asked what her name was she answered by saying “A-17361”. Hitler once said to his inner circle “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” I think this relates because the number was not a real name, but a false one instead, if you can consider it a name at all. I don’t consider it a name because it was a number and even they were called by it to me it wasn't a proper name. They were false “names” because the inmates already had names. But some inmates believed that the number was their name, because they were reminded of it all the time because it was tattooed onto their left arm. And since the inmates saw it all the time they began to believe it. Did you ever realize that the word lie is in the word believe? So are you believing a lie?

It's Not What You Really Think. They're Lies!

“Oh, how I hurt for them. How I hurt for these alien heroes. For the futility of their heroism. How I hurt for the futility of it all. What is death about? What is life about?” -Elli, I Have Lived a Thousand Years chapter entitled “Alien Heros (Plaszow, July 1944)” p. 107

I think that this passage stuck out to me the most because it’s so deep. I think it’s deep because a girl who is about my age is asking about life and death and it’s true meaning. She’s asking about what really death is about since she just saw those “new” people get killed in the camp. And she’s asking what life is about since she is seeing that her life is slipping aways and it really isn’t life anymore. She said in one part in the book that she doesn’t know where the line of humanity is anymore. I think that’s what made her question what is life anymore. In my opinion I would think the same thing if I was going through the same things that she was going through. But why death? Why did she question about death? Was it because she was always scared that she was going to be the next to go? Or because she was constantly seeing other people being killed in the most brutal ways? At first I thought that Elli was saying that because she wanted to know if death was always going to be like that? Or maybe she thought that she was going to die like that? I’m not sure but to read that a girl about my age was thinking those types of questions surprised me.  

I personally don’t have any connections with this passage. I guess the only connection that I can have, or think of, is the true meaning of something. Like the true meaning of something that you thought that you knew but you didn’t. I don’t really know how to explain it. How would you explain to someone that what they thought they knew so well isn’t what they know at all? Like if you tell a lie then another and another and another and so on and that continues for so long that other people think it’s the truth because they have been hearing these lies for so long but really it’s all a big lie. That made me think of Hitler and how he would make up all these lies about Jews and how they were evil so when he kept saying it over and over that everybody else believed him. Hitler made up so many lies that that when somebody tried telling the real truth nobody would believe them because they have heard all these lies over and over again that they say it’s the truth.

The Truth about Rescuers

Rescuers see themselves as “ordinary” people and yet they all did extraordinary things.  How might this be explained?  Why do you think some people became rescuers doing the Holocaust while most remained bystanders?  What moral choices were made by rescuers during the Holocaust? (Echoes and Reflections)

http://www.jfr.org/page.aspx?pid=329

I think that rescuers think of themselves as “ordinary” people because maybe they just grew up being taught to stand up for what they believe in. Or they might have been taught to do the right thing when things were going bad or just to be nice to other people who need help. I think that some of the people who became Holocaust rescuers did it because maybe they knew that what the Nazis were doing to the Jews was bad and they felt like they needed to stand up for them and not be a bystander. Many rescuers risked their lives everyday by the way that they rescued Jews. An example is Raoul Wallenberg, who would make fake passports for Jews in March 1944. Raoul created a document called Schutzpass (protective passport) which said that whoever was put on that list was protected by Swedish government and couldn’t be deported. In October 1944 Raoul gave thousands of Jews passports to protect from the Arrow Cross party. In November 1944 70,000 Jews were forced to march to the Austrian border by foot. Many Jews were shot on the way. Raoul saved many Jews by following them in his car and would release the Jews by hundreds and would put them into trucks and take them to Budapest. On January 17, 1945 he went to east Budapest to bring back food and medicine for 100,000 surviving Jews that he saved, but sadly he was never seen again. In all, Raoul rescued tens of thousands of Jews. In conclusion I think that people who helped Jews survive think that they are “ordinary” people because they were taught growing up that if you don’t think that what other people are doing is good then you should help out the victims.

Information about Raoul’s story from the reading “Moral Leadership: Raoul Wallenberg” (JFR)

Return to Life

I think some of the survivors feared going back to their homes because of the anti-semitism that continued in Europe, and the destruction of their property. I think they also feared for their lives because who knew what would happen after the war, who guaranteed them that they wouldn't have to go through such terrifying events again? That they would have a normal life again? No one..... No one could guarantee this. The first thing survivors needed to “Return to Life” was recuperate, and become healthy again.  I think the phrase ¨Return to Life” captures the experience Jews had to got through because they were not being treated like people, they were treated like filthy animals. NO I take that back not even animals should be treated the way the Jews were. “Return to Life” to me means that they received an opportunity to start fresh try to make a living with the things they still had left. If they had the will to survived long enough to be liberated, they should be free to start their lives again.

Getting Used To It

“In time, the rhythmic shiver of thousands standing on Zählappell in the dark, cold nights of Auschwitz will become a familiar sound. But now it is new to my ears. It is the conclusion of my first day in Auschwitz. The first day of my new life.” Elli, I Have Lived a Thousand Years, Chapter entitled “Arbeit Macht Frei”, p. 90 (MAY 31, 1944)

Have you ever moved? To a different place, nowhere near your old home? Where you had to get used to how everything worked? Elli did, she understands that there is no going back to her old live. So she makes the best of what she has in Auschwitz. Elli tries to make the best out of Auschwitz as much as she can even though she knows it will be hard to get used to the way that they treat them.

Elli said that the “rhythmic shiver” will become a familiar sound, meaning she knew she would grow accustomed as time went on. If I were in Elli’s shoes I'm not sure I would be able to get over the fact that I would never get my old life back. But she did she understood it on her first day in Auschwitz. She had to go through some really gruesome that I tried not to think about it much because i just couldn't handle it.