The section assignment is to make a brief presentation and commentary on the chapter that you have been assigned to present. Comment also on a similarity or difference that you have observed when comparing with one other course text or film. Use the following prompts to guide your analysis:
Action
What is the action described, what happens?
Where is the described event taking place?
When
When did this happen, when was the text/film made?
Who
Who’s perspective of the event is described? Importantly: How are the roles of perpetrators, bystanders and victims described?
Message or Meaning
What do we learn about the authors relationship to the event, can we discern a meaning or message that the author is trying to convey?
Evidence
How does this document/film or text contribute to what we know about the Holocaust?
Your challenge is to keep this short, the presentation should not be longer than 10 minutes and the paragraph that you are expected to post as a comment to this post should aim to briefly capture a few key points in no more than 200 words. Post your comment by 6 pm on the day before your presentation.
I was assigned to present chapter 2 of the memoir, "All The Things I Never Told My Father" by Yona Nadelman. Nadelman retells the early years of her life in first-person perspective as a Jew during the era of World War II. She explains that Germany has invaded Poland and her family must now flee and seek shelter elsewhere. Through her descriptive story-telling, she expresses the dark consequences of the event and humanizes the victims. She is simply a five year old girl, who must now adapt and struggle to survive during this dark age.
ReplyDelete(Jocelyn Dao 1l)
DeleteIn chapter 1, we are introduced to young girl and her family. It begins with her parents surrounding a radio listening closely. The daughter is seemingly too young to understand what is happening and the gravity of it. The audience learns that Hitler is starting World War II, 1939, and invading Poland (implied to be where they live). The father, an officer in the reserves, has been called upon Friday morning but first must send his wife and daughter to the train station to get to safety. At the train station there is an air attack signifying that the war has officially begun and already the child is witness to three people’s death. We come to learn that the main target were the railroads in order to stop people from leaving. The father buys a horse and carriage to take his family east. After stopping at the mother’s brother’s house they pick up more family members for their journey to flee the war. The narrator is a child so her interpretation is different from anything we have read so far. The child is unable to comprehend the seriousness of the events; her apparent confusion offers an original perspective.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 1, we are introduced to young girl and her family. It begins with her parents surrounding a radio listening closely. The daughter is seemingly too young to understand what is happening and the gravity of it. The audience learns that Hitler is starting World War II, 1939, and invading Poland (implied to be where they live). The father, an officer in the reserves, has been called upon Friday morning but first must send his wife and daughter to the train station to get to safety. At the train station there is an air attack signifying that the war has officially begun and already the child is witness to three people’s death. We come to learn that the main target were the railroads in order to stop people from leaving. The father buys a horse and carriage to take his family east. After stopping at the mother’s brother’s house they pick up more family members for their journey to flee the war. The narrator is a child so her interpretation is different from anything we have read so far. The child is unable to comprehend the seriousness of the events; her apparent confusion offers an original perspective.
ReplyDeleteWithin chapter one, the reader is introduced Henry Oster, the protagonist, a 5 year old German boy whose father was a veteran of the German Army during WWI and who manages small department stores. On the first day of class, Oster’s excitement turns into fear when a group of young Nazi’s between the age of 10-14 attack Henry and several of the young Jewish boys. The event takes place in the ancient city of Cologne in a German Jewish elementary school. Throughout the second chapter, Henry speaks of the nation’s search for a leader and how America encircled some of the ideas that Hitler built his anti-Semitic platform on. During this time, the nation was in need of a leader because of the economic inflation, unemployment, and the Great Depression. Inevitably, this text contributes to the Holocaust by giving an insight of how things initiated with Hitler’s coming of power. In addition Oster’s story serves as living testimony for what occurred later in the Nazi death camps. His struggles during the Holocaust serve as living proof evidence. He is a survivor that is willing to share his story in order to inform people of the hardships the Jewish people went through. In the letter to Adolf Gemlich, Hitler speaks of the Jew and how he is self-interested and only cares about the size of his purse which Oster similarly argues in chapter 2, how Hitler blindly accused the Jews of allying with the Communist and attempting to dominate the world’s political and financial institutions. In addition, Oster speaks of how Hitler knew he had to start with the youngest members of society so they would grow up with the mindset of a Nazi. Similarly, the film in class of Adolf Hitler’s speech is directed to the youth. (Julie Barreto 1G)
ReplyDeleteChapter 2 of Yona Nadelman’s memoir is written through the lens of a child and paints the story of a little girl and her family who are heading east away from germany during the late 1940s in the beginning of World War II. The chapter begins with them making a pit stop with a jewish family in a city called Snomniki. Knowing the journey will be difficult, a few of her family members including her grandparents stay behind. They continue to travel away, going through burning forests, endless roads, and wading rivers where the heroine almost got waved away until they find a house. They later realize that they made it to Russian occupied Poland, however the family doesn’t know of Hitler’s plan of teaming up with the Russians and thus they are still in danger. Through writing the memoir in a child’s perspective, Nadelman convey’s the pureness of a child’s perspective of the events of the holocaust and the eternal hope which they held onto. As I was going through it, I read it in relation to the “week 1 chronology” reading to put the reading in context to the timeframe in which it took place in history. (Alyssa-Marie Dones, 1I)
ReplyDeleteChapter 2 of Yona Nadelman’s memoir is written through the lens of a child and paints the story of a little girl and her family who are heading east away from germany during the late 1940s in the beginning of World War II. The chapter begins with them making a pit stop with a jewish family in a city called Snomniki. Knowing the journey will be difficult, a few of her family members including her grandparents stay behind. They continue to travel away, going through burning forests, endless roads, and wading rivers where the heroine almost got waved away until they find a house. They later realize that they made it to Russian occupied Poland, however the family doesn’t know of Hitler’s plan of teaming up with the Russians and thus they are still in danger. Through writing the memoir in a child’s perspective, Nadelman convey’s the pureness of a child’s perspective of the events of the holocaust and the eternal hope which they held onto. As I was going through it, I read it in relation to the “week 1 chronology” reading to put the reading in context to the timeframe in which it took place in history. (Alyssa-Marie Dones, 1I)
ReplyDeleteIn chapter four, the young girl is living with Aunt Regina and family, because her parents are gone. The narrator still does not understand the magnitude of her situation, and Aunt Regina mothers her with caution. She shows her coping mechanisms for living without her parents. The narrators tone reveals her sense of ignorant hope. She becomes close with her cousin, Tushek, and his friends who play with her. They make her feel very special. Aunt Regina receives an emotional letter from Phillip (the narrator’s father) with a section for the young girl. She starts playing games to numb her pain. She looks up to Tushek, mostly because teaches her not to be afraid. The chapter ends when Aunt Regina hears from Uncle Mooniu, in Krakow, and receives a letters from the girl’s mother and father. Chapter two from “A Problem From Hell” comes to mind in because of Raphael Lemkin’s story. But, Raphael’s is different because, knowing that he was in danger, he left his family when they would not join him to leave Poland and travel East.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter three, Yona and her parents move into Uncle Motek's apartment in Tarnopol. Yona recalls many people coming and going, crying joyous tears "to see [them] alive and well and far away from Hitler" (24 Nadelman). Yona speaks of being close to their families candy and chocolate factory, which she toured in complete euphoria. Although, she foreshadows the dark times ahead with an ironic. "Life [is] not going to be that bad with this factory almost on my doorstep!" (28 Nadelman) Not long after Yona speaks of the Russian regime becoming more apparent come spring, and noticing terror in her parents eyes. Her Father finds out his name in on "the list", and he begins to hide. Yona remembers visiting her parents every so often and different locations each time. Finally they came home what must have been two or three months later, they told her that danger had past and that everything would soon be ok. However, that same night there was a loud knocking at the door and people shouting for her father. They approached him and asked him where his wife, and daughter were. Yet, when they pointed to Yona he lied and told them it was his sister's daughter and that she should be put to bed immediately. Yona's father was keeping her out of harms way for her own good. (Cassie Durgy
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of chapter seven opens with Henry detailing the night of the raid on Kristallnacht (1938). This raid resulted in the imprisonment of 30,000 Jewish men. A group of Nazi's bust down the door to Henry's apartment and an SS officer looks at Henry's father for a beat, and then he instructs the rest of the men out of the apartment. The remembrance of this night from Henry's point of view relates to our lecture in which we learned of the raid, also called "The Night of Broken Glass." Henry's father explains that he recognized the man from one of his previous jobs. This chapter also includes the German's choice to omit the cause of death from the families of those who died at concentration camps and instead chose to list the cause of death as "Lungenentzündung."
ReplyDeleteIn chapter eight Henry is once again the speaker and explains the ways in which being isolated affected his family. Because of the Nuremberg Laws, another concept covered in the lecture and readings, Henry and his family were not allowed to work or go to school and were subjected to a strict curfew.
Chapter 3 is opens with the Author explaining how and where Jews originated from. Jews in Germany were immigrants from Rome, the same hometown as Oster who was from Cologne. Goes on to explain how the word 'Ghetto'was a word used by the Italians to describe where Jews lived. Since 1096 Jewish people have been persecuted. It was in 1860's that German Jews were given German citizens rights. Because of the successful ability of the Jewish community to integrate into society, it created jealousy amongst the rest of the population. Even though, Jewish people had been a great service to the community in helping fight in WWI like Oster's father who was wounded.
ReplyDeleteChapter 4-
Oster goes on to explain how when Hitler and the Nazi's gave speeches and told people to put flags outside their homes it seemed like a good idea and no one realised what was to come. He was an amazing speaker. After this, things started to go down hill for Jewish people and 'outsiders'. They were being labelled , kicked out of homes and scapegoated.
In Henry Oster's "Kindness of the Hangman", he explains his experience before war struck in the mid 1930s. Specifically in Chapter 8, he expresses what Jews go through in a time when they were starting to become oppressed by their own government. He first explains how Jews had a curfew of 6PM, or else they would be in trouble. His friends and family constantly tried to find news outside Germany, where they were based on facts, rather than the political agenda Nazis were putting on its people. He also expresses his thoughts about how his cousin Walter was captured on the night of Kristallnacht. He often thinks about what his time is like in a concentration camp, and what he has to endure.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 9, Henry starts off by talking about how the war officially struck on Sep 1, 1939. Bombings from British and US air forces were common, which left railroads in shambles. He often accounts the time when the Jewish star law was enforced, and that Jewish people were forced to wear the star wherever they went. Because of this, he was constantly bullied by German kids, beating him up and molesting him. Overall, Oster explains his views of the early days of the war, and how his experiences shaped him as a kid.
In Chapter 7 of Yona Nadelman's "All the Things I Never Told my Father", the reader is guided through Yona's exit of the Tarnapol ghetto and her journey to Slomniki. Yona is forced to leave her aunt Regina and Tushek in Tarnapol, claiming her own awareness of the situation to be far greater than the obliviousness that her family appears to assume of her. Leaving the ghetto, she meets Wladek, a loyal family employee, who acts as Yona's uncle so as to disguise the true mission of returning her to her family. They both stay at an inn for the night, where Wladek, distracted by his own intoxication, nearly reveals their secret to others staying at the inn, at which point Yona interjects to rescue the situation. Wladek and Yona arrive the following evening in Slomniki to successfully reunite with her grandparents and her uncle Mooniu.
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, the reader begins to gain a strong understanding of Yona's growing maturity, as exemplified in her quick recognition of the severity of Wladek's mistake and her intelligent response.
This chapter was compared to Hitler's "Speech to the Great German Reichstag" in which Adolf portrays the Jewish community as unethical and conniving. Yona Nadelman offers a contrasting narrative of the escape from the Germans and the extremes that must be taken solely to survive. She stresses the importance of family and maturity in such times, entirely contradicting the sinful and revengeful conception of the Jews that is molded by Hitler.
By Tristan Kemitzis
DeleteIn Chapter 17, Henry Oster depicts the consecutive SS raids of the Ghetto where he lived. Although Oster and the other Jews had no clear indication of where they were being taken, his instinct was to hide. He and his mother escaped capture for 3 years by hiding in a small attic—living in a sort of “purgatory.” However, on August 16, 1944, they were trapped by SS officers and sent off.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 18, Oster describes the train ride to Auschwitz concentration camp, where Jews were crammed into small cargo containers. Upon arrival, Henry and his mother are separated. The chapter ends as Oster is just getting oriented to his new life at the concentration camp.
In order to capture a variety of perspectives, I compared this text to a photo album (and descriptions) belonging to Auschwitz SS officer Karl Hoecker. This source illustrates the daily lives of SS officers and commanders of Auschwitz concentration camp from May 1944 to the early 1950’s—roughly the same time Oster was there. What was presumed as a stressful and morally taxing job is depicted as joyous, further putting into question if the SS officers understood the implications of their actions. (Forrest Green)
In Chapter 5 of Yona Nadelman's "All the Things I Never Told my Father", Yona ventures with Kuba and Aunt Dziunia to visit her Grandma Rachel in Zloczow during the summer. Upon arrival Yona is greeted by her Grandmother and Uncle Jakob. Yona adapts to life with this new family, picnicking in the woods and aiding in their family owned Jewelry store. The town prepares daily for the impact of looming war using air-raid sirens and shelters, and one day there is an announcement of a bomb attack. Yona says in this moment “Some children cried, but I wasn’t one of them. I had heard bombs before” (Nadelman 49). We now see Yona’s maturity, her tolerance, and her immunity to war. She has aged and become more powerful by facing her adversities head on.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast to this, Brigitte Hoss, daughter of Rudolf Hoss was too disillusioned as a young child by her father’s political party ideas to see the damage they were imposing on the Jews. While she thought such great things about her father and his work he ultimately ran the greatest human destruction machine of all time by installing the first gas chambers in Auschwitz. Brigitte’s ignorance as a 9-year-old stemmed straight from the fact she didn’t live through war she helped impose it. Yona on the other hand had to deal with the hardships the violence and the mistreatment amounting to her more mature and clear-minded views. Yona’s maturity is seen again at the end of the chapter as she bravely sacrifices herself for her family as apartment buildings around them are burning down. Yona uses her small stature to reach into a fireplace and retrieve her families prized jewels. She has to then jump out of a building with the trust of a stranger. After her safe dismount her and her family rush out of the town and go to stay with one of Grandma Rachel’s friends for a few weeks. (Alex Grand 1I)
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ReplyDeleteIn “Fatherless Child”, the story begins with Henry, his mom and his dad living and working in the Ghetto where Henry’s father had worked too hard with too little food, and after coming home early from work one day, was too weak to survive. He laid down to rest and stopped breathing. Henry and his mother had no choice but to lay him outside near the sewer, where the guards would come, pick up the body and throw it out into a large hole- as if he was a dead animal. There was no ceremony. No time to mourn his death. Henry experienced the death of his father as if he was an animal that hadn’t accomplished all that he did in his career, as a father, and a husband.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Kindness of the Hangman”, Henry shares his experience at his job as a cherry picker, where he befriended two heavy, well-fed brothers (who were also Jews).These two brothers would bring him bread each and every Monday in which Henry he did not question where they got it and instead would take it home to share with his mother. One Sunday evening, Henry witnessed the lynching ceremony of three Jews in his campsite. Henry was disheartened to see that his two friends were the men in charge of lynching their own Jews. Henry finally understood why they got fed each Sunday- and decided that him and his mother’s survival was more important than shaming them for what they had done. Henry had to put his morals aside and pretended like they hadn’t betrayed the entire Jewish community each Sunday in desperation for food.
I can relate this chapter to “A Problem from Hell” in which the author Samantha Power defines Barbarity as “the premeditated destruction of national, racial, religious, and social collectivities” (21). Henry truly feels as though his culture is stripped away from him and it is evident when he realizes he cannot do anything to protect or honor his father’s death- not even utter a prayer.
In Chapter 10, Henry learns that his family has been chosen to be shipped out of Germany. He remains unsure if their living conditions with get better or worse. All that is certain is a sense of chaos and dread.
ReplyDeleteHenry's family is put into a rail car with no food except for pieces of candy that people snuck into their suitcases. People were stuffed in these cars and outnumbered the amount of toilets available so the cars soon reeked of body fluids.
Henry arrives in the Lodz ghetto where he remarks that the train tracks run through the middle of the ghetto and free people can see the starved Jews that are stuffed 21 to a room. Similarly, Jews can see the better fed Poles. Henry also describes the politics in the ghetto and how a Nazi collaborating Jew named Chaim Rumkowski essentially decided who could stay and work in Lodz and who would be sent to extermination camps. However wrong that sounds, Chaim likely saved the ghetto from liquidation by hiring slave labor to benefit the Germans.
In chapters 19 and 20 Heinz is awoken to the sound of roll call being taken in his new, but temporary, home of the death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He knows by now that his mother was killed immediately after they arrived some months before, and is beginning to lose motivation to continue this monotonous and painful daily routine as they wait for some form of death. All the teenage boys get rounded up, and as they're getting sorted Heinz speaks out raising his hand and proclaiming that he can speak German. The boys get carted off to Auschwitz I where their new task is to care for horses and raise them to aid war efforts. While Heinz is happy to be free of Birkenau he realizes that the horses were well maintained upon their arrival and questions what happened to the former care takers. These chapters can be related to the poem "Black Flakes", written in 1943, by Paul Celan. Celan tells of a dark, hopeless, freezing winter just as Heinz depicts in the roll call scene. Roll call could take up to 4 hours and many men died just from standing at attention in the frigid winter.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 21, Henry Oster tells the account of his life in Auschwitz. Essentially, he begins by describing his daily routine of tending to the horse stables. Oster mentions that he was assigned to take care of three mares, Mutti and Olga, and Barbarossa. He then goes on to describe the survival methods he utilized, especially for food, since he had to smuggle the horse food due to his experience with starvation.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 22, Oster continues to describe the harsh conditions he faced, such as the landscape, guard towers, and barbed wires. Oster speculates on his existence, and deems himself as living in a foreign place with no value in the eyes of the Germans and Poles. He then faces a dilemma with a mare in labor, forced to decide whether to stay with or leave the horse, considering it a life or death situation. Although he was saved, he still experienced defamation and mockery by the Germans.
Oster’s story relates to the descriptions in Hermann Goring’s “Auschwitz Extermination Camps”. This account describes how Hitler had ordered an annihilation of European Jews and specifically ordered Auschwitz to be the prime site for extermination, which supports Oster’s depiction of Auschwitz (Goring 36).
In chapter 11 of “All the Things I Never Told My Father”, Yona is undergoing life in a Jewish ghetto in Krakow. She is living with Uncle Mooniu, Dziadziu, and Babcia. Yona also takes a great liking to Mooniu’s lover, Marta, who is young and injects a spirit of life into Yona’s existence. One morning, Babcia gets very sick and Yona runs to the store to get her some medicine. While she is at the store, a roundup takes place in the ghetto, in which Jews are taken from their homes and loaded into trucks. Luckily, Yona is able to avoid being taken into a truck and is able to return home with the medicine for Babcia. After this incident, Mooniu decides to get everyone out of the ghetto with false paperwork. Yona must hide until the papers are ready, as she and Gaby are set to leave the ghetto first. Mooniy also tells Yona to never let Gaby be seen naked because Germans would be able to tell he is Jewish because of his circumsized penis.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 9, Yona adjusts to her new life in Slomniki with her grandparents. She gradually becomes happier, with Mooniu visiting on the weekends, and Gaby finally coming home. Yona notices the differences between her and the Makowski family, such as how they are able to go to school and eat together, but Yona makes the best of her situation and waits until Marysia can teach her what she learned at school. Yona yearns to attend school but is unable to, so the children play together whenever they can, using their imaginations and dreaming of adventure. In the winter, they go tobogganing and Yona saves a gypsy boy from crashing. His mother was grateful, telling Yona of her endangered future, but also of her good fortune. Yona is deeply affected by this and remembers this when she makes up stories, making her own happiness in these harsh times.
ReplyDeleteThis is related to the debate in 1942 about whether there would be “a final solution to the Gypsy problem,” which Himmler decided not to move forward with. Yona’s account provides us with evidence of life for Jews versus non-Jews. Even though gypsies were “regarded with suspicion” and were targets to be sent to concentration camps, they were still able to move around and attempted to avoid the Nazis as well (“Gypsies” 366).
In Chapter 10, Yona, a young girl, details how in the middle of the night, in the early 1940s, she and her family are being pushed out of their home by the Gestapo in Slomniki, Poland. While Yona had the opportunity to be safe at her neighbors’ apartment, she refused to leave her family once again. At such a young age, she has already had to leave her family twice and she did not want to do it again. The Jews were all pushed into a schoolhouse. Yona dreamed of attending school, but this experience was a nightmare. People were being killed right in front of her. She and her family, luckily, were saved. Yona is stabbed in the hand with a knife by a German, who enjoys this act. Yona does not cry, but her grandmother cries for her. Her family is saved and taken to Krakow. This relates to Night by Elie Wiesel because both Elie and Yona witnessed people being killed in front of them, but there was nothing either of them could do about it. This chapter corroborates what we know about the Holocaust because Jews, including elders and children, were killed solely for being Jewish.
ReplyDelete-Brianna McCabe, Section 1I
I was assigned Chapter 12 of "All the Things I Never Told My Father". In this chapter reading, Yona and Gaby are awaiting their papers from Mooniu to escape the ghetto in Krakow and go to Katowice. We see Yona’s character mature as she now takes on a protective role over Gaby as the leave. We also see her emotional discomfort in having to part ways when moving. She specifically states “that feeling, I already know, is unbearable” (Kunstler, 106). Most interestingly, however, is Yona’s signs of rebellion. She seems to complain having to wait all that time for the papers to arrive, taking her time to hide when visitors came into the warehouse, and whispering too loud. She is beginning to challenge her role in these activities and shows signs in struggling with her own identity. She specifically ponders whether she will remember who she is, if she will not like her new identity, or if she can simply not be detected.
ReplyDelete-Dania Pineda, Section 1I
Chapter 11 in “All the Things I never Told My Father,” by Yona Nadelman, published in 2013, talks about Yona’s time at her Uncle’s apartment. Her uncle, Mooniu, brings home his young lover Marta, bringing more life and light into Yona’s everyday bland life. One day, her grandmother Babcia falls ill and she ran out of her prescriptions, so Yona runs to the pharmacy to refill them. All of a sudden, a truck of German soldiers pulls up, so Yona tries to hide out the back courtyard behind the pharmacy with the help of the pharmacist Mr. Greenberg, but she’s already caught by a soldier. She begs to be released, but the German throws her on the street where she runs away back to the apartment (in the ghetto in the city Krakow). Mooniu suggests that Gaby and Yona pretend to be siblings and use fake Aryan papers to try and escape to the outside. Mooniu explains to Yona that she must make sure Gaby never reveals his genitals because if the Nazis find out that his penis is circumcised, they will know that he’s Jewish. Yona recalls witnessing the death of Bernard, and questions what the Jews did that makes the Nazis want to kill them all.
ReplyDelete-Annabel Park, Section 1I
In Chapter 14: Learning to Work on the Farm of "All the Things I Never Told My Father", Yona and Gaby, her little cousin, have received forged Aryan papers in order to flee from the ghetto and hide in a German farm owned by Pan Professor. She is now supposed to call herself Yanka Leskian and completely forget her past for one that Germans will believe. Yona is now living in a farm, in charge of Gaby, with Pan Professor, Pali Ala, and the professor's three daughters, Magda, Kasia, and Halina. On the farm, she spends a lot of time with Pan Professor while avoiding Pali Ala as much as possible because she doesn't like Yona. It is harvest season as Yona is being educated by Kasia and Pala Ali, Germans are arriving from surrounding areas to pick ripe fruits, and Gaby is growing older and finally understanding what he can and cannot do. Towards the end, Germans are setting up checkpoints. One of them searched Pali Ala and Magda and Pali Ala blames Yona's presence for this occurrence.
ReplyDeleteThe importance of this chapter is that Yona is experiencing loss of identity, just like millions of other Jews, by having to give up her name and past for an identity that'll help her survive. It reminded me of Elie Wiesel's memoir, Night, because both survivors were children when they experienced the Holocaust. Also, both had to lie about themselves in order to survive. In the concentration camp, Wiesel pretended to be 18 and not 15 so he could work instead of being sent to the gas chambers. Yona lied about her ethnicity and name in order to hide in a German farm.
-Daniela Salazar Section 1I
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ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 38 and 39, “Black and White” and “The First Breakfast,” Henry Oster recounts the morning following his liberation from Buchenwald in April of 1945. As Oster lies in bed, he accentuates the difficulty in accepting the reality that he is now free from the control of German officers and their barking orders. When the American soldiers arrive to help organize the liberated prisoners and assess their health, Oster emphasizes the difficulty in trusting them because of the brutalities he experienced prior with the German soldiers. Oster, amazed to see a black man for the first time, sympathizes with the black soldiers because he realizes they are in the “same persecuted, misunderstood team” (144). Despite the exasperating situation regarding the meager rations of food served to the liberated prisoners by American troops, Oster was amazed to complain without fear of being killed. The vivid diction in Primo Levi’s memoir, Survival in Auschwitz (1947), “starved and diseased,” to accentuate how the concentration camps “demolished a man,” directly parallels an observation from Oster’s memoir that most of the ‘[prisoners] didn’t look human.” Thus, both memoirs accentuate the overarching features of totalitarianism in Nazi Germany regarding the concepts of suffering and dehumanization.
ReplyDelete- Diana Visco, Section 1G
In Chapter 30 and 31, "Buchenwald","Whispers In The Night" recalls the story of a starving, crippled Henry landing his birth town "Buchenwald" an extremely harsh labor camp for Jews and prisoners. The events take place in January, 1945. In the memoir, Oster remembers his cousin Walter who told stories of Buchenwald and how physically demanding and traumatizing it is. In Buchenwald Henry meets his eventual lifelong friend Ivar Segalowitz a teenager. They talked about life before war and their dreams after. Later in the chapter Henry comes across a man named Georg, a German politcal writer who encourages Henry to never quit and hold on. Henry reflects and states how this was a huge moment in his life which is responsible for him surviving and telling his story today. The chapter also remarks how much of a toll the executions took on the German soilders. How emotionally damaged many of them were after killing an innocent Jew. An extremely captivating concept which is rarely discussed. Both chapters is told in the perspective of Henry Oster, the main protagonist. The message the author is seeking to convey is to never give up, and the relationships you make can keep you moving forward, examples Ivar and Georg. A similar source is "Night" by Elie Wiesel, this book recollects the experience of Wiesel in German concentration camps. Aushwitz specifically, and how traumatizing and harsh the conditions were.
ReplyDelete- Joshua Kelley section 1G
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ReplyDeleteIn chapter 32, U.S. Army Corps planes circled Weimar, Germany dropping leaflets telling the German’s to surrender. The dropping of the leaflets is told from the perspective of Henry whom at the time was unaware that there was an Allied invasion in Europe. General Patton dropping such propaganda was used to attack the manhood of the Germans which American Psychologists concluded was the best means of demoralization. The leaflets dropped had ferocious images of African American soldiers. Henry recalled the images drawn as racist. Images showed gruesome details of African American soldiers holding severed penis’s and testicles. After seeing images German soldiers began to surrender. There were a good number of African American troops in segregated units in Patton’s army moving west toward Weimar and Buchenwald. Many German tanks were destroyed by African American soldiers. In Chapter 33, Henry is in Buchenwald faced with a crisis as food and water stopped altogether. Felt like the Germans forgot that the people they were exterminating and imprisoning were there. Henry and Ivar were trapped in the stench of the camp with little options. People begin to die everywhere and the Germans do not take care of the corpses. Barracks became the living sleeping with the dead. German soldiers dumped chlorine on dead bodies to keep them from decomposing fully which made a horrible stench that Henry still recalls to this day. To prevent suffocation from the fumes Henry and his bunk mates took turns taking breaths out of a propped open window. Ten days without food and barely any water as Henry’s 16 year old frame begins to deteriorate. Georg tells Henry to not give up. The central theme of these chapters is perseverance as Henry battled through unlivable conditions in the barrack. The source that I believe relates to these chapters is Primo Levi’s If This Is A Man as he endured much similar conditions as Henry.
ReplyDeleteAustin Kent Section 1G
DeleteIn Chapter 34 of The Kindness of The Hangman, Henry Oster recalls his experience of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp which took place in April of 1945. When rumors of the liberation first circulated, Henry along with most prisoners was extremely skeptical and reluctant to believe them. For 10 years, the prisoners had been isolated from the rest of the world and unaware of current events or the course of the war. Furthermore, as a result of fatigue and starvation, many prisoners had gone insane or began hallucinating, which blurred line between reality and imagination. As a result, the prisoners who brought news of liberation were perceived to be out of their mind. A similar account is also described by Elie Wiesel in his book Night when he recalls his own decision to not believe a rumor of liberation, and leave the hospital.
ReplyDeleteEventually, an army tank with the star of David drove into the camp and an officer yelled "You are free!" in Yiddish. Chapter 35 describes another selection- this time for medical treatment. Due to a scarcity of supplies, many prisoners died from a lack of food or treatment in their first night of freedom. Henry received special care and treatment from the American medics as he was still very young. Many of the adults, however, died from indigestion problems caused by drastic change in eating patterns.
In Chapter 16 of All the Things I Never Told My Father, Yona describes her first winter on the farm with the family that has taken her and Gaby in. Yona spends a lot of the chapter talking about the holidays and how she celebrates. She is very excited as it is her first time celebrating Christmas and having a Christmas tree. People from the town gather at the professor’s house to celebrate the day before Christmas Eve. There is another big party on New Years’ Eve and everyone comes to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, Yona also describes how her and Gaby are learning more farm work such as taking care of the animals. Yona is also taking piano lessons from Pani Ala, and learning Latin by listening in on the lessons the professor gives to his daughters. Lastly, Yona describes the feather stripping event that is a yearly tradition in the town that the young people partake in, and is followed by another celebration.
This chapter had some similarities to the film Rosenstrasse. In the film there is a scene of a Nazi party, where everyone is having fun laughing, drinking, and dancing, similar to the scenes in this chapter. Both momentarily make the reader/viewer forget about the atrocities being committed inside of the concentration camps.
- Sasha Vargas
In Chapter 14 of All the Things I Never Told My Father, Yona and Gaby are now living on a farm with Pani Alicia, Pan Professor, and their three daughters, Magda, Kasia, and Halina. Yona must go by a new identity while living on the farm in order to protect herself from the Germans. Uncle Mooniu tells Yona that she is now in charge of Gaby, so she becomes very protective of him, especially when the daughters give him attention. Pani Alicia does not like having Yona and Gaby around, but Yona still tries to get her attention. Pan Professor discusses Yona starting school and mentions her Uncle Mooniu, which upsets her. A man named Farmer Piotr comes around the house asking Yona and Gaby questions about who they are and where they came from, which worries Yona.
ReplyDeleteYona continues to become more and more mature, having to take care of Gaby without her Uncle around. Throughout this chapter she realizes the realities of their situation and must act more grown up than she previously has. There is also a theme of changing that occurs and Yona must adjust to a new life and a new identity.
Pan Professor and Pani Alicia taking in Yona and Gaby relates to the actions of Irena Sendler and Zegota, who worked to hide and protect Jewish people from the Germans. They would smuggle children out of the ghettos and place them with other families, giving the children new identities. This is exactly what happens to Yona and Gaby. It is people like Sendler and Zegota who saved Yona and Gaby from the ghetto, giving them a new life and new identities.
-Katie Schindelheim, Section 1I
Chapter 35 of "The Kindness of the Hangman" describes the liberation of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp by the American army. Henry Oster describes the scenario. He describes how the Americans decided that, even though the Jewish prisoners had been starving for years, they were not going to be given large amounts of food because the American medics feared that it would cause too much shock to their bodies and kill them. In fact, this did happen. Henry Oster writes, "[This] is what happened to many of the poor, ravenous Russians and other, older prisoners. They keeled over and died horrible, painful deaths, victims of their own animal hungers" (Ford, Oster, Ch. 35).
ReplyDeleteChapter 36 describes the Russian Communist plot in the Buchenwald camp to save the prisoners. A small group of Communists in the camp had built a radio transmitter out of spare parts, and were sending out messages to the Americans which would help find and save them. Henry also describes how, as the Americans were encroaching on the Buchenwald camp, Germans were becoming desperate to kill as many Jews as possible, by sending them in trains to the Dachau Concentration Camp, not far from Buchenwald. The relief in Oster's liberation reminds me of the same feeling in Elie Wiesel's "Night," when Wiesel is finally freed from the concentration camp, at the loss of his father.
Sean Langley, Section 1G
DeleteIn chapter 15, titled “Sunday, My Favorite Day of the Week,” Yona describes her first experiences attending church, which is mostly positive. Her impressions of church are related to not only the detailed decorations (described in colors and arrangements) of the church, but also the other individuals who attend. In one instance, Yona seems to long for “individual importance.” Church is important to Yona in every way except in a religious sense, though she knows the religious rituals pretty well. Finally, Yona describes a unique scene where “the men go to smoke and drink and talk about the war,” which she is extremely curious about. The men make sure to be somewhat discreet, perhaps for safety reasons. Yona mentions that Father Francishek says: “The Germans will be beaten. You will see!” This event is described in the perspective of a young girl who is highly observant yet naive, in the sense that she is not fully in tune with the reality that the war outside is still waging. The perpetrators described in the end are definitely the Germans, who are the bulk of discussion in Yona’s community. Yona enjoys Church mostly for the company of the community and as well as the ways in which it makes her feel accepted. She doesn't mention too much about her faith, and how it’s been personally strengthening, for example. She only describes things that seem important to her. She longs for home, where perhaps there is more familiarity, security, and just overall happiness.
ReplyDeleteSection Assignment
ReplyDeleteMichelle Wen, Section 1I
Ch. 20
Chapter 20 of All the Things I Never Told My Father marks the beginning of the end of the war, in late 1944 or early 1945. This part of the story takes place on the farm where Yona (now Yanka) has been staying with the Professor.
The Germans are on the verge of losing to the Red Army and they begin to retreat. The front moves closer to their farm, and Yona at this point is not fazed by the sounds. Her description of the war at this point marks a loss of innocence and emphasizes her growth throughout the war. By now she is ten years old. The family begins to prepare their house in case of an emergency. Yona talks about feeling invincible against the bullets, as though they are already at safety’s door. However, in the middle of their morning prayer, the German army commandeers their farm to use as a headquarter.
Time begins to blur as the family is not allowed to leave the confines of the bedroom during this occupation. After a few days, Yona leaves the room once to fetch water and food. Shortly after, they are liberated by the Red Army.
Up until now, we only see the Germans in a position of power and control. This is the first time we see them in submission before they surrender. Few other sources from this course focus on the last moments of the German army. In contrast with Wiesel’s Night, by early 1945, Yona’s war is beginning to come to an end, but Wiesel’s war is still far from over.
Section Assignment
ReplyDeletePratik Malshe 1G
In Chapter 37 Henry Oster recounts what happened during the final days of the Reich and in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. When the camp was being overwhelmed and the SS was being overrun, the soldiers decided to change their uniform and run away in order to avoid being captured by the Allied soldiers. However, the prisoner in the camps caught wind of what they were trying to do and they began to chase the SS soldiers. The prisoners, which were the Jewish people and Russians, tracked the soldiers and pelted them when they captured them. This was their way of getting revenge on the SS soldiers and the Russians were angry as they were mistreated throughout their internment.
In Chapter 38, Henry Oster talks about the time the Camp as fully liberated from the Allied soldiers. At first, he could not believe that they were being freed because he had been interned for so long that it seemed like a dream. The most striking part about the chapter was when he described the reaction of the African American soldiers. Compared to the White americans, the African American soldiers empathized more with the condition of the Jewish people who were interned in the camp. As a result, Oster felt an immediate connection with them.
In Chapter 17, members of the gestapo come to Yona’s house to talk to the professor. At first, when Yona sees them in the garden she claims she “immediately knew why they were coming” - Yona assumes that the SS men were there to take her and her brother away and punish the professor for hiding them. Yona says that they would kill the professor for “hiding jews, and us for… no reason I knew or understood”. As the victim, Yona describes the intense panic that came over her in that moment, frantically planning her escape. Yona goes to Sofia, who tries to calm her down, saying that “Pani Ala told me not to be afraid.” Ultimately Pani Ala is right, as the Gestapo sit down and have dinner with the professor. At the dinner, Yona is shocked by the humanity the gestapo soldiers show. Being the victim she did not imagine that the men who are literally hunting her are human as well. She asks herself “are these gestapo just ordinary men?” And unfortunately she is right. Himmlers ideological indoctrination within the SS converted these ordinary men into the mass murderers and monsters we now call the SS.
ReplyDeleteChapter 18:
ReplyDeleteThis chapter begins in late winter/early spring on the farm in Poland. As the snow begins the thaw and planting season approaches, Pani Ala begged for more help around the farm. Reluctantly, Pan Professor allows Pani Ala to hire a distant relative named Stefan to come work as a foreman of the farm. Although strikingly handsome, Stefan terrified the girls. Yona described his black boots as reminiscent of the Gestapo. She also plainly stated that “he looked mean.” Although Stefan made the farm far more efficient, he became a problem when he asked to marry Kasia and questions Yona about why she was on the farm. Also, he was also vehemently opposed the plan to use a stolen earring to hide a pig from the germans. Many people on the farm distrusted him and even thought he could be a Nazi. One day when a horse breaks a wagon, Stefan lashes out at Yona and beats her with a riding crop and knocks her out. After that, Stefan leaves and never returns. Nobody ever spoke of that day again. In this chapter, the description of the German confiscation of livestock held a striking similarity to the treatment of Jews in Hannah Arendt’s The origins of totalitarianism. The German’s started to confiscate animals for food on the farms in Poland. They would search the farms, identify the pigs with numbered earrings, and then deport them on crowded packed trains where the pigs would scream and fight on their way to be slaughtered. This process mirrors the description of Jews in Poland being rounded up, identified, and shipped out on similar livestock trains to their death. This comparison between the treatment of pigs and humans is a shocking example of the atrocities of the Holocaust.
-Mike Mapes 1I
Chapter 41 explains what life was like for Henry Oster and the other survivors of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp after they were liberated on April 4, 1945. Oster and the other survivors were in Weimar, Germany under the care of American medics. Oster explained how the psychologists thought that they might be too emotional broken from what they endured in the camp to be saved which demonstrates how horrific their experiences were. Henry and other children were finally able to eat without restriction but he felt guilty for doing so because he had been conditioned to feel guilty by doing anything that would help him survive.
ReplyDeleteChapter 42 tells the story of how President Eisenhower wanted the German civilians to see what they had let happen in their country so he made them take a tour of Buchenwald. According to Oster, “the tour was designed to leave nothing to their imaginations”. He gives details of how they were crying in disbelief. I associate this reading with Nelly Sachs’ poem “You Onlookers” which writes to the bystanders of the Holocaust. She writes to the same people that Eisenhower made look at the remnants of the concentration camp. Both of their intentions were to bestow guilt onto those who stood by while an atrocity took place in their backyard. (Lauren O’Donohue, Section 1G).
Nicole Patel
ReplyDeleteSection 1G
In Chapter 42, Oster recalls that General Eisenhower forced nearby German civilians to visit Buchenwald to see what had been going on inside the camp. The Germans saw the dead bodies and human remains around and inside the crematorium, along with the cramped barracks. Oster describes the Germans’ shock at what they were witnessing, with some crying or fainting. He observes that he and his family used to be just like these Germans.
In Chapter 43, Oster describes the process of burying the remaining dead bodies in the camp using bulldozers; this was the only way it could be done. The American troops organized a memorial service, where the rabbi recited Kaddish, a prayer for the dead. Oster describes the doubt he felt about the existence of God after what he had been through.
A connection can be drawn to the poem “You Onlookers” by Nelly Sachs. Sachs addresses the bystanders who were aware of the mistreatment and killing of the Jewish people but did nothing to stop it. This message can be applied to the German civilians who were brought to Buchenwald to see the camp conditions firsthand, as described in Chapter 42.
Yoyo Wong
ReplyDeleteSection 1I
In Chapter 21 of All The Things I Never Told My Father, it takes places at dawn of January 17, 1945 when the Red Army abruptly barges in the farm where Yona is staying with Pan Professor.
The commander, General Markov decided to settle down in the accommodation, using their courtyard to hold all the Russian weapons and resources such as tanks, trucks, guns and rocket launchers. Soon after their arrival, the Russians begin to cause havoc in the household by making advances on the girls, being drunk, killing their chickens, dogs and bees. Instead of feeling elation as she had felt upon their initial arrival, Yona regards the Russian soldiers as barbarians now. However, she understands their pain of being separated from their families and sees their affection as yearning for their own children.
The Russians left around mid-February. Their stay left a lice outbreak in the house, causing Yona to have to cut her hair.
Michael Pizziferro: Discussion 1G
ReplyDeleteChapter 44 begins with a detailed description of the troubles that lay ahead for recently liberated prisoners like Oyster. Chiefly, the chapter talks about the emotional transformation that imprisonment brought. Oyster talks about how they weren’t just boys anymore, but rather barbaric-testosterone filled men eager to show their masculinity. He then writes about the other activities the recently liberated prisoners engaged in, as well as the many foreign soldiers that would come and go in passing.
Chapter 45 continues in the same light, discussing the activities the newly freed men engaged in. Here, Oyster discusses returning home, something he and many others hadn’t done in years. For many, going back was confusing and bittersweet. How were they suppose to go back home after having experienced so much, or in Oysters words, “ after all the years of being carted around like a sheep”? How were they suppose to assimilate back into society and trust others? These were just a few of the many concerns that newly liberated prisoners faced. Oyster continues the chapter very powerfully by discussing the ways in which he and others had "died" from imprisonment. In a beautiful closing, he reminds the reader that despite all the brutality he and his people faced, their spirit could never be broken.
Lucy Kamgar
ReplyDeleteGerman 59
Discussion Group 1G
February 15th. 2018
Discussion Assignment Chapters 40 and 41
Action-
Henry Oster and others are saved in the last couple chapters by American soldiers they are now recovering, eating, getting transfusions, vaccines for typhus, and trying to heal.
Where-
At the extermination camp, where the Jewish people were prisoners until they were liberated.
When-
This was written after the events occurred, Henry Oster is looking back when he was 16 this happened
Who-
Henry Oster wrote this, there is a clear difference between him, the victim and the SS soldiers and Nazis who are the evil people, it is hard for him to see the American soldiers and relief teams as help sine he had grown up without help or food, or anything like that.
Message/Meaning-
We can see clearly, like in the other chapters, he has been in this since he was 5, this is the only world he knows, where he is starving and people are being killed for seemingly no reason. We can see the long-term trauma this will cause, he even says he has PTSD.
Evidence-
Shows us how horrible this was and how no matter what, I will never understand it fully because I did not experience the horrors that occurred.
Relate to another source-
Related to the speaker, Jacob Bresler we had in class earlier, he showed us the raw emotions he experienced from the holocaust, and how it was his whole life. His book was You Shall Not Be Called Jacob Anymore
Victoria Tonascia. Section 1G.
ReplyDeleteDuring Chapter 49 and 50 we find Henry in Ecouis after liberation and the move from Germany to France. The boys naturally form into gangs based on language or nationality, and in this way, they formed families. Henry and Ivar were a two-person family. They both participated in arts and crafts with wood and Henry made a wooden sculpture of how it felt to be liberated. Henry talks about how most of the boys did not have a home to go to and that they were supposed to be preparing to enter the world. He wanted to be a comedian because during his desolate time in camps he would try to lighten the mood but needed to train for something practical. Henry was also in Block 66 with Elie Wiesel so their stories have similarities as they were about the same age, suffer the trauma of losing their families, survive from camp to camp and even through the death march, but a main difference is that Night does not have a happy ending. Elie's father dies and he concludes the story with a somber image, whereas Henry wanted to make the story of his life joyous.
Adley Wechsler
ReplyDeleteSection 1l
In chapter 19 of All The Things I Never Told my Father, Yona is given Halinka’s communion dress which is white linen with pleats and ruffles. She had to dress head to toe in white for her communion and had to carry a candle in hand that marks that she finally an adult. Additionally, Yona was chosen to be the flower girl during the Easter procession. She had to throw flowers in the path for the Father who was carrying the cross. Her position in the procession is considered a great honor for her family to be chosen. One day during the summer, Yona randomly heard an explosion coming from an aircraft in the sky. It was plane being controlled by Americans. This made Yona hope that sometime she would be saved by them. Gaby and Yona are both starving and cold in this chapter. Yona searches for extra pieces of bread, cuts them into cubes, and then hides them under her mattress. Yona is looking out for her brother and trying to give him any extra food that she can find. They also both outgrew their winter shoes.
Bryan Weitzman
ReplyDeleteSection 1I
In chapters 55 and 56 of Henry Oster's Captivating book The Kindness of the Hangman, after a long tale of miraculous survival in a daunting struggle we are met with some great successes. Henry arrives in Los Angeles in 1946 and moves in with his Aunt and Uncle . He works at his Uncle's gas station and is still able to graduate High School in two and a half years. He puts himself through UCLA on from his gas station money. This chapter is exclusively told from Henry's own point of view. However, through this exclusivity we get a true sense of the appreciation he feels for his Aunt and Uncle taking him in and providing him with advice to be successful. I believe that the message the Henry is trying to convey in these two chapters is that even those who are at the bottom of the totem pole can improve their situations and manifest their destinies, through hard work and determination, and through ignoring the distractions that can impede this success. These chapters and the sense of appreciation Henry emits mirror the great sense of appreciation and respect that the survivors and their families give while placing stones on Oskar Schindler's gravesite in Jerusalem in Steven Spielberg's masterpiece Schindler's List.
Alicia Beebe
ReplyDeleteSection 1I
In chapter 22 of All the Things I've Never Told my Father, Yona is still at the farm around early 1945. She gets her first period, but doesn’t know really what’s happening or what it means, so she decides to ask Pan Professor for information. She goes into his room, and instead of listening to her questions, he tries to sexually assault her. She gets away and leaves in tears. Fast forward, the war is over and Yona is concerned about what her future holds. She describes wanting to attend school, but can’t even remember her own name until she has a dream that her parents are calling for her. She goes to church, and prays for God to bring back her parents, even though Pani Ala has told her that all the Jews are dead. She continues on, not knowing what is going to happen to her. One day, she is working in the fields when Magda comes to get her, saying they have visitors. Yona is hesitant and scared, but then is greeted by her father! She packs her things, and heads to Krakow with her father on a military truck. At last she greets her mother, and they all rejoice.
Alicia Beebe
ReplyDeleteSection 1I
In chapter 22 of All the Things I Never Told my Father, Yona is still at the farm around early 1945. She gets her first period, but doesn’t know really what’s happening or what it means, so she decides to ask Pan Professor for information. She goes into his room, and instead of listening to her questions, he tries to sexually assault her. She gets away and leaves in tears. Fast forward, the war is over and Yona is concerned about what her future holds. She describes wanting to attend school, but can’t even remember her own name until she has a dream that her parents are calling for her. She goes to church, and prays for God to bring back her parents, even though Pani Ala has told her that all the Jews are dead. She continues on, not knowing what is going to happen to her. One day, she is working in the fields when Magda comes to get her, saying they have visitors. Yona is hesitant and scared, but then is greeted by her father! She packs her things, and heads to Krakow with her father on a military truck. At last she greets her mother, and they all rejoice.
Ben Wagstaff
ReplyDeleteSection 1G
In chapters 53 and 54 of "The Kindness of the Hangman," we find Henry in the heart of Paris at a coffee shop on the Champs-Elysees. It is just his luck that the French Minister of Transportation was sitting nearby and overheard his German & Yiddish conversation with Ivar. A lucky coincidence resulting in Henry receiving much needed (and deserved) passage to America, where he could live with his Aunt and Uncle (in Los Angeles). The end of the chapter was a tender goodbye between Henry and Ivar as the two "brothers" part ways: their bond unbreakable. In the next chapter, Henry arrives in America and marvels at the Statue of Liberty: a symbol of comfort and excitement. Though he has no plan, no money, and no family left in Europe, America is a new chance and a new beginning. An important personal note made by Henry was how everyone he meets always tried to feed him, as if he is still hungry and starving. On the contrary, "food really doesn't mean much to [him]. It hasn't since [he] left Buchenwald" (190). This reminds us of the PTSD these survivors live with throughout the rest of their lives. Having been starved of food and basic human needs for years, Henry and other survivors, like Dr. Pisarska’s mother (Janina), never look at those necessities the same again (Janina’s obsession with toiletries versus Henry’s new lack of desire for food). Experiences like these change the human form and effect the human spirit forever.
Chapter 18 of All the Things I Never Told My Father by Yona Kunstler Nadelman takes place on the farm in Poland where Yona and her cousin Gaby hid during the war. This chapter takes place during the winter, when the family is planning the planting season, and continues into the following seasons when planting and harvesting begins. The family decides to hire a man to help with farm work in the upcoming seasons, and when he comes, Yona perceives him as mean immediately. His black boots remind her of the Gestapo, and the other girls in the family feel the same way about Stephan, the perpetrator of this chapter. Hs actions go largely unnoticed by the family, the bystanders, until he breaks Yona’s nose and nearly drowns her, after which he leaves. This chapter is comparable to the book Night by Elie Weisel in that both him and Yona had to abandon their normal childhoods and undergo brutality to survive the holocaust. From these sources, we learn that the holocaust was particularly troubling for children, who did not have a complete understanding of what was happening.
ReplyDeleteKathrine Wall 1I
Chapter 28 takes place in Poland on January 23rd, 1945. The main event in this chapter is the death march from Auschwitz 1 to Birkenau. Henry describes his march experience, telling how there are at least 1000 other people walking with him. Nazi’s killed anyone that fell behind the mass more than 10 meters. Henry says that about 100 people died that day. After a slow, short walk, Chapter 28 ends with them taking shelter in a barn.
ReplyDeleteChapter 29 begins with them in the bar, then being led to a cattle train, where hundreds of people were packed like sardines. The only way to see out was over the top edge of the car. All f the sudden, British troops start shooting up the train, assuming it’s a train full of nazis. They really hit the back half of the train, but Henry describes a tragic blood bath–people’s body parts exploded everywhere. Chapter 29 ends with them continuing on in the train full of half dead, blood people.
I can compare these two chapters to Ellie Wiesel’s Night, because it covers a very similar story that Ellie also describes, that being the march. Both are very similar stories, except on Ellie’s march at the end of his memoir, that’s when he’s rescued by Soviet soldiers.
Taylor Kaltman!! Sorry, forgot a name.
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