Final Blog Post!

When I read the ending of the book I had mixed emotions first was very shocked at how it ended so briefly but at the same time I liked the ending because of how they had all showed their freedom and individuality. Elli didn't mention anything about how her life was going in America. I think that if Elli had included her life in America readers would gain knowledge about how people recovered from the Holocaust and how they had moved on to continue life before the Holocaust. Also I thought it was strange how the Russians just came and plainly said, “The war is over, you’re free.” I had just pictured them being freed differently, I thought it would be more of a happy time but people weren't running around like crazy, they were staying by their dead and injured family. I also was surprised by the fact that the Russians just left them there, I thought they would have helped out at least a little bit. Going back to my mixed emotions and how I partially liked the end. After Elli and her family had moved to New York some people including them had gathered around the statue of liberty and they sung their anthems in all different languages. In my opinion the overall theme of this unit would have to be man’s inhumanity to man. I would say this because if you were to tell me practically anything from the Holocaust I’m pretty confident that I would be able to tell you why man’s inhumanity to man ties in to that piece of information. Man’s inhumanity to man was seen when Jewish people were viewed as insuperior and when  antisemitism was present. Antisemitism was present EVERYWHERE throughout the period of the Holocaust and even before then. Basically the Holocaust was a big mass murder and mass murdering shows man’s inhumanity to man, so what I’m trying to is is the Holocaust is one big hodgepodge of man;s inhumanity to man. An old soldier who had come through the second world war and had been in some of the most bloody engagements in that war said, "In the course of this war I have seen things on both sides that made me ashamed to be a human being.On the other hand i have seen men of both sides do things that for one glorious moment made me proud to be a member of the human race.We should remember that mankind is not as civilized as we like to think, we are slowly groping our way up from the primeval mud towards a civilized society and we still have a very long way to go.” I couldn't agree more with this man, I think he said everything I am trying to say, he read my mind. I believe that there is a point where we should look back and actually be ashamed of ourselves that we ever let this happen. We need to know that something like this will NEVER happen again.

Just from learning about the Holocaust in social studies, reading the book, and blogging about it I feel like I understand so much more and I feel like I will always look at things differently/ more seriously(in depth). The Holocaust has taught me about all of the bad things that I thought could never happen were real. When we would watch videos in social studies I would turn away at the gross parts and I could never imagine that happening to real people. I can’t get over the fact that this actually happened and how people were like scarred for life. This project is very important to teach teenagers because it is important that we learn what happened and also because we are going to be making all of the big decisions because we are the future generation and that is scary to think because we make so many mistakes now I’m scared for the future also. Here’s a big thanks to all of the contributors! I really like what you commented on my blog, it really helped me enhance my learning, so thanks!