Holocaust museum display blog assignment #2

Blog assignment #2

Artifacts:

Painting- Crematorium I by Jan Komski

Passage: Night By Elie Wiesel

“Never shall I forget that smoke.

Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.

Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.” (Wiesel 34)

I was able to connect a passage from Night to this very powerful and moving artifact. I found this passage in Night to be so moving because I agreed with how Elie felt; Elie passed a crematorium and was in absolute horror of what he saw. Just seeing the innocent human beings being thrown into the crematorium was enough to make him lose faith in god. This picture is such a contrast to the language Elie uses; Elie is very horrified and disgusted in humanity while the men walking around in the crematorium doing their work, look very emotionless; like they don’t care. These men are tossing bodies into the flames nonchalantly, and seem to have completely shut off their emotions in order to throw away the lives of the innocent.

In the line “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever” Elie is losing faith on the world around him and the people around him; basically everything. Like us, Elie cannot comprehend why such an evil act of burning piles and piles of dead bodies just to hide the Nazi’s crimes was committed. This painting by Jan Komski uses a contrast between black and white; dark and light which signifies the good of the innocent people being harmed and the darkness and evilness of those who are burning the bodies of innocent people. The black lines on the SS officer are more apparent than the ones on the dead bodies; I thought this was interesting. None of the faces of the dead bodies are facing us, and the officer is not looking at us either. This shows how shameful the act that they are committing is.

Overall, I can see the same themes of darkness and dehumanization in these two pieces of work. These passages work well together because they show opposite ends of perspective, one that shows the emotion of the SS guard, and one that shows the emotion of the witness to the hideous crimes.

CREATIVE PIECE: MIND MAP

Link to my Mind Map below!!
http://prezi.com/dz9as4q1ywdf/edit/#256_24309637

Holocaust museum display blog: essential question

How can something like the Holocaust Happen?

Artifacts:

• Rwandan genocide survivor interview

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rwandan-genocide-survivor-recalls-horror/

• “Yes leader. we follow you!” Nazi propaganda poster
• First they came, a poem by Martin Niemoller

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_9tD9ahQQuHh-oJTiBtptdOkS4bZgbVYcOf9ikZk2Xo/edit#slide=id.p

A tragedy such as the Holocaust ever occurring in society today, seems unimaginable-yet it happens in the deepest corners of the world. We wonder, how could something like the systematic killing in the Holocaust ever happen in the world? The answer starts off with a corrupt and evil genius of a figure head. This evil figurehead manipulates and brainwashes the public that so greatly admires him. The public that would fall for such a leader is one that is in need of serious reform; one that has hit rock bottom.

The societies that fall prey to such evil acts of mass killings are those that are in such economic and political despair, that they would turn to just about anyone willing to lead them. In the Holocaust, Hitler was able to convince the people of Germany that the reason for heavy war reparations from the world war, was because of Jews. The people of Germany were poor and impressionable, so Hitler took advantage of this. From the “Yes Leader, we follow you!” propaganda poster, you can tell that the majority of Germans supported Hitler and looked to him as “God”. The people in the poster are obeying Hitler and are bowing down to him which sends a message to those unsupportive of Hitler, that they should join in because he is the only thing that matters. Hitler was viewed as their saviour. The people in this poster seem to look up at Hitler in admiration, yet Hitler is scowling back at them which I found interesting. Perhaps people admired Hitler for his harshness and vigilance towards Jews.While this poster was used as a way for Hitler to gain support in the impressionable society, the poster was a way to show the people “who’s boss” as well.

In the poem “First they came” by Martin Niemoller I noticed how the narrator of the poem constantly feared speaking out because he was afraid he would be sent away too. In the first lines of the poem, Niemoller says

“First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-

because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for the communists, and I did not speak out-

because I was not a communist”

In every line the narrator is holding back from speaking his mind; every line he is losing his voice. I thought this related to Hitler’s position in society, and how scared people were of him. This is an example of how something like the Holocaust can happen; there must be a powerful leader that the citizens follow out of fear.

For something like the Holocaust to happen, you also need efficiency in killing, however morbid that sounds. The people carrying out the killings have to have the will to take away the lives of millions in just days. As discussed in the interview of the Rwandan Genocide survivor, Immaculee, it is stated that the genocide was “the most efficient carried out” and that 800,000 people were killed in a span of just 100 days. It is incredible to me how the people who carry out these systematic killings can just turn off their emotions like a light switch, and kill millions of innocent families and children.