What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me
Logan Trainor
The course Facing History and Ourselves helped me better understand the holocaust, and not what the holocaust was about why the holocaust happened and what it takes to do such a terrible thing to so many people. The course also changed me as a person, to a certain degree. I really learned a lot in this class and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at things the same way after watching all the movies of people being murdered just because some people don’t like them. As a student it made me more aware of the things that are constantly going on around me, bullying and students demeaning other student’s being one of the main ones.
One of the most meaningful videos I watched was The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas this movie was extremely sad. It was nice though to the see the SS officer in charge of the camp experiencing some loss for himself and realizing what it felt like to loss somebody close to him, especially his own in the concentration camp. I can only imagine what these people felt in the concentration camps with everyone starving and no one knowing when their day to die might be. Something else that really affected me was the pictures taken by the SS at the concentration camps. It makes it all the more real that the SS officers were the ones taking the pictures because it confirms that yes they knew what they were doing and that they did not care about it and thought they should take pictures for memories. There was one picture of the Nazi staff having a party and posing for a pictures. This really made me wonder how humans could do that too other humans. Another video that really affected me was the video made by the Americans as they came into the concentration and extermination camps. Seeing it firsthand made it much worse, some of the movies we saw it is of course staged all the death and dying but watching it in grainy black and white while the Americans liberated the camps made it seem much worse.
One of the class discussions we had was very important to me. We had just watched interviews with Germans that had been alive during the war and they were denying that they did anything wrong. I personally do not believe that they did nothing wrong but I also don’t think that they should be held responsible for everything. They did what they had to do during the war to stay alive, yes it was terrible but that was how they were born and raised by their family and all their friends around them. I feel bad for them, not even knowing what was right or wrong, but I also feel bad for the ones that did know better, because they didn't have the courage to do anything about it is a big part of what I have learned. After watching all these videos and reading all this information about The Nazi's, I do not hate them some I may dislike more than other, but the whole nation of Germany should not be blamed for everything, which I feel like seems to happen often.
Something I have learned about myself through this course is that I have very strong beliefs that I stand by no matter what. I was greatly affected by the videos we watched about concentration camps and extermination camps. The real videos of the bodies and the pictures were what really got to me at the end of the course. If you watch a movie you know it is not real and that the people being pushed into the showers won't really die. When you see a video of the Americans seizing the camps and seeing how skinny and malnourished the people are those pictures really makes you take a second and think about it.
The movies we watched about the resistances against the Nazi's in Germany affected me as well. It was extremely interesting seeing how people tried to fight back, I had known people had tried before I started taking this course but I never actually knew that they had made a difference. It really made me wonder what I would do if I was in that situation where I could help or I could stand by a do nothing. I hope that I would try to help the resistance in saving Jews and stopping the Nazi's but when put in that situation I’m not sure what I would do but this course has taught me what the right thing to do is. As much as the class said they would do the right thing in our after movie talk I highly doubt that they all would. When it comes down to it how different are we from the German people?
I will truly never forget what I learned in this class. I will constantly be reminded of the pictures we saw and the videos we watched every time the holocaust is mentioned. I hope that if I hear anyone saying anything bad about anybody that I will be able to stand up and stop it. I also want to pass this information that I have learned onto anyone else who is eager to learn about these crimes. I will never forget this class and I will recommend it to all my underclassmen friends because they should experience the same things that I experienced and it is a huge wake up call to help your fellow mankind. I hope they value this course as much as I did. I have missed a lot of school this year so far and feel like that lessened the information that I received but I still learned a lot. I hope that many generations after me learn these lessons and experience these emotions and self-conflicts it can only make the world a better place.
