Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Chapter 2 (pages 23-8) -- Your reflection

What impacted you in this chapter? What picture can you not get out of your mind?

15 comments:

  1. What impacted me the most was how they treated babies not only did they abused them but killed them like if they were sacks of potatoes. I can't get rid of in my mind is how the Nazis don't care about humans, how they just treat them like garbage. I bet if they were in the shoes of the Nazis they wouldn't like it. It makes me so mad that the Nazis had no heart, that they had no feelings about humans.

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  2. I would honestly have to completely agree with you Evelyn about the way they treated their prisoners, even the babies. It just makes me sick to see how they can just go on with their lives with millions of people died by their hands. It gives me great hope and faith for the people who survived all of the sheer torture. Not even the worst of fears could be matched with the experiences of the surviving Jews and how they went thorugh it all day after day. It is that kind of faith that kept them alive and that kept them together. So as well as the horrible images of the way they treated the Jews I can not also get out of my head the faith and hope they had of surviving and hopefully returning back to their old lives even though things will never be the same. - Michael L.

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  3. There is so much emotion in this chapter. The graphic images that you get from reading is so cruel and inhumane. These people that were hitting everyone that comes in their way have a cold heart, if there is even one in them. How could you do that to your own people? It's so wrong. The scene on the train where everyone was hitting Madame Schachter for her to shut up was the scene that got me the most. She was delusional and because the other people wanted to get a night sleep, they ended up beating her to shut her up. This is a very cruel scene, ironic even. These people are doing what the police do to them. They have seen violence, now they are doing it to someone else. It's pretty ironic because these are the things that people are afraid of and they think that it's the most horrible thing in the world, but yet they are doing it themselves. I feel that they are becoming like the inhumane police themselves from their actions. -Nalleli

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  4. Nalleli, you make a good point about Madame Schachter and the irony of the Jews turning against each other. They should haves stuck together, maybe more people would have survived. What I found especially uncanny about this section was Madame Shachter's visions. She kept shouting, yelling and screaming about an enormous fiery inferno that was going to be the death of them all. No one else sees it, so they all come to the conclusion that Madame Shachter has lost her marbels due. After all, she's been under a lot of stress because she was seperated from her husband and other sons. Maybe she didn't really lose her sanity. Maybe she was recieving some sort of warning from God of what was to come. They had all been so preocupied with prayers asking God to rescue them from whatever awaited them at the end of the rails that they completely ignored God speaking through this woman. You know how people say that God works in mysterious ways? Well, maybe this was God trying to get through to the Jews telling them "Hey! You should find a way to escape because what's coming is so much worse than what you have already been through." I'm not saying it's their fault, but they did shun someone of their own kind in a very cruel way.
    I can't get out of my mind the image of Madame Shachter's son watching his mother being abused and feeling helpless. I can almost hear his sobs.
    -Genesis

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  5. The immensity of it all is a hard concept to get rid of. The cruelty of the Nazis and the amount of loss, the horrid fate of all of those people, the fact that they did not really know what was coming for them, and that humans could do this to others or see it happen and do nothing to stop it. I can't fathom how a human being could be so heartless as to do something so horrid to another. How can one look upon the face of a tortured soul and simply turn away? Or encourage it, even? How can you kill children who haven't even had the chance to live? How can someone tear families apart, steal their lives and their possesions and torture them so? Why are humans so heartless and uncaring? Why are we so wrapped up in me, me, me? I cannot truly comprehend the horrible sights and events of the holocaust, and it is even more difficult for me to comprehend the people commiting these crimes against the Jews.
    -Brittney

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  6. The picture I can't get out of my mind is of the children being thrown into the crematories. I can't imagine seeing an innocent child be killed right in front of my eyes, and be unable to do anything about it. It really is completely inhumane that any person could kill a child, and without reason too. I can't imagine being in Elie's position and having to witness that, also knowing that the same thing way probably going to happen to my mother and sisters. I would want to revolt and do anything that I could to save them, but I believe that if I were actually there, I would have probably been just like Elie. He was in disbelief, unable to do anything. I can't imagine being there. He went from living a quiet, happy life with his family back in Sighet to literally being put in a hell on earth. The shock of it all would have been too much to grasp. The images you receive by just reading the book are horrible enough, I can't picture actually having to live it.

    - Katie Darmofal

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  7. How could you treat someone like that? The Nazis had no remorse for their victims. It makes me realize some people are misleaded and confused throughout there lives. I know some people who dont care about anybody but themselves and their family. Is that really wrong? But on the other hand they dont go and harm people who are different like the Nazis. Sometimes I prefer to stay in my own little world with the people who are most like me. But what keeps popping up in my head is how someone could hurt another human being for being a different religion,race,or even a different political view. Those kind of things dont matter we should be focused on the important thing like whats inside and we shouldnt be focused on the little things that set us apart from each other. We all should just get along. People think that we have over come these problems but these outer characteristics are still setting us apart as people. When will we all be equal? When will this constant fight end? -Josh

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  8. The thing that stuck out the most to me, personally, was the harsh treatment of the Jews, from both their captors and heir own people. One example is the Officers telling the Jews that if one of them escaped, all of them will be shot. Another example is Madame Schachter, was bound and gagged, and later beaten almost to death by her own friends because of her visions of the fiery inferno that would soon consume the hope and the lives of many Jews.
    Another thing that impacted me was their methods of killing off the Jews. The babies were burned, and through prior research I found that most of the people were killed with gas, led to believe that it was a shower, and that they were going to be alright. The gas killed some quickly and humanely, but for some, it was a slow, antagonizing death.
    ~Carl

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  9. There were many things in this chapter that created mental pictures that are branded into my memory. One thing that really got to me was the. I und image of the Jews beating Madame Schachter. I understand that she was disturbing and freaking people out, but was it truly necessary to beat her? I don't think it was. Didn't they see that they were becoming like the officers? I can't imagine watching my mother being beaten like she was. I think I would break down right then and there.
    Another thing that made a picture in my head is the thought of the Germans killing the babies and children. How someone can kill children so cold-heartedly I can't imagine. Did they have no concience? Did they have no heart? I can't get the picture of helpless children lying there, their hearts no longer beating. - Vanessa Gonzalez

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  10. I can not believe that they could do that to innocent children! The Nazi treated the Jewish children like if they were their own practice targets. They throw them in the air and shoot at them, and treated them like if they were nothing, being able to do whatever they felt like with the children. The Nazi also burned the babies for no reason. I thought this was horrible and a disgusting scene. Another thing the Nazi did was when they killed some of the Jews with a deadly gas. I am guessing they thought it was something that would help them, but at the end it just killed them all. The killing of the people was really inhumane and more like if they worshiped Satan.

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  11. What impacted me about this chapter and about the Holocaust in general is the hatred. It is appalling to me how people can be stripped of their rights and of their dignity just because they are a certain way. People suffered and died for their beliefs they endured so much just because they did not believe in the same thing. It stuns me how human beings can kill other human beings. There is nothing right about that. This chapter made me realize how hate can start as something small ; a little seed and be transformed into death camps and pain.
    The picture I cannot take out of my mind is the children and babies being thrown into the fire. To think that there was so much hatred toward Jews that not even small children received pity. It is inhumane to murder small children who haven’t even had the opportunity to judge for themselves what they want to believe in or form their own opinions about different matters.

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  12. The thing that made me cringe was the conditions of the train and also Mrs. Schachter. I hated the way they had to survive in the cattle cars. No human should have to live like that. Also, it made me sad read about Mrs. Schachter going crazy. She has a son that needs to be taken care of and if she continues on like this both of them won't survive. I hate how the officers beat the people when they get off the train. It is so cruel and I couldn't get this picture out of my head.

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  13. he cruelty of the Nazis and the amount of loss, the horrid fate of all of those people, the fact that they did not really know what was coming for them, and that humans could do this to others or see it happen and do nothing to stop it. I can't fathom how a human being could be so heartless as to do something so horrid to another. How can one look upon the face of a tortured soul and simply turn away? Or encourage it, even? How can you kill children who haven't even had the chance to live? How can someone tear families apart, steal their lives and their possesions and torture them so? Why are humans so heartless and uncaring? Why are we so wrapped up in me, me, me? I cannot truly comprehend the horrible sights and events of the holocaust, and it is even more difficult for me to comprehend the people commiting these crimes against the Jews.

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  14. The thing that most impacted me in this chapter was when someone read to all the people in the car "Auschwitz". Nobody in the car new what that meant, I found my-self telling the characters in the book to run away. A name that, if any of them survived, would sadly remember for the rest of their lives. I could picture the faces of the people, all staring out the window with wonder and fear across their eyes.

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  15. The thing that most impacted me in this chapter was when the innocent people where going to Auschwitz in other words hell. When the people where heading to Auschwitz it just impacte me because they didn't know what will happen to them, if they are going to die or not, so I personally wanted to be one person in the train I will just tell them we should run away because what happens if they kill us all, we should just take a risk and run away.

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