Tuesday, November 17, 2009

PERIOD 6 - "THE LONGEST HATRED"

You recently viewed the PBS Documentary The Longest Hatred and today you listened to Rabbi Swarttz lecture on the subject. Please share what you learned with each other and feel free to ask any question(s) that you would like answered by the Rabbi in the future.

24 comments:

Emma Flavin said...

Period 5

Watching the movie, "The Longest Hatred", disgusted me because although I've heard and somewhat learned about antisemitism and the holocaust,seeing actual footage from that time made it twice as real. I find it very frustrating to watch it because the whole time, I can't stop wondering how and why someone could support Hitler. I understand the reasons that were presented such as his promises of change for Germany and the economic crisis, but becoming a part of the Nazi party, following Hitler, is just unimaginable to me. I thought it was very helpful to have Rabbi Swartz come in because one of my major questions was about where the hatred for Jewish people came from. I didn't realized that It had started long before the time of Hitler.From Rabbi Swartz I got a better understanding of the Jewish religion as a whole as well.

Eric Robidoux said...

The movie "The Longest Hatred" gave me a better understanding of the long hatred between Jews and Christian. I was also very confused throughout the movie about why the Jews were treated so unfairly. They did not so anything differently than the Christians or any human beings. I agree with Emma when she questions why people actually followed Hitler. This film made me realize how much power he actually maintained and how much support he received. The film made me feel terrible about such senseless violence which occured during the holocaust.

Kelly Urmston said...

I agree with Emma, I was surprised by the video we watched. I didn't realize that the hatred twards the Jews had been going on for so many years. I had only ever heard of it in the context of the Holocaust. I also thought that it was interesting to hear from Rabi Shwartz. I always find that it is more interesting to hear from someone first hand. Although I have discussed the Holocuast in previous classes I have never studied it to the same extent.

Andrew Milne said...

I agree with Emma and Kelly in that this film, "The Longest Hatred", was surprising in that I never knew how long the Jewish people had been hated for lack of a better word. It disgusted me that throughout history, the Jews were always the scapegoats. Whenever something seemed to go wrong, people always blamed the Jews. I just think that this is so wrong and just doesn't make any sense. I don't understand how people come up with a reason to blame Jews for everything and anything. It ws surprising to learn that Hitler was not the only leader to go after and attack the Jews, many others before him had felt the same way, the only difference is that he acted on his impulse and beliefs. Unfortunately, I did not get to hear Rabi Swartz speak, but from what my friends have said, it was a great experience and I wish I could have been in school to hear him.

Alecia Ferretti said...

The movie, "The Longest Hatred" was very shocking to me. Like Emma and Kelly, I hadn't realized how far back antisemitism went. It also made me question how the hatred of Jews could go on for so long, I mean, the fact that it took Hitler's Final Solution in the 1940s to finally show people how horrible antisemitism is is surprising considering that the idea had been around for so long. Listening to Rabbi Swartz was also very informative and I feel like I learned a lot from what he said. Now I feel that I understand Judaism and antisemitism a lot better.

Kendall Paige said...

While watching the movie "The Longest Hatred", I was disqusted on what i saw. Jews are being straved to death and looking like a walking skleaton. I always wondered why anyone would want to obey Hitler. the guy was a psycho. during the time when hitler was in power Germany was going through fianecial troubles and peoplpe were scared that they were losing their rupeution of a powerful nation. when hitler came into power, people just turned to him becasue they were so despreate that they would believe anybody.

Mackenzie Gavin said...

I agree with everyone when they said that they were disgusted because of the way the Jews were treated. It was really sad to see that people who lived in the same country at one point were turning against each other because of their religious belief. But it was interesting to see how quickly the Germans were willing to follow Hitler just because he preached for hope and change in the country. Like Emma said it was frustrating to see the Germans support Hitler especially since he was advocating for the mass murders of the Jews. It just shows how desperate people are during a crisis.

Alison DeFiore said...

Like many others, I was previously unaware of the extent of hatred towards people who are Jewish in so many places. I feel woefully mislead, as origionally I had learned about the Holocaust as a isolated event of hatred against Jews. I sincerely wish I had been able to hear Rabbi speak, but I was uable to attend the presentation. I do appreciate that it clears up some of the misconceptions that I had about the Holocaust and such. I've never learned this material in such detail and I find it enlightening in a very sad way.

Jessie MacC said...

Like everyone else, the thought of the treatment that the Jewish population went through was disgusting and hard to think about. The Longest hatred showed me many things about the time that i hadn't known, and many things about antisemitism. I'm really not sure how Hitler got a loyal following, even desperate people should know the difference between right and wrong, and these are huge wrongs. Rabbi Swartzz was a great and wonderful man to come in and address us about the Jewish faith, and tell us more about what happened pre-holocaust and what led into it. He was very informative and very considerate and polite when answering our questions.

Justin Avergon said...

"The Longest Hatred" was one of the most powerful statements about the holocaust that I have ever seen. I never knew that the start of the Nazi party happened so early. The movie really got into depth on ow tortured the jews were by the whole world. Also why they were, because the hatred didn't start with the nazi party. It roots way back to the time before jesus. I thought this film really defined what it was like to be jewish and the pain those people felt and the torture the had to endure.

Tom Power said...

I only say the Rabbi speak and I thought he did a great job. I learned a lot of things about the Jewish religion that I never new like the three main parts. I also learned that there is still hatred torwards Jews. I was very surprised and can not believe this still exists.

Garrett Kirker said...

The film "The Longest Hatred" shocked he because of the way the Jewish people were treated. I agree with Kelly about how I didn't know how long the hatred of Jews had been going on. I thought that the hatred started after world war 1, and really took off when Hitler came to power. This film has taught me that many many years of ant-semitism had slowly caused the Holocaust. Rabbi Swartz's speach allowed me to better understand "The Longest Hatred" in a way the film couldn't. Rabbi Swartz gave the perspective of a Jewish man who was trying to give both sides of the story when it came to the hatred of Jews.

Courtney Costello said...

Watching the movie, "The Longest Hatred", I was shocked and appalled of how the Jews were treated. I never knew that there was such a hatred for the Jews from the Christians when both of their beliefs were based off of the same religion. It amazes me how these beliefs gave Hitler so much power and turned most of Europe against the Jews. The movie opened my eyes to the rivalry that has been happening for centuries.

Tucker Brady said...

The longest hatred showed me a really good idea of how hitler worked. it was really crude watching hitler explain to his people how i t was right to do all this to the jews. Thats the really scary part of the longest hatred

lukas said...

i was surprize that hitlers hatred was that stong. i new before that he didnt like jew but never new how badly. it pretty sad that one person can hate on rasie and kill them almost.

Nate Montgomery said...

The longest hatred really opened my eyes to how badly the jews were discriminated against. I thought it was just the Holocaust, but it goes way back to when the Jews and Christians actually agreed with one another. I had heard the word crusades before, but never heard an elaborate description. I had no no idea the Christians were the crusades and how many Jewish villages they attacked and took over. I would also like to add that Rabbi Swartz gave me a more inside look on the jewish religion.

Nick Corcoran said...

While watching the movie "The Longest Hatred" I was very surprised and sad at the same time. I wasn’t aware that there was bad blood for so long with the Jews. I don’t see why the Jews were so low in society. I also agree with Emma when she questions "why people actually followed Hitler". This video opened my eyes and made me realized how awful the Holocaust and Nazis really were. It was also very helpful for Rabbi Swartz to come in and explain the topic allot more in first hand for a better understanding.

Colin Beron said...

In other previous classes while learning about the holocaust, i never actually had seen footage of the physical and mental brutality that the Nazi party inflicted on the Jews. Watching the footage and listening to Rabi Swartz speak brought it alot closer to home. It is still unreal how Hitler was able to end the lives of so many innocent people. I agree with Eric R when he said "The film made me feel terrible about such senseless violence which occured during the holocaust".

Nick Mastro said...

The longest hatred was a disturbing video and showed us a lot of insight about how Hitler processed. The scariest part is that this was not only part during his time, it was around a lot longer and a still exists in some forms. The Rabbi's speach was entertaining and answered many questions we had about this istance. It was very helpful and opened my eyes to things I have never seen before.

Anonymous said...

I was really surprised and saddened after watching the video "The Longest Hatred" and hearing Rabbi Swartz further discuss how far back the Jews had been discriminated against. Unfortunately they seemed to be the chosen scapegoat for so long that they eventually became the easy and preferable target to blame. I've learned alot more about the Holocaust in this class and how it came to happen, but it still completely shocks me that people can be so heartless to put all their blame on one group of people and push that blame to the extent of genocide. This is especially shocking given the reason that the Catholic relgion is a branch off of the Jewish religion. If people weren't selfish and cared more about mankind as a whole, this world would be a much more peaceful place to live. But people are ruled by fear and when worst comes to worst you make decisions based on the least amount of pain for yourself.
-Jena Ward

Mel B. said...

I completely agree with Emma. "The Longest Hatred" has actual footage of bodies from the Holocaust which was very disturbing to see. I don't understand how the Nazis could be so heartless and treat other human beings like they were dirt. This movie also helped me understand the on going hatred between the Jews and Christians but Rabbi Swartz made everything clearer. Now I have a better concept of how the hate for the Jewish people developed and that it was long before Hitler came into power which is something I had never known before.

Amber Carr said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amber Carr said...

"The Longest Hatred" was so repulsive and very uncalled for to see how Hitler treated these people. It made me angry that people would support Hitler with his rediculous decsions and ideas. Rabbi Swartz helped me a lot with explaining how and why the hatred for Jews occured. Having Rabbi exlain this helped me understand what life it is like to be Jewish.

andy said...

I found it interesting to learn about the begining of the hatred towards the Jewish faith from a Rabbi. It is absolutly rediculas that people still hate Jews over somthing that happend a couple thousand years ago. and it is expecialy saddening that it led the systematic killing of millions of Jews happend because of it.