This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
PERIOD 3 - America and the Holocaust
The other day, you watched the PBS documentary, American and the Holocaust. What did you learn that you did not know before watching the film. Do you think it is important for high school students to see documentaries like this? Explain your answer.
24 comments:
Nicky Simard
said...
By watching the "American Holocaust" I came to realize that the Holocaust was actually taking place throughout the world and not solely in Germany. The word "bystander" is brought up mulitple times during our class discussions and I felt that every country during the Holocaust seemed to be a bystander in the sense that they turned their heads away from the expulsion and extermination of Jews just because the Nazi party had decided to take these actions. I'm sure each country had a different "excuse" as to why they had not helped, but there should not be excuses. I do think it is important for high school students to watch a film like this or even this one so that they can see through clear eyes every side to a situation.
I thought that "America and the Holocaust" was a great film to watch and I believe that all students in high school should be watching documentaries like this one. I am a firm believer in the saying "history repeats itself" and the way to prevent this is through learning our faults in the past. I learned that America turned our backs on the Jewish people who desperatly needed our help. I dont like the fact that the American people say so much about how terrible the Holocaust was, but not only did we not do much to help the people in need, but we denied them too.
I agree with Nicky. She said that America was a bystander and did not do what we are capable of doing in order to try and stop the Holocaust. We dont hesitate to go to war against other countries over nothing, but we wont step in when millions of people are being murdered so close to home.
"America and the Holocaust" put in perspective for me the way things were for Jews here in America during the Holocaust. Honestly, I never really thought that the Jews would be having such a hard time in America during the Holocaust because it never came to mind but some of the statistics were disgusting. Jews were heavily discriminated against here, too, which completely goes against American standards.
After watching "American Holocaust", I learned how the Holocaust was more of a national issue than I had thought. I believe that Nicky hit the nail on the head. We have discussed how being a passive bystander is almost as incriminating as being the perpetrator. If we stand by and watch while horrible things happen, we are no better than the ones committing the action. The entire world turned their backs to the Jewish people in Germany. Although the Nazis in Germany receive all of the blame, people elsewhere refused to associate with Jews as well. In many places, employers refused to hire people on the sole basis that they were Jeweish. The past few videos have shown me a more in-depth look at the widespread hatred that occurred.
While watching the "American Holocaust" we get to see how America reacted with all the Jewish immigrants coming to the United States to avoid Hitler in Europe. The way the Americans acted surprised me, I expected the country to be supportive, but a huge amount anti-Semitism happened. This film teaches us what happened in this country, even if it's bad it's good for us to know. Every American citizen should know in depth what happened during the holocaust, so we are aware and never commit the same mistake again.
I agree with Natalie. I never would have thought that the Jewish immigrants would have gone through such a hard time in America. They were escaping dangerous conditions, and inhuman treatment. The United States should have been more sympathetic.
After watching the "American Hlocaust" I came to realize that although much of the blame for what happened during that time period was due to Germans and Hitler, the rest of the world, including the US was also experiencing a "holocaust", people just turn a blind eye to it because what was happening in Germany was so much worse.
In the "American Holocaust" I learned the extent of discrimination that Jews faced here as well as in Germany. I was really surprised by this treatment towards the Jews. Also I was surprised that America turned their backs on the Jewish people trying to immigrate over to America to flee the discrimination they were facing. Although the Americans were not directly involved with the killings, there is still some blame to be put on us because we prevented the Jewish from creating a new life here in America, by forbidding them to immigrate.
I also agree with Ellen, I was surprised to see the Americans treating the Jewish so badly. I was surprised at the poll that the majority voted that the Jews were "different and should be restricted"
I think it was a good film and other high school students should watch it because it is very informative. Before watching it, I had no idea that the Americans discriminated against Jews during the time of the Holocaust. Americans only made it worse for Jewish people and limited the number of immigrants allowed in the country. I was shocked to see the behavior of Americans regarding the Jews and they made it difficult for them to start fresh and create new lives. I also didn’t realize how difficult it was to get visas and that it was such a long process.
I agree with Taylor that the Americans don’t have the right to talk about how bad the Holocaust was and how much they sympathize with the Jewish people because they added to it and made it worse for them.
I think it is important to not see the Holocaust in the black and white way its been presented so long, since America obviously wasn't completely innocent. However, I thought the documentary seemed to ignore the concept of modern hindsight, and treats the Americans of the time as if they were consciously condemning Jews to their deaths. At the time, this could not have been predicted. The Holocaust was an unprecedented genocide, which truly means nobody saw it coming. While we could have done much more based on the intel we had, FDR did not knowingly allow millions of people to die for the sake of politics.
I was ashamed, but not at all surprised, to see that many Americans considered Jews as being different. It was 1940, the civil rights movement was still a generation away.
"American Holocaust" was a very interesting film. It was enlighting in the way that it showed how Jews were treated in the US. It was really disgraceful behavior in my opinion becuase Americans knew what was going on and they turned their backs. When that woman, I believe that she was the presidents cousins, said something along the lines of "20,000 charming children will soon turn into 20,000 ugly people". I was shocked by this statement and could not understand her mentality for saying such a horrible statement.
I agree with Fernando's comment in that it is good for us to know what happened here in the U.S. during the holocaust even though it was not a great reaction on behalf of the Americans, it was part of history and it is important that all relaize that.
When I was watching the "American and the Holocaust" I thought it was interesting how Germany wanted the Jews out but the process for them to leave was made nearly impossible. The discrimination that they faced was heart breaking to me. The fact that America could turn their backs on people in need was horrible.
I agree with Ellen and Natalie that the statistics were horrifying. The fact that Americans agreed that Jews were different and therefore should be restricted is just wrong.
While watching "American Holocaust" I realized that America could have done something to help the Jews during the holocaust but we turned our backs on them. This is wrong, I'm actually embarrassed, knowing that being an American, we let this happen. America had enough power to have prevented a number of Jews from being killed for no reason. I strongly believe this documentary should be shown in all history classes so that everyone is aware of what happened so that it doesn't happen again hopefully. America was a bystander. I agree with Nicky, she is right, all the countries that decided not to help the Jews in Germany. I also agree that this should be watched by all high school students.
i think that the "american holocaust" is a movie that high school students should watch. I learned the extent of the discrimination against the jews. I think it is important for high school students to watch this because then they can see all the different angles and view of the holocaust and also i think its important that students see first hand how cruelly the jews were treated.
24 comments:
By watching the "American Holocaust" I came to realize that the Holocaust was actually taking place throughout the world and not solely in Germany. The word "bystander" is brought up mulitple times during our class discussions and I felt that every country during the Holocaust seemed to be a bystander in the sense that they turned their heads away from the expulsion and extermination of Jews just because the Nazi party had decided to take these actions. I'm sure each country had a different "excuse" as to why they had not helped, but there should not be excuses. I do think it is important for high school students to watch a film like this or even this one so that they can see through clear eyes every side to a situation.
I thought that "America and the Holocaust" was a great film to watch and I believe that all students in high school should be watching documentaries like this one. I am a firm believer in the saying "history repeats itself" and the way to prevent this is through learning our faults in the past. I learned that America turned our backs on the Jewish people who desperatly needed our help. I dont like the fact that the American people say so much about how terrible the Holocaust was, but not only did we not do much to help the people in need, but we denied them too.
I agree with Nicky. She said that America was a bystander and did not do what we are capable of doing in order to try and stop the Holocaust. We dont hesitate to go to war against other countries over nothing, but we wont step in when millions of people are being murdered so close to home.
"America and the Holocaust" put in perspective for me the way things were for Jews here in America during the Holocaust. Honestly, I never really thought that the Jews would be having such a hard time in America during the Holocaust because it never came to mind but some of the statistics were disgusting. Jews were heavily discriminated against here, too, which completely goes against American standards.
My reaction to the poll saying 53% of Americans saying Jews were different and should be restricted shocks me and upsets me just as it does to Ellen.
After watching "American Holocaust", I learned how the Holocaust was more of a national issue than I had thought. I believe that Nicky hit the nail on the head. We have discussed how being a passive bystander is almost as incriminating as being the perpetrator. If we stand by and watch while horrible things happen, we are no better than the ones committing the action. The entire world turned their backs to the Jewish people in Germany. Although the Nazis in Germany receive all of the blame, people elsewhere refused to associate with Jews as well. In many places, employers refused to hire people on the sole basis that they were Jeweish. The past few videos have shown me a more in-depth look at the widespread hatred that occurred.
While watching the "American Holocaust" we get to see how America reacted with all the Jewish immigrants coming to the United States to avoid Hitler in Europe. The way the Americans acted surprised me, I expected the country to be supportive, but a huge amount anti-Semitism happened. This film teaches us what happened in this country, even if it's bad it's good for us to know. Every American citizen should know in depth what happened during the holocaust, so we are aware and never commit the same mistake again.
I agree with Natalie. I never would have thought that the Jewish immigrants would have gone through such a hard time in America. They were escaping dangerous conditions, and inhuman treatment. The United States should have been more sympathetic.
After watching the "American Hlocaust" I came to realize that although much of the blame for what happened during that time period was due to Germans and Hitler, the rest of the world, including the US was also experiencing a "holocaust", people just turn a blind eye to it because what was happening in Germany was so much worse.
I agree with Ellen that from this film I learned how poorly the jews were treated in America.
In the "American Holocaust" I learned the extent of discrimination that Jews faced here as well as in Germany. I was really surprised by this treatment towards the Jews. Also I was surprised that America turned their backs on the Jewish people trying to immigrate over to America to flee the discrimination they were facing. Although the Americans were not directly involved with the killings, there is still some blame to be put on us because we prevented the Jewish from creating a new life here in America, by forbidding them to immigrate.
I also agree with Ellen, I was surprised to see the Americans treating the Jewish so badly. I was surprised at the poll that the majority voted that the Jews were "different and should be restricted"
William Lariviere: I was absent for this video.
I thought ths video was very interesting. It showed how Americans turned their backs to the jews as did the germans. They had nowhere to go.
I think it was a good film and other high school students should watch it because it is very informative. Before watching it, I had no idea that the Americans discriminated against Jews during the time of the Holocaust. Americans only made it worse for Jewish people and limited the number of immigrants allowed in the country. I was shocked to see the behavior of Americans regarding the Jews and they made it difficult for them to start fresh and create new lives. I also didn’t realize how difficult it was to get visas and that it was such a long process.
I agree with Taylor that the Americans don’t have the right to talk about how bad the Holocaust was and how much they sympathize with the Jewish people because they added to it and made it worse for them.
I think it is important to not see the Holocaust in the black and white way its been presented so long, since America obviously wasn't completely innocent. However, I thought the documentary seemed to ignore the concept of modern hindsight, and treats the Americans of the time as if they were consciously condemning Jews to their deaths. At the time, this could not have been predicted. The Holocaust was an unprecedented genocide, which truly means nobody saw it coming. While we could have done much more based on the intel we had, FDR did not knowingly allow millions of people to die for the sake of politics.
I was ashamed, but not at all surprised, to see that many Americans considered Jews as being different. It was 1940, the civil rights movement was still a generation away.
"American Holocaust" was a very interesting film. It was enlighting in the way that it showed how Jews were treated in the US. It was really disgraceful behavior in my opinion becuase Americans knew what was going on and they turned their backs. When that woman, I believe that she was the presidents cousins, said something along the lines of "20,000 charming children will soon turn into 20,000 ugly people". I was shocked by this statement and could not understand her mentality for saying such a horrible statement.
I agree with Fernando's comment in that it is good for us to know what happened here in the U.S. during the holocaust even though it was not a great reaction on behalf of the Americans, it was part of history and it is important that all relaize that.
When I was watching the "American and the Holocaust" I thought it was interesting how Germany wanted the Jews out but the process for them to leave was made nearly impossible. The discrimination that they faced was heart breaking to me. The fact that America could turn their backs on people in need was horrible.
I agree with Ellen and Natalie that the statistics were horrifying. The fact that Americans agreed that Jews were different and therefore should be restricted is just wrong.
While watching "American Holocaust" I realized that America could have done something to help the Jews during the holocaust but we turned our backs on them. This is wrong, I'm actually embarrassed, knowing that being an American, we let this happen. America had enough power to have prevented a number of Jews from being killed for no reason. I strongly believe this documentary should be shown in all history classes so that everyone is aware of what happened so that it doesn't happen again hopefully. America was a bystander.
I agree with Nicky, she is right, all the countries that decided not to help the Jews in Germany. I also agree that this should be watched by all high school students.
i think that the "american holocaust" is a movie that high school students should watch. I learned the extent of the discrimination against the jews. I think it is important for high school students to watch this because then they can see all the different angles and view of the holocaust and also i think its important that students see first hand how cruelly the jews were treated.
i agree with jenny that americans say how bad and awful the holocaust was yet we didn't help them when they needed it and we are in denial about it.
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