For the past few days you have been watching the documentary entitled, "Amen." As you know, the film is based on the testimony of Waffen SS officer Kurt Gerstein who visited Sobibor, Belzec, and Treblinka in August of 1942 and witnessed the mass gassing of thousands of Jews. Please post your thoughts about the film in the form of a letter.
26 comments:
I thought the film was very well put together and conveyed the seriousness of the Holocaust quite well. In the movie, there was no happy ending; the SS officer hung himself, and the preist was killed in Treblinka, after they both suffered immensely. I think this lack of a uplifting finale was perfectly appropriate; the Holocaust was not an uplifting time. Overall, i enojoyed the movie, despite how depressing it was.
Dear Shawn,
We watched a movie in a course called facing history and our self. The name of it was Amen. It was based on the Germans killing the Jews and mostly about how Hitler did so many wrong things. I was really shocked because even the Germans inside had no power or control. Some soldiers didn’t even know what they were sending in the train east ward. They thought they were sending goods and food. Yet, it was the Jews being sent to a camp and killed by gas. This movie was hurt full because no matter how much the SS leader tried to reach out to the Americans for help, they refuse to listen. He thought he was doing a wonderful thing by sending people for work or medicine. I thought that this film really touched me because when I saw how the Germans lied to everybody believing that they were going for work, it wasn’t true. They were put on a train and sent away for four days and night without no food or restrooms. They were put in small trains and could barely move. This was hurt full. When they arrived at the camp, they were forced to get off, and some had to go right to work. The Jews did nothing wrong to the Germans, but Hitler just wanted and felt like doing wrongs to others. So I send this to you to rent the movie if you want a better explanation.
Sincerely
Amos Omeler
Dear Shawn,
We watched a movie in a course called facing history and our self. The name of it was Amen. It was based on the Germans killing the Jews and mostly about how Hitler did so many wrong things. I was really shocked because even the Germans inside had no power or control. Some soldiers didn’t even know what they were sending in the train east ward. They thought they were sending goods and food. Yet, it was the Jews being sent to a camp and killed by gas. This movie was hurt full because no matter how much the SS leader tried to reach out to the Americans for help, they refuse to listen. He thought he was doing a wonderful thing by sending people for work or medicine. I thought that this film really touched me because when I saw how the Germans lied to everybody believing that they were going for work, it wasn’t true. They were put on a train and sent away for four days and night without no food or restrooms. They were put in small trains and could barely move. This was hurt full. When they arrived at the camp, they were forced to get off, and some had to go right to work. The Jews did nothing wrong to the Germans, but Hitler just wanted and felt like doing wrongs to others. So I send this to you to rent the movie if you want a better explanation.
Sincerely
Amos Omeler
Dear Wing,
Recently, I watched a movie in my Facing History and Ourselves class about the Holocaust. Many people tend to believe that all Germans were Nazis in World War II, but this movie proved otherwise. It was about a German SS officer named Kurt Gerstein and his experiences in World War II and the Holocaust. He inspected many concentration camps in Poland and saw the mass murder of the Jews inside the horrific gas chambers inside the camps. His conscience gets the best of him and he tries to inform many people about the Jews, including the American ambassador and the pope. However, no one listens to him and he ends up resigning from his post and filing a report to the French. He is imprisoned because of treason and when he reads the report he created, he is shocked to find out that the French criticized him because they think he didn’t do enough to protect the Jews. Crushed and devastated, he ends up getting hung, either by himself or by German SS officers. This movie really made me rethink the character of some Germans during this time. He tried to do everything in his power to help the Jews, but no one, not one person, cared enough to listen. They were too concerned about defeating Germany instead of caring for human lives. What really made me angry was that even the pope, who is supposed to be the Christian representative on Earth and care for human lives, didn’t care himself because he was afraid that the Germans will kill him. One priest under the pope listens to him and tries to help him too, but no one, including his father, listens. He makes a sacrifice and ends up gassed along with the other Jews in the concentration camp called Treblinka. The fact that everyone knew, and no one cared is the most disturbing part of all.
Sincerely,
Preetam Naini
Dear Nathan:
I am afraid to say that I have watched a movie that has haunted me day and night since I started watching it. In my Facing History and Ourselves class, we watched the movie “Amen!” I know we’ve learned about the Holocaust before, but this movie was something different. It showcased the story of Kurt Gerstein, an SS Officer who tried to warn the world of the mass extermination of the Jewish people. He did everything he could to stop it. He saw, with his own eyes, innocent people being gassed.
Gerstein went to the Vatican and tried to tell the Pope to do something. He tried to contact the French and British leaders. He did everything he could, but wasn’t successful. The movie was horrifying. The fact that a Nazi tried to stop this gave me hope at first, but that hope soon turned to sadness. The fact that the Pope didn’t do anything, everyone seemed to either brush it off or just refuse to believe him.
This movie was heart-breaking. I have to tell you the worst part for me was the trains of cattle cars that kept running back and forth. Just the sound of the train whistle made me short of breath. So many people were on the inside of those cars, approaching their doom. As if the Holocaust isn’t upsetting enough, it seems to make me feel worse that someone actually presented strong evidence, yet nothing was done about it. It makes my heart burn with rage.
-Mara
Dear Isa,
This week in Facing History we watched a movie called Amen! It was a story of someone who tried to make a difference in World War II and just…whoa. It told the story of an SS officer named Lt. Gerstein who witnessed the atrocities of the extermination camps and immediately recognized it as wrong and made it his life mission to tell others about what was happening so that other world powers would be able to stop it. He and a priest who heard his story tried everything they could. They took it to the ears of the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Cardinals and high ranking lay people in the Vatican, and even the Pope himself. Yet, every person they went to either didn’t believe them or they felt that they had to deal with diplomacy first before they could act to save human lives. The priest, Ricardo, became so distressed that he just went into the camps to work and was eventually killed. Gerstein surrendered to the Americans who didn’t believe his story and was found hanging in his cell a few weeks after his surrender. The Nazi’s who facilitated the killings managed to escape with the help of those who may or may not have known their true identities.
The emotions I felt during this film were indescribable. I felt anger towards the people who didn’t believe him or who chose not to act. I found myself not believing that people could just wave off these stories and chose not to act upon them even when they had been authenticated. I was ashamed of my Church for not acting. As Catholics we are obligated to help the people in the most deplorable conditions, no matter what their faith, age, race, gender. Seeing the Pope, the Pope, the holiest man on Earth refuse to take a stand and firmly act against these atrocities disgusted me. I was just plain saddened by the whole movie. However, my eyes were opened as well.
I really think you should watch this movie. It answered so many questions for me. It showed why people acted the way they did, even though I might not agree with it. Even though I never really felt good while watching it, I am so glad that I did. I’ve been talking with other people in this class and we all agree that this should be mandatory for all WHS students to take. I’ve learned through this movie and this course what it means to be a bystander, and how imperative it is that I do not remain one. If I could, I would take you here and have you experience this course. The feelings I am left with are truly indescribable.
Your Grandson,
Andrew
Dear Maureen, I have been watching a very interesting movie in my facing history and ourselves class called “Amen”. When we first put the movie in on a dark Monday morning all I wanted to do was go to sleep, but as soon as the movie started it was full of action from the beginning. It started with a man running down a hall we did not know who the man was or where he was going, the most interesting part was when he revealed all of the horrible events that are happening at the concentration camps no one believed him and then to save himself from the horrible things that do happen at that camp he killed himself in front of the church. This was a very monumental moment in the film something so emotional and serious happening within the first five minutes in the movie. This however was only the tip of the iceberg.
Whenever people learn about the holocaust you often hear about the people suffering in the camps, and ask why didn’t anybody do anything about it? Well this movie takes you on the journey with SS officer Kurt Gerstein who gets to witness first hand all the terrible things happening in these camps, and tries his best to stop them through lies about the gases being defective, and going to the Vatican numerous times throughout the movie pleading with diplomats, pleading with archbishops, and finally even having his new friend Ricardo a priest at the Vatican. Every time Gerstein goes and pleads to the people to ask for help, and to stop the mass killings at the camp the church might say things like “we need proof” or “the Jews are not our problem they are not members of the church”. These quotes here outraged me since our family has been members of the Catholic Church our whole life and I love to try and believe that the Catholic Church cares for everyone and would try to love everyone and help those who are suffering no matter what religious background they may be.
Parts of this movie really outraged me but what was even worse was within the last 15 minutes of the movie the nice priest Ricardo volunteers to go to the concentration camp and is forced to work in the chimneys, when Gerstein goes to the camp to try and save Ricardo, he won’t leave saying that he has seen too much and needs to stay with these people. After this you find out Ricardo was killed, because when they were sorting out the clothing from the dead people they pull out a priests robe. And just when you think it can’t get any worst after the soldiers use Gerstein’s testimony to prove what the Nazis did he was later found hung in his cell, while all of the Nazi’s got help from the Vatican to go to Argentina.
This movie outraged me, made me sad, and made me truly think about the holocaust in a new way, I would highly suggest you see it so you can also have this new understanding of the horrors that happened in Nazi Germany.
-Molly
Dear Amy,
This week in Facing History we watched a movie called “Amen!” I thought this movie was upsetting because it showed that tons of people knew about what was happening to the Jews during the Holocaust, but only a few did anything about it. The main character in the film was a German SS officer Kurt Gerstein, who used his knowledge and status in order to try and help the Jews. He showed a lot of bravery when trying to protect the Jews. When he did this he put his life and his family’s lives in danger; however, Gerstein knew he could not be a bystander as thousands of Jews were being killed every day. The majority of Europeans acted like bystanders in this situation, and although they were not punished for this, many Jews were killed because of it.
There were many scenes that really stood out to me, but one of the ones that stood out the most was when a group of mentally retarded children were put into gas showers and killed. All the children were so happy but due to their mental disabilities they had no clue what was about to happen to them; one girl even had a bar of soap that she held up towards the shower head waiting for water. Another reoccurring scene that I thought was powerful was when trains transporting Jews were shown. You were always able to tell if Jews were on the train, or if they had just been dropped off at the concentration camps depending on whether the train doors were open or not. The train was roughly twelve carts long, and it flashed to these trains so often that you were able to come to an estimate of how many Jews were killed every day. It was so sad to watch.
Overall I think this movie showed that fear is a reason why people act as bystanders. People in Germany and other parts of Europe were afraid of the SS, the Nazis and the truth about what was really happening to the Jews and Gypsies. This fear was a hard barrier for people to break through, so getting a group of people to fight against something was nearly impossible.
-Michelle
Dear Kensie,
Over the past couple days, my Facing History class watched the movie Amen. I thought the movie was absolutely fantastic, despite its depressing plot. The movie is based on the perspectives of two different men; an SS officer and an Italian priest. The SS officer is unlike most of his comrades in the sense that he is not a supporter of the mass murder of Jews. He sees a large group of Jews being gassed at Treblinka and is deeply disturbed at the sight. At a loss for what to do, he heads off to ask the Catholic Church to seek assistance. There he meets an Italian priest who shares his distaste for the cruel behavior towards the Jewish population. The two men both work incredibly hard and risk their lives and the lives of their families to put an end to this barbarism, but sadly to no avail. The SS officer is put in jail and hangs himself soon after. The Italian priest is killed in Treblinka after witnessing the gruesome fates of Jews in the crematorium. There is a silver lining, though. The SS officer’s report on all that he had seen was used years later to help authenticate the Holocaust, which is very important because without documentations like this, this horrific historic even could easily have been swept under the rug, and millions of people would have died in vain. I think you should watch this movie because it is so incredibly important that everyone is well informed about this topic; we absolutely MUST NOT forget; it would not do the victims justice, and we must be educated enough to not allow this to happen ever again. This movie really got me thinking, and I’m sure it will do the same for you.
Sincerely, Julie
Dear Lyndsey and Billy,
Recently, in my facing history class we watched a film entitled Amen about a remarkable man who did all he could to prevent Nazis from mass murdering Jews.
There are a few ways to look at this man, either evil for being an SS Lieutenant who created the gas used during the mass killings. Or more of a hero, for attempting to stop the shipment of his gas, create minor problems and even attempt to inform the Pope of all of the atrocities. Yet this isn’t really what spoke out to me about the film. This was a different type of film, it wasn’t about soldiers or resistance, and it was about a German not Nazi Soldier. Although this film was tough to handle, I enjoyed it. I liked to see a different side to this terrible story. I liked to see that not all German’s were evil people, and that some did what they could to prevent the extermination of a people. At the same time, this film made me very angry. I was disappointed on numerous occasions due to the fact that nobody would listen or believe what the lieutenant was saying. The Pope and Cardinals of the Vatican wouldn’t intervene. The British and USA representatives weren’t convinced. And if any of these people were convinced, they wouldn’t do anything to try and help these people. It’s not that these people didn’t know what was going on; they just decided it would be better to remain on the sidelines. The people were living in denial, “The Jews aren’t being taken to extermination camps, and they are being taken to labor camps! The military needs all of the help it can get.” This was a very common response from people and it’s disgusting to hear how arrogant some people were.
I just thought that I would share my thoughts with you because I was touched not only by this film, but also by this lieutenant. I have learned much about what happened during the Holocaust, and also about myself. Its doesn’t make me feel good, but it gives me so hope to believe that not all German people were evil like their horrid leader. I have had many different emotions many negative while watching these films. Either remorse for the Jewish people or anger toward the Nazis. These are what have changed my outlook on people today and my overall thinking about different situations.
- Sincerely
Ryan Sciba
Dear Mom,
Recently, my Facing History and Ourselves class watched a film called Amen! This movie is about a SS Nazi Soldier and his fight to expose the truth about what the Nazis were really doing with the Jews. This man, Kurt Gerstein, is in charge of producing chemicals that killed parasites and diseases in the Nazi work camps. Little did he know that the chemicals he was making were actually being used to exterminate people in the work camps. He is visually very disturbed when he witnesses this act being committed, with the chemicals he is responsible for, and this set him off on a mad dash to expose the horrendous crimes being committed. Unfortunately, the Nazi Army was very powerful and everyone who he contacted to help him refused because they feared what would happen to them. The only person who would help him was a priest from the Vatican; not even the Pope would help, even after Gerstein provided evidence of the mass killings.
Personally, this movie was very upsetting and disturbing to me. It upset me that a group of “normal” people such as the Nazis could bring themselves to knowingly participate in the killing of millions of people. Furthermore, I found it very disturbing that Gerstein was not informed of the true usage of the chemicals he thought he was making to kill disease and vermin. He was lied to and misled, and then when he did find out what was really going on, he was still forced to make the chemicals. He reached out to everyone he possibly could in the fight to expose what was happening in these camps. 200,000 people a day were being killed and their bodies were burned in an attempt to cover the killings up. No one would listen to him. No one would help him. Everyone just acted as bystanders and allowed the mass exterminations to happen while they pretended they had no knowledge of what was occurring. It is mind blowing to me that something of this magnitude can happen and that no one else tried to stop it. Gerstein risked both his own life and the life of his family in order to do what he thought was right. Why wouldn’t anyone help him? Why didn’t anyone seem to care that every day over 200,000 women, children and men were being killed? It seems as though as long as they weren’t the ones being killed or taken away from their homes and any sense of normalcy, that they simply turned their heads the other way. I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that so many people did nothing and just watched it happen. It is upsetting that the sense of human empathy is nowhere to be found. It is depressing that Gerstein and the Priest gave up their own lives in order to make a tremendous effort to stop the horrible things that were happening in these Nazi “work” camps. Although it may seem unbelievable, if I was given a chance to stop all the hurt these poor, innocent people had to go though, I wouldn’t even think about it, I’d just do it; I would rather risk my own life then watch families be torn apart, watch people be murdered in cold blood, and watch everyone around me turn their heads as though nothing was happening. It would be worth it to me to know I had at least tried my best, even if I didn’t successfully put an end to the terrible crimes. And that would be a whole hell lot more than everyone else in Europe did.
Dear Pops,
The movie we just watched in my Facing History class was called Amen. The movie took place when the Nazi’s were in power and the concentration camps were running. The story was about a SS officer who worked as a water purifier for the Nazi’s who later ended up being a part of the mass gassing because of his knowledge on chemicals. When he witnessed what went on in the gas chambers he then felt differently about the Nazi’s and what they were doing. After being a witness to the gassings, he tried to tell people in order to stop all the killing. No one listened to him except a priest of the Vatican. After many attempts to tell people, he finally tried to sabotage the shipments of the chemicals coming into the camps. No one listened to him and he was finally sent to jail because one of the Nazi leaders found out what he was doing. Before he went to jail he found all the evidence and testified against the Nazi’s for what they were doing. He then died in jail from being hung, but his story was heard and his evidence was taken into consideration. His evidence was a later found to be true and helped tell the story of the Holocaust.
This movie was very hard to watch because there was someone trying to do the right thing but no one listened to him. This should be a lesson that you should always listen to what someone has to say because otherwise something like this could end up happening. If only people had listened to him then there might have been a chance that some of the people that got killed could have been saved. It was definitely an emotional movie but I am very glad I got to watch it. I recommend you watch the movie because it changes how you think and it made me more aware of how corrupt Germany and people really were.
Love,
Robby
Dear Lauren,
I watched this movie in my facing history class the other day and it made me angry. An ss officer who was in charge of gathering and retrieving shipments of gas and making sure that they were used properly in the camps, tried to do the right thing by making and effort to stop the mass murders of the Jews. After he witnesses Jews being gassed, he went to his pastor and tried to inform the gestapo officers. They did not believe him so he went on to talk to the Vatican because he believed if he could get the pope to listen to him he would be able to inform all Christians of what was going on. His first attempt at telling the pope what was happening failed he did not want to hear what Gerstein had to say. Fortunately one of the priests at the Vatican believed Gerstein’s story and wanted to help. The Vatican ends up doing nothing about it and the priest who believe Gerstein ends up going to one of the camp due to his disappointment that his people did nothing about what they had heard. He dies in a crematorium. Gerstein ends up being persecuted for the “crimes” he committed and the doctor working at the camp who was completely fine with the mass murdering of the Jews escaped to Argentina.
It angers me that the people who try to do the right thing in this movie get killed while those who had no remorse for those who were being murdered escape. It also angered me that they watched the Jews while they were being gassed to death. It is unfathomable to think that there are people who are not fazed by killing people.
Sincerely,
Naloti Palma
Dear Mimi,
I just watched the movie Amen and it made me think a lot about our duty as a part of mankind. You see, there are German soldiers who belong to the SS, which is a part of the Nazi government. One of those soldiers mistakenly witnessed the concentration camps in action, and what he described will forever stay in my mind. He talked about mothers and their infants clinging to them while in the gas chambers, and fathers huddling around their families in their last moments. It was pretty heartbreaking to hear, especially because after seeing that this guy had the chance to go home that night and see his children. They will always be safe, yet 10,000 Jewish people were being killed every day. It didn’t matter about their age or gender; they were exterminated like “vermin” are supposed to be. It’s truly sickening. I am writing to you because you are one of the most compassionate people I know, and I want you to understand what I’ve been learning about. If you understand, you can continue to raise awareness, show compassion, and sympathize when people today are discriminated against in any way.
I think it’s important that we question mankind when it comes to how this happened. How could people have enough hatred in their hearts to kill 13 million innocent people? How did this attitude of anti-Semitism start, and become accepted? How could the Catholic Church not publicly condemn the Nazi’s or take action? How could the United States and so many other governments stand by while people were persecuted and put in death camps? We need to know these things. While it will always be impossible for good people to wrap their heads around this, we must still attempt to understand. If we continue to be ignorant we cannot change our world. It is our responsibility to the people who were killed by the Holocaust to do this. If we do not, we are saying that they do not matter. And nothing could be further from the truth. Many people chose to be bystanders when these people were alive, but a new generation can choose not to be and honor them in death. I think that is what’s so important. It’s about one person standing up for the little guy and taking action. We must be just in an unjust world. That SS officer tried to help. He tried to save the Jewish people by delaying and ruining gas supplies for the death camps. He went to the United States. He went to the Vatican. And he got nothing. Nothing at all, Mimi. Nobody helped him. It’s tragic. I think we must have enough courage to be the rescuers for others in this world, because one day it could be us that needs the rescuing.
Love,
Jessica
Dear Mr. Robert Conley,
I recently watched a film on the progression of and resistance against the Holocaust called Amen. The movie was centered around the nonfictional character of an S.S. officer in Nazi Germany named Kurt Gerstein who was put in charge of a concentration camp. His job was to effectively create efficient methods for and supervise the gassing of thousands of Jews. Shocked and horrified at what he’d witnessed, he went to Vatican City to try and spread awareness as to the atrocities being committed every day by the German people. He didn’t make any progress in that aspect, but at the Vatican, he met a young priest who had also seen what was happening to the Jews. Together, they campaigned the pope to address the followers of the Catholic church on the matter, always emphasizing the fact that thousands were dying each day. All this time, Gerstein was living his life as an S.S. officer in a concentration camp; he was putting his life and the lives of his family members at risk by trying to aid the Jews. Eventually, when the end of the war and the German Reich was upon the horizon, Gerstein was imprisoned and hanged, possibly by his own hand. However, his reports contributed to the confirmation of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust, and even to the existence of the Holocaust itself. This film portrayed a sickening reality in which the good guys are killed off and the bad guys get away unscathed. It bothered me that even after someone had ordered the execution of an innumerable quantity of human beings, they could just slither away like nothing happened. Regardless, though, the world isn’t perfect, and I can’t expect justice to come to each and every individual who committed a crime against humanity.
Sincerely,
Justin Cole
Dear Gramma,
The past couple days in my first period class we’ve been watching a film called “Amen”. It has been telling the true story of a Nazi S.S. Officer, Kurt Gerstein, who tried to stop the genocide of millions of Jews and Gypsies. When he finds out the chemical he created to kill vermin and toxins is actually being used to exterminate hundreds of humans at a time he is horrified.
He tries to stop this catastrophe by spreading the words, to the German people, to the allied countries, and to the Catholic Church. He convinces an influential priest to send his message to the Pope. This priest, Riccardo, become more adamant about solving this problem than anyone else. He tries as hard as possible to persuade the Pope and his cardinals to publicly denounce the treatment of the Nazi towards the Jew. Riccardo is consistently unsuccessful so he decides to become a martyr for the cause, going personally to a concentration camp. When he arrives the Germans are shocked a catholic priest was brought here and consider sending him back. They ultimately decide he has seen too much and must die in the gas chambers.
At this point it is clear to most Germans that Germany is going to lose the war and all Nazi will be guilty of severe war and humanitarian crimes. Gerstein chooses not to leave his home of Germany and is sent to a French war camp where he pleads his case that he tried to stop the mass murders. Another S.S. Officer, a friend of Gerstein, flees and finds refugee in Rome where he is then guaranteed a passage out of Europe. Gerstein is found hanged in his jail cell. He presumable killed himself.
This movie shows how unjust this world really is. In the end it leaves you with a haunting image of hopelessness and oppression. Through all of this you see how one S.S. Officer had the courage and faith to do something though. Too many times nobody does anything and that’s how such horrible things are allowed to escalate to such unimaginable size.
Love,
Derek
Dear John Arnold Sr.,
In my facing history class this past week we watched a film called Amen. This film was about how one man tried to stop the Holocaust, and died in doing so. This man was a head officer of the S.S. which meant that he had access to almost anything; this also meant that he saw everything as well. When Gerstein was brought to one of the concentration camps he saw whole families of Jews and Gypsies being gassed in chambers that he had designed. He was one of the few that had a gut instinct that what the Nazi’s were doing was wrong. He immediately knew that he had to tell somebody, so that’s just what he did. He went to multiple sources who he thought were not going to be able to say no to him, who he thought were going to immediately take action and do something enough so that the whole process would be stopped and millions of lives would be saved. However he thought wrong, to his surprise almost everyone he went to did not believe him, or thought he was crazy and betraying his country. People could not even comprehend the idea of Jews being loaded onto trains to be brought to death, they were told that the Jews were going to work camps and they believed that their government would never lie to them. Out of all the men that Gerstein went to only one had faith in him and his story, a catholic priest. Gerstein thought that this would be it the priest would be able to reach higher powers in the church and have this craziness stopped, but to the priests disbelief the pope and cardinals had other things to worry about and said that they would simply pray for the victims. Attempt after attempt was made to stop the concentration camps and to let people know what was really going on and each time came a big rejection. The hopelessness that Gerstein and the priest felt was so great that it could be compared to the victims of 9/11 who saw the planes coming and knew there was no chance in survival.
At the end of the movie the Priest had gotten onto a train that was heading to one of the camps. When he got off he was taken into the dining hall of the Nazi’s and asked what he was doing because they knew by his dress attire that he in fact was not a Jew but rather a Catholic Priest. They decided to treat him like all the other Jews and keep him in the camp. Gerstein was sent to decide what his faith was and instead was caught for falsifying documents. The priest died amongst thousands of Jews in the gas chambers to give the ultimate sacrifice because he knew he was not going to be able to go back to the church and explain what had happened and have people actually believe him. Gerstein was found hanged and they never knew if he did it to himself or if it was done by the cruel and inhuman acts of the Nazi’s.
This film showed that there were people in the S.S. command under Hitler’s rule that believed what was being done was wrong. It was a good feeling to know that they all were not bad however it was a heart wrenching thought to watch as Gerstein tried and tried to stop the process and nobody believed him. I write to you because you were alive during the Holocaust even though you were young, and you would be the one in our family to have the greatest connection.
Sincerely your favorite granddaughter,
Briana Arnold
Dear Sir Justin Cole,
I would like to allot this time to share with you a video that I have recently watched in the class Facing History and Ourselves called Amen. This film follows the experiences of a Waffen SS officer Kurt Gerstein who was responsible for making the chemical agent used to gas the Jews in the concentration camps. At first he believed that the chemical agent he was developing and manufacturing was being used in order to purify water to prevent diseases such as Typhus. However, he discovers the truth of the chemical’s use when he is given a tour of the concentration camp. Horrified at the atrocities, he tries everything in his power to warn the allies and also takes steps to warn the Catholic Church. However, when giving this information to the bishop in Germany, he is ignored, but a Jesuit priest takes interest in this information and tries to help Gerstein. The priest does this by travelling all the way to the Vatican City and attempting to warn the pope about these atrocities, however, he is told that patience is necessary and the church does little to nothing about it, not even denouncing the murder of Jews. Meanwhile, Gerstein does everything he can to slow down the shipment of the chemical to the camps, by lying about product quality and coming up with transportation mistakes. Eventually Gerstein goes with the priest to personally inform the Vatican, but when he arrives in the city he is denied an audience with the pope by the cardinal. The priest, in a last bid to get the Vatican to take action, puts a Star of David on his robes and travels with the Jews from Rome into a concentration camp where the officers are shocked but treat him as a Jew eventually. Gerstein, then links up with the U.S and French army and delivers them the information on the camps, but is arrested and is accused with not doing enough to stop the holocaust. In the meanwhile, the other high ranking SS officer, through the help of the Vatican, is arranged to escape to Argentina.
This movie made me extremely depressed and gave me no sense of hope as Gerstein’s pleas for action to be taken to stop the holocaust fell on deaf ears. What is even sadder for me was the ignorance of the church toward the fact that millions of Jews were being slaughtered. This is especially difficult for me as I am a devout Catholic and cannot believe that my church, which is supposed to uphold the morals of the world and is supposed to spread the will of Jesus, would simply ignore the mass murder of millions. What is even more shocking is that some of the clergy even went to help Nazi’s escape. This was definitely a movie in which the bad guys won.
Sincerely,
Robert Conley
Dear Mom,
In my first period class, Facing History and Ourselves, we watched the film “Amen!” and I learned a lot more about the Holocaust, human nature, and the effects of religion. This movie portrayed Kurt Gerstein (an SS soldier’s) perspective on the horrors of the Holocaust and how he reacted to them. He begged and pleaded to try to help the Jewish people and to stop all of the criminal acts that were taking place. When Kurt Gerstein realized that his invention, zyklon B, was used to murder the Jews, he decided to go against the SS by informing the Catholic Church. He reached out to one of the priests, Ricardo, who also tried to stop the murdering of the Jews. No matter how hard he tried, nobody was willing to listen to him and eventually he was hanged.
This movie, in my opinion, makes me question why religion exists. If it weren’t for religion, the Holocaust would have never happened. I know my opinion might offend others who may be religious but I don’t understand how people can believe in religion after the Holocaust happened. Nobody was willing to help the Jews because of their religion. People were willing to be silent and watch millions of innocent people die right in front of them. Everyone during the time knew about what was happening and many of them were in denial. The fact that people were so unwilling to help makes me absolutely furious because in religion, people are encouraged to help others. However, in this movie, this did not occur.
I enjoyed this movie because it is the first time we have seen an SS soldier’s perspective, who happens to be sympathetic towards the Jews. He was one of the few soldiers who had their heads on straight and realized that he was participating in mass murder of millions of innocent people.
I encourage you to watch this movie,
Renata
Dear Tommy,
In my facing history class, we just finished watching a film called Amen, which followed a man named Gerstein through a very difficult event during the Holocaust. Gerstein was the Nazi sanitation department head and was inspecting the use of zylon b gasses that the Nazis were using for “disinfecting the population”. Obviously not knowing what the concentration camps were about, Gerstein allowed shipment of the gas to the camps until he was able to view what was going on in the chambers themselves and decided that there was something that needed to be done about what the Nazis were hiding from the rest of the world. He befriends a priest by the name of Ricardo, who works in the Vatican and has a connection to the pope, which is why he is so valuable as a friend for Gerstein, because he would be able to get the pope to speak all over Europe to tell the world what was happening to that resistance would be able to end the crisis. In his desperate attempt to gain people who believe his story, Gerstein fails to reach the pope or the American embassies who ignore him because of lack of evidence, and he shortly is found hung in his cell after the high-ranking Nazi’s convict him of betraying his people.
This movie I believe was the most influential of the films viewed in class because it mentally changed my view of how I should be as a person. Gerstein stepped up against his own people and his own beliefs in order to try to save people that did not deserve the punishment they were given. What made me the most emotional about the film was the fact that the acting was so good that it showed how outrageous his claims were to the pope and the Americans and the fact that they ignored him so quickly because it seemed impossible for concentration camps to be set up. I think it’s very important for a student like me to see that it is important not to be a bystander, because in the Holocaust, the bystanders did nothing because they were afraid and ended up assisting in killing millions of people, but instead be the resistance because if you stand up for something you believe in, then the people who you resist against should now be in fear. If I were in Gerstein’s position I would make that effort to save the Jews and to be more aggressive in presenting my evidence and get as much attention as possible to end the crisis because the Jewish people would be depending on me to make that change and I would do anything to allow justice to be found. This film not only affected me because I’m Jewish, but because it brought out the same mentality I have in being the resistance and doing what is right and not stopping for anything. I appreciate your time in reading this letter on my opinions about Amen and I greatly recommend your viewing as soon as you get the chance.
Sincerely,
Matthew Davis
Dear, Ivan
I watched this movie called “amen” during my facing history class. It was a very interesting movie to watch because the Nazis had a lot of power and were controlling what the priests did because of their religion. The Nazis basically made all the catholic priests just follow all their orders. I could see why the priests were doing that because they didn’t want the Nazis to kill them and wanted to stay alive. I would’ve done the same if I were in that situation.
If I were one of the priests and saw some of the Jews get killed for no reason I would try to do something because the Jews that died during the holocaust never did anything to anyone that made them get killed and be put into concentration camps. I know if I did anything I would’ve been killed by a Nazi. Basically throughout the movie, a priest saw all these Jews get killed and tortured and he didn’t do anything to save the innocent Jews. He couldn’t do anything because if he did, he would just be killed like the other Jews. I knew if I were that priest, I would’ve been so shocked to see all the innocent jews die right in front of me.
I know you will find this movie good but very hard to watch. Just seeing the Nazis kill the jews will make you get mad and want to do something. I know everytime I see a nazi kill a jew I wanna just be there and do something about it.
sincerely
Brian Macario
Dear Dad,
I recently watched “Amen” in my facing history class and I have mixed emotions about this movie. This movie affected me in many different ways due to how much power the Nazi’s had. I had an idea of what the Nazi’s were doing to the Jews, but after watching this movie, I could see it from a different point of view and in a different way. I can’t even imagine being able to live back then as a Jew and I give them a lot of credit.
If I were in this situation, it would be a tough choice whether or not to fight back. The Nazi’s were a powerful force and many people did not know what to do. One mistake could kill many people and the Nazi’s did not care how many people they killed, they just wanted all the Jews exterminated. This movie takes place during the holocaust and this was a very tough time for many people. Many of the Jews lost family members or never saw them again. The catholic priest witnessed all the Jews getting murdered and tortured and didn’t do anything the save them from being tortured. I would hope to hear that someone would do something to help them, but since the Nazi’s were so strong and powerful, there was nothing that could be done to save them so more and more Jews were being exterminated.
I find it disappointing that many people do not believe that the holocaust happened. People do their best to try and change history and what they believe in and I find it disappointing. People put in a lot of work to make a movie like this to prove that the holocaust happened.
Sincerely,
Greg
Dear Dad,
During Facing History and Ourselves, we watched a movie called “Amen! “. It was about an SS agent named Kurt Gerstein who was taken view a concentration camp, and witnessed countless Jewish women and children being murdered, right before his eyes. He was completely outraged, and he knew that is was wrong. He went straight to the Pope, and they didn’t listen at first. There was an assistant that took it very seriously and went back to Gerstein and did something about it. This SS agent risked his life, and his family to do what was right. He tried his hardest to stop the atrocities at hand that were being kept from the general public. He was eventually found hanged, and the priest was murdered. No one to this day knows if Gerstein was murdered, or if he hanged himself. I personally believe that he was murdered by the Nazi’s for betraying them. I thought this movie was very sad and depressing, because all he did was try to do what was right, and he was willing to put everything on the line for it. He eventually was killed for it. Despite the fact that this movie was disturbing, I thought it was a very good film. I thought the story was very moving, and it shows that there are a lot of brave and courageous people in this world, that will do whatever it takes to do what they believe in. Regardless of the fact that he was a Nazi, he was a hero in my book.
Sincerely,
Matt DeRusha
Dear Richard,
During Facing history and ourselves, we viewed a movie called “Amen!” It is a movie about Kurt Gerstein a SS officer who is betraying his country because he hated how the Nazi’s were exterminating the Jewish community. He goes to great lengths and talks to many people to try to get someone to stop it. This man is probably one of the bravest people in the SS. I’m sure there were many other SS officers that did not agree with the things that were going on and they seemingly did not try to stop it at all. It takes a lot of bravery to stand up to the Nazi state like that, just one man trying to stop the mass killing of Jews, and the worst part was that no one would listen to him, He must have been extremely disheartened by this and it is hard to believe he kept trying after all that. He was ultimately unsuccessful, he put all that effort into it and risked his life and his family’s life, and he wasn’t even the one who stopped the killing in the end. During the course of his attempts he met a young Priest named Ricardo who became his friend at the Vatican and his connection to the Pope, unfortunately the Pope knew about the killings but did not want to pick sides in the war, Ricardo never gave up though, he gave his life to try to show the Pope what was going on, by putting himself on the train to the camps. Kurt Gerstein was accused of not trying hard enough to stop the attempts, at the end of the war he was imprisoned, and found hung in his cell, whether it was by his own hand or someone else’s he was still a brave man.
From,
Logan Trainor
December 16, 2011
Dear Steve,
I have been watching a film in my Facing History class over the past few days called Amen. It is about a Waffen-SS Officer named Kurt Gerstein. The whole point of the film is that Gerstein was one of the few people during WWII that had decided to alert the enemies of Nazi Germany on what was actually happening in Germany.
Since Gerstein was an SS Officer he had a few more privileges, one of these was to see the operations of the concentration camps up close. He was the mastermind behind a deadly gas referred to as Zyklon B to eliminate typhus, yet it is now being used for another reason altogether. It is being used to exterminate the vermin otherwise known to the rest of the world as Jews. A way to stop the madness of this is to notify someone who would believe him and publicize the message, someone of great power and respect. It dawns on him as he should contact the deacon of the local church in order to get a message across at the Vatican. However the deacon won’t believe an SS Officer and it seems as if its curtains for him, but a young Catholic priest by the name of Ricardo goes off to the Vatican at once to see his father and the pope in hope of alarming the surrounding countries and the US to bomb Germany. Through many perils they both must face, but in the end, they both lose the fight.
All in all I thought the movie was great, not because it shows the methods of exterminating Jews or the fact that an SS Officer and a local priest try to convince the Vatican that Germany is doing something terribly wrong. But it is for the reason that a few Nazis even those in the higher ranks like the SS even viewed at what was happening to the Jews as horrible. Gerstein was one of these people. Also the movie felt intense, as if something was about to happen at any moment.
Your Friend,
Aidas
I was absent for this blog.
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