Dr. Nyiszli is pictured in the photo wearing the white lab coat when U.S. troops liberated Donau concentration camp.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
PERIOD 1 - THE GREY ZONE
Dr. Nyiszli is pictured in the photo wearing the white lab coat when U.S. troops liberated Donau concentration camp.
17 comments:
I was not here for the first day of the film, so when I came back the second day I was sort of confused as to what exactly was happening, why is everyone covered in dust, little did I know that the due they were all covered in was the ashes from the people they have been forced to put in the crematorium. I never would have thought that a movie could make me feel sick to my stomach, but this one did. Every time a Nazi solider would hold a gun up I would have to look away, because I knew that any second they would kill an innocent person just because they were Jewish. The last 10 to 15 minutes of this film really got to me the most. I was so happy when the Jewish workers rose up against the Nazi’s and destroyed the crematorium however that feeling of happiness did not last long, because as soon as they came up from underground, they were all forced to lay down and were shot one by one. This movie was something that truly opened my eyes to the horrors of the concentration camps, I know I must say that a lot, but I feel as though each movie helps me to learn and see for myself what it was like is Nazi Germany for the innocent Jewish people.
This was probably the most gut wrenching film i've ever watched in my life. I now know what Mr. Gallagher meant about the films getting more and more depressing. Seeing the smoke coming out of the stacks was a constant reminder of the horrors and the amount of lives lost at this camp alone. Then figure how many more camps there were that were doing the same exact thing. There were "shipments" of literally 10,000 people a day. One. day. Thats around half the population of Westborough being exterminated every single day, all year, at more than one camp. Seeing the atrocities these people committed was disgusting. Seeing how easily and remorsefully they killed people left me without words. After seeing the people who had survived the revolt laying on the ground being shot one at a time. Listening to the others be killed, waiting for their turn brought me as close to tears as I've ever come in this class. And seeing that little girl try to escape and be killed after all that she went through and all that she had seen just wasn't fair. This movie simply dumbfounded me.
This is a movie that simply leaves you speechless. While watching it i had an idea of what was coming however even though i sort of new it still felt like somebody was twisting a knot in my stomach as i watched the bodies being shoved into the fire by their only family members and being shot in the back. This movie was the hardest to watch out of all of the ones we have seen so far, but in a way i am glad that we watched it because of its realism to show what actually went on during the days at these camps. I was glad to see that some tried to rebel, that they worked together in some fashion to take down the Nazi's, yet i was disappointed when hungarian jews were arguing with polish jews and other denominations arguing with each other because they were all in the same situation trying to get the same thing and yet they were playing tug of war because of their backgrounds. This movie was one that really made me just sit back and take in what i had just seen.
This movie left me speechless. Whenever a Nazi soldier would hold up their gun to shot someone I had to turn away, but the loud gun sound would make me cringe every time. I think it is terrible that the Nazis didn't think a life is worth anything. They killed the Jews would worked at the camp for all sorts of little reasons, even though they had jobs helping do things for the Nazis. Also the way the Nazis lined people up and then shot them one by one so each person knew exactly when they would die. I also thought it was hard to watch the Jews being walked into the gas chambers and hearing them scream as they found out what was happening to them. Mr. Gallagher told us that we can't get a full perspective on the camps through just watching a movie, and I agree. However, hearing the Jews scream for their lives was something that left me with without words.
I have started typing five times now and on each one of those occasions I have deleted what i wrote. I think that is because I don't want to recall what I saw this week. It is very hard to put into words on a screen the feelings which are present after the viewing of this film. This morning I walked out of the classroom numb of my surroundings. Even right now I am still having trouble focusing long enough to type a comment. I think there are two things that need to be said and the rest is already scarred into each of us. Judgement cannot be passed on the actions of another. It simply cannot. To speak is not to act.
I have been thinking about what I wanted to write all day. I don't think I can. What I saw this week, in this film; I had never imagined seeing. Yes, I knew about what went on in the camps: the gassing, the crematoriums, the tortures. But I had never seen it. I have only imagined it. I walked away from class thinking "it's okay, it's just a movie. They are just actors." But that is not the case. That actually happened. That is the most haunting aspect of all of this. Mr. Gallagher said that we can't smell it. I could smell it. I could see it, and I could smell what it must have smelt like. I could hear it. I could hear the bodies burning in that sound of the fires in the background throughout the film. Watching this film was a sensory overload. Now that we have finished watching it, I've been trying to think about what I would have done. After thinking I would be too scared to stick up for myself, I realized that in the situation at hand, I would have thought "what the hell, I'm going to die anyway." To be honest, I would have just beat the shit out of some of the Nazis. I would have done whatever I could to just punish them. Even though it wouldn't do anything, I would have. I would take part in the uprising and then face my punishment. Because it's worth it. Those were my people. My people, being slaughtered. For no reason at all.
This was one of the most shocking and depressing film I've seen about the concentration camps. I knew what happened there with the gassing and burning of bodies but to see it is something completely different. The constant haze of the smoke and ashes and dead bodies is just repulsive. There were some scenes which made me just want to look away but I couldn't. This film was so compelling to watch and brought the concentration camps into a whole new perspective for me. I learned so much from this film. It really got to me when the Jews were forced to burn their own people sometimes even family members. There was a small time of happiness when the Jews rebelled against the Nazis but that was quickly taken away when they were laid on the ground and shot one by one until they all were dead. I couldn't even imagine what I would do if I were there. To deal with the pain, the torture and the constant fear that you could die and any point, at any time for no reason at all. Every day after watching this film I'd sit back and try and take in everything that I just saw. But it's hard, you can't just move on to period 2 like everything is okay. Those images don't just leave your mind because they're off the screen- they stay with you.
This film shocked me into what extent a human being can be abused and poorly treated. I felt sick especially during the scenes where the dead bodies were thrown into the fire to be burned. It was painful to watch this movie, even compared to the others as it in detain described what took place in the extermination camps. Even more sickening were the so called "medical experiments" performed on innocent Jewish victims. It was especially difficult for me to watch the part where the older man had o throw his murdered family into the flames. It is hard to comprehend the pain he must have felt to have wanted to kill himself. All the killing that went on was gruesome and even more upsetting is that the commandant was uneffected by it. It is hard to view the Nazis as human by looking at the atrocities they commited. This was easily the most unsettling movie i have ever seen.
I will never forget watching that Jewish man get beaten to death in the gas chambers. Never. That was the hardest thing to watch. I couldn't understand why that character did that. I would never judge because I wasn't there, I'm just genuinely confused.
I can't believe that girl died at the end. I mean, like the characters in the movie I wanted her to live so badly. I never thought about people still being alive in there. It made me sick to my stomach. The whole movie. Before this class I never thought ordinary people could be truly evil, but now I know they can be. Thousands of people, are evil. And millions are witnesses to that, yet did nothing. This is truly the saddest thing I have ever learned about. It's beyond tragedy, and like so many other people said, there are no words for this. All I can hope for is that nothing like this ever happens again. We all have a moral responsibility to make sure of that.
I was disturbed by the movie. seeing those piles of dead bodies being thrown into the fire like pieces of wood by fellow Jews was appalling. It is so sad to see what the Sonderkommandos were willing to do to keep themselves alive as well as shocking. The part that really stuck with me was when the Nazi officer shot the little girl as she ran away. The fact that a grown man could kill an innocent child who has done absolutely nothing was absolutely mind blowing. The film left me speechless.
For me this movie was very hard to watch. It was so hard to watch the people working in the crematoriums and throwing the people in to burn. I understand people do whatever it takes to live longer but I don't see how I'd be able to do any of the work some people had to do. It was also hard to watch how the Nazi's would line people up and just kill them. It's beyond comprehension that people could have done that. Everday we watched the film I left the class upset and throughout the day I would just think back to scenes in the movie. It really was hard to watch but in a way I'm glad I saw it because I now have a better understanding of what exactly took place in the camps.
For me this movie was very hard to watch. It was so hard to watch the people working in the crematoriums and throwing the people in to burn. I understand people do whatever it takes to live longer but I don't see how I'd be able to do any of the work some people had to do. It was also hard to watch how the Nazi's would line people up and just kill them. It's beyond comprehension that people could have done that. Everday we watched the film I left the class upset and throughout the day I would just think back to scenes in the movie. It really was hard to watch but in a way I'm glad I saw it because I now have a better understanding of what exactly took place in the camps.
This was one of the most powerful movies that I've seen. It really shows you how numbing the Holocaust was for some people loading family members into the ovens to become more dust that lingers in the air as there grabbing the next body. I can't even fathom the amount of anguish the people in the camps went through. In this time of desperation there is so much conflict, so much going through your head and the biggest obstacle is "I can't do anything". The fate of their own lives is out of there hands and they watch family members decisions just as quickly get stripped from them. When people make the decision to revolt even though they make a disturbance it's looked at as a small issue on the camp but in reality it's much more, it's that those people did something. They tried to do something they tried seeking as much revenge as they could. It's honorable but it's sad how even though the magnitude of the effort they reeped no benefits. It's most apparent in the final scene when they all get shot in the back while theyre laying face down and the girl who is supposed to live gets shot while running away. I wish the guy had missed his shot so the girl could run away for survival and to honor the bravery of those who made efforts in saving her. It was such a sad movie, Ive found my self at a loss for words
I was surprised at the fact how graphic this film was in the sense that it showed every aspect of the concentration camp. It not only showed how the prisoners of crematorium one responded to everyday actions, but rather how they went through the whole process just to live an extra day. I liked the rebellion because of only one reason, they died in honor. However that Jew girl that survived and died at the end, I thought was cruel by that Nazi officer just to have live that long only to die another day. Its disturbing and unfricking believable.
This movie was extremely emotional. In this movie, particularly, I never knew when a Nazi soldier was going to randomly pull out a gun and murder someone. It was all by surprise. This movie went in depth, inside of the gas chambers. It showed the Jews suffering, banging on the doors, pleading to get out. The image of that in my head is horrifying. I cannot imagine what was running through their minds during those last seconds of their life. The scene where it showed the bodies falling in the gas chamber was very emotional. However, this is a Hollywood film, it is still impossible to feel the intensity of the pain and suffering in the gas chamber. When the Jewish officer noticed the young Jewish girl who survived the gassing, he took her and held her hostage. The poor girl could hardly breathe or talk after being gassed. It really horrified me when she tried to break away, and the Nazi soldier pulls out a gun and shot her. If I remember correctly, I think this scene was in slow motion. The movie disgusted me in general. Jewish people participating in killing their own people. The lies they told to the other Jews is astonishing.
I really hope, after watching these movies, that people think twice before they insult Jewish people.
I was absent during this film.
I was absent during this film!
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