The motion picture,
The Pianist is the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman who was one of the most accomplished musicians in Poland in the 1930s. This film does an excellent job of explaining why it became impossible for the Jewish people living in Europe to escape the Nazis and the plight of hundreds of thousands of Jews living in Warsaw, Poland. What did you learn from the film that you did not know before?
36 comments:
I was not in class for this assignment.
From this film I really learned the levels of deception the Nazi's used when sedning the jews to extermination camps. I also learned that there was a jewish police force in existance, operating with minimal Nazi Officer oversight. This movie was powerful and it truly makes the subject of the Holocaust come to life, and show its true colors.
I was absent for this assignment
From this film I learned how the nazis used the Jewish people to control each other through the use of jewish "police" in the ghettos. Through this they were able to create a divide, making it easier to manipulate their captives. I also never realized how hopeful, to no avail, the polish people were once France and Great Britain declared war on Germany only to realize it would take awhile to receive any physical help.
I agree with James that the elaborate planning behind the nazis schemes was mo than I ever could have previously comphended. They deceived not only the Jewish people but went to such extremes that other countries did not believe the atrocities, causing them to take longer to take action.
I did not know that the Jews were taken out of their homes and moved into the ghettos. I also did not realize that their lives would be so hard there. Seeing the starving childen and adults go to extremes to get food was heart breaking. The Nazis were able to gain all of their power by crushing the Jewish people in every aspect of their lives.
Molly's point about having the Jewish police in society was important. I also never realized how much of an influence they had and how much the Nazis used that influence to their advantage.
While I was watching the movie, I kept trying to think of a word that would describe it best, and the only word I could think of was "repugnant". I could not believe what I was watching at some points. For example, when the Nazi's threw that grandfather in the wheelchair off the balcony. They just picked him up and threw him off so effortlessly, like they weren't even doing anything bad at all. I just couldn't believe what I was watching. I agree with James. It was a truly powerful movie and it really made the holocaust more personal for me.
From watching The Pianist in class I did not learn anything new. I’ve seen this movie twice before this class. When I first saw the movie a few years ago I did not realize the Nazis had to use Jewish police to keep control in the ghettos. I realize how it makes sense for many Jews to join the police because it helped them get through it all. The amount of brutality used by the police was what really surprised me.
I agree with James that the Jewish police did have a very small amount of Nazis keeping an eye on them. It would have been easy for them to do something else but instead they stayed very brutal to other Jewish people
We have learned all about propaganda throughout this course we also learned about why the Nazis started to hate the Jews. However this thing that was very interesting to me was that even after all of the brain wash how could a human being bring themselves to do what they are doing. What I saw in the movie made it all seem real to me the one that was the most shocking was how the body was beaten to death for bringing food back into the ghetto. Again I don’t know how a human could do that to another human without even feeling bad.
Molly's post about the Jewish police was very true. It also suprised me that they would harm there own kind.
This film was by far the most effective one for me personally. I found myself horrified at the evil tortures the Jewish people in Warsaw had to endure. I can honestly say that this treatment of people was disgusting. Forcing people to go against their own communities and families is absolutely evil. The most memorable scene of the movie is when the officers barged into the family’s home and throwing the man in the wheelchair off of the balcony; forcing the rest to run from their inevitable deaths. This made me sick to my fucking stomach, and that in itself is an understatement. I learned how much people will take advantage of their power and how warped the mindsets of the Nazis really was, to watch these people suffer like they did in entertainment, feeling as though any of this behavior was justified, not feeling any remorse. Factually I learned that Jews became officers and turned against their own people in this manner to stay alive, I didn’t know that before.
This was a very moving film from my perspective. It made me see how many lengths the Nazi's went to and made me shudder at what they were willing to do. I learned that they really controlled people by using food and water as an incentive. I also learned what Molly Burke was saying about how they divided the Jews in groups in order to manipulate them easier. It's still crazy to think how disgustinly smart the Nazi's were at hurting people.
What I learned from the part of the film that I was able to see was how brutal that Nazis were. I can’t believe the things that I saw in the film, I know it’s just a movie but I felt like everything I was watching was real. The way the man was thrown off the balcony like he was nothing was disgusting. I never thought any person could have not enough emotion to realize what they were doing was wrong.
I also agree with James in that the movie made the holocaust more real to us. It made us see what the time was actually like, rather than just saying Hitler was bad and move on from that subject.
I'd have to say the main thing which I learned after watching the portion of this film was the extent of human nature when in conflicts such as the Holocaust. For example, the Jewish police was enacted and enlisted certain Jews, mainly as a result of social standing/class. These selected Jews then punished and scared the other Jews with their power, all in order to ensure that they would have a better chance at survival.
I side with Sarah. Seeing how far Jews would go to get food and all was startling.
What I learned from watching "The Pianist" is that there were Jews who were police. I didn't think that could be a possibility because of the deep hatred the Nazi's had for Jews. It was surprising to see how they treated their own people. I know the Jews wanted to survive and it was shocking to see what they would do to survive such as eat food from the floor. I know the Holocaust was a horrible, but this film made it more real.
I agree with Jason, in how shocking it was to see the police treat the Jews, especially the scene when they threw the old man off the balcony.
I was very disturbed after watching this film. It was difficult seeing how brutal the Nazis were and how helpless the jewish community was. I was so surprised to see people killed mercilessly, without reason, and so violently. I could not believe how the Nazis treated Jewish people who did not cooperate "perfectly". After seeing this film I see now that the Jews had only themselves to rely on.
i agree with james that this film was extremely powerful, and meaningful, and really depicted the Holocaust how it was and how terrible it was
Obviously we all knew before the film that the Nazi's tortured the Jews and the Polish people to extreme extents, including execution. But I noticed that the people could only have a certain amount of money in their home at one time. The family had an argument about where to hide the money. What made me quite sad and angry was when they told an old crippled man in a wheel chair to stand up, he couldn't and they threw him off the balcony. Another thing that made me sad and angry was when an innocent woman asked where they were taking her, she was shot and killed.
I agree with Doug. It was human nature for the Jews to join the police and have more power. They knew once they were "lucky" enough to join that they were automatically safe from any torture or even death.
Through the course of the movie I was able to understand how the Nazis progressively gained control of the Jews. They did so by limiting their money supply and food which made them weaker and more compliant. Others would die of starvation. For those who would do anything in order to get food for themselves of their family, they could be forced to do practically anything. I now understand how the Jews seemed to go willingly to the concentration camps.
I agree with David. It is truly mind-boggling to see the footage and come to terms with the fact that it really did happen. The entire situation is tremendously horrific and it's very difficult to wrap your head around that humans did these cruel things to other humans.
I was surprised by how quickly things turned bad for the Jews and how suddenly and out of the blue such terrible things could happen. For example, when the family was eating dinner and across the street, another family was doing the same exact thing until a group of soldiers came in, ordered them all out, and shot them. Then it seemed like only a day or two later, the family went from living in their own apartment to living in work barracks and then being shipped off to a work camp. Also, I couldn't believe how bodies were just left all over the place. It seemed like the Nazis wanted to torture the jews and make them crazy with fear only to kill them later. I also did not realize there was a Jewish police force; this did not really make sense to me. Either the jews were viewed as less than human or they weren't. Why did this change if Jews were police?
I agree with Molly' it was interesting to see how the Jewish police would manipulate and be so callous in regards to other Jews.
I learned how hard it was for each person to decide what to do in the face of danger. Each person had to decide whether or not to act independently, or stay with their loved ones. I cannot imagine being forced to chose one or the other, knowing death is the result of the wrong choice, or possibly even either choice. I also learned how incredibly brutal and similar to the Nazi's the Jewish Police acted and treated the people living in the Ghettos. I agree with Sarah that it was absolutely disgusting and so incredibly sad how people had to beg for food, water, and anything to help keep them and their family alive.
I feel like I always knew how horrific the atrocities of the holocaust were, but this movie made it much more personal for someone like me who can't even image what it would be like to go through that kind of abuse. What really seemed to get under my skin and really got me angry, more than anything else in the course, was the depictions of indiscriminate killing like throwing the old man off the balcony, shooting the innocent civilians, and shooting the woman for asking where they were taking them. It was also surprising that the conditions in the ghettos were so bad that when it came to shipping people off to the labor camp, everyone in the ghetto went in somewhat willingly.
I could not stop thinking about this movie all day. Watching the Nazi throw the grandfather in a wheelchair off the balcony, made me feel so sick to my stomach and kept replaying in my head all day. “You never know what its like until you walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.” And this movie does exactly that, it put me into the shoes of Jew in a ghetto during the Nazi power making the Holocaust a personal for me. Prior to watching this film, I did not know about the Jewish Police that controlled the ghettos and the amount of influence they had the Jews. The more I learn about the Holocaust, the more surprised I am by the schemes the Nazis pulled over Jews and the ways that Hitler was able to create the Holocaust.
I agree with Amy and David. Even with seeing the footage of what happened leading up to the holocaust and during it the Holocaust, it still difficult to come to terms that the Holocaust happened.
While watching this film, I learned how the Nazi's gained control over all the Jews. They selected a few Jews to become officers which I didn't know about and they used those officers to control the Jewish civilian's. I also never knew how some Jews were walled into limited living areas. It really shocked me.
I agree with john with how angry it made me to see the older man who was confined to his wheel chair get thrown from a balcony because he was not physically able to stand up when asked to.
In response to Jamie...
I completely agree that all these events caught the Jewish people off guard, after all who would have expected that this irrational bloodthirsty hatred would have sprung up so quickly. On top of that nobody could have guessed that during the fledgling Nazi movement that it would grow to encompass multiple countries, invading peoples' homes, and forcibly removing them.
In response to Jason Silva
I agree, it does seem as thought with the seemingly minimal oversight, the Jewish police force could have gotten away with doing much less, they still had not, that to me, was shocking.
From this film I learned to what extent the Jewish Police force was used to represent the Nazi's within the ghettos in rounding up and putting their own people on a track to death.
I agree with Jame Harrold in that I also learned about the levels of deception the Nazis went to, from holding water, and using a Jewish police force the Nazis tried to make the Jewish people compliant.
What I learned from the film, "The Pianist", was that some Jews were chosen for the police force. In the end they turned similar to the Nazis.
In response to Nance Morales:
I agree with Nancy. This was new information for me and I learned about it through the film.
What I learned from this movie was how cruel the nazis were to the Jewish people. I didn't quite understand how terrible the conditions were that the Jews had to live in. And when I saw the police throw that old man in a wheel chair out the window I was so upset. I agree with Molly's post about the nazis not having a lot of people watching the Jewish police.
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