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 7 - 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.
38 comments:
Megan Sullivan
said...
The documentary, America and the Holocaust was very interesting. I personally thought that it was interesting how one of Hitler’s main focuses was on the youth of Germany. Once I thought about it though, be making them believe in Nazism and the values they have to have, they’re kind of brainwashed into believing those values for the rest of their life. By starting them young it is assumed that they will carry Nazism after the death of Hitler. I think it is very important for high school students to see these types of documentaries because it really opens people’s eyes about the intensity of the holocaust. Watching the documentary educates students about the past and I personally think that we should be educated on topics such as the holocaust.
After watching “America and the Holocaust” I learned how much a leader can impact a group of people. The movie showed how easy it was for Germans to follow Hitler because everyone was behind him. When everyone you know is rooting for a specific leader and following his commands it is so difficult to break away from the pact and say that what they’re doing is wrong. Megan Sullivan mentioned that the Nazi’s were somehow brainwashed and I think she brings up a good point. When people of higher authority than you are all doing one thing, you are going to assume that it is okay as well and follow along.
I agree with Amanda when she talks about how much impact a leader has on a group. If the leader has people backing them up, most likely other people will follow along under peer pressure. She also mentions how it is hard to break away from a group and I agree that when the odds are against you, it is hard to stand up for what you think is right.
In the past, I always questioned why people didn't just leave Germany during this time period. This documentary answered that question. People didn't leave because there was no where for them to escape to. I was completely unaware that many Jews attempted to escape to America, and that the American government denied them entrance. I was surprised with how difficult it was for them to legally immigrate at the time, especially to America.
I agree with Megan that its important for students to see these types of documentaries to obtain a better understanding of the Holocaust and also to be aware that America allowed almost no refugees during this time.
I agree with what Megan said in that by targeting the youth of Germany, and instilling the Nazi values into them, Hitler was able to brain wash the youth. Because the youth devoloped and grew believing in the values of Nazism, they would most likely carry them with them for the rest of their lives which is exactly what Hitler wanted.
In the documentary "America and the Holocaust" I learned the role that America played in the Jewish peoples lives. I was so aggravated watching the movie; knowing that almost all of the Jews in Germany were going to die and seeing that America wouldnt let them immigrate here deeply disturbed me. I never knew that American's discriminated against the Jewish people like they did; I didnt realize it was such a big issue as it was. I feel ashamed towards our countries past. I agree with Brenda, that I had always wondered why Jews didn't just immigrate to America, but this documentary helped to answer my question.
What I learned from this documentary was the United States was scared about the Jewish people coming america. They thought that that they were going to take all the jobs. I thought it was really hard to watch how the families got seperate from each other. I agree with Brenda about how the Jewish people tried to go to america but they would not let them into America.
I thought that "America and the Holocaust" was a very interesting documentary. I was surprised at well Hitlers plan worked with starting with the youngest citizens of Germany and working his way up to the older members of Germany.
I agree with Brenda on how I had always wondered why the Jews never left Germany and I had no idea how hard and long the process of acquiring a visa was.
I personally learned a lot from this film. I think when a lot of high school students think of the Holocaust they think of Germany and how "bad" the Germans were for commiting such extreme acts of discrimination. However, I had no idea that anti-semitism grew so popular in the United States in the 1930's. I had always thought of America as one of the saving graces for the Jews and that support for them came unianimously from the U.S. I found it quite disturbing how our government was so anti-semitic and made the visa process so incredibly hard for the suffering Jews in Germany. This film opened my eyes to many of the embarassing and unsympathetic acts that the U.S. committed during World War II.
It was atrocious how so many Americans were just as anti semetic as the Nazis in Germany. I thought that America had taken in many Jews but instead we made immigration laws made to keep Jewish people out of the US. It was awful when the Jewish families took a boat only to be rejected by Cuba and then have the US tell them they had to return.
I think Matt made a good point saying a large part of why we wouldn't let Jewish people in was because we were afraid they would take all the jobs. Yes this may have seemed logical but in hindsight we contributed to the death of the Jews we rejected that later went to concentration camps and were killed.
In America and the Holocaust, I found it very hard to watch the jewish people being taken away from their homes and being relocated. I also found it hard to hear that in order for the Jewish people to get to America they had to do all this paperwork and purchase all these different visas. It was a very eye opening film.
I learned a lot from the documentary "American and the Holocaust." I never knew that the Jews had tried to come to America and the government denied them and had new immigration laws. I agree with Amanda when she says that she was aggravated with America when the government didn't allow the Jews to come to our country. It's disturbing to know that many Jews had come to the U.S. for freedom and maybe if we had let them in then many wouldn't have suffered or died during the Holocaust.
I never knew that America had this type of connection to the Holocaust. Whenever we've learned about it in other history classes we've never really touched upon America's relation to it. I can't tell whether I'm surprised or not about how America reacted to it. In a way I'm not because they had just gone through immigration issues (and probably still were) regarding other cultures not too long before this that the time period makes sense. I definitely find this important for students to watch. We need to experience the insides of what had happened especially if it relates to us. This history is stuff people just need to know. If not, it is forgotten forever.
Responding to what Brenda said, it was hard to watch this documentary for those reasons. The fact that the Jews were denied access to a country when they were pleading for help is disgusting. The least we could do was allow them in and we couldn't do that. There's no excuse to why we couldn't. Nobody took the time to see it from their point of views.
The documentary, "America and the Holocaust", taught me a lot. I never realized that when the Jews tried to come to America, they were persecuted here. The Jews tried to escape the hardships in Germany, and when they thought they were finally free of the discrimination, they were wrong. In America, there were newspapers and signs that targeted and vicitimized the Jews. I was hurt by this because I didn't and still don't understand how was religion or race can be targeted and hated so much. The Jews never really did anything wrong. I was angry watching this film. I agree with Megan; I think when Hitler targeted the youth to pass a long his message, I think he knew he would get through to them. He would have many followers. Also, when one man who was a refugee from Germany, he said that he had classmates of his, who went into his home and vandalized it and terrorized his parents. I couldn't believe this.
One huge detail that I did not know about America and the situation in Germany was the growing anti-Semitism at the time. Firing a woman just after hiring her because she's a Jew? Suggesting to picket the White House to create awareness for the slaughter of their people and being told off for being disrespectful to the president? More than once I could feel my nostrils flaring in anger at what some people had to say about the Jews back then - "No dogs, or Jews, allowed." I think that these kind of documentaries should be shown in full-year history courses, so that we get some of the greater details of our role in History. Maybe my memory is foggy, but I don't recall reading much about America's festering anti-Semitism and bigotry during the World War II unit.
I agree with Matt. I do think that unfortunately the Americans were afraid that the Jewish people were going to take their jobs and basically change what the Americans were use to, and a lot of people do not like change. This led to the death of millions of people because we couldn't get past our fear of change.
enjoyed the documentary and a few things stood out to me to be interesting and in some ways shocking. I thought it was interesting how the youth was one of Hitler’s largest enforcements, and to hear one of the speakers in the video talk about how one of his peers from school was the one who had kicked out and done the damage to their home. Also I had no idea how little America had done to help and was astonished that we completely turned our backs on the Jews when they were in need of help, even though we knew the trouble that they were going through and were headed for.
I spent a whole year learning about the Holocaust during Hebrew School, but during that time I could never understand why the Jews in Europe didn't just flee to a safer country. This documentary opened to my eyes to the reality that not only were Jews persecuted and oppressed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, but they wree also abandoned by essentially the entire rest of the world. I am horrified and ashamed at the United States' lack of support for Jewish refugees and shocked at the amount of antisemitism and Nazism that coursed through American blood during the time of the Holocaust.
Megan Sullivan brings up an important point about the power that can be channeled by youth. Through making it so that Hitler's and the Nazi's views were the only opinions taught to German children, an entire generation was brainwashed. I agree that it is vital for our generation to watch documentaries like these in order to realize the amount of power that one person can acheive through the manipulation of media, youth, and education.
watching this film made me realize how the thoughts and ideas of one person, can affect such a large group of people. The German people were brainwashed by propaganda and they were led to believe things that were not true and made up. This film is important to show because it shows how a powerful leader can change the way people think for good or bad
i agree with Megan in the sense that Hitlers primary focus was on the youth of Germany which allowed him to change their ideology until the war broke out.
I was completely unaware of how unhelpful the American government was in trying to get Jews out of Germany. I also learned that we had a serious Nazi following at home.
After watching the documentary "America and the Holocaust" I felt gained a new sympathy for the Jewish people. I was already aware of the types of horrors the Jews were subjected to by I was shocked to see how there was almost no help offered to them in their time of need. I couldn't believe how antisemitism was so prevalent and how it resulted in a lack of help for the Jews when they needed it most. I feel it was embarrassing how little compassion was shown towards the Jews and I still find it unbelievable that so many people turned their back to others during such a disaster.
I agree with Rachel about how the United States should be ashamed they turned their backs on the Jewish people. I was also shocked to see how rampant antisemitism and Nazism was in the United States and its hard to believe that nobody recognized how much the Jews needed help and that nobody come to their aid.
The film was a good film to see how descriminate people were against jewish people. Like americans didn't allow them to come to the unites states because they were scare to lose their jobs. This movie also show us how Hitler was so smart the he convince joung boys to join the Nazy group he knew that the boys were going to be th future so he wanted to have them preaper for what was going to happen.
America nd he Holocaust really showed how easy it was for so many Germans to follow Hitler. It depicted how hard it was to not follow Hitler when so many people were behind him. When so many people are doing one thing it is almost impossible to form another group and prove that they are wrong.
This movie really showed to me America's dark side. I knew our nation had done many bad things in the past, but something like this is terrible. It's like we didn't want to keep people alive and would rather let them die. I think high school students need to see this because we think America is the greatest, but in truth, we have a bad side just like everyone else. I agree with Brenda when she said that she thought people could of just left germany, but that was not the case.
38 comments:
The documentary, America and the Holocaust was very interesting. I personally thought that it was interesting how one of Hitler’s main focuses was on the youth of Germany. Once I thought about it though, be making them believe in Nazism and the values they have to have, they’re kind of brainwashed into believing those values for the rest of their life. By starting them young it is assumed that they will carry Nazism after the death of Hitler. I think it is very important for high school students to see these types of documentaries because it really opens people’s eyes about the intensity of the holocaust. Watching the documentary educates students about the past and I personally think that we should be educated on topics such as the holocaust.
After watching “America and the Holocaust” I learned how much a leader can impact a group of people. The movie showed how easy it was for Germans to follow Hitler because everyone was behind him. When everyone you know is rooting for a specific leader and following his commands it is so difficult to break away from the pact and say that what they’re doing is wrong. Megan Sullivan mentioned that the Nazi’s were somehow brainwashed and I think she brings up a good point. When people of higher authority than you are all doing one thing, you are going to assume that it is okay as well and follow along.
I agree with Amanda when she talks about how much impact a leader has on a group. If the leader has people backing them up, most likely other people will follow along under peer pressure. She also mentions how it is hard to break away from a group and I agree that when the odds are against you, it is hard to stand up for what you think is right.
In the past, I always questioned why people didn't just leave Germany during this time period. This documentary answered that question. People didn't leave because there was no where for them to escape to. I was completely unaware that many Jews attempted to escape to America, and that the American government denied them entrance. I was surprised with how difficult it was for them to legally immigrate at the time, especially to America.
I agree with Megan that its important for students to see these types of documentaries to obtain a better understanding of the Holocaust and also to be aware that America allowed almost no refugees during this time.
i was absent
I agree with what Megan said in that by targeting the youth of Germany, and instilling the Nazi values into them, Hitler was able to brain wash the youth. Because the youth devoloped and grew believing in the values of Nazism, they would most likely carry them with them for the rest of their lives which is exactly what Hitler wanted.
In the documentary "America and the Holocaust" I learned the role that America played in the Jewish peoples lives. I was so aggravated watching the movie; knowing that almost all of the Jews in Germany were going to die and seeing that America wouldnt let them immigrate here deeply disturbed me. I never knew that American's discriminated against the Jewish people like they did; I didnt realize it was such a big issue as it was. I feel ashamed towards our countries past.
I agree with Brenda, that I had always wondered why Jews didn't just immigrate to America, but this documentary helped to answer my question.
What I learned from this documentary was the United States was scared about the Jewish people coming america. They thought that that they were going to take all the jobs. I thought it was really hard to watch how the families got seperate from each other. I agree with Brenda about how the Jewish people tried to go to america but they would not let them into America.
I thought that "America and the Holocaust" was a very interesting documentary. I was surprised at well Hitlers plan worked with starting with the youngest citizens of Germany and working his way up to the older members of Germany.
I agree with Matty in that it was surprising how quickly the Americans began to stereotype and judge the jewish people coming from Europe.
I agree with Matty in that it was surprising how quickly the Americans began to stereotype and judge the jewish people coming from Europe.
I agree with Brenda on how I had always wondered why the Jews never left Germany and I had no idea how hard and long the process of acquiring a visa was.
I personally learned a lot from this film. I think when a lot of high school students think of the Holocaust they think of Germany and how "bad" the Germans were for commiting such extreme acts of discrimination. However, I had no idea that anti-semitism grew so popular in the United States in the 1930's. I had always thought of America as one of the saving graces for the Jews and that support for them came unianimously from the U.S. I found it quite disturbing how our government was so anti-semitic and made the visa process so incredibly hard for the suffering Jews in Germany. This film opened my eyes to many of the embarassing and unsympathetic acts that the U.S. committed during World War II.
I was Absent
It was atrocious how so many Americans were just as anti semetic as the Nazis in Germany. I thought that America had taken in many Jews but instead we made immigration laws made to keep Jewish people out of the US. It was awful when the Jewish families took a boat only to be rejected by Cuba and then have the US tell them they had to return.
I think Matt made a good point saying a large part of why we wouldn't let Jewish people in was because we were afraid they would take all the jobs. Yes this may have seemed logical but in hindsight we contributed to the death of the Jews we rejected that later went to concentration camps and were killed.
In America and the Holocaust, I found it very hard to watch the jewish people being taken away from their homes and being relocated. I also found it hard to hear that in order for the Jewish people to get to America they had to do all this paperwork and purchase all these different visas. It was a very eye opening film.
I learned a lot from the documentary "American and the Holocaust." I never knew that the Jews had tried to come to America and the government denied them and had new immigration laws. I agree with Amanda when she says that she was aggravated with America when the government didn't allow the Jews to come to our country. It's disturbing to know that many Jews had come to the U.S. for freedom and maybe if we had let them in then many wouldn't have suffered or died during the Holocaust.
I never knew that America had this type of connection to the Holocaust. Whenever we've learned about it in other history classes we've never really touched upon America's relation to it. I can't tell whether I'm surprised or not about how America reacted to it. In a way I'm not because they had just gone through immigration issues (and probably still were) regarding other cultures not too long before this that the time period makes sense. I definitely find this important for students to watch. We need to experience the insides of what had happened especially if it relates to us. This history is stuff people just need to know. If not, it is forgotten forever.
Responding to what Brenda said, it was hard to watch this documentary for those reasons. The fact that the Jews were denied access to a country when they were pleading for help is disgusting. The least we could do was allow them in and we couldn't do that. There's no excuse to why we couldn't. Nobody took the time to see it from their point of views.
The documentary, "America and the Holocaust", taught me a lot. I never realized that when the Jews tried to come to America, they were persecuted here. The Jews tried to escape the hardships in Germany, and when they thought they were finally free of the discrimination, they were wrong. In America, there were newspapers and signs that targeted and vicitimized the Jews. I was hurt by this because I didn't and still don't understand how was religion or race can be targeted and hated so much. The Jews never really did anything wrong. I was angry watching this film. I agree with Megan; I think when Hitler targeted the youth to pass a long his message, I think he knew he would get through to them. He would have many followers. Also, when one man who was a refugee from Germany, he said that he had classmates of his, who went into his home and vandalized it and terrorized his parents. I couldn't believe this.
One huge detail that I did not know about America and the situation in Germany was the growing anti-Semitism at the time. Firing a woman just after hiring her because she's a Jew? Suggesting to picket the White House to create awareness for the slaughter of their people and being told off for being disrespectful to the president? More than once I could feel my nostrils flaring in anger at what some people had to say about the Jews back then - "No dogs, or Jews, allowed." I think that these kind of documentaries should be shown in full-year history courses, so that we get some of the greater details of our role in History. Maybe my memory is foggy, but I don't recall reading much about America's festering anti-Semitism and bigotry during the World War II unit.
I agree with Matt. I do think that unfortunately the Americans were afraid that the Jewish people were going to take their jobs and basically change what the Americans were use to, and a lot of people do not like change. This led to the death of millions of people because we couldn't get past our fear of change.
I had similar thoughts to Meg on how shocking it was or interesting that one of Hitler’s main enforcers was the youth and the young men.
enjoyed the documentary and a few things stood out to me to be interesting and in some ways shocking. I thought it was interesting how the youth was one of Hitler’s largest enforcements, and to hear one of the speakers in the video talk about how one of his peers from school was the one who had kicked out and done the damage to their home. Also I had no idea how little America had done to help and was astonished that we completely turned our backs on the Jews when they were in need of help, even though we knew the trouble that they were going through and were headed for.
I spent a whole year learning about the Holocaust during Hebrew School, but during that time I could never understand why the Jews in Europe didn't just flee to a safer country. This documentary opened to my eyes to the reality that not only were Jews persecuted and oppressed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, but they wree also abandoned by essentially the entire rest of the world. I am horrified and ashamed at the United States' lack of support for Jewish refugees and shocked at the amount of antisemitism and Nazism that coursed through American blood during the time of the Holocaust.
Megan Sullivan brings up an important point about the power that can be channeled by youth. Through making it so that Hitler's and the Nazi's views were the only opinions taught to German children, an entire generation was brainwashed. I agree that it is vital for our generation to watch documentaries like these in order to realize the amount of power that one person can acheive through the manipulation of media, youth, and education.
watching this film made me realize how the thoughts and ideas of one person, can affect such a large group of people. The German people were brainwashed by propaganda and they were led to believe things that were not true and made up. This film is important to show because it shows how a powerful leader can change the way people think for good or bad
i agree with Megan in the sense that Hitlers primary focus was on the youth of Germany which allowed him to change their ideology until the war broke out.
I was completely unaware of how unhelpful the American government was in trying to get Jews out of Germany. I also learned that we had a serious Nazi following at home.
I agree with Emily in that I was also completely unaware of the antisemitism that was present throughout the people of the United States.
After watching the documentary "America and the Holocaust" I felt gained a new sympathy for the Jewish people. I was already aware of the types of horrors the Jews were subjected to by I was shocked to see how there was almost no help offered to them in their time of need. I couldn't believe how antisemitism was so prevalent and how it resulted in a lack of help for the Jews when they needed it most. I feel it was embarrassing how little compassion was shown towards the Jews and I still find it unbelievable that so many people turned their back to others during such a disaster.
I agree with Rachel about how the United States should be ashamed they turned their backs on the Jewish people. I was also shocked to see how rampant antisemitism and Nazism was in the United States and its hard to believe that nobody recognized how much the Jews needed help and that nobody come to their aid.
The film was a good film to see how descriminate people were against jewish people. Like americans didn't allow them to come to the unites states because they were scare to lose their jobs. This movie also show us how Hitler was so smart the he convince joung boys to join the Nazy group he knew that the boys were going to be th future so he wanted to have them preaper for what was going to happen.
America nd he Holocaust really showed how easy it was for so many Germans to follow Hitler. It depicted how hard it was to not follow Hitler when so many people were behind him. When so many people are doing one thing it is almost impossible to form another group and prove that they are wrong.
This movie really showed to me America's dark side. I knew our nation had done many bad things in the past, but something like this is terrible. It's like we didn't want to keep people alive and would rather let them die. I think high school students need to see this because we think America is the greatest, but in truth, we have a bad side just like everyone else. I agree with Brenda when she said that she thought people could of just left germany, but that was not the case.
I was absent for this class.
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