Thursday, October 24, 2013

PERIOD 4: Resi Kraus

You have been watching the BBC documentary, The Rise of the Nazis - A Warning from History. Please share your thoughts about the segment on the Gestapo that you saw today. What did you think of the interview with Resi Kraus?

27 comments:

Matthew Keeogh said...

I think that Resi Kraus has no remorse over her actions. Like many Germans from that time period, she believes that her actions were justified. Now, tyough, there are people who are judging her for her actions, so she's lying to save herself. While there are many Germans who regret what they did, there are even more who don't. Resi Jraus is one of the latter.

Unknown said...

I believe that Resi Kraus is either in denial or is cognizant of her own reputation. It seems like that at this point in time, the Holocaust was so long ago that anyone with integrity would admit to denouncing an innocent women. I think that it is pretty clear that Kraus is aware of what she did and maybe she is still brainwashed from the Nazi regime.

Rebecca Sullivan said...

I couldn't believe that Resi Kraus denied what she did. She acknowledged that it was her name, address, and signature on the document. I believe that she is ashamed of her actions and doesn't want anyone to know what she did.

Anonymous said...

Resi Kruss made me unhappy because she would not acknowledge what she did. I think tha people making mistakes is a big part of life, and by not admitting them, she is only setting herself back. people wouldn't treat he now the same way she treated the jewish woman, and she should just admit it.

Frank Chang said...

I thought the interviewer was pretty poised to not get upset about Kraus's denial because it is easy to be agitated by her comments. She admitted that her signature and address were on the letter but did not acknowledge her blatant, obvious, and clear guilt that was apparent. I do not know what she was on but I do know that there probably is not another Resi Kraus living in the same house as Resi Kraus. I am pretty perturb, dismay, and unsettled by her answers to the question because it shows that some people do not have the morality required to admit their wrongdoings. Not everyone will stand up and take responsibility for their actions, and once the denial sets in, the person cannot be convinced of their fault.

Joe Areano said...

Resi Kraus is an absolute horrible person. She made a huge mistake by allowing her neighbor to get killed all because she told the Gestapo. She did something horrible, she is responsible for killing an innocent person. But it makes it even worse when you won't admit to your mistakes. There is no way in the world that Resi can't recall sending this person to a concentration camp. She is responsible for her death and she is pretending like it didn't happen. If a person makes a mistake and Resi made a big one at, that the least they could do is own up to it instead of acting like a coward.

Sen Cai said...

I was really shocked that Resi could lie about her actions in the interview. Obviously, she admitted her signature, name and address were real on the document but she still refused that she did not put her neighbor into death. She kept saying she did not know and she forgot what happened in the past. How could she do not know that she was related to her neighbor’s death when the signature on the letter was hers? It angered me that she did not feel guilty today even though she knew her actions contributed to the death of her neighbor and the evidence was right in front of her. Resi did not take responsibility of her actions and chose to live in denial. One of the interesting things in the interview was that she was laughing when she denied her actions. It proved that she was so nervous when she was lying. Personally, I think this is such a great example of how ruthless and cruel people were during the Holocaust and how people tried to deny their actions when the evidence of what they did was obvious.

Toby Moesta said...

It is pathetic that she couldn't own up to the letter. The fact that she can sit there and deny that she wrote that letter, even though she admitted that the signature is hers, should sicken anyone.

Dana Hession said...

Watching this interview was very upsetting for me. I could not believe or understand why Resi could sit there in front of a camera and lie. At least she could do is own up and confess the truth. I found it so disgraceful that she could laugh at this when clearly this is no laughing situation. I don't understand how she could say that it was her signature and her address but everything in that letter she could not remember.

Lauren Lightbody said...

It was hard to watch someone completely deny their actions. I think that Resi fully knew what she had done and was in denial. I don't understand how she could say that it was her signature and her address on the letter yet couldn't admit that she wrote it, and this made me very angry.

Isabelle Cunningham said...

I got really angry and upset while I was watching this video. I found it unbelievable that someone could sit up in front of a camera and so blatantly lie, especially when they had her signature and address, which she confirmed were both real. I have no respect for her because she was unable to own up to her mistake, and prefers to live in ignorance of the situation. I think that Resi Kraus is a great example of the terrible and despicable attitude that people had during the Holocaust in concerns with other people.

Heather Clemons said...

It wasn't fair for the women she sent to the camp to not admit that it was her in the interview. I can understand that at the time maybe she believed that she was doing something good, but now she was just too cowardly to confront her past. If she already admitted it was her signature and her writing, there is no excuse for not owning up to the entire letter itself.

Rachel Sudol said...

What made me the most angry about Resi Kraus was that she said she's not to blame for what people did during the war because she didn't kill anyone. She chose to completely pretend that her neighbor never existed. I also wonder why she agreed to do the interview in the first place if she w going to deny it. i think that part of her wanted to confess to what she had done but she couldn't make herself do it. i would have seen her as a much better person if she had.

Abhi Bushan said...

To put it simply... Resi Kraus disgusts me. The fact of the matter is that she reported her neighbor to the Gestapo 50 years ago, and later said neighbor was dragged to a concentration camp and later died. She said that it was her signature on the letter, it was her address but it was not her, all the while laughing during the interview. The incident occurred 50 years ago and there was no chance of incrimination,but she still can't own up to her own actions. This made me angry.

Kayla Murphy said...

Absent today.

Jacqueline Avola said...

Resi Kraus lied to the camera and to herself by saying that she did not recall sending her neighbor to a concentration camp. During the interview, Kraus was laughing, which I believe indicates that she was nervous. I think she was nervous because deep down, she knew the truth of the document. The signature, address, and name of Kraus served as infallible proof that she did in fact send her neighbor to a concentration camp. However, after many years, I believe Kraus is in denial of her actions because she doesn’t want to admit her wrongdoings to herself, nor does she want to believe that she is responsible.

Nick Wright said...

I was very surprised with Resi Kraus actions during the clip. Saying that it was her signature on the letter but she knew nothing about it is just ignorant. The fact that she couldn't own up to the truth about her past is just sad. what surprised me the most is as she was being called out she repeatedly tried to change the subject and say she wasn't a bad person because she didn't kill anyone.

Jon Syed said...

I knew Resi Kraus was lying the whole time and everyone else does. She would not admit to reporting her jewish neighbor and getting her in trouble. She said that it was her signature and her address on the document. She was also laughing during the interview which could possibly mean she was nervous.

Anonymous said...

The interview with Resi Kraus really pissed me off. Due to the fact that she was able to identify the signature and address and say it was hers but not have the guts to admit that what written in the letter was not her words. The Holocaust happened over 50 years ago and the fact that she is still in denial, just makes me sick. It is terrible that people who were involved in the Holocaust the same way she was, are still not able to confess their sins to the rest of the world. Its sickening.

Kathleen Scannell said...

I thought that she was denying what she did because she feels uncomfortable with the topic and wants to move on. she at one point says that she never killed anyone, basically saying that because she never directly killed anyone she is innocent and hasn't done anything wrong.

Zach Bloch said...

To say that Resi Krous' interview pissed me off would be an understatement. She neither apologized, nor acknowledged her actions when obvious evidence was put right in front of her face. She admitted to her signing the form with her home address, but refused to admit filling out the form. The events of the Holocaust are distant enough that whether somebody is going to apologize or not, they should acknowledge their actions.

Jess Nario said...

I am still angry with how Resi Kraus handled this interview. When confronted about something she wrote 50 years ago, she accepted the address and signature but not the content. The fact that she went as far as accepting the other two characteristics but not the third was very frustrating because it proved that she had recollection of the letter. I was also frustrated because she started nervously laughing at something as serious as this because someone died as a result of her actions.

Riley Taylor said...

I feel bad for Resi Kraus. She is clearly just very screwed up in the head. Almost to the point where I cannot fathom it. She feels like she is being incriminated when she accuses the interviewer of "digging this stuff up". When truly, she should be incriminated. She does not even have the morals to admit what she did. Fifty years later! ...and she still won't admit that she accused her neighbor to the gestapo. I can forgive Resi if she were to admit what she did was wrong. There is a certain dignity in that. But the fact that Resi tried to pretend that she didn't do anything disgusts. She tried to distract herself and the interviewer by saying, "look, its starting to rain." I think that this blatant change of topic shows how she just tries to shut it out of her mind. She is clearly very trobled, but her inability to deal with it or even admit what she did is just shocking.

Tristan Guerin said...

i think that resi kraus is a lire and it makes me angry that she would admit to singing it but she states that she never wrote it but then she trys to change the subjet becasue shes scared and dosent want to be critizied for it

Danielle McSweeney said...

Based on what I saw of the question for Resi Kraus I was particularly angry at her. She denied he whole thing from happening even though the interviewer had evidence that she did send in that letter. She does not feel bad for what she did, in fact she just laughed like it was silly joke. She was clearly uncomfortable and I was really disappointed that she knew that we all know that she wrote that letter and we could forgive he after all these years but she said nothing about admitting it. I was very upset with her behavior and a lot of Germans from the holocaust have learned from their mistakes and feel really guilty about it, but not Resi. It shows she would do it all over again if she got the chance.

Gena Ryder said...

Watching this made me very mad. I couldn't understand how someone could do those things and then not even take responsibility for their actions after all these years. Thinking about it I was trying to figure this out by asking myself "maybe she started to believe her lies or has a form of memory loss" but an event like that cannot be forgotten. Everyone has regrets and things they wish they hadn't done but atleast if your confronted with it, admit that you are wrong and had made a mistake, don't lie even more to make yourself look like a good person because in this case I think it's safe to say that no one thought that Resi Krause was a good person

Claire Gitkind said...

I was absent for this film