Friday, November 22, 2013

PERIOD 6: ROAD TO TREBLINKA

You've just watched, "The Road to Treblinka" from the documentary, NAZIS: A WARNING FROM HISTORY. It is said, “The reality of the history of the Nazis is far harder to explain than the popular conception of a nation led astray by Hitler. That the Nazi philosophy of obedience, seizure and struggle had appeal in the thirties and can still appeal to millions today.” Do you agree with that statement? In addition - please answer the question, "What did you learn that you did not know before watching the film?"

23 comments:

Lalith Pramod Ganjikunta said...

I do agree with that statement because I saw several news articles involving people still discriminating Jewish people. I learned of the unhumane acts they were committing and how the conditions were worse than hell. People's lives were just torn with no remorse or feeling. The Nazis had no feelings toward the heinous actions they took. I learned that the gas chambers werent the only way they killed the Jewish people, they were starved to death and shot. Thses actions were terrifying crimes againest humanity.

Anna Meshreky said...

i was absent for this

Anna Meshreky said...

i was absent for this

Klein Muthie said...

When i watched this documentary, I didn't know that Treblinka was a camp hidden in northeastern Poland. This formed the border between the Nazi and the zone was occupied by the Russians from September 1939 until the Germans invaded Russia on June 1941. I felt bad for the Jews and the Russians because the Germans didn't protest against the Nazis. They were told to disregard Jews and Russians as inferior beings.

Tabitha Domeij said...

I do agree that this philosophy is still true today because no matter how hard we try, there's always a little bit of discrimination still there through stereotypes and judgments based on looks. In addition, there are still some supremist groups in existence who find themselves superior to other races. I think that it is human nature to want to be superior to others and to follow the direction of authority. Because of this, I believe that this philosophy will always appeal to people. Watching this film, I realized that the gas chambers were the final solution of Hitler's genocide and that most Jews actually starved to death or were shot. It also made me think about how devastating it was for these people to think they were going to shower or go to a doctor when they were actually being murdered in masses. I can't even believe how some people could be so willing to kill so many people in such an inhumane and disgusting way.

Elizabeth Volpe said...

I think that even if a man like Hitler tried to remake what happened during the Holocaust, using all of the techniques that HItler did, it would not work. Maybe he could get some people to follow along and then maybe the group would get larger because there are still many hateful people in this world. But at the same time, even with this number of people that would follow in line, there would always be countries that knew how wrong it would be. Even if this were to start to occur, countries like America did, would step in and destroy that power. No one would be able to do what they did in the Holocaust at this time. Also i did not know that Treblinka was a mass killing center that they made seem like just a regular train station. It sickens me the detailed process that occurred here.

Shannon lawton said...

I do think it could happen again today. Many people still discriminate against others and think certain groups are superior than others. Also there are still groups that would go to extreme measures to get rid of and hurt other groups. Some things I learned from the film that I didn't already know were that the nazis killed so many people that the towns people had to dig them up because they were stinking up the town. Also that the nazis killed so many people and didn't even give them warning. They would tell them they were going to the doctor and bring them to get shot.

Caitlin Potts said...

I think that the nazi party philosophies could still possibly be enforced today. Although the world is more aware of the dangers of giving control to a single person it's still possible. Especially with the new technologies it would be easier to influence a larger ammount of people. All of the steps to genocide that we learned are still able to happen meaning that genocide is still able to happen. After watching this film I learned more about specific horrific things that the nazis did to the Jews. For example, when the nazis brought the Jews to a field and just lined them up and shot them. The nazis did so many horrific things to the Jews I hope that a genocide like that never happens ever.

Shannon Connors said...

Unfortunately, I think there will always be discriminating views in society. Because everyone is different, and such harsh judgments on ones background and appearance have been made in the past, society will always set standards based off of each other. Nazi’s so easily set the standard that Jews are bad and soon had millions following in their footsteps. In society, it isn’t that one may actually have a certain view towards a certain person. They have this view just because society makes them seem different in a certain way and society sets that characteristic or quality of that specific person as a good or a bad standard. The people then follow this standard and view it based on how society has set it in the first place. Once the standard is set, people are blinded by the chance to see that specific quality in a good light and only the common negative connotation to it. From the film, I learned that the Nazi officials and other Jewish “copos” moving people into Treblinka told the Jews that they were going to receive a cleaning and a meal but were instead sent straight to the death camps. The lies they were told were simply ways of getting the Jews to cooperate with the Nazis to make their extermination as easy as possible. I also learned that after the liberation of the Jews occurred, the Nazis and German tried to cover up what they had done and made Germans physically dig up the bodies and burn and burnt the ashes to get rid of the insane stink. This was part of the denial stage of genocide.

Rodrigo.Arguello said...

I do agree with the statement that the Nazi belief could be enforced today, the swing kids movie really opened my eyes to this as the people in the film constantly said there was nothing wrong about being a Nazi because they could do what they want and nobody could stop them. I do not think humans have change much since the age of the Nazis and because of this and what I noticed from other films like the swing kids, I think it would be very possible to have the Nazi belief be repeated over time.

Maddi Avergon said...

Anti-Semitism still exists and with it, along with other discriminating views, there is always a possibility that people find a leader who utilizes them to take a course of action that will lead a group of people astray. For the Jews, that’s why we have Israel, but if ever Israel was compromised for the sake of an upcoming genocide, I don’t know what would happen. With new technology the way it is people can be infected with ideas of others easily. All of these facts are nothing with out bystanders or followers though. We’ll never know anything until the nation is faced with the kind of choice that supports a genocide leader or doesn’t.

Olivia Longo said...

I do agree that this is still true today. Many groups of people are discriminated against today. There are also many groups that think they are superior to everyone else. As we have talked about, part of the reason the Nazis were able to carry out their actions was because people obeyed orders coming from someone in power. I believe this is still relevant today. One thing I learned from the film was that there were killing groups that went into different towns and killed hundreds to thousands of Jews and other discriminated groups in one day.

Rachel Hurkmans said...


I do agree that this statement because there is always going to be discrimination whether it be because of race, gender, appearance, etc. There are always going to be people that want to be superior to others so they judge other to prove to themselves and other that they are above them.
From watching this film I learned that Treblinka and how it was a very small space where thousands and thousands were killed. So many people were killed there that bulldozers were needed to moved the corpses. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be in Treblinka and that time and to look at such a large sea of bodies.

Ashley Chiu said...

Although I think that discrimination definitely still exists today, I don't think that something like this could happen again. There's a lot more awareness, and especially with something like the Holocaust in our history. Before this film, I only really had heard of the most famous camps such as Auschwitz, so I had never heard of Treblinka, one of the earlier ones. I was surprised at the extent of deception the Nazis used in the camps. For example, for people who were injured, they would take them to a fake hospital, where in reality they were would be shot, but I'm surprised the Nazis would go to such an effort to maintain the facade.

Ivan Truong said...

While I think obedience and order are important in society, I don't think people in general see this as the top priority of any nation. People seem to desire freedoms and rights as much as safety and order. Because of this, I don't see how a situation as severe as that of Nazi Germany could happen again in the near future but nothing is impossible as we've seen.
In response to the film, i could never get the image out of my head of the fake medical center that was set up as a front for more mass killings. Those who were injured or ill would seek help but once inside, they were shot.

Ethan Peterson said...

I do not agree that this philosophy would appeal to people today if they know that this philosophy is built on the foundation of exterminating an entire race to prove dominance and acquire land. At the time many people fell into the Nazi party and as it grew bigger people realized the magnitude of struggle they would have if they did not become a faithful Nazi. The fact that the Nazis had to hide these killing camps like Treblinka, means that they knew what they were doing was not humane and was extremely horrific. There are still groups that discriminate and kill today, but there is nothing compared to that of what Hitler's empire and followers committed. I believe that many people who joined the Nazi party joined because of fear.

Leah Bridge said...

I do agree with this statement because there are still groups out there today who highly discriminate agaisnt specific race and or religion based groups of people. For example the KKK who use violence to show superiority and their complete hatred towards the groups of people they feel don't "fit" in. I feel no matter what there will always be people discriminatiing against people of different race of religion because sadly, that is how some people are raised and just how some people feel in this world.

Emily Zarrilli said...

I do agree with this statement because I believe that people with a strong will like Hitler still exist in todays world. I think it would be relatively easy to get a group together with common ideas and goals, maybe not to the extent of what Hitler because of legal restrictions, but unfortunately human nature is not any different then than it is now so one never really knows what will happen in the future. Something I didn't know before watching this film was that germans from the surrounding towns came to see jewish people get shot and pushed into dishes. This really disgusted me that people outside of the nazi's could care less about other human beings. This documentary was very interesting because I had no idea the effort the nazi's went through in order to pull this off.

Brittany Baxendale said...

I think there are "Hitler" ideas still relevant today. They are not as extreme as Hitlers ideas. This still does exist and i think everyone needs to be ready and prepared for something to happen like that again. Its amazing how a small idea of hatred grew into something so much bigger. I cant even begin to understand how you could just kill a bunch of innocent people. It is such a terrifying thing to even imagine.

Abby Underwood said...

I do not think something like the Holocost would be able to happen again. I feel like more people would be more willing to fight back against these kinds of ideas the way they do with the KKK. Before watching this film I didn't know that Hitler was trying to keep the death camps a secret. I also didnt know that there was more than death camps when in reality there were six that killed not only Jews but gypsies and other undesirables. The whole idea of the death camps also was new to me. I had no idea the people going into the camps were brought to think they were a a regular train stop and the camps had been designed this way.

Kate Burgess said...

I agree with the statement. I believe that this could absolutely happen again. I have personally seen people being judged and hated. I feel like the step of a genocide can occur again as it has many times before. For example, in Russia homosexuals are being arrested and the circumstance could definitely escalate to a genocide if preventative measures aren't taken immediately.
From the movie I learned about how the death camps were figured and run. I also learned about the people were originally killed which was with guns a few feet away. I was surprised by the denial and indifference that the people who shot all of these Jewish men,women and children were when asked about their time in the NAZI forces.

Kevin Koenigsberg said...

I was absent for this film.

Sabrina Herstedt said...

I am still conflicted with this question. The question of obedience can most definitely apply to people of todays world, as we witnessed in that experiement. However the Navi views are dying, just as some survivors still cling strongly to those once profound thoughts. I did not know that treblinka even existed, of even that the ghettos were as bad as they were. I thought it just meant poverty and a concentrated area of people when in fact jews would form coucils against their kind. At treblinka the locals were cruel to the inmates. They would steal the clothes of those being shot. Its complete insanity and unbelievable how desensitized these people were to the many victims of treblinka and the haulocaust as a whole.