1st Day of Holocaust Study

Starting on Tuesday March 6th we had 3 days designated for studying the Holocaust. We took a break from the events happening in Palestine just before the establishment of the State of Israel in order to understand probably the most devestating event in Jewish history. These days were to be ones filled with Holocaust history, stories, and aftermath. They were not the happiest days because we were on such a tragic subject. However, it is sometimes nessecary to understand depression before one can realize joy. So we plunged into the events of World War II that brought about the death of millions of people.

So on the morning of March 6th we went to the bet knesset (Synagogue) on campus to hear a man speak about his experiences during the Holocaust. This man's name was Noach Klieger. He is a survovor of Auschwitz, and he is largely alive due to a chance he took at the beginning of his experience. There was a group of boxers that were chosen to be entertainment if I remember correctly. Noach quickly decided to say he was a boxer in order to possibly save his life. So through a miracle he was not found out and other boxers helped him learn and get by. He was also very humorous. It was apparent that he had much life in him. This made me very happy because I could see how he looked more to the future than being sad for the past.

Later that day we had a class period where we talked more about the Holocaust. Then at around 4:00 PM we were able to choose between two movies about WWII to watch. I chose to watch a movie called "Swing Kids." It was about a group of teenaagers in Nazi Germany who were really into swing music. However, this was not allowed because people were expected to be German nationalists who listened to German music not Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman. There was also a Hitler youth movement that many were expected to join. The organization was kind of like a patrol force who found people who were unfaithful to the Nazi ideals and reported them. Some of the swing kids got pulled into this but said they would remain faithful swing kids at night. However, some gave up on oppossing the Nazis. The story was mainly about one kid's journey through all of this. He wanted to remain faithful to being a swing kid because he saw that the Nazis had horrible ideas.

After dinner we had another class in which we read some diary entries from people who experienced the Holocaust. We went around the room reading the entries in almost complete silence. After reading all we were supposed to pick one to write a response to. I really liked this activity because it allowed us to connect to a more personal side of the history of the Holocaust. The theme was spiritual resistance. We talked about the personal ways that people revolted. Some people wrote diaries. While others collected artifacts for future generations to know what happened. Others didn't tighten bolts all of the way when working in factories as a small way of rebelling abainst the Nazis.

This was day one of Holocaust study.

More to come

Shabbat Shalom