What Facing History and Ourselves Meant To Me

Over the past four and a half months, I have seen films that made me upset, had discussions that made me irate, and saw acts of heroism that made me proud.  Facing History is an emotional course but it is worth the pain and sorrow to feel connected with history, especially the Holocaust.  Every student in the class had their own opinion and responded to the lessons and films differently, but here is how this course affected me.

For me, “12 Angry Men” opened the doors to what Facing History was going to show me.  This movie had me infuriated and at the edge of my seat at certain points.  I concluded that this was just the beginning of the emotional rollercoaster that this course was going to bring.

This film is about a jury made up of twelve men and they are to make the decision of guilty or innocent in a murder case.  The main focus of the movie, in facing history terms, is being a bystander versus being a rescuer.  One of the jurors immediately just assumed the defendant was guilty without looking deep into the evidence.  Then, because of the unwillingness of that one man, all the rest of the jury, except for one, assumed the man on trial was guilty because the first juror said so.  The one man who stood out and made everyone take a step back and think for a second, saved the defendants life and was his rescuer.  Eleven men were ready to pack up and put away an innocent man in a matter of seconds all so they could get home in time for dinner.  This film taught me to keep an open mind and listen to every point of view because there are always two sides to a story.  If I was biased and refused to listen to others than I would be just as ignorant as those eleven men were.  Also, I realized to be a strong individual I must stand up for what I believe in even if it means I’m standing alone. There's safety in numbers, without a doubt, but that doesn't make the majority right.

         Recently, I viewed the most moving film of this entire course.  “The Boy In the Striped Pajamas” shows what it is like to grow up during World War II through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy, Bruno.  Bruno’s father is a highly ranked SS Officer who is one of the main leaders of Auschwitz.  Bruno is an adventurous and curious young boy and all he wants to do is find friends to play with in his new town.  He immediately becomes board sitting around the house and starts to wonder outside. He notices that there is a “farm” near his house and he, disregarding his mother’s rules, goes out and investigates the farm.  Here, Bruno meets Shmuel, a prisoner at Auschwitz.  Bruno is naive to what is going on that he is jealous that Shmuel has friends to play with and he does not.  Bruno is so interested with Shmuel’s side of the barbed wire that he decides that he is going to find a way to the other side.  Ultimately, the soldiers who work for his father gas Bruno, an innocent child, to death.

            Bruno’s innocence tore at my heart and even though the ending was excruciatingly hard to watch, it opened my eyes to how sheltered the world was from the Holocaust.  Bruno was a microcosm for the rest of the world.  America had no idea that the Nazi’s were exterminating an entire race and anyone else they did not approve of.  Even people in Europe, where the Holocaust took place, were unaware of the massacre going on around them.  This film brought the darkness and pain of the Holocaust into my classroom; everyone could feel the sadness.  I believe viewing and feeling this sadness was a necessary evil, though, because the Holocaust needs to be taught to every human being. It took a nine-year-old boy to make me think twice about what I have in life.  I realized that out of all tangible things I have, the one that is most valuable to me is intangible: my voice.  The Jews, my ancestors, would be murdered on the spot if they spoke out to the Nazi’s.  I am fortunate that I can voice me opinion without fear of punishment and death. It would be a crime to not use that amazing opportunity.  I must never stop using my voice, and saying what I think.  I not only have to portray the truth of what happened to my descendants but I also have to use my words when I hear anything offensive.  No derogatory language or anti-sematic language is okay and now my voice will stop it whenever my ears hear it.

         The closing lesson of Facing History gave me a greater connection with my Jewish ancestors.  I viewed and held pictures from the Auschwitz album.  These are actual photographs from the Holocaust, specifically from the Auschwitz concentration camp.  One picture affected more than the others.  The picture captured a large pile of thousands and thousands of shoes.  Each pair of shoes represented a person who was murdered at the Holocaust and all that is left in their memory is shoes.  One of the other things I thought of when I touched these pictures was the fact that there are still some people on this planet who believe the Holocaust did not happen.  It boggles my mind that some people can be so selfish.  The Holocaust did happen.  I held proof of it in my own two hands. No matter how difficult, painful, or embarrassing our history is, it is still our history. We must face it head on always. Denying the past only hinders recovery, and lets the past repeat itself over again. Instead, we must accept all of it, our defeats, horrors, and our victories, and allow it to make us stronger people today.