"There are no walls, there are no bolts, no locks that anyone can put on your mind."

Sunday

March 11, 2012

Dear Diary,
                                                                                                                          
            When Anne's dad tells her to remember "There are no walls, there are no bolts, no locks that anyone could put on your mind" it reminds me of something my mom or dad would say. Something like "The mind is a powerful tool."In times where I'd be so bored, like during a black-out, my siblings and I would make up stories to pass the time. Some of them were so ridiculous, yet so creative, imaginative. Some stories were so funny my sides would hurt from laughing so hard, and others were so frightening I thought a monster would drag me by my feet into the darkness. Remembering those times makes me agree with the statement Mr.Frank made to his daughter, Anne.Looking at the Frank's situation, the Nazis had taken their freedom, and their rights and "locked them in a room bolted shut". Their imagination was the only thing the Nazis couldnt take from them.                                                                  
             Within the mind are countless doors of possibilities. Its just up to the person to unlock it.                     Structures like the Ancient Pyramids and the Great Wall, even Disney World boggle the minds of countless people all over the world. "How could they imagine such magnificence of this great size!" The idea for literary works like Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia, and Harry Potter were conceived in the mind of just one person. Just one person made those plots so thick and intriguing to readers worldwide. I very much do agree with Mr. Frank's statement. Nothing can bind something as languid as the mind.                                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                                               
                                                         Love,                                                                                                     
                                                                       Aaleah                                                                                     

Daily Schedule in Hiding (pt 1)

Sunday
March 11, 2012


Daily Schedule

9am - 10am: Thinking

10am- 11am: Drawing

11pm- 12pm:Writing Stories

12pm-  1pm: Writing in a journal

1pm- 2pm: Reading

2pm- 3pm: Dreaming 

3pm- 4pm: Drawing

4pm-5pm: Thinking

5pm-6pm: Praying

     There really isn't much to do in hiding. If I didn't have a day like this I'd probably sleep between the hours of 9am and 6pm. Then I thought,if my family's Christian faith had to go into hiding, we'd probably be praying from 12pm- 1pm and from 5pm-6pm, and reading the bible and meditating all the hours in between. If it were just me in hiding, my schedule would be the one above, with variation from day to day of course.  

My Reactions to: Concentration Camp photos, The Holocaust, and Anne Frank

Wednesday

March 7, 2012

Dear Diary,

    

       After seeing pictures of concentration camps and learning a little about the Holocaust and Anne Frank, I feel greatly disturbed, yet inspired. The pictures I saw in class didn't compare to the pictures I looked up on my own. Stacks, mass piles of dead bodies laying in pits. I saw some people so skinny that you could see all of the indents of their ribs and their hip bones. Many of them looked like they were only barely clinging to life. What scared me most was seeing small children so skinny and their expression so solemn, like all hope had left them. ( I wonder why it affects me more to see children starving than adults..)

   I feel disgusted how humans could treat other humans in such a vile inhuman way. Its alright to have beliefs, but to take part in killing people  because they don't conform to your beliefs is so wrong. I'm feeling disgusted. What strikes me more is that what I visualize what they went through, it was probably 100 times as brutal.

   I really can begin to see the true reasons why that Nazi soldier died and no one really cared. I bet they thought that, that man dying of the illness he had, was an easy punishment. 

   I feel like I can never use the word starving again. I mean, I've seen some really really skinny people before, most suffering from severe famine, but I've never seen a person so skinny that all they basically were was a skeleton with skin wrapped around it. Then seeing skeleton people multiplied by most of Europe's jewish population of children and adults alike is kind of creepy

   On the flip side, however, learning about Anne Frank inspired me because she enjoyed life, particularly her situation then, when she had to go into hiding. Not that she was belittleing seriousness of the situation, she just made herself more adept to being in hiding by being lax whenever she was allowed to. I think she was the type of person to not let others crush her spirit.

   I also admire Anne for being able to keep herself busy for 9 hours straight without making a sound, I acknowledge that takes extreme skill. Anne will still be herself even if they are in hiding. I wonder if I could manage to be myself in that type of situation. Hopefully I will never get the opportunity to find out.

                                             Love,

                                            Aaleah

How I Feel About Diaries....

Tuesday

March 6, 2012

Dear Diary,

    I originally thought that diaries were a waste of time. I've always wanted to have a diary despite that feeling. Whenever I start a diary i follow a pattern:
First-I'm overly excited, I can't wait until the next day just so that I can write something new.
Next- I gradually begin to forget to write in it everyday.
Then- I'll misplace my diary and will reunite with it in the trash can.
Finally- I say "I'm giving up on diaries"
    Its not like I have trouble recalling the events that happen each day, not very much usually happens. Sorting out feelings, or thoughts can be done in my head, where no one else can invade my privacy. At one angle i see diaries as dangerous. If I, per say, wrote something about a person in my diary, and then ended up losing it and that diary ended up in the hands of the person I was talking about, that would spell "trouble", in uppercase letters ("TROUBLE")
 

 In a different light, I kind of like diaries. Quite hypocritical, I know , but the idea of documenting history in diaries, like Anne had, I think, is very interesting.

                     Maybe I'll try writing a diary for real, this time.

                                                   Love,

                                                        Aaleah >.<

Going Into Hiding

Sunday 

March 4, 2012

Dear Diary,
         "The events of today still flash over, and over again in my head. The panic, the lonesomeness, and fear still attack me even as i try to sleep. Today was the day I decided to go into hiding. I'd received a call-up earlier on. That moment I felt my blood run cold, and my body numb. I lived with no one other than myself. They would be able to capture me easily, but only if I let them. As difficult as it was, I willed myself to move and prepare to leave.   Other than what I had on then, I took five changes of clothes, all of which I also wore and disguised underneath an insulated jacket. I figured the bulkiness of other jackets would arouse suspicion. I wore my over-sized fishing boots and wool socks and stuffed them with preserved fruits, fish, oats and with bread. When that food ran out, I'd used the fishing line and hook I brought with me, to catch fish and matches to cook it. In times where making fires weren't an option, I brought a knife, and hid it in my undergarments, so i could slice the fish and eat it raw.       Water, I'd distill by heating it up then putting it in a foldable leather sac to cool. I wear a blonde wig If I ever I have to go outside.I think the blonde wig would make me look less suspicious and immune to random searches. I haven't gotten caught so far, and I don't plan to either.      I didn't bring a flashlight. I solely rely on sunlight, starlight and a fire's light. I brought a journal with me and tied it to my stomach. Its a pretty big journal, but I write extremely tiny inside of it so it will last.  Maybe praying and fasting will help ration the food, and pass the time.      I can't sleep because at every snap or creak I hear my eyes shoot open, and I'm instantly on alert. I hope I can calm down tomorrow."


Written in the point of view of my imaginary character Aloisia who was a Jewish woman in hiding during the Holocaust.

Blonde Wig

                                               Love,
                                                     Aaleah

Insulated Jacket

Fishing Line

What I Know and Want to Know About the Holocaust

Thursday,

March 1, 2012

Dear Diary,

Star of David - All Jews were forced to wear
 it on their clothes

  
       The depth of my knowledge about the Holocaust is pretty rooted. I know that the cause of the Holocaust was a German man by the name of Adlof Hitler. Adolf Hitler believed that all Jews were inferior and that Aryans were the superior. Due to his "extremist", maybe even beyond extremist, beliefs, when he gained power as the chancellor of Germany he ordered both the imprisonment and killing of Jews in Germany. Eventually his perverse ideals and his influence spread to other countries in Eastern Europe, and that part of the world become a nightmare zone.

Adolph Hitler

   Imagine living in an environment where, no matter where you turned you'd be in danger. An environment where trusting anyone could be a mistake. Where you'd have to hide a part of you that you held in a high respect? Many, if not all Jews during the Holocaust went into hiding to escape danger,death. There were few people they could trust, beacuse at any moment that very person could turn you in to avoid trouble for themselves.

   Jews, or people, that were caught assisting Jews were arrested and taken to concentration camps, which were camps where they would be forced to do hard labor. They condition in these camps were absolutely terrifying. Disease spread like wild fire from one person to the next because they all lived in such close quarters. They all suffered from malnutrition because of the scarcity of food. Dead bodies wouldn't be discovered until, maybe days later when the body was already decomposing.

   Death camps were even more horrifying. each day there's be thousands of deaths. Each one more cruel than the last.

   

German Nazi Soldiers marching through Germany.

   I want to know so much more of the Holocaust. I think I want to know mainly from the point of view of a Nazi soldier. How did he feel when he had to kill a four month old baby. Or kill a young kid's parent right in front of his eyes. What did they all feel like seeing these horribly wronged people stripped of all their right as a human being and suffering from lack of food and water or even  clothes. I also want to know how the Nazi men were treated after the Holocaust. Was it really anyone's fault besides Hitler's? I want to know where Nazi men stood in society's view at that time. If they were seen as scum I'd like to know why also, and not the obvious reason, I want to know why they couldn't be forgiven if they were treated like trash. I'd also like to know more about the Nazi soldier they found in America that had Cancer. I heard they let him die. I want to know why. As doctors I thought they'd see past his past affiliation and help the sick patient suffering from cancer. Can hatred of a group extend to a generation that never felt the past's pain? Where does that hatred come from? Why couldn't they forgive him after seeing him in that state? Did they think he deserved it? Is that how humans are?

   I also want to know how many survivors there were of the concentration camps and if they wrote books. I want to read them. The Holocaust reminds me very much of Slavery. They relate quite similarly. Learning about the Holocaust brought up more emotion than I thought it would. How can history learned in a class move a person so much? What's learned in a classroom of those Horrors the jews faced can't compare to what they actually faced and dealt with and, some, survived through. Even so, I'm unsettled, for the Jews and the ex-Nazi's and I's like to know more.

                        

                  Love,

                             Aaleah ^.^