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