Today, I visited Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, located in
Germany, which is now formed into a historical site and memorial because the
original was destroyed due to being disease ridden with typhus. The famous Anne Frank perished here from
typhus a month before liberation. During
its prime, it consisted of a POW camp, concentration camp, and displaced persons
camp until 1950 with 12,000 Jewish people.
After the Holocaust, it was a
place of rebirth of Jewish life.
Second-generations were actually born here. This was the largest Jewish DP camp in
post-war Germany. More than 1,500
children were born at the DP camp. It
was a city within the camp. They
established schools, concerts, sports competitions, choirs, political talks,
and theater. Rabbis performed religious
ceremonies here such as weddings. They
published newspapers and magazines.
Despite the vibrant life, survivors were still haunted by the Holocaust,
and many travelled to other sites looking for their families. Another goal of theirs was to emigrate to
Palestine (modern-day Israel). I can’t believe that after
all this, other countries such as the UNITED STATES, Canada, and Australia
STILL refused to open their doors to these refugees.
It wasn’t until 1948 with the birth of Israel that finally Jews had a
place to call home!
The British liberated Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945, one
of the first concentration camps to be liberated. While 53,000 prisoners were liberated, 52,000 of them died from malnutrition and disease. It
was too little, too late at this point.
What amazed me was the British let the SS officers guard the camp after
liberation to keep order. WHAT??? I would think they would run! However, many of the Germans literally thought they
did nothing wrong, so they weren’t scared. But something told them to burn as
many documents as possible. From
photographs and interviews, the Nazi officers were described as having an
arrogant and cavalier attitude toward their victims.
One question that is posed countless times by my students is
WHY? Why did the Nazis do this? I assumed they were scared of being killed if
they didn’t follow orders. WRONG
AGAIN! If the soldiers didn’t want to
kill because they were uncomfortable, they had the right to step aside. Not only would they not be killed, they
wouldn’t even be punished! So why did so
many step up to the plate, so to speak.
They literally didn’t have a gun to their heads, so why take part in
murdering? It wasn’t an ORDER! Maybe human nature is capable of a lot worse
than I thought! And I already thought it
was bad!
Lastly, I learned about the children and what they did for
“fun” while waiting to die. They stepped
in puddles, played hopscotch, counted the number of bodies in piles to see which
one was bigger, and compared bodies to see which was uglier or prettier. Instead of playing “Cops and Robbers”, they
played “Jews and Nazis.” They had
contests to see how far they could push their hands underneath their malnourished ribcages! But no matter what game was played, they
always knew their time would come to die.
When questioning their parents WHY, parents said the Nazis hated them for no reason at all. Simple as
that. There was no shock because it’s
all the children knew.
Pics are coming soon. Please comment. Lets me know you're reading!
SS Kramer
How she manages to smile through her continuous torture and beatings is beyond me.
Immense suffering.
Take a look how emaciated these people are.....Think of the games the children would play to see how deep they could get their hands under their rib cages. The deepest was the winner. Some win ....
Bergen-Belsen doesn't look like a typical concentration camp now. Hardly any barracks. It wasn't meant to have gallows, signs, or trains. This was the pathway between the barracks. The barracks were destroyed because of the rampant, infectious typhus disease.
TODAY: Empty reservoir
PAST:
This is a mass grave. About 5,000 victims are buried here. They are nameless, just how the Nazis viewed them.
Just before liberation, Anne Frank succumbed to typhus. This is a symbolic memorial.
SS KramerHow she manages to smile through her continuous torture and beatings is beyond me. Immense suffering.Take a look how emaciated these people are.....Think of the games the children would play to see how deep they could get their hands under their rib cages. The deepest was the winner. Some win ....Bergen-Belsen doesn't look like a typical concentration camp now. Hardly any barracks. It wasn't meant to have gallows, signs, or trains. This was the pathway between the barracks. The barracks were destroyed because of the rampant, infectious typhus disease. TODAY: Empty reservoirPAST:This is a mass grave. About 5,000 victims are buried here. They are nameless, just how the Nazis viewed them.Just before liberation, Anne Frank succumbed to typhus. This is a symbolic memorial. 
Thank you for writing this blog. After purchasing the books for Alex and attending the field trip, I have become fascinated with the Holocaust. I don't remember learning about it in high school, but I do remember reading books and watching the movies (Schindler's List and The Hiding Place) and now I want to learn more. I hope to travel to DC to visit the museum and as much as I would like to visit the camps, it's doubtful that will happen! Please post pictures, if you can.
ReplyDeleteLaura Shirazi (Alex)
PS I'm so sorry about Pugsly! I've been through it and it's devastating!
F$#k Hitler
DeleteI honestly don't know how to feel at this point. I think the thing that really stuck with me the most was what the children did for "fun." I mean, what type of sick, twisted people would do such a thing as to torture CHILDREN! And then they just get off SCOTT FREE?! that's awful! I mean imagine your children having to entertain themselves by counting bodies. Of course, some were too young to understand what exactly was happening, but just the thought of things like that is impossible to think about. The picture that really caught my eye was the Anne Frank memorial. She was SO CLOSE to being liberated. Only one month away! That's so terrible to think about. I have no idea what I would do if I were stuck in one of these camps. I'd probably go insane and die of disease or some other terrible thing. I pray that history WON'T repeat itself and that humanity will be able to avoid something like this from EVER happening again.
DeleteThis is one of the hell camps in Germany. It must be told. Never again!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am honestly shocked. After reading and looking at the pictures posted, I am overwhelmed with the emotion. I am still mad at the U.S. not wanting to help, again! Also mad about how Britain let the SS soldiers control the Jewish people to settle them down; it just doesn't make sense to me! It broke my heart when I read about the children's games. At such a young age you shouldn't be already expecting death and not even having to worry about it. The game that had the most impact on me was the one who could get their hands the farthest in the rib cage of a dead man. I think it was the picture of the man lying down that made me realize how easy that might of been, which makes the whole situation hundred times worse. Overall, the pictures had the most impact on me. I am a visual learning and looking at those pictures of the people in the camps made me realize that I can never fully understand life in the concentration camps for the Jews.
ReplyDeleteI am very surprised by almost everything in this post. I wouldn't expect the Jews to stay in a place where so many other Jews had just recently been killed, let alone start a family there or perform religious ceremonies. With the SS soldiers guarding them, I would think that the Jews would be frightened and uncomfortable with living in the camp. It's hard to believe the British would let the SS soldiers be guards of a displaced person camp that housed so many Jews! I was also very shocked by the children's games and mindsets. I agree with Mattie in the fact that I was largely impacted by the game where the children shoved their hands under their ribcages. It is very heartbreaking that the children know their time to die will come, and they are just trying to pass the time. Childhood is meant to be a time of innocence and fun, but the concentration camp made this impossible. These pictures, especially the picture of the malnourished man, had a huge impact on me. Hearing about the awful treatment of the Jews is one thing, but seeing pictures makes it seem more real and tragic.
ReplyDeleteI'm still very bitter about countries like the United States not opening their doors to the Jews after the Holocaust. However, I think the part of this post that affected me the most was learning about how free the Nazis were. I also could never figure out how someone could be willing to exterminate an entire group of people, so I attributed it to a lack of choice. I assumed that Hitler was forcing many of the Nazis to kill or else they would be punished, but hearing about how that was not the case repulsed me. That changes how I look at human nature a lot because if we are capable of doing that then I don't even want to think about what else we can do. While this was awful, I admire that the Jews were able to make a life out of the concentration camps once they were liberated. They still continued to practice their faith and grow despite persecution and were able to make the best out of a terrible situation. I don't think I could have done that.
ReplyDeleteWow. I could barely look at those pictures; they were awful. I got chills when i saw them. These pictures brought it all to life. It showed how extremely awful the Nazis were. It makes me sick. Also, that huge grave that has no names or anything around makes me angry. Everyone knows there are thousands of bodies that were just thrown in their like they were nothing. It's like they were animals to them. One thing that really hit me was the games the children used o play; that is no way to have fun or have a childhood. The rib game made me hurt inside; it sounds so painful to me, but they probably didn't feel too much.
ReplyDeleteLike Maddie, I'm shocked at this part. I had no idea that there were camps where there were mini functioning towns in the middle, where children are playing with each other, and where they had concerts. What really made me think about the conditions that the second generation of victims had to grow up in was the way children played. They would count DEAD bodies, that's scaring, they also saw who could stick their hands farther up their rib cages. When i was younger, i would just go outside and play with my friends, they got to count dead bodies and see how malnourished they were. wow.
ReplyDeleteWhile these pictures do make me understand what happened at Bergen-Belsen and make everything seem more real to me, what really hit me was learning that the British let the SS soldiers maintain control AFTER liberating the Jews. What was going through their minds when they decided that? "Let's let them live in the same place as where they had been almost worked to death, be controlled by the same people as before liberation, and make sure they know that they do not have anywhere else to go. Okay?". Honestly, it just doesn't make much sense to me. Luckily, Israel was established in 1948 and all Jews found a place that would take them in.
ReplyDeleteI am, once again, gravely disappointed in the United States for not opening their doors for refugees. I am also surprised that the Jewish community created a vibrant city in a camp where many of their love ones died. My views on the Nazis have immensely changed from this blog. Before, I thought the Nazis were innocent and scared, but now, I know that they had a free will, and weren’t forced. How can someone’s conscious allow this to happen? My soul broke when I read about the children’s games they played. Childhood is supposed to innocent and carefree age. Yet, in the camps, the kids played with dead, shriveled bodies. The pictures made me realize how much suffering and pain actually went on in the camps. Without the pictures, I couldn’t picture a malnourished person because I have never seen one, so I thought it couldn’t have been that bad. Now, I have seen pictures of men purely suffering and it makes me realize how much they actually suffered.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked to read that right after being liberated, most of the Jews died of malnutrition or disease. It's sad to think that they went through so much suffering in the camps, and they never got to experience freedom again. I was also shocked and saddened when I read that the children in the camps would count dead bodies for entertainment. It's horrible that those children never got to have a childhood; their innocence was ripped away from them at such a young age. Before seeing any pictures, it was hard for me to imagine the conditions being described. The pictures, especially the ones of emaciated bodies, make everything seem much more real.
ReplyDeleteBefore I took your class, the only concentration camp I knew by name was Auschwitz. Even now, I thought Auschwitz was where Anne Frank died. The survivors must have been strong, because I don’t think I could go back to a place I perished at for so long. I’m not surprised that the U.S., or other states didn’t let Jews immigrate. Most countries care only for themselves and allies; if it was the other states enduring the Holocaust, they would want someone to help. Letting S.S officers guard the camp shocked me. How could you let the people you liberated against guard, and “protect”, the people they hated? You could also see they felt guilty (even if they said they weren't) because they burned all of the evidence. I felt my heart break a little when I read about the children. How could you be so young and be accustomed to see dead bodies? No one should be exposed to death that early. The pictures are a reminder that the Holocaust did happen, and that a lot had changed over time, but it will never be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures that you posted shocked and scared me. I have never been more saddened by a picture than the one of the man who was lying dead among the other Jews. He practically had no stomach; I can only imagine all of the suffering he endured. To hear about the games the children played was heartbreaking. All they knew their entire lives was that the world hated them, so they had to stay in a camp with the Nazis guarding them. They never got to experience pure joy or freedom. The pictures were unbelievable, and I cannot believe that people were ever treated the way the Jews were treated.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me how the Jews were able to go on with their everyday lives go to school and even hold religious ceremonies, despite what they went through. I'm shocked that the Jews stayed in the camps when the British let the SS officers guard the camp. The guards didn't even show any empathy or concern for the Jews. It saddens me that the children childhood was practically taken from them, but they still managed to make the best of it.
ReplyDeleteI was absolutely shocked while looking at the pictures it made think of how much pain and suffering the Jews went through while they were at the camp. I was really shocked to find out that SS soldiers continued to guard and keep order in the camp even after it was liberated by the British. I was also really touched by the picture of the dead bodies just laying out in the open because this just shows that the Nazis didn't even care enough about the Jews to get rid of the dead bodies that were just laying on the ground out in the open around the camp.
ReplyDeleteI am so shocked by the things these people went through. The Nazi soldiers were so cruel. How could anyone just stand there and watch as people suffered right in front of their eyes? What kind of people volunteer to go out and kill innocent people? I'm not sure how the Jews could go start a family and live in a place that was originally designed to destroy them. I am surprised that the Jews weren't scared of the SS soldiers guarding them. Also I would think that any country would be willing to open their doors to the Jews after such a horrific event, but sadly that wasn't the case. Even after all this I still think the Jews were very brave, especially the children. They found a way to try and have fun even though they had nothing. What saddens me the most is that these children never got a chance at a real childhood. These pictures really show you how real this all was. They never deserved this type of treatment.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how long ago this was, it is still devastating and leaves a remarkable impact. I still can't believe that NO ONE took the Jews in. I cant imagine being able to put my hands under my rib cage. It is sickening to know that 5,000 victims were buried in one small hill just because of their beliefs. What impacted me the most were all the different countries that turned the Jews down. A good connection to this topic is something that Mr. Shannon said. We (every country that denied the Jews) left the Jews behind. In the Marines, no one gets left behind, and every country that denied the Jews, left them behind.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. I’m shocked to read that after the Holocaust was over other countries still refused to let the Jews in. Why did they do that? If they didn’t want them during the war why not take them when the war was over. I guess even though the war was over, the situation still wasn’t great. 53,000 prisoners were deliberated but only 1,000 survived. The most shocking part is that the British let the SS officers guard the camp after liberation to keep order. The craziest thing is that the Nazis had an option, but they still chose to do it. They chose to slaughter millions of innocent people. This whole thing is very sad. Children playing a game of counting dead bodies! The picture of the lady smiling is very powerful. Even though she’s going through pain, She manage to keep a smile on her face.
ReplyDeleteI had originally written something but it somehow got deleted. Here it goes again.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually extremely glad that you have this blog because it truly brings into perspective all of the terrible things that happen. Simply reading about it, my mind likes to think of this just as a story, even though I know it's not. You're blog as been bringing the lives of all the people, all the women, men, and children that died, to life. One of the most shocking parts of this particular writting is the morbid games the children would play at this camp. Instead of playing cops and robbers, they'd play nazis and Germans? They'd try to see which pile of corpses is the biggest? Oh and they had contests to see who could go the farthest under their ribcage? I wonder who the winner would be in that. The one who could or the one couldn't. I understand that they knew very well what was going to happen, but it still shocked me greatly. I myself have bad ways of coping with grief or death. I typically make a joke out of it which tends to make others uncomfortable. I can relate to them now. Another part that completely bewildered me was that after the British freed the people, they let SS soldiers guard them? I'm sorry, what?! It's like, yeah, sure we trust you to guard the people who you've been WILLINGLY torturing for years. Honestly, the decision making of all of these people is ridiculous. Who the hell would allow that?
To think about what the Jews have went through is truly horrifying. They had to carry the weight of the world on their backs. The things that the Nazis did to them were unmoral and unacceptable. The fact that the Nazis had a choice whether to do what they did or not, deepened the unmorality. My question is simply "Why"? The thing that astonished me the most was that some of the Jews were able to remain strong and that the kids played games. The lady, who was smiling, in the picture truly resembles strength. If I was put through that situation, my sorrow would sever any type of strength that tried to break through. Frankly, I don't know if I would have kept on living. The camp may look different, but I believe it still reeks from the Holocaust's stench.
ReplyDeleteWow! I can't believe that the Jews came back to this place and lived there. How could they ever do such a thing. They were basically living where their families were murdered. But I guess they didn't have any where else to turn. We wouldn't let them come to America, and the SS guards were watching them probably to make sure they didn't go to their country. I'm shocked that the way for kids to have fun is to shove their hands up their ribs. That is disgusting, they were young and didn't know right from wrong yet and should have grown up in a normal enviornment. The children will never be the same and nothing can change that for them, because their fate has already passed. My last thing to say is about the mass grave. For some reason this just got to me. It's so depressing that these people are buried with thousands of strangers. They will never get their own memorial, no one will be there to visit their grave the day they died or Mother's Day. No one knows who is in there and never will, and for those people they have lost so much, so much respect and consideration. Now when you think of them you see a thousand other faces, and just think of them as another dead forgotten Jew.
ReplyDeleteThe photos are so shocking. Actually seeing how they lived and what life looked like for the prisoners had such a greater effect on me than just reading about it in a text book. To see their pain and suffering makes my skin just crawl. I am sickened by the fact that SS soldiers were allowed to watch over the camp after liberation. The Jewish people who were liberated and stayed in the converted concentration camp are both brave and crazy. If that were me, I would have been so far out of that camp the second I was free. The fact that only 1,000 prisoners survived breaks my heart. They made it to freedom, they survived the Holocaust, and then they died from sickness. It enrages me that the devilish Nazis got what they wanted: an extermination of the Jewish people. I cannot comprehend how they were able to believe they were not doing something bad. How could the Nazis not have assumed what they were doing was wrong? They killed innocent people, for crying out loud!
ReplyDeleteThe photos are so shocking. Actually seeing how they lived and what life looked like for the prisoners had such a greater effect on me than just reading about it in a text book. To see their pain and suffering makes my skin just crawl. I am sickened by the fact that SS soldiers were allowed to watch over the camp after liberation. The Jewish people who were liberated and stayed in the converted concentration camp are both brave and crazy. If that were me, I would have been so far out of that camp the second I was free. The fact that only 1,000 prisoners survived breaks my heart. They made it to freedom, they survived the Holocaust, and then they died from sickness. It enrages me that the devilish Nazis got what they wanted: an extermination of the Jewish people. I cannot comprehend how they were able to believe they were not doing something bad. How could the Nazis not have assumed what they were doing was wrong? They killed innocent people, for crying out loud!
ReplyDeleteBy far the most emotional account yet. I was confused at times during this grim experience. One in particular was the community the Jews created after the war in the camp. I could only imagine going to school and having my English calls be in the crematory, and having Math in the gas chambers, and finally, enjoying my science class outdoors above the mass grave beneath my feet. I mean, it seems unlikely and ironic that a people who constantly experienced death and agony at this specific location, would desire to build a community and life in the same location; I am truly baffled. I would also like to sorrowfully say how tragically ironic it was for 52,000 people of 53,000 to die AFTER liberation. They fought with all their determination and strength throughout the entire beatings, mental damaging, and mass killings of Holocaust, but only to die shortly after from starvation.
ReplyDeleteI read the story of Anne Frank in third grade, and I can remember how hard her story hit me. I never knew much about the Holocaust before that book, but now I think I know a great deal more than I did. It makes me sad that she was so close to being free after powering through for so long, but she tragically died only a month before the end of the Holocaust. I still don’t understand why so many countries wouldn’t allow refuge to the Jews! They had reasons, but they certainly weren’t powerful enough to lead to the harming of so many Jewish people. I’m almost ashamed of the country I live in because of this. I was always taught that President Roosevelt was such a kind-hearted man. I never suspected he would cause the death of so many innocent people. I’m also amazed that the British government allowed the protection of the concentration camps. Those SS Officers should’ve suffered greatly for what harm they caused. -Audrey Norton
ReplyDeleteEven though I've read The Diary of Anne Frank, years ago, I never knew Bergen -Belson was the camp she was put in. Knowing almost nothing about the camp, I was immediately surprised when I learned of the size of it's prisoner's population. If 53,000 were liberated in 1945, one can only imagine the number of people who have entered since it's existance as an extermination camp. The fact that only 1000 of that 53000 survived after being liberated is absolutely heart wrecnching. That isn't even 2%. This brings up my question of how the Jews, and other Holocaust survivors were treated post-war. I know that Bergen-Belson, along with some other concentration camps were used as displacement camps at the end of th ewar. But what else became of the people who's lives were stolen from them?I would be so unbelievably furious if I was a Jew that spent so many years so unjustly oppressed and have to wait until 1948 to have a place to truly call my homeland. What stuck with me the most about Bergen-Belson was your description of the children living there. The ones who were born or raised there. That literally had no knowledge of what life was like outside of the camp's walls. These children had grown up completely overexposed to death. It makes you wonder the affects of being raised in a concentration camp has on their social behavior and mental stability; to live in a world surrounded by men with loud guns and big voices. In a world of uncertainty, and constant fear that this day could very well be your last. This world is not suited for childhood.
ReplyDeleteThis article really screwed me up, when I heard the games the kids played to have fun before dying, that made me get sentimental. I could never imagine having the strength to live past something so heinous and harsh. And also I knew of Anne Frank, but I didn’t know she had been a prisoner at Bergen-Belsen. Just looking at the field where the concentration camp used to be makes you think about the certain stupidities that have happened throughout the course of human history, and how our ignorance and prejudice helped contribute to such a horrible act that never should've happened, but because of so many preventable factors were ignored, it did. If I never would've known the history behind that field, I never could’ve imagined that a concentration camp, where thousands died and suffered so much loss and pain, could’ve really stood where that field was. This I thought was ironic. What really pissed me off were the Nazi officers, those bastards had the right to choose who they killed and didn’t kill, it was literally up to them and how they “felt” if they wanted to participate in murdering so many innocent people. Those pieces of trash deserve to burn in hell for their crimes, they don’t deserve forgiveness from God or humanity.
ReplyDeleteThe irony was how beautiful these places were. I can't believe how humanity is capable of destroying this.
ReplyDeleteThe irony was how beautiful these places were. I can't believe how humanity is capable of destroying this.
ReplyDeleteThis Post was very interesting. I had some mixed feelings about the actual content. I was surprised to hear that after the Jews suffered the Holocaust they actually stuck around to build a "town." Its a little bit confusing thinking about the God awful things that happened and then right after they created a thriving community. Rebirth where your fellow Jews died didn't seem right to me. Also I was very appalled at the games the dying Jewish kids would play. It's awful for young children to be exposed to that let alone play games with the content. Its scary to think that those kids were so used to death they made fun of it. I'm still shocked at the fact they buried 5,000 Jews in one big pile. These mass graves truly do make a negative impact on humanity. The one big aspect I was surprised by was the British let the former SS officers guard the new area after the Holocaust!! They murdered thousands of Jews and the British didn't see the effect of arresting these officers. Its crazy also that the officers believed they did nothing wrong...They killed Most of a religion!
ReplyDelete-Nicholas Wartham
This Post was very interesting. I had some mixed feelings about the actual content. I was surprised to hear that after the Jews suffered the Holocaust they actually stuck around to build a "town." Its a little bit confusing thinking about the God awful things that happened and then right after they created a thriving community. Rebirth where your fellow Jews died didn't seem right to me. Also I was very appalled at the games the dying Jewish kids would play. It's awful for young children to be exposed to that let alone play games with the content. Its scary to think that those kids were so used to death they made fun of it. I'm still shocked at the fact they buried 5,000 Jews in one big pile. These mass graves truly do make a negative impact on humanity. The one big aspect I was surprised by was the British let the former SS officers guard the new area after the Holocaust!! They murdered thousands of Jews and the British didn't see the effect of arresting these officers. Its crazy also that the officers believed they did nothing wrong...They killed Most of a religion!
ReplyDelete-Nicholas Wartham
I also thought it was very weird that they decided to stay...but maybe they wanted to show that the Nazis didn't win.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was very weird that they decided to stay...but maybe they wanted to show that the Nazis didn't win.
ReplyDeleteThis post was very interesting to read. I cannot believe that after being liberated the jews still lived in the camp. The same camp where there friends and family died. After looking at the photos it’s hard to believe that thousands of people were killed there. I actually knew about this concentration camp a little bit before reading. I was told that some of my ancestors were taken there. The one thing that really was so horrifying to read was about the games the children used to play while living there. They would count huge piles of corpses and see which one was the biggest, they would play those games comparing their bodies and how far they could push their hands under their rib cage, and even more abnormal games that children shouldn’t be playing! Also, I could not wrap my mind around the fact that the Nazi SS officers stayed and guarded the “town” after the camp being liberated. They literally didn’t think they did anything wrong! They didn’t even have to kill all those people! They volunteered! That’s twisted! Why would anyone want to murder innocent people just because? They didn’t even have a reason beside that Hitler wanted to kill everyone who wasn’t the perfect race. I couldn’t believe that the jews literally had nowhere to go. That’s awful! I wouldn’t want to stay there after that happening to me. That’s just insane!
ReplyDelete-ursula saul
I want to start by talking about how the Nazis could do what they did. I’m DISGUSTED to hear that the Nazis VOLUNTEERED to kill thousands of innocent people. How can mankind do that? Just because of a religion or what they would call a “race.” It doesn’t matter what religion, skin tone, hair color or race that you are. We are all people, and no one should be treated so cruelly because of a difference in religion or skin tone or anything like that. That’s screwed up. That just goes to show that anything can happen. Then there are the kids. Reading about the games the kids would play reminded me of me and my sister Kate when we were little. We didn’t have a lot of toys so we would come up with stuff to do just to pass the time. I remember, we would play with a stick that came off of a mop because we didn’t have much, but eventually it broke from us playing with it. The point is, I understand were those kids are coming from when they played games that they did, and it really was to pass time. Although, their games were horrifying. Like counting dead bodies and seeing who can push their hand under their ribcage the furthest. Now that’s sad. I think everybody needs to take your class and hear and learn the things that I have so far. That way people would really know just how bad the Holocaust was.
ReplyDeleteThis has to be one of the craziest things I have ever read. When I read “Many of the Germans literally thought they did nothing wrong,” I didn’t know what to think. How could murdering millions of innocent people not be bad? I imagine Hitler and his propaganda people brainwashed a lot of them, but it still seems outrageous to me that these civilized people would believe them. One thing that breaks my heart is the games these children played. I don’t even know what to say about it. A childhood where you count the number of dead bodies around you has got to be the worst way to grow up that I can think of. Living in those camps must have been the worst way live. Actually, I wouldn’t even classify that as living. They were literally in Hell.
ReplyDeleteSupprised... That is the one word I can think of that describes my reaction while reading this. When learning about the holocaust in the past we never learned about what happened after the victims were liberated. We were just taught that everything was just nice and dandy after they were liberated and that the allies protected them and fed them. The number of how many people died at Bergen-Belsen, 52,000, is insane. Even after being liberated they were already past the point of no return and couldn't live any longer. The fact that the Allies let the past SS officers keep control of the camp seems like a horrible idea. These were the people that would kill and torture these people voluntarily, and they would let them still have power at the camp! They knew that these people believed in killing the people at the camp, but they still let them have power. The worst part of this for me was the "games" the children did for "fun" as they waited to die. They were in such a horrible position that they would compare the attractiveness of the corpses! How could their views of what was good and bad become so twisted that they would do something like that! And the ribcage "game" just disgusted me. The fact that they saw this as childhood, terrifies me.
ReplyDelete-Nicholas Hicks
I find it hard to believe a concentration camp in which 12,000 Jewish people inhabited so quickly became a place of rebirth for Jewish life after liberation. I would think as soon as everyone was liberated, they would move away from their past horrors, but instead, they stayed and had more than 1,500 children there. I suppose they stayed because countries like the U.S., Canada, and Australia still wouldn’t welcome them, yet they held onto their goal to move to Palestine. The amount of action and activities such as weddings, concerts, sports, and schools really surprises me as well. The Jews’ optimism in a place previously filled with heinous acts is inspirational. It hurts me to read that after liberation, only 1,000 of them were well enough to recover, however, looking at some of the pictures you posted doesn’t make me doubt that statistic. The “games” the Jewish children played are haunting, and as far for the Nazis motivation, I don’t believe you could ever pin that on one certain thing.
ReplyDelete-Allie Rousseau
I find it hard to believe a concentration camp in which 12,000 Jewish people inhabited so quickly became a place of rebirth for Jewish life after liberation. I would think as soon as everyone was liberated, they would move away from their past horrors, but instead, they stayed and had more than 1,500 children there. I suppose they stayed because countries like the U.S., Canada, and Australia still wouldn’t welcome them, yet they held onto their goal to move to Palestine. The amount of action and activities such as weddings, concerts, sports, and schools really surprises me as well. The Jews’ optimism in a place previously filled with heinous acts is inspirational. It hurts me to read that after liberation, only 1,000 of them were well enough to recover, however, looking at some of the pictures you posted doesn’t make me doubt that statistic. The “games” the Jewish children played are haunting, and as far for the Nazis motivation, I don’t believe you could ever pin that on one certain thing.
ReplyDelete-Allie Rousseau
Those pictures were pretty intense. Seeing how malnourished the prisoners were made me want to appreciate the life I have, so much more than I do. I thought it was pretty interesting how they turned the concentration camp into a mini city. I found it especially interesting when they said that sports competitions were created within the former concentration camp. If anything you'd think that when the Jews were liberated that they would go as far away as the could from the place where they suffered for so long. The "games" the children played were scary. Just the fact that they would touch a dead body. It still saddens me that they had to suffer so much and that they were so malnourished. It shows that you shouldn't take life for granted.
ReplyDeleteThose pictures were pretty intense. Seeing how malnourished the prisoners were made me want to appreciate the life I have, so much more than I do. I thought it was pretty interesting how they turned the concentration camp into a mini city. I found it especially interesting when they said that sports competitions were created within the former concentration camp. If anything you'd think that when the Jews were liberated that they would go as far away as the could from the place where they suffered for so long. The "games" the children played were scary. Just the fact that they would touch a dead body. It still saddens me that they had to suffer so much and that they were so malnourished. It shows that you shouldn't take life for granted.
ReplyDeleteMy initial felling after reading the blog is amazement that the horrors of the Holocaust continued after the war had ended. How could the British allow over 98% of the people liberated die? They saw the horrible conditions the prisoners were living in, yet they clearly did little to help the prisoners who were still alive. Also, whose idea was it to allow the original captors to continue to guard the Jews after all the atrocities they had committed? In my opinion, the British did not take the situation seriously enough. The only positive was that life in the camp improved slightly after the war ended, but not by much. While the prisoners now had more luxuries, they still did not have freedom or a country to call their own until 1948.-Henry Thomspon
ReplyDeleteI can’t believe Anne Frank passed away due to typhus just a month before liberation. It’s sad to think that if she wouldn't have transmitted the disease she would have been free. I hate the fact after the Jews were liberated the United States still wouldn’t let them come into their country. This makes me mad because the United States is known for helping others when they are in desperate times of need. My blood started o boil when I read the British let the SS guards guard the camp after they liberated the Jews. It made me mad that the SS guards, who killed thousands of Jews, still thought they were innocent of any crimes committed. It makes no sense to me how someone can be so ignorant. It’s even worse because each of those guards had a choice if they wanted to kill people, and they chose to do it. It put an awful image in my head that kids made a game out of who could stick their hand further up their ribcages. I will probably never be able to get that image out of my head.
ReplyDeleteYour whole blog is very impressive, but some of the stuff is hard for me to look at. Very graphic. I believe the Nazi solders willing killed the Jews because they were so committed to Germany and Hitler. They may have wanted to impress their superior just by volunteering, without being forced into anything. I think when ever you volunteer for something instead of being forced it shows commitment and loyalty. That's all the Nazis wanted to do. They wanted to prove their loyalty to Hitler. Do I believe all Nazis knew what they were doing at the time? No, most of these solders were 18! They're still a boy! They were just being a follower, and not a leader. Or, maybe so many Nazi solders were volunteering, and other solders saw that other solders were volunteering . The solders knew they wouldn't have been killed nor punished, but they would look like a coward toward their country and not loyal. - Blake Rose
ReplyDeleteThere are many things about this camp that I can’t believe. For starters, it is sad that Ann Frank died in this camp. Next, the games that the kids play are very weird. For example, when they tried to see who could go the farthest up their ribs! That is crazy! I don’t think I would have ever even thought about playing a game like this when I was younger. Next, How did the British let the SS officers continue to guard the camp? That is just strange in it self. To let the original people who tortured them and capture them still guard them. Finally, why was the place where so many Jews were killed a place for rebirth? Wouldn’t they want to get as far away from that place as possible?
ReplyDeleteIt is still very puzzling to me that even after the Holocaust ended that no other countries still didn’t want to accept any Jews. Why would the Nazis voluntary take part in the murders of millions if they weren’t being threatened to? I think they desired to have a sense of authority above a mass group of people.The “games” they played seemed so unpleasant. How could they just walk around looking at piles and piles of dead bodies? I couldn’t imagine staring at a pile of bodies and accepting the fact that I would soon be dead as well. How were those young kids able to wrap their heads around the fact that they would soon be dead? I wasn’t aware that so many people were so malnourished to the point their rib cages could be seen. I’m glad that at least a thousand lives were liberated. If only action would’ve been taken sooner so more lives could’ve been saved.
ReplyDeleteThat would be nasty to stay in one of those camps for a day. I can’t imagine how it felt to be in there for months. It’s kind of cool how you mentioned that after the Holocaust the Jews lived there. It surprises me that after they were tortured there that they would want to live there. I liked how the Jews wanted their home land back and finally got it. What I couldn’t stand was when you mentioned the “games” children played before they died. That part made me feel really sad. It surprised me that the kids accepted their death and didn’t try to fight it. But then again, what could they do.
ReplyDelete-Jake Rutledge
My first thought about this entry was that it was surprising. Several of the things you mentioned make sense but for others, not so much. I think the games that the children played are pretty terrible in our eyes, but they did it because they had nothing better to do. It isn’t exactly easy waiting to die without doing anything. I think part of the reason they did things like seeing how far their ribs went back is because they were already very broken from seeing all the dead bodies and people being murdered. They didn’t know any better. Regarding the British liberating the camp, I don’t think it was their fault most of the people who were liberated later died. Most of the people had their demise spelled out for them anyways, since they had so little food and the whole camp was riddled with Typhus. The British couldn’t have done much to save them. The thing that they got wrong is leaving the SS officers to guard. What was up with that? The people that are responsible for keeping millions of people prisoner and killing most of them too are being relied on to take care of the Holocaust victims? That’s just terrible.
ReplyDeleteWow!! This post contains a lot of emotional content and questions that the human race needs to ask themselves. I was shocked by the entire blog entry, from the text to the graphic images; though in the end, it helped me understand more about the Holocaust than I did before. I was surprised to learn that only 1000 out of 53000 Jews survived AFTER liberation. It’s hard for me to think about all of the struggles Jews went through and how hard they fought to survive this heinous behavior, only to die short after their “freedom”. It surprised me when I read that “The UNITED STATES, Canada, and Australia STILL refused to open their doors to these refugees.” I can barely understand why these countries would not open the doors to the Jews during the Holocaust, but I can’t even begin to understand why the countries wouldn’t open the doors to the refugees after the liberation. Were supposed to study the past and learn from our mistakes, but it’s ironic how the U.S refused to open their doors to Jewish refugees, because they didn’t want the “Jewish problem” and now, when the world is supposed to be a better place, the U.S is closing its doors to Syrian refugees because it does not want the “Syrian problem”.
ReplyDeleteThe part of your blog entry that surprised me the most was when you said “British let the SS officers guard the camp after liberation to keep order.” This part of the post was extremely surprising. I know that the Britain government official weren’t imbeciles, but I just don’t think that there is any logic in letting men, who VOULUNTARILY slaughtered millions of Jews out of hatred and a lust for blood; protect those who they tried so hard to annihilate. Murder was illegal, so I don’t understand why these murderers weren’t arrested. One more thing that surprised me was that some Jews stayed at Bergen-Belsen and turned it into their new home, their safe place. These individuals who stayed are courageous. I may not truly understand why they stayed, but I respect their decision; although I do think that it prohibited their children from having a “normal” life (as normal as it could’ve been). Looking at the pictures was intense; these kids were stripped of their innocence at such a young age. It breaks my heart to think that these kids were raised on the foundation that the world hated them.
I am shocked. Over this past weekend, I went to a debate tournament where we debated the topic about whether countries should prioritize humanitarian aid for refugees (in regard to the current crisis in Syria) or national interests. This topic directly relates to your statement in the blog saying, "I can’t believe that after all this, other countries such as the UNITED STATES, Canada, and Australia STILL refused to open their doors to these refugees." Even today, we are hesitant and still debating over whether we should give aid and open our doors to people who have fled their countries because they were forced to. Is this pattern continuous? When will the international law encompass all countries? The thought of all of this, and the way these events string together, makes me wonder....Furthermore, the pictures are just crazy. I can't even begin to explain them. The one that affected me the most, as well as most of my classmates, was the malnourished skinny man. When I heard that children would play games and see how far they could go under the ribcages, I didn't know what to say. To think about how hungry I get after missing a meal...I wonder how many meals those people missed. I still have no words.
ReplyDeleteI find this article very interesting because it gave me more information on what people did for fun in the camps. Especially the kids. For starters, I am shocked by the fact that children were born in this camp. People got married in this hell! Families were created here! Generations were formed and they had no choice but to grow up in these camps. I was very surprised to learn that in the camps they formed schools, sports, plays, and anything they could to maintain their lives. I can't imagine how they did that, but what I was most surprised by, is what the kids did for fun. They reached into dead people's rib cage! That's what they did for fun! That's what they did to stimulate their brains and try to be happy! They did this as they were waiting to die. There is so much I don't know about these camps and I'm dumbfounded by each new fact I learn.
ReplyDeleteThis post shocked me with graphic images of dead and barely living Jews. The fact that the Nazis allowed the Jews to live to be a living dead is almost worse than if they would have killed them upon entering the concentration camps. When you said that people actually volunteered to run the concentration camps and murder millions, it intrigued me. What was that Nazi thinking when they DECIDED to take part in the mass murder of the Jews? I can't imagine what kind of screwed up thought process brought one to thinking that mass murdering Jews was the right thing to do. I really wonder if these people were evil at their cores, or if they were just terribly mislead? Either way, there is no excuse for being a party to such a terrible crime against humanity.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you when you were incredulous about why the British let the SS officers guard the camp even after everything they did! Way to completely write a new low for logic Britain. I mean, the SS officers don’t even deserve a trial, just death. But, of course, with every case like this there are always people who will have their argument that the SS officers shouldn’t be killed. Their argument would sound something like “Well, since Hitler brainwashed almost all of Germany, the SS officers didn’t really know what hey were doing.” The problem with that is the fact that the SS officers, every single Nazi, knew exactly what they were doing. They didn’t “accidentally” kill 6 million Jews or throw up babies and use them as target practice. The Nazis knew exactly what they were doing despite Hitler’s apparent brainwash. I don’t believe Hitler brainwashed the people of Germany; he simply “fueled the fire” that is German hate toward the Jews. Hitler used the German citizens anti-Semitism and coerced it into a radical state of being.
ReplyDeleteGarrett Hensley
After reading about all of this I was shocked. The reasons that got me the most were the pictures, with the detail it gave me, made me really realize what it looked like in the time that they were going through. Another thing that shocked me was the fact that people had "fun" in these camps after it all happened, and how they held different kind of events in the camp, for it to be called the “rebirth of Jewish life.” It makes me disgusted of the thought that these kids didn't know what they were doing wrong, with the kids given a dead body and seeing whose hand can reach to the furthest bone sickens me. Reading about all of this makes me very surprised on some of the ways in which these things happened, and reading how the U.S. would not help again makes me infuriated.
ReplyDeleteI though that this blog was very interesting. I still have no idea why other countries STILL wouldn't let the Jewish refugees in. It doesn't make sense. You would think that after all they had been through that even the U.S. would let them in, but that wasn't an option for some reason. The only way they wouldn't be refugees was Israel in 1948.
ReplyDeleteI also found it very interesting how British troops kept the Nazis in the camp, and even let them control the camp!! I too feel like the Nazis should've either been scared or ran away. It's amazing how brainwashed they were to the extent that they thought they did nothing wrong. Plus, how the Jews continued to live in the camp and make a city out of it. - Graham
I bet the Jews, and the SS soldiers would have never thought that the concentration camps would later be turned into memorials. Sometimes I wonder what they would think about that. I did not know before I read your blog that Anne Frank almost living long enough for the liberation. Not only did she die, but she dies from a disease. That really shows how poorly the conditions were in the concentration camps. It also shocked me that the Jewish survivors continued to stay around/in the concentration camps when the Holocaust was over. Wouldn’t they want to get the heck out of there? It is awful to think about how such a “great” county like the United States would not let the Jewish refugees in. The Jewish are not to blame. They were the victims.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy how only 1,000 Jews lived after the British liberated the camp, and why would the British let the SS soldiers continue to guard the camp? How could they have trusted them? I totally agree with what you said about the Germans have a choice. They should not have committed mass murder. They has their own choice, and they could have said no.
It’s completely shocking when I read what games the kids played. Some of the games were normal, like hopscotch, but the games like: seeing how far your hand could go up your ribcage and flipping over bodies to see which one looks better, is completely crazy. I realize that it was the environment that influenced these different games. I guess anything that made the time in the concentration camps better and made kept the kids occupied was worth doing.
The picture of the camp, the bodies left on the ground in the camp, and the people in the camp were extremely saddening. I never thought someone could get that skinny until I saw those pictures.
-Leemie Richards
I really liked this whole post, but what resonated with me the most were the pictures. We read so many terrible things about the Holocaust, but to see it brought to life through images is an entirely different entity. The Jew’s extreme emaciation and malnourishment is truly unthinkable; it’s horrifying to think that the S.S. had the audacity to to continue to mistreat the prisoners in such a weak, defenseless state. They were already suffering so much, and to beat them and force them to work despite this is just pure cruelty. The picture of the man right above the big newspaper clipping is what hit me the hardest. I can only imagine the immense pain he’s going through both mentally and physically, and I just can’t believe that the Nazis weren’t affected by the sight of these skeleton-resembling, utterly dispirited people. The way the children played also caught my eye. Although I understand that they were just making due with what they had, it still seems so strange that they were so accepting of their inevitable death and so comfortable with being around rotting bodies. I guess they were exposed to so much trauma at that point that they were completely desensitized to the daily horrors of the concentration camp, which is both a good and a bad thing. It’s awful that they lost their humanity at such a young age, but it also gave them strength, which allowed them to survive longer. If they were constantly crying and scared of all the deaths taking place around them, the Nazis wouldn’t have tolerated them, but since they could completely disregard the fact that they were playing games with someone who was once a living, happy person but is now merely a decaying corpse, they could be strong and push through much tougher situations. I also didn’t realize that Bergen Belsen was where Anne Frank was sent. It’s horrible that she died so achingly close to the time the camp was liberated. However, in hindsight, she probably wouldn’t have survived past liberation anyways. With only 1,000 surviving out of the 53,000, the people who had fought through such heinous conditions were unfortunately relieved for only relieved for a short period of time before their eventual passing.
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to read about your experience in a concentration camp, and I hope that I can see one myself someday!
-Jett Primm
This section of the blog was really interesting. I learned new things I didn’t know about, and this demonstrates how so many events of the Holocaust I still have to comprehend.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of things that shocked me. The first one is how Jewish people transformed concentration camps into their “home”. How did they even do that? If I was in their feet, I would have got out as soon as the liberation took place and never got back in such horrible place. I don’t understand where the Jews found the strength to remain and “create” a sort of “city”; maybe they had no other place to go. I was angry to read again that the United States, Canada, and Australia still refused to welcome the refugees in their houses. The Jews had to wait till 1948 to finally find a place to call home, and it’s not nice to hear they didn’t find it before.
It was also shocking to read that a lot of Jews died of malnutrition and disease. This demonstrates how bad was to live in the concentration camps. Also, it was very stupid from the British to let the SS officers guard the camps alone; like you said, they could’ve just escaped. And how did the Nazis could not understand that what they did was totally wrong? And why did they do it? I still don’t get it.
The last thing that shocked me was to comprehend what type of games the Jewish children played in the concentration camps. It is really surprising to see how the environment can change all the regular things that happen in a normal life. How horrifying is to know that they used to count dead bodies for fun? That’s a way different action to what a “normal” kid would do.
The pictures that you posted really show how bad the condition of the condition of the Jews where. It really surprised me to see that some women had the strength to smile in the pictures they took. As I said at the beginning, I learned a lot of new stuff, and I’m thankful for it.
ReplyDeleteI never knew most of the names of concentration camps, only Auschwitz, so it really surprises me to here of such a well known place. It makes me feel like I have been hidden from something. I never even knew that Anne Frank have died here! It is amazing to see that people that knew that they didn’t have that much time to live could carry on with their lives like non-persecuted people. The Jewish people still had hoped to go to a place that they can call home despite the situation going all around them. I still find it suspicious that the British let the SS officers guard the camp after liberation. The British should have known that the SS officers are not to be trusted. The Nazis literally had no reason to kill millions of people. They weren’t forced to, they didn’t have a gun against their head, and no one threated to kill them and all their family if they didn’t, so why did they do it. I believe that the Nazis weren’t brainwashed because they had a choice.
Rahma Abdullahi
The Jews still did nothing wrong and were continued to be treated with disrespect. The Nazis remain cocky and arrogant like nothing they do is wrong. I’m glad that we’re going into depth about the holocaust because it’s a lot more interesting than I imagined. Hearing about how the Nazis had the option to step aside and not murder anyone is surprising. I never would have thought they would have had that option, but now that I do know it’s very shocking to hear about how some men stepped up to the plate like they enjoyed killing innocent people. Also, reading about how children compared dead bodies while waiting their turn to die is sickening and very frightening. They didn’t realize that playing “Jews and Nazis” is not nearly the same thing as “Cops and Robbers.” The robbers committed a crime whereas the Jews did not.
ReplyDeleteJust reading about how the Jews were restarting their lives and then it all went to waste is really devastating because they had been through enough already. Like, just leave them the hell alone. It seems as if the Nazis had nothing better to do than to kill and mess with Jewish people’s lives. Maybe they were bored with their own, but that’s no excuse to go and make someone else’s a living hell.
- Anna
Wow! The children played games involving how deep they could get their hands under their rib cages. That is disgusting! How could these people have been treated like this?! It truly is shocking that elite countries like the United States still didn't allow the influx of Jewish refugees. It's crazy that Jews turned the concentration camps into living quarters. You would think that they would want to escape their past full of misery. If I was one of the victims, I would definitely run away at the first chance available. The SS still guarded these camps! Why would the allied countries still allow these people to walk freely? Why are they "watching" over people that they inflicted pain upon? How did they not see the wrong they caused? These SS officers were VOLUNTEERS who inflicted pain in others. I'm just lost for words at how someone could WANT to do this. These people killed innocent people! The Holocaust just brings many surprises and shocking facts like this. These pictures show Jews still tried to maintain normal lives despite being held captive. The children were in a hostile environment that involved them being exposed to death and pain. These children were not living a "normal" life compared to other children raised during that time. The different games the children played show just how bad their childhood and daily lives were. It's actually disgusting how humans could treat each other. Reading this and looking at the pain the Jewish people underwent just makes me appreciate life more. The cruel actions these people committed should never repeat again. It's disgusting and inhumane.
ReplyDelete-Armin Salic
There's something to be said about 'conditioning' here. It was present in both the Nazis and the Jews, albeit in drastically different forms. The majority of the Germans, Nazi or otherwise, would 'step up to the plate' due to the fact that eliminating the Jews was presented as the righteous thing to do. When your society, which is effectively your whole world in an age lacking electronic communication, presents the idea that such atrocities are commonplace and even encouraged, you aren't going to put much thought into doing what other cultures may consider horrible. Morality is a very malleable thing. On the children's side, while it's sickening to read that they passed the time by seeing how far they could stick their hands down a corpse's rib cage, it's only to be expected that they would resign themselves like so. When the only world you've ever known is one that demonizes you and presents you as a worthless being, there's not much to be done to make you want to fight for survival. The fact that that's something that's ever had to be written is a sad prospect, but the deed has already been done. We can only hope to learn from its testaments.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I may be missing something, but what does “DP” in the first paragraph stand for?
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I just realized that for all we hear about Anne Frank, I never knew what concentration camp she ended up in or that she died of disease until now. We never read her diary in school; we only heard about it. I also found it fascinating that the Jews thrived where the concentration camp had been. I don’t think I could ever stay in a place linked to my own suffering in such a way. If that wasn’t an issue, I would leave because everyone was getting typhus! I don’t think I could go to Israel either. I wouldn’t want to be one of the first waves of Jews in what was then Muslim Palestine. After getting out of a concentration camp, I definitely wouldn’t want to risk more persecution in an area with few Jews.
I can’t believe that almost everyone liberated died of disease! After some googling, I learned that the typhus vaccine was relatively new at this point (side note: its inventor harbored Jews during the Holocaust), but it still existed. If they had tried, the British probably could have saved many of the Jews. I also found out that typhus is spread by lice, so they must have thrived in concentration camps. Ew. It really says something about human nature that Nazis could watch Jews die day after day and never think that they were in the wrong. They should have thought something was wrong when they had to get rid of all of their recordkeeping. The children’s acceptance of all the death around them is upsetting. Children obviously shouldn’t be exposed to such things, but playing games with corpses is a whole new tier of sad.
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. The human suffering displayed so clearly is disgusting. The Jews look like they’ve come to accept the tragedies around them constantly. The camp has become so overgrown and full of plant life. It’s almost ironic considering the constant death that occurred there for years on end.
As I was reading, I was confused as to why these things were happening because I could never imagine it. The fact SS soldiers were allowed to guard Jews was insane! They murdered these people and now they can protect them? What shocked me the most was the picture of the Jews and you could see all of his bones. I can't fathom growing up knowing your going to die "just because" and then playing such morbid games. I thought about how the SS soldiers were said to have been brainwashed, and maybe it's the same with the Jews? If they were born being repressed, hated, and submissive, would they live their life like that because it's all they know? I believe as one can be grown to be submissive, one can be grown to hate. I believe being in the SS brought out a primal instinct to control, while being a prisoner brought out the instinct to recognize when someone is stronger than you. The children born seemed to accept their fate because it was all they knew. In psychology, we watched a film where a psychologist preformed an experiment. Half the people who volunteered where prisoners, and half were made guards. It was in a school hallway that they decorated like a jail. One guard decided to take it upon himself to fully act like a jail guard. While other guards were unsure of what to do or just stood around, he demanded respect and mentally tortured them. Soon, other guards were influenced and began to act very similar. The experiment was supposed to go on for two weeks but was terminated after six days because of how extreme it became. I think that humans are susceptible to extreme ways of life, and imitate it because they don't know that there is anything else. Most humans don't accept change with open arms, which can affect the way we view things. I don't believe that Nazis are completely at fault, but I believe that they should not go unpunished for their crimes. Nazis made the conscious decision to kill people even if they thought they helped their people.
ReplyDeleteI was reading this article on the couch and while I was looking at the picture of the men who had passed away because of malnutrition, my ten year old brother, who is very interested in wars, guns, and everything related to those two things, walked up behind me. “Whoa! Why are those people so skinny? Oh, are they dead?” was what he asked me. I replied with, “Ya those people died in the Holocaust because they were starved to death.” He just stared back at me for a bit, and I broke the silence by saying, “Isn’t it crazy all of those people died, Brady?” He said, “Well it wasn't the Nazi’s fault because they were forced to do it.” I responded with, “No they weren’t. They volunteered to do that. How crazy is that?” He then walked away avoiding the situation, but that resonated with me because I actually said out loud that they volunteered to do that! It kind of hit me then, but it was cool that I got to spread some of my new knowledge. I’m still astonished that they volunteered. THEY VOLUNTEERED to kill thousands of people. I can’t imagine anyone doing that. After my chat with my brother, I got thinking about what you said about how the children “had fun.” I just imagined Brady and Fletcher, my sister, being in that position of counting bodies, playing “Jews and Nazis,” and pushing his stomach in past his ribs. It gave me chills and I teared up. It is terrible that all those kids knew was the “concentration camp life style.” I also thought that Anne Frank died in Auschwitz, but she did go to Auschwitz right? I also can’t get past the fact that the Brits liberated all of the prisoners and only 1,000 lived. They all deserved to live, not killed and thrown in an unmarked mass grave that had no meaning to anyone until now. I am still awestruck by all of this.
ReplyDeleteAvery Primis
It shocks me (in a good way) that even though the Jews were sent here to die, they stayed there after the war and formed a community! This shows me that no matter how evil something can be, the good rises up like a phoenix from the ashes. Unfortunately, this happy thought is ruined for me by the horrible games the children would play. Sticking your hand up your rib cage? That's terrible! The very fact that CHILDREN, the very quintessence of wonder, questioning, and joy would accept these games and DEATH as normal. Anne Frank herself died here of disease. Just a mere month away from salvation. It saddens me to hear stories of Jews coming so close, but tripping at the finish line. If only the "rich countries" had cared more about these Jews. Locked away, some never to bee seen or heard from again.
ReplyDeleteWow this whole thing is very shocking. Every time I hear the number of Jews that died, even in the smalled concentration camps, it always pulls at my heart. One thing that did lift my spirits however, was the fact that the Jews were able to create some what of a small little town within their concentration camps. I know that it's probably a little strange to point out something good in the concentration camps, but I mean why not point out something good when talking about such a dark topic? I'm sure these "clubs" and such weren't very big and great, but I hope that these small things were able to lighten the solemn moods of the people who inhabited these camps. One thing that stuck with me the most was the sick and twisted games that the children played with one another. I was sickening to hear that these kids found pleasure in comparing who was the most malnurished. I mean I thought I had to keep my weight down for wreslting, but I never looked for being malnurished.
ReplyDeleteCliff
ReplyDeleteMy first thoughts as I read this article were about the acronyms; what are POW and DP camps? As i continued to read, I was shocked to hear about life inside the camps. It's very interesting to me that the Nazis allowed the Jews to have performances, weddings, etc. It also seems disturbing to have men and women going to see musicals, weddings, schools, and sports while their family and friends are in gas chambers a few miles away. It is also sickening to hear what the children did to entertain themselves. No child should have to grow up in such an ill environment; its also very disheartening that they barely knew what was going on. Most of the children weren't fully aware of what was going on and found it fun to see how skinny they could get. Personally, I wish that parents would have told their kids why they were in the concentration camps so that they understood better. Another piece of information that surprised me was that Anne Frank was put in Bergen-Belson. I also had no idea that she was only a month or so away from being liberated...I hate to say it in these words, but that really sucks. The last thing I wanted to reflect on was the photos. Ive seen photos like these before, and they always make me queasy. It lurches my stomach to see people who are basically walking corpses, starved and dying. It also makes me feel sick to see dead bodies laying in the open for kids to count and decide how pretty they are. These people NEED to be buried or covered; they should not be left for bugs and animals to find. Overall this blog page had many facts that intrigued and shocked me; i can't wait to learn more!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis blog has opened my eyes about certain issues of the Holocaust! First of all, I was surprised to learn that Anne Frank died of Typhus; I had always assumed that she died in a gas chamber. I was horrified to find out that the Nazis did not have to kill anyone if they didn't want to, and they would receive no punishment for that. I had always believed that not every Nazi was pure evil, and that they just did what they did because they were forced into it. It made me depressed to learn that they all voluntarily murdered innocent people! I was truly shocked to find out how the children passed time in the concentration camps! It is terrifying how they would compare the dead bodies like it was no big deal. They grew up accepting the fact that they would eventually die because the Nazis hated them for no reason! It made me sick to find out how they made their "fun" by having contests of who could stick their hands the farthest under their ribs! They were stripped of their childhood, which is not okay. I was again shocked after reading the number of people who died just after the camp was liberated. The fact that only 1,000 out of 5,300 survived even when Britain came to free them. However, they weren't really free because they British put the SS soldiers in charge of them which makes absolutely NO sense what so ever!
ReplyDelete-Madison Bain
Again my reaction is startled. I’m mad the the United States and other countries didn’t want to help the people in these camps. Like in my last post, I believe it’s because of the bystander effect. What really got to me was the games the young children played as they were awaiting their death. “I learned about the children and what they did for “fun” while waiting to die. They stepped in puddles, played hopscotch, counted the number of bodies in piles to see which one was bigger, and compared bodies to see which was uglier or prettier. Instead of playing “Cops and Robbers”, they played “Jews and Nazis.” They had contests to see how far they could push their hands underneath their malnourished ribcages!” The things the kids did for fun was sickly twisted. I was slightly confused on the meaning of “More than 1,500 children were born at the DP camp.” What is a DP camp? Even though I don’t know what DP is. It’s still crazy that more than 1,500 kids were born at the camp. For me personally, I wish the parents would have told the kids more of what was happening to them. In your blog, you say that the parents just told the kids that the Nazis hated them for no reason. I wish the parents would explained a little more to the children. They have a right to know that they’re in a concentration camp and may die soon.
ReplyDeleteFirst I have to begin with how heart-wrenching it was to read that the children would compete to see who had the deepest rib cage. We have seen similar happenings like the Holocaust, although, I must mention, not as destructive to humanity and the "thing" we call human nature. In these happenings, most of the perpetrators have been a little hesitant to mass murder children. And for God's sake, that is to be expected of any human being who has lost his/her humanity. Children represent the most innocent aspect of humanity. To read of them suffering in an event like the Holocaust for a mistake they never made is very sad. It truly showed me how far humans can get to that line where empathy doesn't exist. I also feel indebted to share another one of my reactions to this blog, which was a hysterical laugh after reading what the SS officers did after the war. Honestly, I can't believe the British would let people who massacred thousands of innocent lives guard a camp. What really made me laugh is that the SS officers didn't even try to run away. They thought they didn't do anything wrong. Are you serious? This was the point that made me understand how truly inhuman the Nazis had become. They became so monstrous that they didn't even think that killing millions of lives was not a crime. I must also state my disappointment in the world that existed after WWII. I was deeply shocked to learn that many of the biggest countries including the U.S. didn't accept Jews. This causes such a shock in me because it tells me that we have not learned. The whole world had learned of the effects of prejudice to a whole group of people. But the whole world also refused to truly understand and refused to accept millions of normal, innocent people into its circle. The only thing I'm currently doing is shaking my head in awe, deeply disappointed at the animals we call humans truly are.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm reading this, I'm most surprised at how “comfortable” the Jews got in the concentration camp. With schools, theater, churches, and society; it was practically a little city. The second generation of Jews to be born in Bergen-Belsen only knew a world inside gates. The most surprising thing about the second generation to me was the things that they did to entertain themselves. The picture of the severely malnourished people is insane; I can't tell if they are even alive. I would never see how far I could get my fist into their ribcage; if they had been alive I would never put them into more pain than they are obviously in. That person probably couldn’t even move without suffering. The man sitting on the pile of dirt looks like he is in more pain than I’ve ever experience in my whole life. It would be absurd now, but in the camp, they weren't fazed. This is very apparent in the other picture with people cooking food near a pile of dead bodies. The smell must've been horrendous, they probably got used to it though. Now, a restaurant or business can get shutdown for things way less dirty than cooking old food in rusty dishes 3 feet from a pile of dead bodies. All of that didn’t matter at the time because it meant food and nourishment.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to think about is how American and the other first world, superpowers didn’t do anything. Yes the camp got liberated, but it was way too late, and they didn’t seem to care when it actually mattered.
-ross
I thought it was really incredible that the Jewish people actually rebuilt Bergen-Belsen into a “city within the camp” after the Holocaust. On one hand, it seems unbelievable and incredibly ironic; if I were in that position, I don’t think I would want anything to do with such a place after seeing my loved ones and my community tortured and killed in it. On the other hand, it’s yet another sign of the Jewish people’s ability to resist the horror and despair caused by the Holocaust. Instead of simply allowing the camp to be another lifeless memorial, they continued to thrive there, going directly against the Nazi’s constant attempts to smother this vibrancy during their internment.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I found interesting was that even after the Nazis were no longer forced to run the camps and continue to kill the Jews, they willingly stayed, and the British allowed them to. This also poses a potential answer to a question that’s been posed a couple of times in class that if the lower-ranking Nazis were brainwashed or just carrying out orders, were they still as responsible? However, this shows that the Nazis made a conscious choice in killing the Jewish people even after it was no longer “just following orders.” The British allowed them to step down and leave without consequence, but they willingly stayed to run the camps and “keep order.”
The part of the post that really shocked me, though, was the part about the children’s games. It really shows how even children were so desensitized to death because of the camps. They were forced to grow up tortured, malnourished, and with the constant knowledge of their death hanging over them, and this was all they knew in life. Still, they found ways to make twisted, ironic games out of this; they counted dead bodies and had contests to see who was more malnourished. These children had their innocence ripped away from them because Hitler deemed them unfit to live for no reason other than their race or the religion their parents practiced.
-Rachel Kraiss
After reading this article, I'm appalled that the SS officers were left in charge of the survivors to keep order. I would expect the SS to be scared for their lives. In their place, I would be scared to death of the Jewish prisoners because of the torture I put them through, and I would also try to erase my association with the losing side of the war. This post reminds me a lot of how our society values soldiers; we value our veterans/soldiers as the most contributing people in society. This could transfer over to the SS because they were volunteering soldiers that would be looked upon with exalt, and it would only add to the anti-Semitic brainwashing. This also reminds me of the Pacific war with Japan. The Japanese were brainwashed to believe two main things: they were better than all others and deserved the Pacific and death was many times more honourable than capture. Since this was the set role modal thinking, the Japanese were extremely set in their ways and convicted (one of the few upsides to brainwashing).
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to sound like a pragmatist, but I want to deal with each situation as unique but not isolated.
As to the children, I'm horrified, but things will happen. I hope we can work past this and that they can recover from the scarring. It's horrible how people can sink to such barbaric behavior in modern times, and I hope to the bottom of my heart that we can work past this.
What will we do with the drunken whaler
What will we do with the drunken whaler
What will we do with the drunken whaler
Early in the Morning
Way hey and up she rises
Way hey and up she rises
Way hey and up she rises
Early in the morning
Stuff him in a sack and throw him over
Stuff him in a sack and throw him over
Stuff him in a sack and throw him over
Early in the morning
Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner
Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner
Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner
Early in the morning
Way hey and up she rises
Way hey and up she rises
Way hey and up she rises
Early in the morning
Shoot him through the heart with a loaded pistol
Shoot him through the heart with a loaded pistol
Shoot him through the heart with a loaded pistol
Early in the morning
Slice his throat with a rusty cleaver
Slice his throat with a rusty cleaver
Slice his throat with a rusty cleaver
Early in the morning
Way hey and up she rises
Way hey and up she rises
Way hey and up she rises
Early in the morning
This article reminded me of this song and how people can lose their innocence but still look upon grave matters with a child-like spin (like this tune). I expect that Jewish children had something of the ilk and grew up scarred and prejudiced.
Reading this article put me in complete and utter shock. I can't possibly believe the fact that the children played those types of games growing up. Seeing dead bodies everyday and thinking 'hey, it's normal.' is shocking. A child should never be put through that. Another thing that shocked me was the fact that the SS officers stayed after the camp was liberated, even if it was to help run things and give structure. They had tortured those people, and made sure there lives were miserable, when given the order to. The children's innocence was stolen from them, their childhood taken away and replaced with horrible games that involved malnutrition, and the death of fellow Jews.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that shocked me was that the concentration camp was more like a city filled with Jewish people rather than an actual concentration camp. Out of every story I've heard about the camps, have all been about how horrible it was and how they were starved and were not taken care of at all. They weren't allowed newspapers, celebrations, second generations, or ceremonies of any kind, at all. It put into my perspective that not all the concentration camps were as bad as Auschwitz, some showed a more humane side. All the camps did kill people by malnourishment, murder, or disease, but there were a few that let the Jews have a life inside the camps. Over all this blog shocked me with the majority of it's facts.
-Veronica C.
Although I have studied the holocaust for many years, there were still so many facts that surprised and scared me. I had learned that a lot of people had died once they were liberated, yet I hadn't realised that almost all of them had died. The whole situation with the other countries not allowing the jewish refugees in reminds me of all of the Syrian refugee issues happening right now, because both were struggling to find a place to settle. Hopefully the Syrians will be able to find their home soon like Jews found Isreal. I had heard that a lot of Germans stuck with their beliefs, yet I didnt know that there were no consequences for not only the citizens but also the SS members! I believe they should have had severe consequence if not then they should have been killed . The children should never have had to see a single dead body or even think about their death. The whole situation with the children and their games was just so wrong is so many ways.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this, I hadn't put much thought into what the kids did while waiting to die. It amazes me that they were strong enough to be able to play with the dead bodies. I don't think I could even look at them. It's heartbreaking to know that the kids knew nothing else but that the Nazis were doing this for no reason at all. How could you torture and kill children? Even if the Nazis thought Jews were the root of all Germany's problems, the kids had nothing to do with it because they are just kids. When I learned before about the British and the US liberating the camps, I thought they saved millions of lives. It's awful that only a thousand of them lived because it was too late. I wonder what would have happened if the US and British did react when they first discovered information about the Holocaust. I would think Anne Frank and a lot of the prisoners would be alive and saved.
ReplyDelete-Mary Banks Farmer
After reading this blog entry, I am once again shocked and immensely upset with the irreversible damage and sadness that the Holocaust has created. It seems like I can’t read or learn anything about the Holocaust without feeling horrified, and this entry goes right along with my other experiences. It is insane to think that the number of people who died is almost the same as those who were freed. I agree with you when you say too little, too late. I also can’t believe that after liberating the camp, the British put the SS officers in charge of the camp.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that really sticks out to me is your paragraph about the WHY of the Holocaust. Even though there were many Nazis who adopted hatred for the Jews and sadly didn’t mind killing them, there was also those who had the option to not kill them. They could do this with no punishment too! Wasn’t this the moral and right thing to do? But they still engaged in it! I am absolutely disgusted after reading this part, especially after hearing that the Nazis had the chance to opt out if they wanted.
Finally, I am appalled by what the children at the camp did while they were supposedly “waiting to die”. It was almost as if they were waiting to be picked up from school or a friends house, only clearly much worse. They would play games to see who was more malnourished, how big the body piles were, and they judged which of their dead peers was the prettiest. I simply cannot fathom this. The saddest thing of it was that when they pondered why this was happening to them and their parents answered, “no reason at all,” the children didn’t know any better than to not ask questions and to just go with it.
Susannah Richardson
Lily Jones
ReplyDeleteChilling. Although that is one main word to describe what I read and saw, it is not all I would use to describe it. It pained me to imagine those children with their starving bodies, and to play games of such gruesome manner. I am appalled that they just simply stated they didn’t have a reason to kill off the children, but did it anyway. The lack of a soul is what really drives sinister people to do sinister acts. I tried to wrap my head around the thought of having a childhood like that, and it was unimaginable. Doe these children to know about death, and be ready for it is gut wrenching. 52,000 died from malnutrition and disease. It makes you put into perspective how much that really is. The Jews endured so much, and you don’t want to believe that only one thousand lived. Even when the end came to their suffering, and they finally got a second chance, the Jews could not even happily experience the new change. They were too scarred from their suffering. The Nazis had the sick intentions from the start, but never thought to give into the pain of the Jews. They changed their lives so drastically, and didn’t leave them alone even when they had the opening. That was one of the most shocking turn outs I have read about the Holocaust. The Nazis would have been able to walk away, but they destroyed the Jews’ property instead. Realizing that everyday more and more were treated a animals, were beaten, and starved makes me sick. I knew that the Nazis were malevolent people, but I had no idea what the children did before the died. The games they played, and knew that sooner or later they were going to die. Between counting the bodies, and knowing that they were going to die with no reason emphasized the children's’ short lived childhood. With the grave marking 33,000 I was annoyed. We knew a lot of people died, and we knew that the Jews faced death, but their graves should have allowed for individuality. Between the sunflower and this blog entry I can’t piece why and how the Nazis pulled this off. They had their reasons; blaming all their problems on the Jews. And although they got rid of 33,000 Jews, the personalities and characteristics of each of these people go in vain. And yes, they say their names under Holocaust survivor, or if you look them up, but they’re not characterized by their own differences. I looked at the pile of bodies; the different faces of the Jews blurred together. I saw that the people were eating their small amounts of food while sitting in front of the pile. The visual allows for the realization of what these innocent people truly endured, and to see that they saw the nameless bodies everyday is chilling. To know that the children knew their death was ahead of them; their short bodies living short lives is no life for a child to live. Their parents watching their children being killed, and knowing that they are outliving them. Reading with anxiety, knowing that what I was about to read I would never be able to forget, left a large impact on how I digested the perturbing facts.I have always wanted to know the history behind the Holocaust, but with more facts comes more and more disturbing facts. With the blog allowing for us to discover the differences between the two groups that were involved in the Holocaust, it allows for all the truth to be found.
Even after I've learned about the Holocaust, it's very hard to believe that any of this happened. I didn't know that Anne Frank was Jewish. It's amazing to know that she too was a victim of the Nazis. When you said that the Germans acted as if they didn't care about staying with the British, I want to know why. That might have been a result of the brainwashing or they truly had no feelings. That ties back in with The Sunflower when it talks about the dehumanization of the Jews and how it causes all feeling to be lost. If I were a surviving victim of the Holocaust, I would still be haunted too. I would be wondering why Hitler viewed the people of my religion as a race instead of what it really is. Why would other countries including the US turn down immigrants? They knew what was going on and they didn't want to interfere. I thought that America was supposed to be a melting pot. Of course I can't empathize with the Jews, but I can show sympathy. I feel absolutely devastated that the Jews had their home destroyed. All they did was live in their country and stayed to themselves like everyone else. I find it disturbing that the supposed fun times that the children had were just nightmares. Playing games with dead corpses doesn't seem like something you would see everyday. Why were they okay with playing those games? Did they actually have 'fun'? It's sad to see how malnourished those dead bodies were. I hate to just call them bodies, but that's exactly how German Nazis saw them; it was just another dead person, and they didn't care. It's disturbing to know how fast they dehumanized the Jews. They no longer were considered human, had no names, and basically looked like animals to the Nazis.
ReplyDelete-Makiah Broadie
DeleteI just don't understand how the Nazis actually believed that they had done nothing wrong, they saw the bodies, they killed by the hundreds, and they tourchured until death. If that is not wrong then I don't know what is. Apart from the Nazis, the hardest thing to read in this blog is the children. the games that they played and what they did for fun, it is almost like theses kids are immortal, and what would hire parents say? did they not think that it was messed up too?
DeleteReading this gave me the chills. I physically got the goosebumps! After i read anything related to the Holocaust or how they treated the Jews, always seems to shock me. I am always stunned in the inhumanity living inside the SS soldiers and how the kids grew up knowing they were hated. When i read the segment about the games they would play, I felt great sympathy for them. They grew up knowing death was everywhere, and it would happen to them much quicker then it should. I was utterly surprised that a game to them was counting how many dead bodies they could see, or who could put their hand higher up their ribcage. They had lost all feeling and remorse towards death and how they were being treated. I was very confused as to why they would put the one person who tried to oil off the Jews in charge of the camps. I have no words as to why that makes any sense in any way. It just shows again how the soldiers had lost all humanity.
ReplyDeleteNot only reading about the malnutrition but also the visuals are what got me to feel sorry the most. The photos of the bodies where you could see the bone structure as if they hadn't eaten for years; most of them haven't. The image of the bruised woman smiling got me thinking a lot about how we look at situations. I at first looked at the photo, wondering what in the world could she be happy about and then I thought she could be happy about still being alive. To have made it this far. She could have tooled at the bruises as her survival, that she couldn't be brought down by being beaten up. This changed my whole perspectives in my own life. I thought for awhile that when i was sitting in my house complaining of how hard I thought my life was, I should be grateful for what I have and the privileges that come with my freedom. it can sometimes be hard to not think of the little things and life that can spoil your day and only look at the happy moments.
The holocaust and its victim's stories cease to surprise me every time. I still have hope in humanity and for what we are capable of, but the SS soldiers had no piece of human in them. I am still shocked at how someone can be perfectly happy and sane when killing and torturing innocent woman, men, the elderly, and children. This blog post was, again, an eye-opening read and that there is still so many more stories to be heard.
Caroline Kaney
When I read the first sentence and saw “Bergen-Belsen concentration camp,” I thought it was going to be negative and talk about the horrid “consequences” that the Jews had to suffer through just because of the “concentration camp” part. I'm so used to reading negative outcomes based on those two words, but when I kept on reading and found that this was a good place, a place of rebirth, I was surprised. It irks me just to THINK that the UNITED STATES (which is a country based off of freedom) wouldn't even CONSIDER bringing in the refugees. It's preposterous. I understand why maybe Canada and Australia may not have taken them in, but the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? SERIOUSLY?! It amazed me how ill-advised the British could be to select SS officers to guard the camp! That just seems reckless because haven't they done enough already! The Jews and the officers should be distant from one another because I'm pretty sure that the Jews wouldn't want them around anymore based off of the all the damage that they've done. I thought the whole time that the reason the Nazis didn't step out of the perpetrating acts against Jews is because that they were scared that they might get punished or killed. Now that I know that that wasn't specifically the reason, then why the heck didn't they leave! Do they feel pleasure when being called murderous?! I just don't understand it. It's astonishing. Now that makes me hate them even more than I did in the first place. I was literally speechless when I read about what the children did for “fun”. IT IS NOT NORMAL FOR A CHILD TO PLAY WITH DEAD BODIES! The whole part about how deep they could stick their hand under the rib cage of bodies is disgusting! I'm sure that they knew that everyone was going to die at some point, but to think that little children knew they were going to die in dreadful ways is just dismal. I really liked the pictures. The one with the skinniest looking people I've ever seen in my life made me aghast.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this blog, I never knew about this concentration camp or that Anne Frank died here. I was surprised by the children playing games before they die; you would think that they would be crying instead of playing games, especially when one of their friends didn’t show up because they were taken away to die. I know that I, personally, would have cried a lot more than the children of this concentration camp did if I was doomed to die. Another thing that surprised me was that the British liberators left the SS to guard the camp once they liberated it. Was this because they were short on people? Or was it because they knew or at least thought that the Nazi soldiers were not truly bad. The only problem with this theory is that every member of the SS volunteered to kill Jews, so why would the British think that their hatred would not overcome them and that they would go and kill Jews when left in charge? Did the SS truly hate the Jews or felt as if they should hate the Jews because everyone else did. This had me very deep in thought.
ReplyDeleteJulian Pereira
Right when I think I've seen and heard the worst of the holocaust, I most definitely stand corrected. Although reading this really intrigues me, it also makes me sick to my stomach. I still can't believe that the US did basically nothing to help, and the British putting the SS officers in charge? What!? I try to tell myself that they probably just didn't know what was going on, but in reality, they actually did. It is truly hard to believe that someone can feel no guilt towards doing something as brutal as being a perpetrator in the holocaust; I feel guilty if I step on a bug! I guess it kind of makes sense because they considered the jews to literally be subhuman. That is still something i may never understand, but I guess thats just the evil side of human nature.
ReplyDeleteWhat caught my attention the most was learning about the things the jewish children did for fun. I couldn't imagine being able to stick a hand underneath someone's ribs until I saw the picture of the dead man, who was more like a skeleton. It disgusts me how the generation growing up in Bergen-Belsen thought the norm was counting dead bodies, seeing which ones were pretty or ugly, and just waiting to die. They did not a single thing to deserve this, and I feel bad for their parents, who once lived in more peaceful happier times. The picture of the girl smiling with a broken face, may have been the most saddening to me. now, if a man ever did something like that to a woman, they would be put in jail, so the fact that she is smiling through the pain is just so horrible to see.
In conclusion, the holocaust will always be something that really hits me down deep, but I love learning about it because I think it's important for children to know what happened and how it is possible for people to commit such heinous crimes. Reading about this broke my heart, but it also placed my thinking into another perspective.
I'm extremely surprised that they turned this camp into a city. I would think a place of destruction would want to be forgotten instead of still being used, But why would the British let people who abused almost all of them to death let them work there. It seems counter intuitive and more dangerous. It's even worse that children knew that they were going to die. They had lost their wonder of the world very fast.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of this blog was the beginning where it talks about how the jewish life flourished after the holocaust. It made me happy to read how they built schools, had concerts, had sport competitions, etc. When I got to the picture of the starved man lying on the ground my suddenly got really sad and depressed. The reason is I can't imagine living in those concentration camps and seeing that sight no matter where I walk too. What probably got me the most was reading about how the children would have fun. It surprised me the games and competitions they would make up to pass the time. I can't imagine being a 7 year old girl sitting with my friends and seeing how far I can stick my hand in my ribs. It's a very depressing thing to think about.
ReplyDelete-Morgan Routh
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I think that I've learned the worst possible thing about the Holocaust, something else popes up. The games the kids played to pass the time were awful, and I hated them. It disgusts me that children had to use their pain and malnutrition to find any form of "entertainment." It hurts me to know that the kids had no question as to whether or not they wold die. It is unbelievable that the Nazis could easily strip children of the magic, mystery, and innocence of childhood. What is really interesting and blows my mind is that the British left Nazis guards at the camp to "maintain order." That is dumb like really freaking dumb. I was intrigued by the fact that many prisoners went to other camps in search for loved ones after they were liberated. I would have thought that they would not want to. How could they maintain hope for loved ones when surrounded by constant death? The likelihood is so low, and searching for loved ones was a huge opportunity to be let down. I guess when you can understand the pain of someone you love and miss that small chance is still a chance. The more I think about that the more I understand it. If I was to go missing, I know my parents would never stop searching for me, so the former prisoners must have had a similar mindset.
Before I read your blog, I had no idea that the concentration camps opperated like a town on the inside. It was a little bit calming knowing that the Jews had sports, concerts and schools. Knowing this helped me get through what you said next. I was shocked at the games that the children played, and I almost cried while going through the list because it's just so sad to imagine. It was also shocking to find out that the Nazis weren't forced to kill the Jews. I always thought that maybe some of them were threatened and that not all of them were killing the Jews purposefully. I now know that wasn't the case.
ReplyDelete-Alexis Reid
While reading this, it caught me off guard that the surviving Jews stayed in the camp and created a community. This was shocking to me, since I would think they would want to get as far away as possible. It was very courageous of the Jews to stay in a place of torture and murder and turn it into a community for their people; they turned it into a home. I was also disgusted and shocked by what the children had to do for "fun". I can't imagine counting dead bodies for "fun" and thinking it's normal. These children were innocent; they had no idea why they were being hurt. It saddens me to think about the short lives these children lived. Also, I did not know that Anne Frank had died at this camp. I remember trying to read her diary in elementary school. I could never get through it because I did not understand. However, I still really don't understand how the Holocaust could have ever happened. I agree with your statement that human nature must be pretty awful.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if its tragic or empowering to the Jews that the area was built over after the Holocaust. I don't think a Jew would want to live there, and that it would bring up terrible feelings just to be around the land. It's interesting to me the morbid activities children did to occupy their time. Counting bodies sounds like something out of a novel or from the medieval era, and yet those kids were doing that less than 100 years ago. Its eerie how without context the site of the camp today looks like any other field, but again, the Holocaust took place there less than a century ago. I don't think anyone who wasn't involved will ever be able to fully comprehend the situation.
ReplyDeleteI found it really shocking that Jewish people would build their homes and create a city in place of a concentration camp. I don't quite understand why they did this. Was it to show that they could take back the life that they were robbed of in the Holocaust? Was it so they could prove to the German people that they could thrive despite the horrors that were inflicted upon them? Or was it just simply because they were already there after liberation? In addition, I was shocked and upset at the "games" the children in the concentration camps would play. It is so horrifying to think that they would play a game to see how far they could push their hands under their ribcages. It breaks my heart that these children would lose their innocence and be forced into this awful situation. The fact that they experienced blind hatred towards them at such a young age makes me sick.
ReplyDeleteI think that this article is very powerful, but also very shocking. I couldn't do anything else but stop and think of how terrible we as humans really are. To think that someone would willingly kill people with no consequences against them if they didn't. Two things that I found most amazing were the treatment of SS soldiers after liberation, and the way the Jews acted once inside the concentration camp. I could not believe that the British allowed the SS soldiers to regain control of the camp after liberation, that is actually terrible considering the amount of prisoners that died in the camp, and once the camp was liberated. I also could not believe that the people just acted like the camp was their second home, while obviously they knew it wasn't and were unhappy with being held there, the people created a small town inside the camp; this almost meant they made a new life for themselves and were happy with it. Just by looking at the pictures of the children playing and the woman smiling, you can see the sheer perseverance they had. That is incredible!
ReplyDeleteI found the fact that the Jewish community could overlook their hardships and continue to strive to be mesmerizing. I can’t quite grasp why the children felt that the challenge you described was a game or fun. However, it just goes to show how twisted and warped their innocence had become. Another part of your article that intrigued me was the part about the British allowing the SS to remain on guard. Words can’t express how pissed off I am at the moment. I can only imagine what I would’ve felt like being Jewish after seeing the lowlifes get off continuing their job.-Cameron Wakefield
ReplyDeleteIt astounds me that these people thought they did nothing wrong. They were still trying to kill as many Jews as possible, right up until the very end. They killed millions of people, and they believed that this was the right thing to do. Even after they'd been caught and stopped, they still thought that the atrocities they had committed had been a good thing. It is also horrifying to read about the "games" that children in the concentration camps played. These children thought it was fun to see who was more starved, and it is saddening to hear that their innocence was just that messed up by what had happened to them.
ReplyDelete-Llanina Gomez-Goldberg
I found it heartbreaking that Anne Frank died here only a month before she would have been liberated, but I found the fact that only 1,000 of the 53,000 liberated prisoners lived even sadder. I was astounded to hear that many of these people did not believe that they had done anything wrong. I understand that they were brainwashed, but I find it hard to believe that they could not find any fault in their actions. I found the games that these children played as heartbreaking as they were disturbing. I cannot believe that these children were so desensitized to the horror around them. This is truly saddening because they were exposed to this horror and death every single day.
ReplyDelete-Morgan Brumfield
I find it extremely sad but also fascinating that you got to visit the same camp that Anne Frank resided at. It is sad that she died right before the camp was liberated though. I have her book and have started reading it. I can't imagine how horrible the conditions were at these camps. I find it heartbreaking to know what the children living there had to go through and the "games" that they played. It makes me sad knowing that the children just accepted death as their destined future. It is crazy to me how all those countries, including the Unites States, never let the refugees in. All they wanted to do was protects themselves and stay out of drama. These countries should have gotten involved to stop these horrible events earlier than they did instead of standing by letting it happen.
ReplyDeleteWOW! To think that 12,000 people were held there. When I think of that; I think of 4 Myers parks. That is crazy. That is FOUR of them in ONE concentration camp. That is insane. To learn about the games these kids played makes me sick. And all of these countries including ourselves, just sitting around minding our own business. Its like we didnt even care. To think that kids are across the globe starving and having competitions to see who is starving the most, and not do anything to help them, is absolutely horrible. They wouldn't let any of them and they wouldn't even help stop it. They just didn't care. It's so stupid how one stupid decision can lead to millions of people being killed. I hope we have learned our lesson.
ReplyDeleteReading this blog made me feel even more sorrowful about the Holocaust. I find it sad to believe that there were other countries, including the United States, that knew what was taking place, yet they did not have any motivation to help the victims out or even stop the concentration camps from taking place. When you said 12,000 people were held there that made me feel sad. All of those people having to live together with poor treatment and hardly any food or water. I can't imagine what it would have been like to live in a concentration camp. I have much sympathy for those that were forced to live a life like this, especially when there wasn't anything they could change about the way they were treated. I find it sad to know what the kids living there had to go through. Especially from learning about the "games" that they play. It's sad that those games were entertaining for them. This goes to show you how the Jews were innocent and had no reason to live their life this way.
ReplyDelete-Megan Castleman
To believe that this is now such a beautiful place from the horrific concentration camp it once was is astonishing. While reading the "games" the children enjoyed playing I was verbally shocked by the fact that they would see who could stick their hands as far up as possible in their rib cages. I can't believe this is what they enjoyed doing upon waiting their death. No child should ever have to wait their death as well as make games out of their famished bodies.
ReplyDeleteWhen you put in that 53,000 were liquidated, but that 52,000 died to famine and disease. For 1,000 to have not suffered as much as others is shocking. I had always thought that it was a small percentage of the Jewish holocaust victims had died and fought against disease, but I now know I was wrong.
This whole tragedy easily could have been avoided, all the torture, the famine, the humiliation, the disease, all of it could gave been avoided, and should, no never will be forgotten.
- Hannah Kocsis
What really got my attention was the games the kids were playing. That is insane. It is sad how the kids got use to the fact that they were going to die. While waiting for their deaths they would play games like Jews and Nazis. Also the fact that they were around dead people so much that they made games out of it is awful. They compared the bodies to see who is uglier or prettier, that is insane! I don't have words for how awful that is. Kids nowadays think that they have it bad when they don't get the toy that they want, but if they knew that back then kids were waiting around for their death I am sure no one would be complaining.
ReplyDeleteLila Cohen
That is totally and completely insane. I can not wrap my head around all of that. Everything I read just makes me think the world is crazy. It is absolutely unbelievable that humanity could do that. I can’t believe that a human could do things like that to another human. I can’t believe that children would choose which body was prettier. I can’t believe that the British would allow the SS officers to keep the camp “in order” even after the camp had been liberated. It’s absolutely insane that the children were that comfortable with the idea of death that they made games out of it. It’s absolutely insane that they could count the bodies of the dead and not feel sad. I also think it’s insane that even after camps were liberated the other countries did not allow the Jewish people to come into the countries. The Jewish people had already been through so much and then to not even have anywhere to go is just so sad. The other countries should have opened the doors wide to the Jews not shut them out! It’s crazy that this could have ever taken place and it makes me so sad and mad at the world. I think it’s absolutely insane that the camp could hold that many people. It also makes me so sad that so many people died from disease even after the camp had been liberated. They were so close to freedom but it was already too late. I can’t understand why the rest of the world did not help the Jews. It all boggles my mind. It’s absolutely insane. Completely and totally insane.
ReplyDeleteRose Dorofi
When I read this, it really shocked me. Every time I hear the amount of Jewish people that died, even in the small concentration camps, really makes me want to cry. One thing that did make me animated, was the fact that the Jews were able to create somewhat of a small little town within their concentration camps. I'm sure these "clubs" and such weren't very big and great, but I feel that these small things were able to lighten the mood of the people who lived in these camps. One thing that stuck with me the most was the sick and twisted games that the children played with one another. It was weird to hear that these kids found pleasure in comparing who was the most malnourished. In my opinion, i feel like the kids did this to try to have as much fun as physically possible before death.
ReplyDeleteXan Brien
ReplyDeleteThis shocked me. I had no idea that there were children born in concentration camps. I can't even imagine what it was like to be born there in those terrible conditions. What freaked me out the most where the "games" the kids in the camp played. Going around counting the bodies and judging which ones were prettier. Thats just sick! Also the fact the British let the Nazis continue running the camp after they freed it is just crazy and shouldn't have happened at all!
Liz Montgomery
ReplyDeleteThe most shocking thing I found in this blog post is the fact that all of the Nazis could not figure out what they were doing was wrong. I can not believe that they could fathom that murdering thousands and thousands of people was okay. Another thing I find shocking and unbelievable is that the children were able to play games throughout their horrible torture, the same thing with the woman smiling in the picture. I think all of this puts into perspective how lucky even the unluckiest of people today genuinely are. No one should ever go through any of this let alone half; however, these prisoners were able to move on after they were liberated and continue to live their lives.
It is good that a country finally stepped in to help, but they did not help at the best of their ability. They allowed too many people to die from disease and tried to help too late. The main thing is that, why didn't they rid of the SS officers instead of allowing them to stay and help keep the place in order? Another thing is that why didn't countries see the need to help? They knew exactly what was going on, and they knew exactly what to do to help, open their doors; instead they chose to shun the people crying for help for longer. Looking at how many people died you really forget to think about the children when looking back. It is just terrible what they had to go through in order to TRY to live a somewhat normal kid life.
ReplyDeleteJordan Morris
I was really interested when I read that this was the place where Anne Frank was taken. I was slightly confused about the second generation bit. Where the children born in the camp during the holocaust or did they come back after the holocaust and made a small town with Jewish mothers giving birth? I also didn’t know why the Jews would stay in the city. In my opinion, I would not have stayed because it would have haunted me for the rest of my life. I would have never stayed there because of the memories of my friends and family dying. I was extremely shocked when I read that even after all of the terrible things happening to the Jews, the other countries STILL wouldn’t allow the Jews to emigrate!The holocaust was over and all of the Jews were freed, yet they still didn’t allow them in the country (most likely because of fear that Germany will fight them for allowing them to emigrate).
ReplyDeleteIf I were to go to these camps and see what they are now I think I would be astonished about how large and real this is. When learning about the holocaust it almost seems as if it happened in a different place. Seeing these pictures and actually being able to visualize and see exactly what these camps where is so eye opening. Your able to picture what actually happened while learning more and more about this grand extermination. I don’t know how the prisoners were able to just live their lives while being surrounded by dead bodies. If it was me in that place I would stay as far as I could from that area, I guess that was just the norm about these camps you weren’t able to hide from all the death surrounding you. Also, I’m so confused on how the U.S and other countries still wouldn’t allow these refugees, in desperate need from just being liberated, a place to call home.
ReplyDeleteThis article astonishes me. Not only due to the fact that the Nazis themselves could quit but didn't, but how twisted human nature can become in order for something like this to happen in the first place. Its also really sad to learn what the children did and how their ideals in life change because of this new setting. They knew the Nazis hated them and they grew up in possibly the worst the worst place and to see how little this impacted them as they were still trying to see hope out of it b playing games and just being kids really shows how much evil the mind can block out. The fact that the children were so malnourished that they could stick their hands far up their rib-cages is just disgusting. Honestly it feels like the holocaust happened in a different planet because of how there is virtually no remains of any of the buildings and how messed up people would have to be to do things like this.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about Bergen-Belsen, I was in shock. I never knew how important this camp was in historical history. Anne Frank herself perished there which was surprising to me. When I read that it was a place where second-generations Jews were born I was in shock because I never knew that it would be such an important place. I was really surprised knowing that there was a city within the camp. Who would've thought people would grow closer together in a concentration camp. I was very disappointed in reading that the UNITED STATES did not open their doors to the refugees. I'm very disappointed in our country and wish we could've been better. i was very mad at Nazis when reading about what they did to the Jews. how could one be so inhuman? The Jews did nothing yet they still decided to murder them. Their horrific crimes frightens me and I feel very bad for the Jews and really mad at the Nazis.
ReplyDeleteIn no way, shape, or form will I congratulate the Nazis for any of this, but I can say they were smart for two things here. The first one is how they got rid of all pictures and possible evidence relating to the Holocaust. Although, we see it didn’t have to much of an effect because we still found out eventually. Where I feel they shot themselves in the foot was when they stayed there as if they didn’t do anything wrong. It’s as if the Nazis didn’t even try to see how their mass killings looked from the outside looking in. The second point is how well the camp appears to not be a camp so to say. I know things have been taken in and out over time, but in the pictures you can’t even tell there was once a concentration camp there. This is unlike most which would have at least some of the barracks.
ReplyDeleteThomas Simmons
ReplyDeleteThis is by far the most emotional blog yet. Actually seeing how the Jews were living in these hard conditions. I felt sick to my stomach reading about this and seeing the image. I am sickened by the fact that SS soldiers were allowed to watch over the camp after liberation. It’s really sad that 1,000 prisoners only survived. It’s good that they made it freedom and survived the holocaust, but most of them died from sickness. It make me so angry like so angry a word a I can’t say that the Nazis got what they wanted. How could Nazis not realized they weren’t doing something wrong and if they were brainwashed they weren't. They killed innocent people, because they believe in something different. I think personally the SS officers should suffer how the prisoners did, but I don’t want to act like them.
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ReplyDeleteFirst off how could the United States, Canada, and Australia still not let the Jews in? I mean After everything the Jews have gone through. I really wish America was better than that, but I guess I was mistaken. It was very upsetting to hear that 52,000 out of 53,000 Jews died after being freed. I am just really exasperated at the Nazis to still, even after the war, think that their actions were justifiable. Then when I read about the kid's games and saw the picture of the man who was very malnourished. I just didn't know what to think, how could such evil humans exist, how could a human do this to another human, and why did the United States not intervene. I am very outraged that we did not do more than we did. We should have apprehended every single Nazi that walked this earth and helped the Jews get back on their feet.
ReplyDeleteIt still shocks me how massive concentration camps were. 12,000 people is four times Myers Park and that is insane. It confuses me how after so much suffering and pain the Jews went through that they were able to start lives at Bergen-Belson. I guess it was because they had nowhere to go and it had been their home for years, but reading about how they began to thrive thrilled me. I would not have been able to stay at a place where I suffered so much and just be able to try and start over. I still don’t see how foreign countries including the US could refuse Jewish people after all that they had been through. Did the other countries not feel bad at all? What did they think they would gain from not letting the Jews in? Or even worse, did they think they would lose something? It truly puzzles me what their thought process was. Once I read the part about the games the kids played I didn’t believe it. I get that they had accepted death, but messing with the dead bodies? But I’m not them and I was never there so I can not judge.
ReplyDeleteHow can the US and all the other countries still not let the jew's in after what they have been through? I don’t remember the US being that selfish. The things the kids did for "fun" really got to me. Imagine your child playing a game of who can press their hand against their stomachs the furthest. How can you treat someone like that, let alone a child? Those pictures in the article are very heartbreaking and i don't have words to explain how i feel. I don’t know how any of this is even possible for another human being to commit. The nazis weren’t forced to kill the jews, work at the concentration camps, or even be a nazi.They could’ve left and not even get punished for it. We cannot let something this cruel ever happen again.
ReplyDeleteI always find it interesting learning new things about the Holocaust. I was very shocked reading about how there were other countries, including my own country that knew what was taking place and did nothing to help the victims out or even try to stop concentration camps from taking place. I was extremely shocked when I read that 12,000 people were held there. I can't imagine what it would have been like to live in a concentration camp, especially as a kid. The children played some of the same games that I did when I was younger, but they played them around dead bodies. I can’t even imagine what that would be like. It makes me appreciate my childhood a lot more. I have much sympathy for those that were forced to live a life like this, especially because they could not change the way they were treated.
ReplyDelete-Ashley LeBlanc
It is truly amazing to see the difference between the games the jewish kids played compared to what I play when I was young. I can’t imagine the feeling of witnessing the deaths of familiar people around you. Also, I wonder what Anne Frank would have done if she were still alive after the holocaust. It was also a shock to me that people were allowed to be born in these camps. Many camps differed from one another which I find interesting. I am most surprised by great britain, They allowed for SS soldiers to maintain the camp AFTER they had liberated it even after so many people died in the camp. I question a lot of actions in the Holocaust by the Nazis, Foreign countries, and even victims of the Holocaust. A lot could have been prevented if Hitler would not have gone into power yet many people didn't stand up. I mainly don’t understand why the soldiers didn’t spare the lives of the Jews by simply not participating. Were they really to concerned about being called weak?
ReplyDeleteI think it is ironic how the Jews turned a place of death into a place of birth. It really shows you how you can find the good in just about anything. Although I think it's horrible how people had to live in the places where their families were murdered. I also think it's terrible how Anne Frank died just a short time before the liberation of the camp. She made it through so much and she was so close to getting past all of it. Despite that, she is still a Jewish icon and truly a legend. The Nazis actions show how being a Nazi changed them into cruel and barbaric humans. They might not have been that way before but after adapting to the Nazi lifestyle, they were changed into horrible human beings. I also think the children's idea of fun was awful. They played games based around their oppression that is just depressing.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to put into words how I feel about what I just read. From the emaciated body, the loss of the life of Ann Frank and many others to typhoid, to the 5,000 mass nameless grave site, the immense suffering and horrors of the Holocaust are too beyond belief to grasp, especially in what was considered to be a civilized society.
ReplyDeleteThis type barbaric behavior is not what one would find in the jungle, even animals show more compassion for their fellow species. Animals generally do not fight to the death, just to the point of concession.
I am left with the lasting impression that the Nazi Third Reith, and all it stood for, had hatred beyond human comprehension. With this said, there is a spirit within the Holocaust victims that lost their lives as well as Holocaust survivors that will continue to live on and inspire depts of humanity forever.
Bergen Belson, one of the first concentration camps to be liberated still, even after being liberated, lead to the deaths of 90% of the people who entered it. This is astonishing to me that a concentration camp, even after being liberated, still killed 52,000 of its 53,000 occupants. I don’t understand why no countries intervened before all these people perished, or at the very least open their doors to these victims. These camps were so cruel and dehumanising that children would even play games judging dead bodies and reaching under their rib cages. This fact shocked me and opened my eyes to how children had “fun” when they’re put in these terrible circumstances. I don’t think any child should have to be subjected to so much hate and gruesomeness that this is the norm.
ReplyDeleteThis blog was amazing. It is crazy that the Jews made this place of complete death and horror into a place of new beginnings. It was also crazy to see the differences in a Jews childhood compared to mine. They saw the deaths of many people they knew all around them and had to live with it. I could not imagine living life like that. They had to go on with life acting like it was normal. It’s crazy that this is another concentration camp that other countries knew about, and they did nothing about it. Bystanders have played a big role from what I’ve learned so far in the Holocaust’s survival. The fact that 12,000 people were stuck at this concentration camp also amazes me. Living with that many people would be something else and I don’t know if I could do it. This camp is another very interesting one and amazed me in many ways. I am looking forward to planning a trip to see all of these crazy sights and experience what you have experienced.
ReplyDeleteI am very shocked after reading about this concentration camp. At first, I didn’t know much about Anne Frank. I only knew that she was a Jewish girl during the Holocaust and that she died before the end of World War 2. I don’t like how the SS soldiers thought that there was nothing wrong with their actions, and how they stood at the camp after it was liberated. It shows how arrogant they were and how they believed they were the ones that were right in the end. I liked how the Jewish people were able to turn this place of death and murder into a place of life and the living. The Nazis would never be able to destroy the Jews due to the fact they wouldn’t go down fighting, and would continue to persevere. Even though they were the bringers of Death and Hate, they couldn’t bring down the Jewish people.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that impacted me most from this article was the information about how the children passed the time. I have four younger brothers, and I can't even begin to imagine being in a camp with them and watching them “play” by counting bodies. It is absolutely crazy to think that everyone, but especially kids, had to just live with bodies lying all around them. It is impossible to visualize having to live that kind of life, and I applaud all of those who did. It is also terribly sad that Anne Frank was unable to hold on for just a month longer. One month separated life and death for her, and it's heartbreaking that hers ended so close to liberation. Another thing that greatly surprised me was the fact that after years of this happening, other countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia continued to decline refugees. It is such an awful thing for these countries to do, and it surprises me that we were one of the countries that did that.
ReplyDelete- Kyla Hannan
This post was very shocking to me. What amazed me most was that the jews went on with their lives and established a community within the death camp after knowing what was happening around them. If I was there during that time I would know for a fact that I would not want to do anything. I would be so afraid for the rest of my life. However, the kids in the camp didn’t see it that way, which was a total surprise to me. They would just go around the camp playing games. The games that they were playing had me in shock. What in their right minds would give them the right idea to go around sticking their hands in dead people’s bodies and to look at the corpses? Another part of the blog post that I was confused about was when it said that the Nazis had nothing to fear from the British. If they had nothing to fear then what was the point in throwing out all the documents, tapes and recordings? If they had nothing to fear they would have kept them.-Riley Dilsworth
ReplyDeleteHonestly, what sickens me the most is that point you made about what the children did for fun. They didn’t have “cops“ or “robbers“ to use as a reference in the popular game, so they used what they knew: Nazis and Jews. It’s disgusting that they would have to revert to using dead bodies as a source of entertainment. So many people died in this camp and countless others, millions in fact, yet they remain nameless because the Nazis refused to acknowledge their existence and worth even after death. After viewing the pictures of the emaciated corpses, I realize that that I didn’t even know it was possible for a person to be that thin and malnourished. The idealisms in regard of how the Jews were treated is often compared to a person viewing an animal, but even animals held a higher respect with the Nazis than the Jews did.
ReplyDelete-Maya M
First off I am so shocked that after everything that had happened, The United States STILL refused to let the refugees in. They had nowhere to actually settle at peace and call their home. By that point its almost too late for these people because thousands of them were liberated and DIED from malnutrition and disease. Its crazy to me that there was no help granted by the U.S., who is a country that at the time was pretty advanced. Another thing that was almost sickening to me was how easily death was accepted. Death was such a common thing at this point that the children actually counted the dead bodies to pass the time!!
ReplyDeleteThe other interesting part about this article that stood out to me was Anne Frank. A few years ago. I took a trip to Amsterdam with my school and was able to visit the Anne Frank museum. It was crazy how small and compact she had to live. How secretively they planned out their lives. When I was there, I was able to read small bits of her journal and the atmosphere was so surreal. I was surrounded by her thoughts and even the little details of how she lived.
It’s crazy to believe that Nazis pretended that they were not in the wrong even after all the damage, and emotion suffering they caused. There actions inforced deeply rooted hate, and allowed for others to repress jews. Just from the pictures you included in your blog, you can clearly see what harm was committed. Nazis were aware of their actions, and how they were affecting men women and children, of jewish inheritance. The people in the photographs have clearly been looking that frail and emancipated for a while. Photographs like this provide people in newer generations insight to the horrible conditions and treatment that Jews faced. Along with the pictures reminding us of the past of our history, we have to live with our nation's choices during the horrific event. How the United States and Canada among other nations all closed their doors to the Jewish citizens of Germany, when these nations were aware of the hatred against jews.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI was completely appalled looking at the pictures of the Jews in the concentration camp. It was hard to look because I cannot imagine having a life that difficult. Seeing the woman’s face beat in, and the starving children’s ribcages. It really made me take a step back and realize how incredibly lucky I am. These children had no childhood. When I was younger, I would go to the park or play with my friends. These kids would COUNT BODIES for fun!! I couldn’t believe when I read that. Even the jews that survived still had to remember those horrible years when they were younger. Also, the fact that Nazis did not even have to kill surprised me so much. I get that some of them were pure evil, but some must have felt bad about what they were doing! And they did not stop because they didn’t want to be a disgrace. Wow. They really chose their reputation over innocent people’s lives.
I wanted to start off by first describing my excitement as I read the fact that this was turned into a memorial site! I am well aware that things like these are a sensitive subject, but it is important to make the uniformed in this world aware of these important time periods in history. I believe this is the best way to prevent cruel things like the holocaust, and slavery from happening all over again. As I read on It was interesting how this went from a concentration camp, to a Jewish rebirth location. It is also very exciting to hear positive, such as the construction of schools, concerts, sports competitions, choirs, political talks, weddings and a theater. I was just as shocked as you were at the fact that the U.S. and all the other surrounding countries hadn't offered to help or take in these refugees. It must’ve been very relieving in 1948, when the Jews could finally call Israel home. As you state “If the soldiers didn’t want to kill because they were uncomfortable, they had the right to step aside. Not only would they not be killed, they wouldn’t even be punished!” My thoughts Changed on Karl in the sunflower, because he could have easily withdrawn himself from the entire situation.
ReplyDelete- Moose M. III
I thinks its great and crazy that a concentration camp was turned into a thriving town for jewish people. I think it's dumb how the british let the nazis still guard the camp after it was liberated. It's really crazy how the nazis didn’t feel like they did anything wrong because Hitler and nazism brainwashed them. It's really crazy how one man's ideas can become that influencing. I don’t understand how so many people followed him after being normal humans for so long. I really hate that children had to grown up in a concentration camp. Like the games they played were messed up and they saw a lot of messed up things happen. They also had messed up things done to them. I would’ve hated growing up in those conditions I wouldn’t have been able to survive. The kids saw some of the worst thing imaginable and many who lived through it were scared for life.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Adams
This view was interesting and shocking. I would have to admit that I thought that the Nazis were forced to kill the Jews. It is even more devastating and evil to learn that their motives must have came from their hatred for innocent people. I don’t think that the fear of them being humiliated or embarrassed ranks close to murdering families. It is shocking and confusing to think why and how people could be this cruel. This part of the blog made me think of “The Third Wave” experiment that was done in a high school to demonstrate how the German population accepted the actions of the Nazis. I also found it sorrowful that both the Nazis and the children affected by the Holocaust thought of it as normal. The Nazis didn’t run once the concentration camps were liberated because they thought they did nothing wrong. The description of the children in the concentration camps playing games like “Jews and Nazis” made it seem like a normal activity. It’s shocking and miserable that no one thought that what was going on was wrong or should have consequences.
ReplyDeleteElla Page
When I read this article I felt overwhelmed and disgusted by many of the things in it. Even once the war had ended and the camps had still been liberated, I can’t believe that countries still refused to open their borders. It’s ridiculous and doesn’t make any sense!? The Jews didn’t even get a place to call their own until years after, and I can’t believe that it took so long; I hate it! I was also disgusted by the way the Nazis faced no punishment. They didn’t deserve to be free and still in charge of camps after liberation; they should have been locked up or executed! My final issue was how the Nazis were not forced to kill. I didn’t even know that, but that means they were completely responsible for their actions and for killing in the most inhumane and dehumanizing way possible, which only fuels my disgust. Overall I’m just very upset about the things I read and I can’t believe these things had happened. -Madison Lastoria
ReplyDeleteWhen first reading this, I was forced to think about what the Jews did after the Holocaust. They were still not welcome in many parts of the world such as the United States, Canada, or Australia. My initial reaction was...how hypocritical!!! These countries came in and liberated the camps, but they still did not allow them to live in their countries! I was awestruck when I found out it wasn’t until 1948 that the Jews found a place to call home. Also, it is so amazing to realize that during the few years after the Holocaust, Jews began to thrive. To see a comeback from such a horrific and inhumane past is truly inspirational. In the midst of this grieving, they decided to establish schools, political talks, and theater programs which I believe really showed their resilience as a community. Another element about this blog that shocked me was that the Nazi killing was not forced. To think that humanity could even fathom committing such despicable acts without even being pushed too makes me question everything I believed about humanity.
ReplyDelete-Sophie Slayden
This article hit me hard right in the chest. Many of the pictures and facts left me disgusted. I always knew the Holocaust was bad but most of the time you don't see the most violent images that portray what the Holocaust really was. When you said that Jews still lived in this camp and made it their home after the war shocked me. I would have thought that the Jews would have left immediately but they didn't and I found that insane. In a place that killed people in their families they decided to stay and begin new families their. Crazy. Seeing those images of the malnourished people showed me really how evil these people were. The fact that you can starve millions of people, make them do work for you, and then gas them to death disgusted me. Trying to comprehend why the Nazis thought this was a good idea is impossible. It is truly horrifying what actually happened.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin
While first reading, I found the part on how Jews turned the Bergen-Belsen camp into a place of rebirth very interesting because I would think that after being liberated that would be the first place I would want to get away from not a place to have children, get married, and flourish. I also was surprised that countries including the US would still turn down the Jews after liberation. I thought that they would feel bad for not saving them in the first place and want to help but unfortunately not. I agree with you about how dumb it was of the British to let the Ss guard the camps after liberation. To let the same people who tortured and persecuted them stay and “guard” makes no sense at all. The pictures were also very interesting to see because up until now I had just made mental images of what I thought the camps would look like, and the pictures are far worse than what I had in mind. I have never seen people in such terrible condition and am disgusted that anyone would think that is humane.
ReplyDeleteDavid Winslow
At first when I was reading this, I was surprised that Jews would want to stay at a place where so many people were tortured and died, especially for five years after it was liberated. Then I realized that they had no where else to go! The United Sates finally did something and liberated the camps, but I am astonished that they still didn't allow Jews into their borders. Even though their soldiers saw firsthand how much the Jews were suffering, they still decided to not save them.
ReplyDeleteFor me, writing can only do so much. Sometimes the Holocaust just seems like a sick and twisted nightmare that I can't understand the extent of. However, pictures of people starving, sick, and dying bring me back to reality and help me realize that the Holocaust was a very real happening for so many innocent people. Also, the light of innocent childhood games contrasted with the darkness of the camp deepens the twisted nature of the camps.
Moriah Campbell
Before reading this, I had no idea that the Nazis were given the choice to kill. I always assumed that they were ordered to by Hitler and obeyed in fear of being killed otherwise. I could not believe that not only were they not killed, but the Nazis didn't receive any consequences. It is a sickening feeling to think that the Nazi's killed the innocent Jews purely because they hated the Jews. Additionally, I was very surprised to hear that many of the Jews decided to remain inhabited within the camps after the war was over. It was even weirder to think that they chose to begin their families there. I am curious as to why they chose to do this, and I believe that it may have been because these Jews were not welcome in any other country and therefore had nowhere else to go. Perhaps they no longer felt unsafe because the Nazis were no longer present. Furthermore, I could not believe that children used to hold playful contests to see who could get their hand farther under their ribs! The one who was essentially the most malnourished was considered the winner. I would not consider that a win at all. Thank you for writing this blog. Both the writing and the images resonated with me as they demonstrated the true brutality and inhumanity of the past.
ReplyDeleteSara Trochanowski
As I was reading this blog, there were two different things that really surprised me. The first thing that surprised me was that many of the Jews stayed at this concentration camp and began new lives. At first I found it extremely interesting because I knew that I would have left that place as fast as I could. I would not have stayed in any place where I had previously been starved, worked, or mistreated. As I continued reading, I realized that the Jews actually had nowhere to go. How did nobody the Jewish people into their countries. Why after years of mistreatment did people still not care enough to give them protection within a country? Even the United States wouldn’t allow these people inside their borders. These Jews were homeless, countryless, and they had nothing. That is why they stayed. They knew that they wouldn't be kicked out, and they created a city. The other thing that really surprised me was that the Nazis did not have to kill people. The Nazis that felt uncomfortable killing people weren’t even punished. Why on earth would they kill somebody else if they had the choice not to? Why didn’t their morality step in, and why didn’t they refuse to kill these innocent people? It just confuses me how anybody could even think of trying to kill a mass group of people for who they were. I really liked that there were pictures in this blog. Thank you again for writing this blog Mrs. Stone. The information is extremely useful, and I have learned so many new things reading these blogs.
ReplyDeleteElyse Duley
One thing that stood out to me in this article was the fact that a concentration camp could function almost like a city. I would have expected life there to be much bleaker and more inhospitable. I definitely wouldn’t have expected there to be sports, theater, concerts, etc. Another thing that stood out to me was the fact that even though 53,000 prisoners were liberated, only 1,000 managed to survive malnutrition and disease. It’s terrible that they were treated so abominably that 52,000 people starved to death or died from diseases spread through the contamination of the camp. It also surprised me that many Germans chose to remain in the concentration camp even after the prisoners had been liberated. Even if they didn’t believe that they did anything wrong, I still would’ve thought that they wouldn’t have wanted to stay there, especially with all of the dead people and diseases. The thing that resonated with me the most in this article was the games that the children played. Counting dead bodies is just gruesome, and it’s terrible that the children were so accustomed to seeing dead bodies that they began playing with them.
ReplyDeleteClaire Porier
Oh my gosh! I just can not believe this. It is just absolutely shocking what the children did for fun. I can not believe that. Counting piles of dead bodies and comparing them for fun is just unbelievable. I am also shocked that they compared who could press the rib cage in the most. I am shocked. I also can not believe that the German soldiers did not have to kill them. I always thought they were forced to which does not make sense. I wonder about how you said that this camp was also a POW camp and if they treated the POWs the same. If they did and the allies did not speak up then that shows what type of people our countries have in them. This has shocked me more than anything else we have read
ReplyDelete- Charlie Robinson
Wow. This blog was especially shocking. The one part that really stuck with me was how the children came up with games that involved the dead people in the camp. It was very surprising how they could be so desensitized to death. I wonder what caused this. Maybe it was because of the fact that they knew they were going to die soon too, or it could be that their was so much death happening around them that it grew to be a normal event. I could also not believe that the Nazis did not have to shoot the Jews, but they chose to anyone. I had always thought that they would be killed if they didn’t. This really makes me question humanity. How could someone have so much hatred for people all because of their religion? How could they kill people because of their religion. On a lighter note, I really loved how Bergen-Belson was turned into a DP camp. I thought that that was an awesome revenge on the Nazis because they turned a place that the Nazis created for exterminating their religion as a whole into a place where they were able to practice their religion and enjoyed life. What confused me about it, though, was how they could have Nazis guard the camp. Did this not make the Jews fearful of living inside the DP camp. I do not understand how Britain could employ them after seeing how many people they killed and tortured for horrific reasons. I admire the Jews for still being able to go on with their lives with the SS officers in their presence. Seeing the Jews enjoy life, though, must have been absolute torture for the SS officers after trying to break them down and kill them. Maybe that is why Britain employed them. Thank you, Mrs. Stone, for taking your time to write this blog.
ReplyDeleteHalsey Patrick
I always imagine middle aged to older victims when I think of the Holocaust. I never really think of what it would have been like for the children. It's odd that they still tried to have fun and make a game out of their situation, however repulsive these games may have been. Normally, children are protected from the cruelty of humanity, but this is a rare case where they were shoved into it straight away. It's astonishing to me how similarly they behaved. As opposed to the adults in the Holocaust, who plunged into depression from the treacherous conditions and loss of faith, the children just adapted their normal way of life around their new setting. Maybe it didn't hit the children as hard because they had never known any other life. If they had never known anything but starvation, they would think that it is normal. On the other hand, many of the adults had been torn from happy lives. They missed their old lives so much that they couldn't try to make a life out of the concentration camps like the children did. Whatever the reason, it surprises me that the children could play games when faced with such severe persecution.
ReplyDelete- Brian Ramsey
How the hell could the British leave the SS Officers to watch over the people they were just slaughtering? That astonished me how someone could be so stupid. Let’s talk about those kids. I know you are supposed to make the best out a situation but think of the trauma these kids suffered. That makes me cry. I can’t imagine children playing those types of games. The idea that if my little cousin was born during that time it could be her makes me want to vomit. I don’t even have words for how I feel. Wow. You also tell us they didn’t have to kill. What the bloody hell! They WILLINGLY killed millions of people. I can’t even comprehend why. WHY? I know Jews were seen as even worse that rats. Yet these people willingly murdered them. What the fudge cakes. Excuse my language. I can’t believe they could say no and didn’t. You know what I bet the kids betted on how many people would die. Maybe they even played top 10 people to get shot.
ReplyDelete-Katy Masotti
I could not believe that the SS officers and other Nazis were not ordered to kill. I had always assumed that they were forced to because I did not think that so many people would willingly murder defenseless people just because of their faith. That just shows what people will do if everyone else is doing it. I was also shocked to read about the “games” that the children played while waiting to die. What really resonated with me was how they would count dead bodies and judge which ones were the prettiest and ugliest. It is crazy to me that they were so used to being around dead people that they even used them for their own amusement. Overall, I was shocked by this article because it made me reevaluate my views on human nature, and it put the terrible conditions in the concentration camps into perspective.
ReplyDelete-Jane Jeffries
One thing in this blog that stood out to me was when you said that the Germans burned many documents even though they believed they did nothing wrong. Like why would you try to cover up for something if you think you didn't do something? Before reading this blog I had no idea the Nazis didn't have to kill the Jews. Before, I thought that the Nazis were ordered to kill the Jews, and if they didn't they themselves would be killed. I just don't understand why people would kill just because they wanted to. The Nazis were given the choice to step aside if they didn't want to kill the Jews, and I'd imagine that not many chose that option. Another thing that shocked was the horrifying games the children would play while waiting to die. I just cannot imagine why anyone would do that and I wonder what they were thinking.
ReplyDeleteSamantha
After reading the article, I just can't believe that the camp seemed so much less like a concentration camp in the first description. That was until I learned about the children's games, how they would count the bodies and other saddening stuff. As a kid who is privileged enough to live without persecution, I feel so sorry for the poor children who grew up knowing nothing but death and suffering it's really messed up that the kids were brought up in that way; that is what resonated with me the most. - Lawson Swisher
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Bergen-Belsen before reading this blog. It is surprising that I didn’t know this because Anne Frank is a pretty famous person. It held 12,000 Jewish people which seems like a lot to me. I must admit that I don’t know the average capacity of a camp. It is strange to me that there was a functioning community within the camp as well. I am confused that Jews never had a homeland even though they were the first monotheistic religion. The fact that the SS officers were allowed to keep order in the camp after liberation is surprising but I am sure that this was a calculated decision. Human nature is capable of many things. This still caught me off guard because I thought that most if not all Nazis were afraid. The children’s plight is depressing. These are kids who are brought up in a world where they are destined to die at the hands of the Nazis. All they have for fun are puddles, ribcages, and dead bodies. Maybe this is good for them because at least they had less fear of death because they were around it so much. The pictures are awful. They are intense and really puts the horrors of the Holocaust in perspective.
ReplyDelete-Nate Reiney
The facts about the children playing with the dead bodies and how they are automatically enabled with this "immune" sense toward death. A dead body is something that is just supposed to be buried, respected, and left at peace; however, because the Nazis left these murdered Jews out in the open, children and adults were able to see these figures. Kids are curious, but playing "Jews and Nazis" inside of a concentration camp seems like something out of a Stephen King book; it is real life. These pictures turn my stomach and just disturb me because of how fake they seem but how real they really are. I have never seen someone starve to death, and I hope I never will. The fact that the Nazis were not ordered to kill also just amazes me at how much peer pressure was within this group. Whenever I hear about peer pressure, it always involves something that is either a party or a game of some sort, but I guess for the Nazis this was somehow a party or a game for them. I don't even know if I could witness something of this caliber because when I see somebody asking for food on the side of the road I feel inclined to give them something even if its a smile or a head nod. I just don't understand why somebody who is not forced to kill does. In the Holocaust, it almost seems like there is direct and indirect murder of the Jews, which is just insane that murder could even be thought of in two different ways. The direct murders were when they shot, exterminated, beat, and did whatever other sickening ways of murder they came up with. The indirect was watching a kid starve to death. I believe that a kid in the Holocaust was murdered regardless of if they died or not. Playing a game to see who could stick their hand up the farthest inside of a malnourished dead body is something that cannot possibly ever leave the mind, but it was all the kids knew. I just find it amazing how right now I am in school learning about the world, but during the Holocaust, a 16 year old Jewish boy was being humiliated and mentally, physically, and emotionally broken down by SS guards. The gap between my life and a 16 year old Jewish boy's is near impossible to even define due to how large it is, but I want to learn more about his side and what went on during his everyday life.
ReplyDeleteRyan Szeker
Again, these blog posts continue to leave me questioning the empathetic side of human nature. I"ve read Anne Frank's diary twice, and her words still don't feel entirely real to me, or I wish I didn't have to familiarize myself with them. The fact that children, ranging from infants to adolescents, had been placed in an environment in which they were numb to death is sickening. It's hard to identify with their pain because I've never even come close to it; it hurts to know that anyone ever had to. I'd also never heard that the Nazi's had a distinct choice free from repercussions; this makes me lose faith in our ability to identify what is definitively "good" versus what is blatantly "bad." So many volunteers chose to implement hatred and discrimination rather than take a dent in their pride. It's striking based on the mere quantitative amount of people who joined an anti-semitic cause. It's extremely disheartening as well. I want to have a better grasp on the psychology behind it all, but there seems to be a lack of foundational morals to go off of. I'm continually amazed and disgusted by what the Holocaust had to teach us, but I hope we continue to learn for the sake of progression.
ReplyDelete-Annie Vedder
Sadly enough, I don't know many concentration camps. Of course I knew about Auchwitz, but I didn't know about the Bergen- Belsen concentration camp. When I started reading this article, I immediantely noticed that even though the Jewish people were liberated from the concentration camp in 1945, the camp will still in use until 1950. That is when it struck me, the Jewish people had nowhere else to go. No country even opened their doors for these victims. Imagine having to stay in the same place where you experienced torture, starvation, disease, etc. This almost sounds so unbelievable because it is so horrific. How did i just figure about this right now? I mean I had never questioned where the Jews went after the Holocaust. I believe that it is just human tendency to focus on the main details of an event instead of the overall effect. If the SS officers were still told to keep watch over the Jews, did they still continue the same abuse? I imagine that many of the SS officers decided to take off now that they had lost the protection of the Nazi regime. However, if the SS officers were left in charge, I imagine their behavior continued. However, as you noted in this blog, Mrs. Stone, Nazis were not forced to commit the crimes they did commit. I couldn't believe this statement when I first read it. Seriously!! Humans really can be evil when presented with power. I was immediately reminded of the Stanford Prison Experiment. When presented with power, the other people in the experiment abused it. It is so crazy to think about human beings natural inclinations. Lastly, when I looked at those pictures of those emaciated men, I really couldn't believe it. Those people look so starving that they don't even look human. That is the literal definition of skin and bones. I can't even imagine how someone could live and be that malnourished and skinny. I can imagine the horrors that the British forces came upon when they entered the camp. But still, why didn't they do anything to help these people! They may have liberated the Jews, but they didn't protect them. It's funny how we say "never again, never again," but really when it comes down to it, people are so selfish and hypocritical. The fact that this happened just proves to me how easily another Holocaust could happen. People just don't care enough or want things to be their "problem."
ReplyDelete-Emma Whitaker
After reading your post, I am once again shocked to discover the horrifying truth about the Nazis. I don’t understand how one group of people can decide to kill a whole other group of people without being forced to act. This post has once again made me question my forgiveness of a repentant Nazi. I would not forgive somebody who decided to kill another persona to go with the crowd or satisfy their ego. I don’t see myself being able to forgive any Nazi now that I know they weren’t forced to kill. Additionally, I am shocked to discover that the Jews chose to to start a new life after this camp was liberated. I was under the impression that most of them would never want to see the place again. The fact that the children played games with their rib cages or counted bodies is horrifying. It’s not natural for children to take pride in being skinny and to count the number of dead people. I hold even more resent toward the Nazis for inducing such behavior on this group of people. I admire that the people in the photos found some way to smile through the pain because after seeing their condition, I realized how strong you had to be mentally. I am shook to find out that the people turned out to be as skinny as they were, and even more surprised to discover the amount of people who survived and died at Bergen Belsen was near the same.
ReplyDelete- Myles Norman
While reading your blog post, I found myself once again amazed with the new information that you bring when I thought I knew so much about the Holocaust. The first piece of information that stuck out to me was when you talked about how the concentration camp became a place of rebirth for the Jews. this astonishes me because I would think that the crimes committed in that camp would be too scarring for anyone to ever find joy in their again. Something else that surprised me was that the German officers were given the choice on whether or not to kill Jews. The fact that so many decided to just go with the crowd is appalling to me and really changed my views on how responsible the German soldiers were in the Holocaust. Also, the last thing that really struck a chord with me were the pictures that you put in at the end. It shows how Bergen Belsen is now a quiet and beautiful meadow, which I never would have expected based on the pictures that precede it. It is great that they have turned this horrific monument into something that people can learn from.
ReplyDeleteMy first thoughts while reading this was the fact they stayed at the past concentration camp. The voluntarily lived there after thousands of people died there. I guess they had nowhere else to go, so on that matter, it makes sense. Even after the liberation of the camp, the SS was still able to watch over the camp, which is insane. They just got done killing countless people and they have no consequence whatsoever. When I read that the children had “fun” as they were dying, I was befuddled. It doesn't make sense that they can still enjoy life when everyone around them and themselves are dying. They will never get the chance to grow up or do anything. The pictures of the camp were somewhat depressing. So much happened in that places and if someone went there without knowing it was a concentration camp they wouldn't have known it was there. It should get a little more recognition regarding the past. We should pay more tribute to the people who died there. It is just crazy what the Holocaust did to people and how it made people change too drastically in the way they live.
ReplyDelete-Carson Bahr
The part that shocked me the most is what the kids do for so called “fun.” These young kids would sit there and start to play with bodies. They would have competitions to see who could stick their head up a dead person’s rib cage the furthest. They would also compare the bodies to see if they were pretty or ugly, and the Jewish kids would compare which ones were the biggest out of all of them. All that surrounded them was Nazis and there fellow Jews. They were so engulfed by them that they even turned the game “cops and robbers” into “Jews and Nazis.” Remember, this was all what the young Jewish kids would do before they were put to death; horrible games of so called “fun” that seemed normal because of the atrocious conditions.
ReplyDelete- Brad McKewon
While reading this and looking at the pictures, what stuck with me was what the children did. They were making the best out of the horrible circumstances they were under. No child should be exposed to mass execution but the fact that the dead bodies were a part of their entertainment is horrifying. Also how they were doing this while knowing that soon they would be one of those bodies in the mounds is heartbreaking. I think this is a great example of child purity. Kids kept playing with their sense of joy until they die which very few adults would be able to do.
ReplyDelete-Coryn Walker
While reading your reflection on your visit to Bergen-Belsen, I was in awe of either how naive or how careless the British liberating force was. I was in awe of how they just put the SS back on the job, as if they were the best applicants for the job. However, I feel that because I have spent an extensive period of time doing research on World War 2 and the Nazi regime, I am not surprised by the conditions of the camp, malnourishment of the prisoners, and attitude of the guards. I can connect this lack of surprise about horrible things happening to last year when all of the school shootings were happening so that at some point I wasn't even surprised anymore when one happened. One things that I was surprised by was how some of the Jews stayed at the Camp even after it being liberated. I thought this was crazy because I would want to get as far away from the location of my people's extermination and torture. However then I thought back to how once the slave's were "freed" from there plantations after the civil war most of them stayed in the south until the Great Migration to northern cities between 1916 and 1970. However that had many other circumstances involved in the former slaves not immediately moving north. I also saw some of the logic behind staying in the camp after the liberation because if no country welcomes the Jews why not wait until the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 to move.
ReplyDelete-Clay Tobin
I hated seeing the images of the victims of the bergen belsen camp. The immense suffering of these people from disease and starvation sickens me. It was also sad that the Jews had to come back to the camp and live there because they had nowhere else to go after the holocaust. All of the other countries were celebrating that the war was over and the Nazis were defeated, but the Jews still had nowhere to go. Also, the fact that only 1,000 prisoners out of the many thousands and thousands of prisoners survived is extremely saddening. This just shows the absolutely awful conditions of the camp. It is also interesting that Anne frank, a very famous Jew that died during the holocaust, was in this camp and died of disease. The disease running rampant is another awful thing about this camp. The disease was so bed that they had to destroy the entire camp because of it. Your commentary on the Nazi soldiers was also interesting. I was always under the impression that Nazis were forced to kill Jews , but they could actually step out without facing any consequences. This makes me have much less sympathy for the Nazis who were actually not forced to do the things they did.
ReplyDelete- Mac Patterson
A blind dog knows when's it's committing something wrong. There's literally no excuse to say you didn't know. You didn't want to. That you're sorry. It really agitates me to know some people find humor in this. These people were skeletons with a layer of skin. kids just being kids play games that one looks back at and can't say a word. Why? They were a different breed and one we'll more than likely never meet. Maybe not in our lifetime but history repeats itself sadly. Clearly feelings isn't in our nature and are a thing that we have to formulate. "Animals"
ReplyDeleteDavid P.III
To me, the idea that children would count bodies, shove their hands under their malnourished rip cages, etc. makes me incedibly upset. When I was that age, I was waiting for the ice cream truck, and my biggest concern was how much homework I had that night. I never thought about death. On the other hand, these children had already accepted their fate that the Nazis would succeed in murdering them, and now they are just counting down their final days; passing time by playing with the thousands of dead bodies that lay in piles throughout this camp.
ReplyDelete-Giuli Iannitti
DeleteThe picture of SS Kramer kind of put a new spin on what I thought a Nazi would look like. I had always demonized the Nazis in my own head but now I've learned that they were ordinary men. Maybe they were brainwashed and maybe they weren't but I feel as though the pictures really show that they knew what they were doing. It's one thing to do something shameful but it's another to take pictures because you are proud of what you've done. I think it is truly inspiring how the children were able to make the best out of their situation with the games they played. It does, however, seem truly depressing and horrifying how one game was to count the bodies. I don't understand how a Nazi could see the children counting the bodies as a game and not have a small part of him be truly horrified at his own actions that drove the children to do this. The images scar me because they are so skinny and I can't imagine the amount of pain they must have gone through.
ReplyDeleteCooper Owens
Despite continually learning about the Holocaust, I still find myself surprised at what I see. I just don't think I am able to truly grasp the idea that this actually happened. The fact that people are capable of such things just doesn't make sense to me. Also, the Nazis really believed that they had done nothing wrong, and I just don't understand how someone could be that ignorant. They shot, tortured, assaulted, and burned Jews and yet felt no sense of guilt or fault. When I think of these awful people I have to imagine disgusting monsters of men, but they're not. Nazis are just ordinary people. Before the war they could of been friends with countless of Jews, they could've been good people. In their minds, they probably were still good people, and even better people for committing these heinous crimes. I am also just shook by how desensitized the Jews came to be from all of it. Hate was all they learned to know. Children made games of the torture. They became numb to the site of the countless dead bodies around them. Death and destruction became their normal.
ReplyDelete-Ailish Coughlin
In reading this blog, there were two things that most caught me by surprise. The first is the British soldiers' willingness to leave the SS in charge of the camp, as the British had a notable hatred of the SS and what they stood for. The second is the description of the games the children played, and how they still tried to live out their childhood with what they had, and how they still tried to have fun, make friends, and play games.
ReplyDelete-Filip Weil
I find it shocking how malicious people can be. The Nazi's took pictures of their prisoners like it was a trophy of their work. The conditions left so many people broken that even the children would play disgusting games incorporating their messed up bodies and the corpses in the camp. I also can't believe that the Jews would stay in a place with such horrible nightmares after the war ended. The one thing that shocks me the most is the attitude of the Nazi's. They never thought they were doing something wrong because they truly believed the Jews were animals. They didn't run from the British because they thought they would understand the killing of the Jews. They took pictures and beat the prisoners like it was a prize. It is sad to see how such intelligent people would kill innocent people out of pride or peer pressure. I find it truly disgusting
ReplyDeleteIt is just unbelievable seeing the pictures of the malnourished bodies in the concentration camps. Hearing about the games children would play is so depressing. The fact children think it’s fun to see which body pile is the largest, or who could stick their hands further in their ribs is just disturbing. To them, their lifestyle was normal. I can’t even begin to imagine what life would be like as a child in the Holocaust. This was also the first time I have ever seen pictures of the wounded Jews. At first, I thought they had a disease that made their face so puffy, but once I read it was from the Nazis torturing them, I felt pure disgust. --Marin Boulware
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the hardship that the Jewish people went through, even after the war! I believed they stayed in the displaced prisoner camp because even if they left, what would they do? I'm sure they didn't have any money, and they probably didn't have much family left either. I think they stayed there for same reasons the slaves did after they were freed, THEY HAD NO WHERE TO GO AND NOTHING TO DO! There was 53,000 freed Jews from that camp, but sadly only 1,000 survived. - Jayden Childress
ReplyDeleteI find it shocking how malicious people can be. The Nazi's took pictures of their prisoners like it was a trophy of their work. The conditions left so many people broken that even the children would play disgusting games incorporating their messed up bodies and the corpses in the camp. I also can't believe that the Jews would stay in a place with such horrible nightmares after the war ended. The one thing that shocks me the most is the attitude of the Nazi's. They never thought they were doing something wrong because they truly believed the Jews were animals. They didn't run from the British because they thought they would understand the killing of the Jews. They took pictures and beat the prisoners like it was a prize. It is sad to see how such intelligent people would kill innocent people out of pride or peer pressure. I find it truly disgusting- Taylor Fleeman
ReplyDeleteI was aware of the barbarity of the Nazis, but every time I see pictures like these, it becomes more real. The biggest thing that struck me was the "why"; why would Nazis commit such atrocities if they weren't forced? I struggle with the question of whether or not I would ever forgive a Nazi, and as I quarrel with myself, the notion that it was all voluntary makes it near impossible. The moral thing to do in the Holocaust is to vehemently denounce it and fight back. Shy of that, help the Jews, give them bread, don't join Hitler Youth, don't feed into it, don't join the Army, don't abandon your neighbors, don't be complicit with killing, hide Jews, don't work at a concentration camp, and don't kill Jews. Shy of all those actions you could do to not feed into it, don't voluntarily commit genocide. It boggles the mind that this was not forced, yet it still occurred on a mass scale. To a point, I lose faith in humanity.
ReplyDelete-Ely A
Ava Clark
ReplyDeleteI was incredibly shaken by this blog post. There is a general agreement that the Holocaust was an awful thing, an atrocious crime committed by heinous people; however, the pictures and revelation that the Nazi’s basically chose to murder added another layer of horror. I truly do not understand how thousands of soldiers could willingly kill just because of peer pressure. Peer pressure is something we talk about with issues like making bad decisions with friends. There is a limit of where peer pressure stops, and your own moral values come into play. Friends wanting you to sneak out with them is extremely different than friends wanting you to kill someone. I don’t think peer pressure is an excuse for their barbarism. The fact that the children still managed to find fun and happiness in the desolation of the Holocaust is heartbreaking. Even though human nature can be extremely cruel, as proved by the Nazi’s, the children and Jew’s spirit demonstrates the resilience of man, and gives hope to future generations.
What I was shocked about was how in one of the pictures, a Jewish woman was beaten up but still managed to put a smile on her face. I feel that this represents what the Jews had to do through out the Holocaust. Even in times of despair, they had to try and find their happiness. Another thing that I found very interesting and foul was that when the Holocaust was over, the Jews had no where to go and still didn't receive any help. The fact that the Jews had to remain at these camps as displaced prisoners is sickening. Even though it was where the Jews had started their rebirth, they should've been helped out.
ReplyDeleteDavid Hanley
Caroline Mecia
ReplyDeleteThe information in this blog was very shocking to me. It seems so strange that Jewish people would stay in the concentration camps with the SS officers because no one would take them in. Why wouldn’t the U.S. or other countries take them in? These were prisoners who had suffered for years in the camps, and the other countries turned their backs on them. I was also extremely surprised to learn that the Nazis were not forced to kill the Jewish prisoners. I had always assumed that secretly, none of them really wanted to do it, but their superiors made them. Since they didn’t have guns to their heads, I can’t understand why they wouldn’t refuse to harm the prisoners. Maybe they would be humiliated and demoted, but I would much rather prefer to be embarrassed than to contribute to the deaths of thousands of people. This blog post truly reveals the violent and malicious human nature that was prevalent throughout the entire Holocaust. When you began to mention the games that the Jewish children played before their deaths, I felt dejected because children shouldn’t ever have to experience what they did.
The pictures that you shared were very impactful to me because they visually depicted the awful consequences of the concentration camps. When I went to Berlin last year, my dad, sister, and I toured the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen. They showed us very similar places to the ones that you saw in this camp. This blog post was very interesting and impactful to me.
Thus far, all of the blogs have presented me with a different aspect of shock and sympathy. The part that resonated with me the most is not the blog, but the pictures. Especially the pictures of the kids who were just sitting next to a pile of dead bodies like its nothing! Also how the kids amused themselves. Tarnishing their own bodies because they know it's a matter of time before they will die is unbelievable. However, when I put it into context it shocked me the most. This was what the world was like not in the 18th or 17th century, but nearly 75 years ago! Like what? This would be the childhood of my grandparents growing up. They would be the ones shoving their fists up the rib cages for amusement. It’s absolutely terrifying to see the state of human nature and the world under a century ago!
ReplyDelete-Carter Hensley
After reading this blog, I was shocked to learn that the Jews stayed in the camps because they and nowhere to go. It also angers me that the United States and other countries still did not open their doors to the refugees. It also surprises me that the Jews made a living in the concentration camps. It also angered me that the Nazis were only killing the Jew out of fear. They stopped killing the Jews after the war because they were uncomfortable with killing them. This is horrible because no one was every being forced to kill. What stood out to me most was the pictures of the starving Jews, and also how the children played games such as sticking their hands up their ribs.
ReplyDeleteThis section of the blog was really intriguing. I learned new things that I didn’t know before. I think that this demonstrates how there are so many events that occurred in the Holocaust that I didn’t know about.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of things that surprised me. The first one is how Jewish people transformed concentration camps into their “home”. How did they even do that? If I was in their shoes, I would have got out as soon as the liberation took place and never got back in such a horrible place. I don’t understand where the Jews found the strength to remain and “create” a sort of “city”; maybe they had no other place to go. I was angry to read that the United States, Canada, and Australia still refused to welcome the refugees in their houses. The Jews had to wait till 1948 to finally find a place to call home, and it upsets me that it took them that long after everything they went through.
It was not shocking to read that a lot of Jews died of malnutrition and disease. This demonstrates how bad was to live in the concentration camps. Also, it was very ignorant of the British to let the SS officers guard the camps alone; like you said, they could’ve just escaped. And how did the Nazis could not understand that what they did was totally wrong? And why did they do it? These are questions that I used to have. Now, I understand that the Nazis were blinded by Hitler’s propaganda and the Jews couldn’t leave because it was a long, nearly impossible process. They also might not have even known that they had to evacuate. Many were optimistic and oblivious about what was going to happen to them.
The last thing that shocked me was to comprehend what type of games the Jewish children played in the concentration camps. It is really surprising to see how the environment can change all the regular things that happen in a normal life. How horrifying is to know that they used to count dead bodies for fun? That’s a way different action to what a “normal” kid would do.
The pictures that you posted really show how bad the condition of the Jews was. It really surprised me to see that some women had the strength to smile in the pictures they took. As I said at the beginning, I learned a lot of new stuff, and I’m thankful for it.
-Sofia Christofaro
Soren Gautam
ReplyDeleteAfter reading, I was suprised to learn that the Jews were basically forced to stay in Europe since they could go nowhere. It actually agners me that the US did not allow the Jews enter because they are known as the country in which all people of the world can live the "American dream" in. However, the Jews were not allowed to live in the US because the US didn't want to inherit the "Jewish problem." They were also sort of afraid that Germany would come after them for taking in the Jews. I still think that the US could have taken the Germans in a war because we still had one of the most strong powerful armies in the world. But, they decided to be craven and leave the Jews to fend for themselves. That didn't turn out so well for the Jews and I completely think it's the US and other selfish countries fault. If they and other countries had taken them in, millions of Jews would not have been killed by the Nazis out of hate and fear of them.
It was also very surprising to learn that the Nazis weren't forced to kill prisoners. Their superiors forced them to do so but they could have refused or disobeyed out of pity for the prisoners. Although, they probably would have been beaten or even killed by their SS superiors. I also learned that human nature was truly violent throughout the Holocaust. It was completely awful and depressing to hear about the games children played such as sticking their hands up their ribs since they were so skinny. The pictures on the blog post were also very grotesque but helped me visualize what the Jews looked like and what they went through. It also showed how truly horrific and dehumanizing the whole Holocaust was.
After reading this, I cannot believe what children did for fun. They counted the bodies, saw how skinny they were, and other things that children should not know about. Instead of playing cops and robbers they played Jews and Natzis. Children should not be treated like this and have to do cruel activities that they thought were fun. It surprised me that many countries did not allow the Jews in. I would think that at least somebody would be nice enough to let a couple in. Even the US closed their doors. This shows how many people in the world did nothing to help the Jews. One of the most surprising things that happened was that the Nazis could step back. I was almost positive that they were killed or punished if they stepped aside. These words made me believe that many human’s nature is just flat out horrible. Also, the Germans, who believe that they did nothing wrong had something wrong with them. I would think that most of the Germans would think it was wrong, but they were too afraid to stand up for their beliefs. However, I was wrong. It is insane to me that 52,000 of the 53,000 Jews were killed due to malnourishment and disease. Only 2% survived, which is hardly anything. After looking at the photos, I developed a better understanding of how they were treated. The image with the man’s rib cage exposed made me feel uneasy and horrible about what theJews had to face. The difference between the past and present of the camp was crazy. I would not expect the camp to look like a normal field. I do not know how the girl in the photo managed to smile through her horrible encounters with the camps. Overall, I think it is terrifying to see the effects of the concentration camps on the Jews.
ReplyDelete-Emma Grace Parker
Reading about concentration camps always has and always will be hard for me. I personally have many Jewish relatives and even though they were not effected by the Holocaust first hand, it is still very hard to comprehead that they easily could have been. This feeling is especially present when I read about concentration camps. I am appalled by the horrific nature of these camps and can’t believe that they were ever created in the first place. After reading this blog post I was overwhelmed with various emotions. I am horrified, scared, and saddened. One thing that I read that really stood out to me was that more than 1,500 children were born in the DP camp. I would love to know what these parents who survived the Holocaust told their children. I am also questioning why so many people had children when there was still a possibility of anti semetic acts. I wonder to myself, “why would people choose to have children if these children could potentially be born into a horrible life?” I wonder if this was part of the Jewish denial. I wonder if these people believed that their situation would never be as bad as it previously was. ANother thing that stood out to me was the fact that most Germans did not think they had done anything wrong. These people were so brainwashed by Hitler and his accomplices that they felt like all their actions were justifiable. I am also surprised that Germans were not punished for their actions. The Jews must have been so angry. I am surprised that German SS soldiers were not simply attacked. This is probably because of how weak the Jews were. They were weak both mentally and physically. They had no energy left to fight. I was so shocked when I read the part of the blog regarding the Jewish death after the Holocaust. Out of 53,000, 52,000 Jewish citizens died when they were liberated from the camps.
ReplyDelete-Lexi Amedio
Jordan Browning
ReplyDeleteI was disgusted to learn that the camp was so disease ridden that it had to be burned now. I didn’t know what typhus was, so I looked it up and learned that typhus is a bacteria spread through fleas, which grosses me out even more. I was intrigued by it being rebirthed into a new city after liberation. I wondered why the Jews didn’t leave, so I looked it up and learned that they were often scared to move back due to the still active anti-semitism. I want to see some pictures of the “new city” as I wonder how they turned all the barracks into schools, theatres, and other businesses. I’m shocked that even after liberation, 52,000 of the Jews died. How many people were dying regularly at the camp before that? I’m kind of not surprised the Nazis weren’t being forced to kill the Jews. From what we’ve learned so far, the Nazis very much supported the cause and agreed with their actions, so they did it anyway. The pictures of the incredibly skinny Jews were scarring, and I just don’t see how one can live being that thin. The idea of a mass grave is incredibly terrifying and horrible to me. How could someone deserve to lie died piled up with thousands of others corpses? I can’t imagine how separated families would have felt after liberation. They would have no way to know if their loved ones lived, or if they were in a mass, nameless grave. Anne Frank’s grave stood out to me because I know she kept diaries of her time during the holocaust, and that got her a name at the grave site.
My initial reaction is that it would be very hard to visit a historic site of a concentration camp. Walking through and touring would be difficult because you would imagine how the Jews were treated. I think seeing the camp that Anne Frank was a prisoner in would be surreal because her story is so well known and physically being there would be overwhelming. A detail that stood out to me is how the camp was a place for Jewish rebirth. I like how this showed how the Jews overcame the challenges in the camp and then used it as a place to rebuild their community and population. I liked the idea of how they established schools, concerts, sports, and other extracurricular activities for their community to use for their enjoyment. This was their attempt to get back to normal life as a whole society. It is not surprising to me that despite the new community they have rebuilt and are now thriving in, the Jews were still haunted by the horrific events. It makes me upset to learn countries such as the United States, would not allow the Jews to retreat to their country. These countries were fully aware of all that had happened and did not take any actions to help or be an upstander. I was also amazed at how the British put the SS officers in charge of guarding the camp to maintain order. It was shocking to learn that the SS officers worked in the concentration camp harming the Jews, and then helped keep order as they rebuilt the new camp for the Jews to live in. I think it was important to point out that the Nazis did have the choice to not kill, but they murdered the Jews because it’s what they believed in doing. Their minds were so twisted they didn’t even acknowledge that what they did was wrong. It was horrifying to learn about what the children did in the camps. It is obvious that they did not have a typical childhood, but reading about what they did to entertain themselves was difficult and painful to comprehend.
ReplyDeleteEmary Gordon
I found it interesting and amazing that the Jews were able to turn Bergen-Belsen into a place of rebirth for Jewsish life after so many Jewish lives were taken there. It is sad to hear that after the Holocaust went looking for their families out of denial believing that they were not actually dead. But I mean I would do the same in that circumstance. It is crazy that the Germans myth of Jews being evil caused other countries not to accept the Jews either. It shocks me to hear that out of the 53,000 Jews rescued from Bergen-Belsen, only 2% of them survived and the other 98% died from malnutrition. I understand why the Britis let the SS officers the camp while they were liberating jews. I am guessing they did this to hold peace during the process of rescuing the Jews. I don’t understand why the Jews were not scared but yet they still burned photographs, interviews, and any other evidence of the holocaust happening. To hear that the Jews in Bergen-Belsen spent their time counting bodies in piles and comparing them to each other, shows how being brought up in something like a concentration camp can affect young people. Knowing that these kids were malnourished enough at such a young age to even be able to play a game where the had contests of who could push their hands under the ribcage the furthest really makes me feel bad for them and demonstrates how malnourished Jews were in the concentration camps. The picture of the girl smiling after how beat up and tortured she was, demonstrates the hope the Jews had and their perseverance. The photo that stands out the most to me out of all the images is the one of the kids sitting in a circle. At first, I thought this was just a normal dog, but then, after looking closer I realized there were dead bodies in the back literally like two feet away from them. They act like this is normal, which shows how the corruption in concentration affected the children living there. To see how skinny the Jews in this concentration camp really shocks me.
ReplyDelete- Emma Groves
Makayla Gathers
ReplyDeleteBergen-Belsen seems like it serves as a much-needed reminder even though the memories from there are really heavy and unsettling. I think it’s really interesting that several Jewish people repurposed this camp into something that could help them and could help keep the memory alive. I couldn’t imagine having a wedding there. Weddings are filled with joy, but that area wasn’t. The religious ceremonies must be really powerful there. It’s like you’re able to be yourself in a place you would’ve gone because of people who didn’t like you. I also find it interesting that in this same area there were several different activities and clubs because, again, I can’t imagine living life like normal there knowing something really upsetting took place previously. I feel really upset that Jewish people still weren’t able to live in a place of their own. It’s nice that they have Israel, but America and the other countries should’ve done something. I think it’s stupid that several SS officers were able to guard the camp. They were one of the main reasons the Holocaust took place. They think they didn’t do anything wrong, and even if they argue that (which they can’t), what did they do to help? Nothing. The children are one of the saddest parts of this entry because I grow up knowing that I want to go to college, get a job, and be successful. All these children have to look forward to is their deaths??? It’s even sadder because when they ask why the reply is because of someone’s hate. They compare each other’s malnutrition for fun, and no German, no country, nobody saw anything wrong with this at the time? The pictures make me even angrier because those were people and those were lives. They suffered and very few heard their cry.
This blog post was astonishing to me. It hurt to read what the children did to have fun. It’s difficult for me to comprehend how some of the activities were so simple and normal, like hopscotch and jumping in puddles, but some of them were so horrific, like counting dead bodies, comparing them, and stuffing their hands under their rib cages to see whose hands could go the deepest. I mean, I grew up playing soccer with my friends and playing Mario Kart on my Wii! These kids literally had to grow up and entertain themselves by seeing which dead Jew was ugliest! That’s absolutely horrible and terrifies me. The worst part of it all was that the kids were actually entertained by these gruesome activities. If I had to count the dead bodies lying in a pit, I’d probably throw up! Looking at some of the pictures at the end of the blog was also really very unpleasant to say the least. The picture of the dead jews lying on the floor was probably the most gruesome and disturbing for me. It’s as if they’re literally just skin and bones. When I was a little kid, my grandmother would look at me and say, “Well you’re just skin and bones! You’re so skinny!” Man, was she wrong. She had obviously never seen those pictures!
ReplyDeleteIt’s really upsetting and sad to me that since some Jews didn’t have a place to go after they were liberated, they had to stay in the camp. It’s interesting to me that they were able to turn their camp into a small and functional city. I can’t imagine how long it must have taken to transform that death factory into a miniature town where kids could grow up and people could raise families. It’s astonishing that after the liberation and all of the fighting, countries such as the United States STILL would let Jewish immigrants into the country! That’s so inhumane, and it shows no empathy from the USA.
-Sam Wofford
I am beyond shocked by this blog. It is insane what we don't know about the Holocaust. We are taught and informed of the bare minimum basics. But to find out all of the detail in this blog is completely mind blowing. When I read the first paragraph and was informed that the original camp was destroyed due to typhus disease, it shows just how bad the conditions of the camp were. I also was surprised that the Jews continued to live a somewhat normal life while in the camps. They established schools, concerts, sports competitions, choirs, political talks, and theater. The fact that they could do this despite all of the hardships, obstacles, and struggles is amazing and inspiring. As they continued to be vibrant in the camps, they still faced trauma and often traveled to other camps looking for their families. The main thing that resonated with me was the conditions of the children that were in the concentration camps. The ways that children had “fun” is absolutely astonishing. I could never imagine having fun doing some of the things that they did. But they managed with what they had. Instead of playing the classic children’s game of “Cops and Robbers” they played “Nazis and Jews.” They did some typical things like playing in puddles, and playing hopscotch; however, the thing that stood out to me the most was that they had contests to see how far they could push their hands underneath their malnourished ribcages. This was later followed by a picture of emaciated people which horrified me. I could truly not imagine experiencing or seeing anything like this. Overall, this blog was extremely eye opening as are all of the other blogs we have read. It is interesting to keep finding out more horrifying things that occurred during the Holocaust. As it is scary, it is something that needs to be more well known around the world.
ReplyDelete**Emi Jones**
I am amazed that the British let the SS officers guard the camp after it was liberated. I am more amazed that the SS guarded the camp instead of fighting the British and trying to take back control. The British must have been so distracted by the rest of the war that they forgot that the SS murdered millions of Jewish people. It just slipped their mind. I regress. The British needed all the help they could get as they were trying to win. I was also extremely disgusted that the Children played Jews and Nazis instead of Cowboys and Indians. While they are both prime examples of bigotry and antisemitism, the fact that they were that desensitized astounded me. Also, they had competitions to see who could get their hand furthest under their ribcages! WHY! Did they not know that they would increase their risk of death if they punctured a vital organ? Did they not know that they could damage their lungs or heart? They must have just not cared enough to not play that game. I was deeply saddened to hear that Anne Frank died in that camp. I have not read many books about her, but I know what she did for history. She documented the horror that were the German Army at that time. If not for her, much of the terror they inspired could have been forgotten. The SS especially were arrogant and cruel. They murdered more people in their time than entire wars have. Millions dead. All for the sole purpose of wiping out a hated religion. A religion, I might add, that never has done anything to deserve their antisemitism. The world astounds me. Hitler and the Nazis astound me. Violence for the sake of violence astounds me. When my generation ends, I hope that people have not forgotten this tragedy. I hope they remember, for if they don’t then it could happen again.
ReplyDelete-Ethan Fronapfel
Lila Barenberg
ReplyDeleteThis article was really heartbreaking to read. When I heard the kids played,” Cops and Nazis” and competed to find who could stick their hands furthest under their ribs to have fun before dying, that made. That made me tear up. I could never imagine having the strength to live past something so heinous and harsh. It is so sad to think that the men, women, and children were so malnourished and too emotionally and physically shattered to survive after they were liberated. The Jews were, at last, free but died because of the Nazis. Imagine being enslaved for years and then dying days or weeks after you had gotten out. One of the things that shocked me the most that I read was that the Germans “literally thought they did nothing wrong, so they weren’t scared.” After they were attacked by the allied forces and lost an entire world war because of what Germany’s Nazis had done the Germans had no idea. How on earth could they have believed after murders millions of people they had done nothing wrong? That is unbelievable they could be so oblivious and hypnotized by Hitler’s propaganda that they could commit such a heinous murder. When the children would ask their parents why the Germans hated them they told them that there was no reason at all. That is absolutely devastating and true. There really was no valid reason the Germans had to hate the Jews they lived amongst each other happily for years before Hitler came to power. I was confused at first why the Jews stayed at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after being liberated, but then I realized that they wanted to create good memories in a place that surrounded them with horrifying memories. They created “ schools, concerts, sports competitions, choirs, political talks, and theater.” I was so surprised to read that after the entire holocaust the United States still would not open its doors to the Jews.
Lillian Smith
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this blog, I am so shocked. The part that got at me the most was the part about the children's games. That is so awful and horrifying. When I read that they would see who could get their hands further under their rib cages as a game, it shook me. Then looking at the pictures and seeing the children's conditions made me mad. I was frustrated that anyone would have to deal with these conditions but especially those poor children. They did nothing at all to deserve what they received. Imagine being born in those conditions. Wow, that is truly shocking. When I saw the picture of the man I was again shaken. Why should anyone have to live like that; he looked so hungry and exhausted. The suffering that the Jewish people endured and survived is still impossible for me to imagine. Reading about these things is moving enough but seeing those pictures was different. When you wrote about the Nazi soldiers not even recognizing that they did something wrong, I too realized how awful humankind can be. The fact that they did not even have to become soldiers, and they did not even have to kill people was new for me. I had no idea that they had the choice just to walk away unharmed and live normal lives. Thinking about how many people by their own decision became Nazi soldiers confuses me. Why would they do that? I can't think of one even logical reason. The picture with the woman smiling but she had survived really harsh treatment. Her face was all banged and she looked like she would be in so much pain. She was continuously tortured; I could have never mustered the strength to do that.After reading all of this, the part that stuck out to me the most was still the games that the children played while they were waiting to die.
While reading the first section of the blog post, it made me question why people stayed there after the war. I learned that this because they had nowhere else to go. The Jews had lost everything, including their family, money, homes, and their bravery to create a new life. This was because the Nazis had taken everything from them. Many of the Jews were also scared to leave. This is because they had made it through the horrors of the camp, but they were still risking their lives if they left. Many of the people stuck around after the war in the camp. Most of the Jews were also very malnourished and sick. The camp was also in a major epidemic of typhus. This is the disease that killed Anne Frank a month before the camp was liberated. A site has been dedicated to her on the grounds of the former camp. The former concentration camp is now a memorial and museum to honor and remember the people that died in the camp. The museum also helps to educate visitors and people on how the holocaust happened and how to prevent it from happening again. I also questioned why the Nazi guards were left in charge after the war was over. This was because the liberators thought it would help prevent chaos in the camp. The Nazi guards also tried to burn all pictures and documents to destroy all evidence about what had happened. Almost all of the survivors from the camp died of diseases post war. The blog post also spoke about the many games the children would play while waiting to die. These games highlighted the horrors that these young children and adults went through while in the concentration camps. The article brought to life the harsh reality of how the Jews lived while in the camp.
ReplyDeleteAnn Slegelmilch
After reading this blog post, I was shocked to discover that the Jews stayed in the concentration camps and created communities. I think it is amazing that they made the best of their situation and established cities with places like schools and theaters. It was disturbing and shocking to see how malnourished the Jews truly were. The Nazis should have felt extreme guilt for putting Jews under harsh conditions. It was also disturbing to learn that the Nazis were not forced to kill the Jewish prisoners. I underestimated their truly cruel nature. Killing someone by choice out of fear is extreme and immoral. The games that the Jewish children played were simply absurd. The fact that they were so starved to the point where they could stick their hands up their ribs is so unacceptable. However, this goes to show how positive some of the children were; they made a game out of being starved. Another thing that surprised me was how allied countries like America still refused to take in Jews. These people had been through countless years of starvation and emotional and physical persecution and still received no support from these countries. America should have gladly opened their arms to these people if they had any sense of morality. Like we talked about in class, America is viewed as the melting pot with immense cultural diversity. However, they refused to let in any Jews. This is especially disturbing.The last thing that surprised me was how so many people died before being liberated. It is awful that rescue didn't come sooner so more people could have lived to carry on the legacy of the holocaust. Overall, this blog post has opened my eyes and allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the holocaust.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this blog post, I was shocked to discover that the Jews stayed in the concentration camps and created communities. I think it is amazing that they made the best of their situation and established cities with places like schools and theaters. It was disturbing and shocking to see how malnourished the Jews truly were. The Nazis should have felt extreme guilt for putting Jews under harsh conditions. It was also disturbing to learn that the Nazis were not forced to kill the Jewish prisoners. I underestimated their truly cruel nature. Killing someone by choice out of fear is extreme and immoral. The games that the Jewish children played were simply absurd. The fact that they were so starved to the point where they could stick their hands up their ribs is so unacceptable. However, this goes to show how positive some of the children were; they made a game out of being starved. Another thing that surprised me was how allied countries like America still refused to take in Jews. These people had been through countless years of starvation and emotional and physical persecution and still received no support from these countries. America should have gladly opened their arms to these people if they had any sense of morality. Like we talked about in class, America is viewed as the melting pot with immense cultural diversity. However, they refused to let in any Jews. This is especially disturbing.The last thing that surprised me was how so many people died before being liberated. It is awful that rescue didn't come sooner so more people could have lived to carry on the legacy of the holocaust. Overall, this blog post has opened my eyes and allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the holocaust.
ReplyDelete-Ava Harrell
Response to Bergen Belson blog
ReplyDeleteLeo O’Neill
I had never heard of the disease typhus, so I looked it up and found that it is an infectious disease caused by bacteria and can be transmitted through fleas and other vectors such as lice. To learn that an entire concentration camp was shut down due to typhus meant that the camp had to be ridden with fleas, ticks, and lice. To learn that this was the state of the concentration camps wasn’t surprising to me, but it further emphasized the gruesome conditions that the Jews had to live through for months and years. I had never heard the full story of Anne Frank, but to learn that she passed only a month prior to liberation was saddening. To learn that Jews actually stuck around in the concentration camp after liberation was shocking because I thought that the Jews would want to get as far away from the place where these atrocities happened as soon as possible and that they wouldn’t want to raise their kids there either. However, the fact that they stayed and made this once death camp into a vibrant community was inspiring. I understood that they would still be haunted by the past of the camp, but I saw that the change of setting helped some of the Jewish people that were persecuted find joy again. This showed the persistence and optimism of the Jewish people, as they established schools, sports, and synagogues and created a community full of healthy families. It was also shocking to learn how long it took for countries to truly open their arms to the Jewish people, even after events of the Holocaust were fully exposed. It was sickening and depressing to learn what the children did for fun. I then scrolled down to the pictures, and these were awful. To see the bodies lying a few feet away from women that were cooking was disturbing and showed the desperation and accustomedness to dead bodies lying around the camps. It was also appalling and extremely upsetting to see the frail, malnourished, and fragile bodies of victims up close.
Leo O’Neill
I think that having a place for the rebirth of Jewish life was vital for the Jewish people. They needed a place where they could come together after the war had ended. Reading about how they created something, such as a small town, for themselves out of so little is truly inspiring. They were able to create a normal environment for themselves where they could reconnect with each other and their God. I am so disappointed and upset with the other countries that still did not let Jewish refugees into their countries. It is hard for me to believe that the United States, a country that is supposed to be the melting pot of cultures, refused refugees. The number of prisoners that were liberated from Bergen Belson astonished me. How were they able to keep that many people in one place at one time? What was even more sad was how many of them died after they had been liberated. I can not imagine the feeling of finally being free and then continuing to suffer death because of all the hardships that were endured while in the concentration camp. Oh my gosh! The SS were still allowed to guard the camps after the liberation. This is shocking to me. I thought that the SS would want to leave and get as far away as possible. Apparently they truly believed they did nothing wrong. This shows me how brainwashed they were to believe murdering so many people had nothing wrong with it. I had wrote about soilders having a choice when the question was asked if I could ever forgive a Nazi? Your writing proves that every Nazi had the option to be a Nazi and participate in the awful things that they did. Your last paragraph really made me upset. These children had to make up games involving dead bodies just to pass the time before they die. Viewing the images at the end really helped me to imagine the dreadful conditions that were forced upon the Jews.
ReplyDelete- Ashley Szymonski
It is surprising to me that after all the things that happened to the Jews no country wanted to take them in, and it took until 1948 the Jews finally had a home. The countries should have at least tried to take the Jews because of all the things they have suffered and fight through to survive. I was shocked that the British let the SS officer guards keep order in the camps. They believed that the Jews were worse than people and they think they should be exterminated. The SS officers probably killed more Jews while they were “taking care” of the camp. It also astonished me that the British let the SS officers stay at the camps, even though they were just there to burn all of the evidence to the things they have done. It is very depressing all the things the kids had to live through. They would have “fun” playing games like counting which dead body was bigger, or they played “Jews and Nazis,” instead of playing cops and robbers. The kids were playing these games while they were waiting to die. The children would ask the parents why the Nazis hated them if they haven't done anything, which is really sad to hear from a kid. I was horrified when I saw the picture of the Jews who were almost starved to death. They were basically all bone and were really skinny. It appalled me the idea that the Germans can watch people suffer like this and not feel any remorse. The Nazis had a choice to step aside and not kill the Jewish people and they would not have been punished, but they chose to kill the Jews because it was the “right thing to do.” I never thought human nature was so cruel to commit these actions and not feel remorse for what they have done.
ReplyDelete- Sebastian Zarta
Stanton Bryson
ReplyDeleteSome of the facts in this blog astonished me. There are many facts and details I know about the Holocaust, but this blog made me realize I have so much specific information to learn. I am not surprised that the Jews died of malnutrition and disease, but it shocked me that the entirety of Bergen-Belson was overrun with typhus. I wonder how many concentration camps were destroyed due to the spread of disease. Did the German soldiers and SS officers also become ill with the disease that overwhelmed the camp? The fact that the Jews could return to a place they were once held captive and make it their home amazes me. It is inexplicable that after everything the Jews had experienced, the United States, Canada, and Australia still refused to open their doors to Jewish immigrants and refugees. I am astounded that out of the 53,000 prisoners who were liberated, only 1,000 survived due to the poor conditions they lived in prior to the liberation. I am stunned that the British allowed the SS officers to guard the camps after liberation to keep order. The Jews are ordinary people, so they don’t need “superior” people to watch over them and maintain the peace. I have one question: did the German officers truly think they did nothing wrong? I always assumed that the Germans would be punished if they refused to contribute to the extermination of the Jews, but I was wrong. There would be no repercussions for an officer if he/she refused to kill, and it wasn’t even an order to participate in the mass murder. It bewildered me that the children attempted to have “fun” while waiting to die. If I knew I was nearing the end of my life, I would have no time to participate in physical activities. While waiting to pass away, the Jewish kids would step in puddles, play hopscotch, and count dead bodies. It disgusted me to read that they played a game to see who push their hands the farthest underneath their malnourished ribcages.
This post has been the most graphic at depicting the various tortures that the prisoners of the concentration camps endured. The photos are very detailed. Stories about children counting bodies, comparing the faces of the dead and making games of manipulating their own starved skin were very hard to read. They are important, too. Books and stories from the holocaust often show children as small adults. They grow up as soon as they sense danger. It’s important to remember that not all of them did. They played games, they hopped in puddles, and they tried to outlive the death surrounding them. They were children, not prisoners, and I had never seen that side depicted before. To show children as children and then clarify that the nazis wanted to enact the tortures was devastating. I never knew that they were allowed to step aside. I never knew that the nazis had a choice to hurt the prisoners. How did they think that they weren’t doing anything wrong? How were the Jews so dehumanized that the nazis truly felt no empathy for them? Where was their basic morality? Even if they thought the Jews were beneath them, they still were human. They looked like the germans, they spoke like the germans, they lived like the germans. Was religion truly a big enough divide to allow torture and murder? In Jojo Rabbit, the dehumanization of Jews was apparent. But once Jojo had met the Jewish girl and seen that she was a person, he couldn’t bring himself to treat her as subhuman. He began to love her, even offering to adopt her into his dead sister’s role. Even this fictional comedy seemed more believable than the brutality of real stories. I never thought that a work of fiction could seem so much more real than reality.
ReplyDelete- Sophie Thrasher