Part Two: Empathy

(While all students wrote answering all questions, some were very personal and not to be shared. Each paragraph indicated a different student, though many students are represented in more than one category.)

People hiding during he Holocaust had little choice about changing their identities. They had to change to survive. It could have meant learning a new language, practicing a new religion, taking a new name, or even changing the way they looked.

If you had to speak a new language, change religion, citizenship, physical appearance, would you do it voluntarily? Why or why not?

Choose one memory from the exhibit that you said most affected you. (You can even go back and get a quote if you like.) Describe why you reacted to that particular one. Did it remind you of some person or experience in your own life? Or could you imagine yourself in that person's situation and wonder what you would do?

One Exhibit I thought was most powerful was the personal histories. It was very emotional because it had a lot of real recordings from the people it also told of many horror stories which just brought you right into the experience.

When Lola had to hide in the hole dug in the barn. I don't think I would be able to stay in that space for that amount of time. Then again when you are forced to do something for your life, you get energy to help you.

“The world will still keep on turning without me; what is going happen will happen, and any way, it's no good trying to resist.” -Anne Frank. It shows her afraid of the Nazis but still willing to accept the terrible times. It also shows that she wants to give into the Nazis. I could imagine any normal person having the same feelings if they were in Anne's situation.

“Lola's mother, working as a seamstress for the Germans, had a special permit to work outside the ghetto. On the Jewish holiday of Purim (Katan) February 19, 1943, she and three other Jewish women began walking to work. Despite having papers allowing them them to leave the ghetto, they were murdered by a German policeman.”- The Fate of Lola's Parents ‘Silent Witness: The Story of Lola Rein and her Dress' This impacted me the most because it showed how heartless the German's were towards jews. Not only did they kill on a Jewish holiday but they also killed people who had papers that showed that they could go to work.

When I went to DC with the 8th grade this year, we got to see some of the stories that are on the web site. Some of them were the saddest things I have ever heard. The hardest thing was seeing all the elderly people crying while they were telling about the camps and the ghettos.

I remember when Anne Frank was going into hiding and said that they waited all week for the day when the books would come because they were the only connection to the outside world. I would go crazy not being able to go outside and being stuck with my family 24/7. I don't know how she managed.

In Personal Histories, it told what people had to go through during the Holocaust to survive, and it was shocking what some did. They would eat anything in sight, and some were sitting among corpses of their friends and family. I could not see myself doing either, but if it did come around again, then I might. I do not know anyone like this, and I am beyond glad.

The part in Life in the Shadows where they tell the stories of the individual children reminded me of a lot of other Holocaust stories I've read. These stories make me sad because childhood should be happy and innocent, but for those children, childhood was hiding, either literally or from who they really were.

A memory that affected me the most was Anne Frank's essay called “Give”, that was originally written in German but than translated into English. I think I reacted to it because the things she wrote were so true and happen still all the time. For example, she was talking about how we all care about material possessions that will be soon gone as we leave the Earth, so why do we cling to them so desperately. Also, how it takes so little effort to say or do a nice thing for a poor person, but yet it means so much. The essay sends out a very good message, and that is to always “GIVE”!

What did those in hiding have to give up?

They had to give up their identity and some of them had to learn how to walk again because they work laying down and hiding underground for so long.

They had to give up their lives in dreams that one day they would come out of hiding without fear. They would spend all there time hiding or running away

People like Anne Frank had to give up everything. She couldn't go outside to ride her bike, she couldn't be too loud, she couldn't let people know she was there or else they might take her away to the concentration camps.

They became different people, not as carefree as they could have been, not really sure of exactly who they were, some even feeling persecuted for the rest of their lives.

For many, they had to give up their identity as a Jew- they had to pretend to be something they weren't. Others had to give up some of their innocence; they had to give up living a “normal” life full of beauty, peace, and love for a life filled with fear, hate, and despair. And of course, they had to give up their homes- they had to change everything- how they lived, what they lived with, etc. Some even had to give up their parents to get to a foster home, and others had to give up their parents (not willingly /not because of them), not necessarily because they were hiding, but because the Nazis came and took them to be killed and/or tortured .

They had to give up the simple pleasures they had at home like their table settings and family heirlooms. Sometimes, they even had to give up their clothes and family members.

They had to give up a life. A life with friends, family, a life where they could be free to wander wherever they desired, like even the simplest things, like going outside for instance. Some families were forced to stay inside so they wouldn't be at risk of getting caught.

How did their lives change?

Their lives changed by having family members killed and their towns being turned into a ghetto. They also had to learn new languages to get by some of the Nazi security

Many if not all of their family members were killed and even if they did survive the camps. After being liberated they had no homes or any other possessions except for the clothes on their back.

Anne Frank's life changed immensely. She had to stay in the annex for days after days month after month, afraid that people would find she and her family, and be sent away.

Any one in hiding had to consider themselves not to exist. After the war they would just have their family, and sometimes they didn't have that. They had to rebuild their lives alone.

Many Jews had to migrate to Austria and other places. It would hard for me to migrate away to another country just because of my religion. It would be hard for me to leave everything I have had and loved.

Well, they had to go into hiding, so they didn't get some of the privileges or opportunities, that they used to. Maybe some days they wouldn't even eat, might not of had the best place to live since they had to hide, and fast. Jews had to be a lot more careful of where they went and when.

How did they themselves change?

I'm sure that going through this and surviving they have more respect for thier culture becaus mno matter how much torture and degredations they endored they still never lost thier culture.

They probably went through a lot mentally always thinking if it was worth going through all this trouble.

I'm sure they were always sad to remember it and probably very touchy on the subject of Nazis. I would have been.

If one survived during this horrible time, they would have to remember all the brutality that took place.

They themselves changed by being less selfish, thinking about others, and protecting each other. Sticking together because they were all each other had. People were definetly more apperciative of what they got, because that was probably the best they could get at the time.

What problems and dangers did they face?

The problems they risked were if the nazis discovered that they were jewish they would be tortured or horribly killed.

They faced the chance of getting cought or the urge to just risk coming out of hiding and try to make a run for it.

They faced the danger of being killed, harmed, sent to a concentration camp, separated from their families, getting a disease, or all of the above.

Nazis, obviously, but also starvation and disease.

They faced problems like nazis asking for id's, other nazis finding their hiding spots, and being either killed or sent away to concentration camps.

What were their hopes and fears?

They hoped that the solviets and other allies would free their town, a lot of adults were afraid that thier children would be killed when they left them behind.

Their hopes were to one day be able to come out from hiding and it be all over. Their fear is that it may never be over and they might get caught, or there kids may have to go trough this the rest of their lives.

Their only hope was that their families would get out alive and that they would find each other. Everything else was a fear.

Their hopes were to have a real, un-dangerous, un-hatred filled life, but right then, they probably just hoped to have life itself- to not get killed. Their fears were everything I've mentioned in the other paragraphs, as well as not getting to live their hopes.

They hoped that one day they could live without fear and that they would not have to hide anymore for something that they should have the right to be.

Their hopes were that it would soon be over, that eventually the would live in peace and freedom, like they once were. Their fears were that they would be found and killed. Also, that they would be sent away to concentration camps, seperated from their family.

After the war, were they able to go back to “normal life”?

Somewhat even though they had to live with many degredations and thier towns were destroyed by being turned into ghetto's.

No most of their family could have been dead. And coming from what they've been trough it would take long to even stop thinking about it for a couple seconds.

No, many left Germany altogether, but the ones who braved it had nothing. Their houses were taken over by other families that had escaped persecution and taken over their possesions.

I'm sure some of them moved out of the original place they came from and try to get things back to normal. Some might have struggled for a long time, and even today the holocaust still haunts them.

For those who survived, not exactly. Some were lucky enough to be able to find their parents again, or be reunited with other family memebers. Others had none, and had to start a “normal” life all over again. Honestly though, after all that they had been through, it's impossible to have a “normal” (I don't consider anyone's life normal- everyone has a unique life, but perhaps relatively normal because you haven't lived through such intense pain and fear) life; you can't act as if nothing happenned. They can still find joy and beauty and happiness in their life, but what they've experienced, they will never go back to who they were before the Holocaust.

She (Lola) went back to a pretty normal life. However, she was still connected to it when she donated the dress her mother made for her. When she did, she cried. Even though she was too big to fit in the dress, she was still connected to it very much in her heart.

Some were, but it was very difficult. Many of their homes had already been destroyed, so they had to build their way back up.

And for something different, a student choose to write about the actual Holocaust museum, and an exhibit which affected her...

I went to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the DC trip, and the last “exhibit” that I went to affected me the most. It was this memorial hall that was at the very end of the museum. The room was round, with skylights all over the ceiling and gray marble walls. In the middle of the room was an eternal light that burns forever onwards for the Holocaust survivors and those who didn't survive. There were many people in the room, yet it was quiet. Everyone could just sense this feeling that was really haunting, so they stayed hushed. The eternal light wasn't the only thing in the room, however. The part that will stay with me forever were the candles. All around the perimeter of the room were built-in ledges, and the ledges were covered in tea candles inside little holders. There was one candle for every thousand, I think. The candles would flicker and move in the air, yet stay strong, for the urge to keep on living was stronger than the immense strength that it took to keep on going. Yet here and there, there was a candle that had gone out. They just couldn't keep on going. And the worst part about that was that usually, the museum hires this person to keep on lighting the candles when they go out, in memory of the people those candles stand for. But that day, they just weren't there, and we just had to watch as, candle by candle, they went out. And we couldn't do anything about it. The rest of the museum had been really, really horrific, especially since I'm a Jew, but that just really made me break down.