What is Facing History and why is it so important to study it? The course in a nutshell is to share a very valuable lesson about life, and those who made living day to day even worse during such occurrences in the twentieth century. Now to many this may seem like a good answer, but it doesn’t quite explain what the course is actually about. To get a better explanation we must see who I was prior to the course and the effect of it afterwards.
My name is Aidas Rudis, a current senior of the Class of 2012 at Westborough High School. Coming into the class of Facing History seemed to me like every "extra" class of every year, something new to learn and soon forget. I did after all just take the course, just to fill in my schedule. However the first time that we actually began class after all the hoopla of the senior events of the past few days was when I got to experience it all. My teacher Mr. Gallagher had us essentially sign our life away on a contract. I read this and had to do a double-take on what he had written. It seemed as if it would be the easiest and best class I ever took in school. There would be no tests or quizzes, participation was minimal, you could literally say anything you wanted (including the F-word) as long as it didn’t offend others, and all you had to do was post a comment on his blog website for homework. Yes, this subject would boost my GPA average and seem like the best class ever that is until we actually started the material. What we would be taught here and be witnessing as students is only what 1-3% of all Americans get to see during their lives. This is the hard raw facts and videos of Nazi Germany, the holocaust, and possible survivors/survivors stories.
Nazi Germany
Friday, January 13, 2012
What Facing History Meant To Me
The course Facing History or otherwise known as History & Ourselves has been a course of knowledge. Throughout the whole curricular year of this class I have relearned a couple of things about history like the Jim Crow Laws and the time Hitler came to power in Germany. However it was when we went deeper into the roots of Nazi Germany that I began to learn new aspects and tactics that Adolf Hitler had taken to lead his people. This intrigued me because in most of my history courses that talked about Hitler, we knew very little of him other than his concentration camps and how he raised Germany under Nazi rule. So, I learned that he not just led an entire nation to become Nazis, but he also had them march in perfect straight lines of unison and taught them that Jews are vermin, all thanks to the movies and PowerPoint’s. One such movie in particular was "Nazis – A Warning From History" because it showed how the world changed over the course of a few years through Hitler’s influence on his people and the effect it had afterwards.
This course I’m taking is unlike any other, it’s about figuring out "who are you". In other words, you thought you knew your true identity, however will it change by the end of this year by the things you say, see, or hear? I know mine did because of the recollection of facts from various movies and papers we read in class. These ranged from Nazi Influence all the way up to Jew Experiments on the death camps. The ones that were the most beneficial in my opinion were the ones that talked about the concentration camps and how they worked/came together. This was because I was interested in the process of disembarking the Jews. I’m not trying to say that I was curious at how the Jews would die, but more so how long they had left to live once disembarked. I found out that the Jews would pack into two lines and then be sorted into groups. These groups would determine whether you lived as crematorium workers/slaves or died as ordinary citizens (vermin). It was horrifying to hear this, but at the same time nice that some got to live to see another sunrise for so many days. What surprised me the most still was that between arrival and death the time took a little under two hours; essentially one quick assembly line, if you could call it that.
Facing History is a course of non-expectations where someone thought they knew something about a particular topic then realized they were way off. I’m not saying this course will prove to anyone how wrong they were, but rather how it would change their lives forever. For example if you see a car crash on the highway you slow your car down, see if the people are okay, and move on. However it would be totally different if you were involved in a car crash because you wouldn’t know what to expect in the future or every time you’re out on the road. The same is said for this class because whatever students see they cannot personally say that "it couldn’t have been that bad" or "why would it be this way". The reason behind it is they haven’t actually experienced the ghettos, concentration camps, or crematoriums. I’ll say this much, even though I would hate to be a in a concentration camp as a prisoner under Nazi rule, the worst would be a crematorium worker. I’m not referring to the crematoriums we have today, but the ones in WWII. This would be bad because you’re throwing dead Jews (your own kind) into a burning furnace every day and it feels like a nightmare going through your body, especially the smell like an old whale hunting boat in colonial days of burning flesh.
What this course has really taught me is to stick up for what you believe in and fight your way through to the very end. There are certain people throughout the course of history that have led the way and helped out their country even if it meant to the death. One such example is the founding of our nation led by General George Washington to fight off the British. If we lost to the British then it would have been "off with their heads" to those who rebelled against them. But getting back to Facing History; the thing that we all need to do is to take charge of our lives and make a difference in the world. It could be something small like helping a community rise to its feet again after a natural disaster or becoming president for the nation. Either way it’s you who has to figure out who you are. In addition this course will and has taught me how to fight for what’s right. If you don’t someone else will just trample over you because they can.
I always was the "bystander", just watching events that happened and everything else coming together. This included staying away from fights instead of taking charge. But now watching these rebellions in Nazi Germany made by prisoners I have learned to take a shot at the target even if the aim isn’t precise because you will still cause some damage to the perpetrator. Another fact to build off of this is there were those who had to deal with a lot more rough times than us and if there is something wrong we should be the ones to fix it. In conclusion this course doesn’t just inspire me to lead myself to a better life, but it’s almost like a pilgrimage, I have to share this with others so they understand it as well. If I could only take this course for a full year I believe I would learn more about the "Great War" and other genocides around the world as well, thanks to an awesome course filled with my attention all around it.
This course I’m taking is unlike any other, it’s about figuring out "who are you". In other words, you thought you knew your true identity, however will it change by the end of this year by the things you say, see, or hear? I know mine did because of the recollection of facts from various movies and papers we read in class. These ranged from Nazi Influence all the way up to Jew Experiments on the death camps. The ones that were the most beneficial in my opinion were the ones that talked about the concentration camps and how they worked/came together. This was because I was interested in the process of disembarking the Jews. I’m not trying to say that I was curious at how the Jews would die, but more so how long they had left to live once disembarked. I found out that the Jews would pack into two lines and then be sorted into groups. These groups would determine whether you lived as crematorium workers/slaves or died as ordinary citizens (vermin). It was horrifying to hear this, but at the same time nice that some got to live to see another sunrise for so many days. What surprised me the most still was that between arrival and death the time took a little under two hours; essentially one quick assembly line, if you could call it that.
Facing History is a course of non-expectations where someone thought they knew something about a particular topic then realized they were way off. I’m not saying this course will prove to anyone how wrong they were, but rather how it would change their lives forever. For example if you see a car crash on the highway you slow your car down, see if the people are okay, and move on. However it would be totally different if you were involved in a car crash because you wouldn’t know what to expect in the future or every time you’re out on the road. The same is said for this class because whatever students see they cannot personally say that "it couldn’t have been that bad" or "why would it be this way". The reason behind it is they haven’t actually experienced the ghettos, concentration camps, or crematoriums. I’ll say this much, even though I would hate to be a in a concentration camp as a prisoner under Nazi rule, the worst would be a crematorium worker. I’m not referring to the crematoriums we have today, but the ones in WWII. This would be bad because you’re throwing dead Jews (your own kind) into a burning furnace every day and it feels like a nightmare going through your body, especially the smell like an old whale hunting boat in colonial days of burning flesh.
What this course has really taught me is to stick up for what you believe in and fight your way through to the very end. There are certain people throughout the course of history that have led the way and helped out their country even if it meant to the death. One such example is the founding of our nation led by General George Washington to fight off the British. If we lost to the British then it would have been "off with their heads" to those who rebelled against them. But getting back to Facing History; the thing that we all need to do is to take charge of our lives and make a difference in the world. It could be something small like helping a community rise to its feet again after a natural disaster or becoming president for the nation. Either way it’s you who has to figure out who you are. In addition this course will and has taught me how to fight for what’s right. If you don’t someone else will just trample over you because they can.
I always was the "bystander", just watching events that happened and everything else coming together. This included staying away from fights instead of taking charge. But now watching these rebellions in Nazi Germany made by prisoners I have learned to take a shot at the target even if the aim isn’t precise because you will still cause some damage to the perpetrator. Another fact to build off of this is there were those who had to deal with a lot more rough times than us and if there is something wrong we should be the ones to fix it. In conclusion this course doesn’t just inspire me to lead myself to a better life, but it’s almost like a pilgrimage, I have to share this with others so they understand it as well. If I could only take this course for a full year I believe I would learn more about the "Great War" and other genocides around the world as well, thanks to an awesome course filled with my attention all around it.
Works Cited
Auschwitz gas chamber. 2008. Photograph. Daniel's Story - Blog Web. January 11, 2012. http://grace-danielstory.blogspot.com/2008/11/auchwitz-gas-chamber.html
Fitting Memory: The Art and Politics of Holocaust Memorials. 2004. Photograph. SULAIR, Stanford, CA. Web. January 11, 2012. http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/exhibits/nowinonlinholo.html.
Fascism and Genocide N.d. Photograph. Blogs.qc.cuny.edu Web. January 10, 2012. http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/genocide/ideology/2008/12/fascism_and_genocide.html.
Belzec Concentration Camp 2010. Photograph. Holocaust Central Web. January 11, 2012. http://www.wix.com/lape223/major-project-4/concentration-camps
Fitting Memory: The Art and Politics of Holocaust Memorials. 2004. Photograph. SULAIR, Stanford, CA. Web. January 11, 2012. http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/exhibits/nowinonlinholo.html.
Fascism and Genocide N.d. Photograph. Blogs.qc.cuny.edu Web. January 10, 2012. http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/genocide/ideology/2008/12/fascism_and_genocide.html.
Belzec Concentration Camp 2010. Photograph. Holocaust Central Web. January 11, 2012. http://www.wix.com/lape223/major-project-4/concentration-camps
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