W.,+Lisa

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Now that you have 1-3 images picked out, you are ready to begin writing a paragraph about what you see in the picture. This will not be an essay, just a paragraph or two. Remember, when you write your paragraph, be descriptive and creative. Your writing will have to reflect the picture you have picked out, make sure to use simile, metaphor, and/or personification to paint an image. You will //always// end with a conclusion to wrap up with a connection to real life. Have fun!

Outline: Lisa Wong April 29, 2008 Language Arts 1

A. Introduction I. Topic Sentence a. Open with sensory words about how the Jews died when they went to the concentration camps. b. Start describing the images. c. Connect what’s happening in the pictures to real life. II. Sentences, or “Body” a. Talk about what you see. Sophisticated language and simile, metaphor and/or personification use! b. Wrap up what you say. III. Conclusion! a. Use a closing sentence to wrap up the paragraph and connect to real life. Rough Draft: In all of the worlds gruesome behavior, the Holocaust ranks to be one of the highest. Linked by chains to each other, Jews stand in the forest, waiting. These are the last moments they will experience of their lives. The Nazi’s went on the assumption that if they kill in the forest, the people working would not get baffled. What would you do if you see with your own eyes people getting killed?  Holocaust paragraph: Responding to Holocaust Images Lisa Wong April 30, 2008 Language Arts 1

In all of the worlds gruesome behavior, the Holocaust ranks to be one of the highest. Linked by chains to each other, Jews stand in the forest, waiting. These are the last moments they will experience of their lives. The Nazi’s went on the assumption that if they kill in the forest, the people working would not get baffled. What would you do if you see with your own eyes people getting killed? The Prisoners from Buchenwald were dourly waiting to be killed, linked by chains to one an other. Since the workers would constantly be around dead bodies, the chances of them catching disease was very high. Disease and starvation was spreading throughout the camps like a wildfire. Child innocence was never seen again after what they experienced and what they saw. A sullen sunless sky would loom above their heads as children were scaling a wall in order to save themselves from starvation. Even though the Holocaust was ghastly gruesome, we have to remember and learn about it today, so that nothing like this will ever happen again. In 2003, the current annihilation of a particular ethnic group in Darfur began. Attacks have wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies while hundreds of thousands of Darfurians have been murdered, tortured, and raped. With the knowledge we have accumulated from the Holocaust, we can help stop the Darfur Genocide.

 5/5/08 __Who is Madame Schachter?__ -Madame Schachter is a fifty year old wo man with her ten year old son, her husband and two eldest sons were deported with the first transport by mistake. She was a quiet woman that went to Elie’s house often. Her husband would spend his days and nights in study while she worked to support her family. __What happens to her?__ - On the journey she had gone out of her mind. She kept asking why she was sperated from her family, as the ride went on, her cries grew more hysterical. She also kept yelling out, “Fire! I can see a fire, I can see a fire!”. The men on the cattle wagon would have to knock her out so that they could sleep at night, also to let Madame Schachter rest. But towards the end of the ride, her cries about the fire were true when they ended up at the camp. 1) I thought that Madame Schachter was a nice woman in her time, from what I read about her, it seemed to me that she loved her husband and son's very much, and that's what caused her to go a wee bit insane on the cattle wagon to the Auschwitz camp. 2) Even though she was a bit insane about losing her husband and first born son, I thought that it was mean for them to knock her out multiple times. I can understand that they had trouble resting, but then again her cries claiming to see fire was a signaling the people in the cattle wagon that they were getting close to the camp.
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5/7/08 What are the specific acts, events and ideas that **DESTROY** faith? - When Elie and his father are marching, they heard some people recite the Kaddish (a prayer for the dead), Elie felt revolt with his faith. - “Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.” “Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live.” - They were marching in a beautiful April day, with the fragrance of spring in the air. - They were forced to take hot showers, and after, they were left to shiver in the midnight air. In addition their clothes left behind at the other block, towards midnight they were told to run. “Faster”, shouted our guards. “The faster you run, the sooner you can go to bed.” What are the specific acts, events and ideas that **REKINDLE** faith? - The first impression of Auschwitz was that it was better than Birkenau, instead of having barracks there were two-storied buildings of concrete. Also, there were little gardens. - “Our morale was much improved, we were feeling the benefit of a night’s sleep. Friends met each other, exchanged a few sentences.” - Days had passed and Elie and his father would sleep a great deal, they even met up with a relative of theirs. The only worry they had at Auschwitz was avoiding moves, and to stay where they were for a long time. 1) It was barbaric of the Nazi's to treat the Jews like animals; And for what? Because they are //Jewish//? It was heartbreaking to read the passage of Elie saying, "Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever." 2) At first, reading that Auschwitz was better than Birkenau gave a sense of relief to my mind, but as I kept reading, it troubled me to think that the peace they had at Auschwitz wasn't going to last. It was also good to hear that they had a good nights sleep on their shoulders.
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5/9/08 Acts of **Kindness** - The head of the camp joined them, and he held a special interest in the children. "The officer took an interest in them and gave orders for them to be brought food." "Like the leader of the camp, he loved children. As soon as we arrived, he had brought them bread, soup, and margarine." - They promised Elie that he would be working beside his Father. Acts of **Brutality -**  Upon arriving at Buna, the camp looked like it was hit by an epidemic. - The foreman, Franek had a firm grip on Elie's gold crown, and wouldn't let the subject drop that he wanted his gold crown. Unfortunately, Franek won in the end and got Elie's crown.. - Elie felt the strokes of the whip twenty-five times for seeing Idek with a young Polish girl and laughed. - "I could hear my heart beating. The thousands who had died daily at Auschwitz and at Birkenau in the crematory ovens no longer troubled me. But this one, leaning against his gallows-he overwhelmed me." "I witnessed other hangings. I never saw a single one of the victims weep. For a time those dried-up bodies had forgotten the bitter taste of tears." 1) I thought it was very generous that the head of the camp gave food for the children, it goes to show that in midst of all the evil and wrong doings, there's always someone who has a kind-heart towards others. 2) If I were in Elie's shoes, I would have been lachrymosely watching the hangings.
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5/14/08  **Germans'** attempts to control things - They held selection promptly after Rosh Hashanah. The SS officers disenchanted the Jews belief in God because of the selection, and when Elie found out his father had to stay back in the camp, he felt wretched. - "Once I had believed profoundly that upon one solitary deed of mine, one solitary prayer, depended the salvation of the world" - They made the Jews nervous about the selections that were made, "He felt that his time was short. He spoke quickly. He would have liked to say so many things. His speech grew confused; his voice chocked. He knew that I would have to go in a few moments. He would have to stay behind alone, so very alone." - Elie felt revolt and void in his heart whenever it came around for him to pray to God. He felt that God was ignoring his pleads about the personal abyss they were all trapped in.  **Jews'** attempts to control things - They would gather together and pray to God. After Rosh Hashanah, they were deliberating whether or not to fast. They believed that if they pray, God's silence would be diminished and their prayers would be answered. - Elie, Tibi and Yossi stayed together during the selection in their block so that they could be stronger for each other. - Even though it seemed as though God doesn't exist anymore, they stayed committed by blessing his name. 1) I though that it was very cruel behavior to have done what they did, and I can't imagine what kind of people they were to go with Hitlers plan to annihilate the Jews. What happened to the __good guys__? 2) I would have found no reason to live if I didn't want to believe in what I believed. I would find it pointless to just stand there, lifeless and soulless waiting for the day to come that I am selected. I'm still baffled from what I've read about what they're been through, It's a concept I can't wrap my head around, but I understand, from the vibe I get from Elie Wiesel's writing, that it was very excruciating to go day and night, working and praying, that the next day won't be the last time you'll see the sunshine.
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5/16/08 - **Powerful Quotations:** - "I was putting one foot in front of the other mechanically. I was dragging with me this skeletal body which weighed so much. If only I could have got rid of it! In spite of my efforts not to think about it, I could feel myself as two entities-my body and me. I hated it" -"Death wrapped itself around me till I was stifled. It stuck to me. I felt that I could touch it. The idea of dying, of no longer being, began to fascinate me." - "We were masters of nature, masters of the world. We had forgotten everything-death, fatigue, our natural needs. Stronger than cold or hunger, stronger than the shots and the desire to die, condemned and wandering, mere numbers, we were the only men on earth." - "No one asked anyone else for help. You died because you had to die. There was no fuss." 1) I chose those quotations because nobody deserves to die that way. All alone and suffering in the frigid cold. In the long run, even if you have a father or brother with you, your still always trying to survive for yourself. I can't imagine what it felt like for Elie to be running, how painful his foot must have been! If I was in Elie's shoes, I wouldn't make it, not even if my life depended on it.
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