Milkweed+8-2

Day One 5/29/08. Today we discussed the first 7 chapters of the book Milkweed. We decided that the time that Misha, the main character of the story, lived was during the beginning of the war. He had never seen a jackboot before but when he did see them for the first time, he wanted to be one of them. He was in love with their shiny boots and wanted to wear a pair of them. No matter what Uri, the boy who took Misha into his care said, Misha still wanted to be a jackboot. He considered them the winning side. If only he knew the truth behind the Jackboots. We also agreed on that although the Jewish orphans were rough and had to take care of themselves, their hearts were still big and kind enough to help others. Uri himself was an orphan and yet he still took Misha in his care and helped Misha as his journey began to find out the horrors behind the Jackboots and the horrors of being an orphan and being Jewish or a Gypsie at the time. Not only that but the Jackboots also treated the Jews like if they where animals. "Soldiers were tossing loaves of bread, The people grabbed and scrambled." (Spinelli 21). It must have been so embarrasing for the Jews to have to scramble and push to get atleast a loaf of bread from the soldiers that were condemming them to their own deaths. Also, Misha is very ignorant of the world around him. He saw a man cleaning the sidewalk with his beard and he considered that fun. His ignorance is so huge that he doesnt realize that there is a meaning behind the man washing the sidewalk with his beard. Its shameful how the people at the time laughed at such a sight and did nothing to change it.

You can't really see the picture but well.. you can kind of get the image. In the picture, the Jewish people are scrubbing the sidewalk while people watch them. http://isurvived.org/Pictures_iSurvived-3/JewsHumiliation-Vienna.GIF

This other link shows you pictures of the Jewish orphans. The pictures are pretty sad. Sad to know that people actually did go through those hard times. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_ph.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005142&MediaId=792

Day Two 6/2/08. Today my group discussed how in our books that Misha is very trusting that nothing could happen to him because he is a Gypsy. In the book Misha also befriend a little girl around his age named Janina. She was really trusting and although she wasnt supposed to tell anyone that she is a Jew, she trusted Misha enough to tell him that she is a Jew even though she just met him. We also discussed the definitions of different types of words that we were given to categorize. We seperated the words into categories of religion or related to languages, groups of people against the Jews and another one of the category was things related to concentration camps. Also, Hitler believed that the Aryan's were the true Germans, that people should look like them, that they are in the top of the groups. We learned that Arbeit macht frei means work makes free and that those words were on the gates of the concentration camps. The Jews actaully believed in the sentence arbeit macht frei and worked as hard as they could because they believed that they would be free. Also people in need brings out the best in other people. My group is reading "Milkweed" and in the book a man named Doctor Korczak was helping orphans. The orphans were in need and Doctor Korczak stood by them, helping them get through horrific events. So we concluded that when need is great, it can bring out the best in some people. Like Misha, although he is an orphan himself, he still steals food to not only support him but Doctor Korczak and the orphands and a friend of his, Janina. Need can bring out the best in people. It can even make people reveal their identities in order to get something that is badly needed or to receive help.

Information on the Aryan race: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race

This web is more info on the Aryan race and what Hitler saw in them: http://archaeology.about.com/od/indusrivercivilizations/a/aryans.htm

Day Three 6/4/08 Today my group discussed how the Gypsy's are also discriminated as much as the Jews. In one part, a little blond girl found out that Misha was a Gypsy and she started to kick him and so did the other little kids and the parents just watched and did nothing to stop their children. Haven't they ever put themselves in the places of the Gypsy's and the Jews? Would they like it if they were the one's being treated like that? I don't think so. Also, in the book, a Jewish man was said to have stolen a toy horse from the merry-go-round and so as punishment, the Jackboots stripped him off his clothes and sprayed him with a hose, making the man fly backwards. The only reason the man didn't like completely fly was because he had two ropes around his neck that stopped him from flying. The worst thing is that it was all done in front of a crowd. Isn't it enough to torment the Jews? But they also had to dishonor them too? The man didnt say anything, he stayed quiet throughout his whole punishment. How did he find the courage to stay quiet? To not yelp or scream throughout his punishment? Another question we had is that why did the Jews wear the armbands and the yellow stars? I mean no one knew that they were Jews. Well, some of them. But the yellow star and the armbands made everyone know that they were Jews. We also wondered what the Jews thought as they were heading to the ghetto's. In the book, when the families arrived at the ghetto's everything became frantic as the families called their own rooms and protected their rooms from other families thinking of moving in there. So far we had an idea on how it was in a ghetto but the book doesnt offer much information. We wondered how the people in the ghetto's got food. We know that usually the young children would smuggle food into the ghetto's for their families by going in and out of the ghetto through small openings in the wall or fence. But did the Nazis give the Jews some food? Or did they just give them nothing to let them starve? Or did they give the Jews food now and then? How could the Jews survive in such a place like a ghetto... I mean they are surrounded by people with the same religion as them but still. How did they keep such faith in that they would make it out alive? Especially when they knew that the situation was pretty tight? The Jews to me are really brave and heroes. They were able to go through so much. From being punished for simple reasons and not being able to go to certain places because they where Jews, to going to the ghetto's and then to the concentration camps. Their faith must have been really strong.

This link tells you all about the star the Jews had to wear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_badge

This is another website that talks about how a television program was trying to cover up the holocaust and the deaths of the Jews by saying that the Jews had exaggerated about what the Nazis did to them: http://www.likud.nl/extr23.html

This is a really sad picture of two Jewish men hanged by the arms to dislocate their shoulders and of one already dead Jewish man: http://isurvived.org/Pictures_iSurvived-3/Nazi-SADISTIC_fun.GIF

No comment. To sad: http://escapedmentalpatient.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/warsawboy.jpg

Day Four 6/9/08: Today, my group discussed how in our books, Milkweed, Misha is a little boy and he is so ignorant of the world around him, he is so innocent of the truth behind those men in boots carrying weapons. He doesnt understand their jobs, and dreams of being like one of them. Is it a good thing to be too innocent? Misha kept getting in trouble for his innocence and ignorance of the world around him but yet if he was shown what the world was really coming too, wouldn't he be scarred for life? I came to the conclusion that ignorace and innocence is a good thing if you are a little kid. The horrors of the world may be too much to bear for an innocent child. Also, I think that the adults shouldnt try to ignore the truth. It's better not to be so innocent because you wouldnt be aware of the truth. Its okay to have a little big of ignorance and innocence for it keeps faith alive in people. The jews wouldnt have been able to survive if they hadnt kept their faith. But there is a difference between being too innocent and in being blinded by ignorance. There is a certain age, I think, where it is okay to be completely ignorant of the cruel world but there is another certain age in which too much ignorance and innocence is a bad thing. Also, in the book, Misha brought Janina and her family food that he stole. He stole a rat. When he took it to Janina's family, her mother and father wouldn't eat it. But at the mention of food, they perked up in excitement. But Janina's uncle accepted the rat and ate it. This shows how little food they had. Misha was their food smuggler but even he couldn't bring enough food for the whole family. The situation was pretty tight during the holocaust and the people took extra precaution about where they left their food. But the situationj was so bad that some of the people in the ghetto's accepted almost anything, like the rat. How could people just stand by and let that all happen? Why didn't the other countries try to stop the horrible events unfolding in Germany until it was too late? Why didn't they take action before? It is horrible the way we as human beings can be at times. Fear can freeze up even the most courageous person. Another thing that happened in Milkweed that we discussed was how the Jackboots tormented the Jews for no reason. Misha and the rest of the people in the ghetto had to line up for a checkup. As the Jackboots continued walking down the line, they would scream, spit and poke people with their clubs and rifles. To Janina's uncle, one of the Jackboots put his rifle in her uncle's mouth and then pushing him into the people behind him. To a woman, another Jackboot clubbed her. He hit her a lot of times with his club. How was he able to do such a thing and in front of their families and children? How did they have the heart to be able to kill thounsads and thousands of Jews or to hit them and make their life a living hell? I guess that to be a Jackboot you had to be a coldhearted person. But still, didnt they feel scarred or didnt like their conscious torment them for doing such a bad deed to innnocent people just because a man ordered them to? Evil! Only a heartless person would be able to do such a thing. Nazi recruiting poster

Nazis Flag

Information on the Warsaw ghetto uprising: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising

Day Five 6/11/08: Today, my group mainly discussed information that was found based on the ghettos. We learned a lot of things. The ghettos were usually always crowded, in fact it was overcrowded for many families had to sometimes live in the same apartment. Since the families lived in cramp conditions, diseases was likely to spread pretty fast in such places. The people were starved and many had to beg or steal to survive. Some of the Jews, Gypsys, etc, were lucky enough to have some money or valuable goods to trade for food. Tens of thousands of Jews and other types of people died in ghettos from illness, starvation and exposure. But people not only died from that, some ever commited suicide. Their lives were so horrible and it was too much for many of the people living in the ghettos. Children became orphans and some even had younger siblings to care for. These children also became beggars on the streets. Many children also became smugglers and stole food for themselves and if they had families, for their families. The children were able to come in and out of the ghetto by crawling through openings in the walls of the ghettos. In some of the ghettos, the children would still be educated but would have to hide their books and avoid being caught learning. Although in such a despairing place you would think that everything would be sad, miserable and gloomy but sometimes it wasnt, atleast not for the children that were to young to understand what was going on. The children would continue to play their games with almost anything they could find. Even before Hitler came into the scene the Jews were still often made to live in ghettos and were isolated from the rest of the world. But soon the ghettos became collecting points as the war continued. In 1939, Hitler wanted the Poles to become the slaves of Germany and that two million Jews were to be concentrated in ghettos in large cities in Poland. The Nazis told stories that the Jews carries diseases (like Typhus) and that they were needed to be isolated. The Jewish neighborhoods became prisons. In November 23, 1939 a law was passed out that Jews ten years old and older had to wear the Star of David to make the identification easier. In 1940, about 365 ghettos were established in Poland and in many other places. The large cities had the ghettos sealed off. The ghettos in smaller towns weren't sealed off. Approximately three thousand people were homed in the smaller ghettos. The bigges ghetto holded about 400,000 people. In 1941, Jews from many other places like Austria were also sent to the ghettos. The ghettos were in poor conditions and were filfthy. Diseases were spread and many people had to share a room. Many people died from starvation since food was short. The Nazis established the ‘perfect’ ghetto with good conditions that had cafes, gardens, etc, to hide the truth of the real ghettos. Theresienstadt, also known as Terezin (‘perfect’ ghetto), was also used as a transit camp. People were sent from there to Auschwitz or other death camps. We also discussed how in Milkweed, Misha met Hitler for the first time and he was nothing like he expected. “The Jackboot in the passenger side of the front seat turned his head slightly, enough so that one of his eyes stared at me for a moment. The eye seemed too large, as it was magnified behind the thick, round lens of his eyeglasses. The only thing magnificent about this man was his uniform. I saw half a little mustache-it seemed to be dripping out of his nostril-a scrawny neck, a head that seemed more dumpling than stone.” (Spinelli 112). What we don’t get is why Hitler thought the Aryans were the perfect race when he himself didn’t even look like an Aryan. Why did he have such hatred towards the Jews? They didn’t do nothing to him or to the other people of Germany. But Hitler didn’t like that most of the businesses in Germany was run by Jews, he wanted to exterminate them. And he did what ever he was able to do in his power to do so. Picture of Hitler. He does not resemble an Aryan. He doesnt even come close to looking like one.

Lodz Ghetto

Website on the Ghettos: http://www.aish.com/holocaust/overview/he05n17.htm

Day Six 6/13/08: Today in class we discussed a topic that we had forgotten to discuss earlier. The topic we discussed was the Flops. They are Jewish people that are under the control of the Nazis and the Flops also have the right to torment the Jews. They are basically something similar to the Nazis. The only thing different is that Flops aren’t allowed to carry guns and they didn’t have the shiny boots and the eagles. But still, my group was stunned to think that Jewish people would betray THEIR own people. What kind of person does that? Who has the heart to betray their own kind!? It was scary to think that fear can make people do such things as go against their own people. We then wondered what the Flops thought when they beat up their own people. Did they feel guilty? Or did they not care for anyone else but themselves? Sarah explained it a little bit to us. She told us that the Flops were promised many things like a little bit of extra food, etc. The Flops believed the Nazis and at first the Nazis kept to their promise. But many of the Flops still ended up going to the death camps. My group processed all that and decided on that if the situation was going to be like that, then what is the point of doing such a thing as going against your people? Sure, most likely the Flops believed the Nazis fully and believed that if they helped out the Nazis that they wouldn’t suffer the same fate as their fellow companions. But still, I mean shouldn’t they have had some idea that they would either way end up going to the death camps? It is really dumb of someone to go against their religion for survival. I know that fear makes people take drastic actions but still. I mean hitting women, men and little children just for your own survival!? It is very shameful. Trying to be something your not. They aren’t true heroes like those that died being who they are. They don’t even come close. My group felt sorry that some of them had to either way go to the death camps, we didn’t have enough sympathy towards them as we did towards the other Jews. It was just shocking to us to know that some of the Jews went against their own people and in a way themselves. We also discussed how in Milkweed, the Jackboots warned the Jews about smuggling. If they were caught smuggling, then the person would be shot or hanged. Then, Misha later on saw his friend Olek, hanging by the neck from a crossbar of a streetlight. Olek also had a sign that was hanging from across his chest and the sign said: “I WAS A SMUGGLER.” (Spinelli 147). But I think it is really stupid about what they are doing to the Jews that smuggle. They have no other way to get food. The Jackboots aren’t giving the Jews any food, so what do they expect them to eat? Well, yeah they wanted them to die and that’s most likely why they were starving them. But still it was really messed up. I mean no one is going to miss out a little bit of food that the Jews are taking. How could so many people follow Hitler blindly? Why did no one say nothing about that? And why do people some people make fun of such actions!?

Sad photos of Jew being hanged, killed, etc: (You have to make the arrow touch the little picture next to the big one). http://www.revisionistphotos.com/photos/counting-corpses.html

Horrible Cartoon on the Holocaust

Day Seven 6/17/08: Today we talked about how in Milkweed, Janina’s father told Misha to take Janina away and to not bring her back to the ghetto. The Jews in the ghetto were going to be deported and the Jews were being lied to. The Jews thought that they where going to go to a good place but Janina’s father knew that they were lying to them. He didn’t fall for the false lies, he wanted to save Janina and he knew that Misha would protect her well. But why didn’t the other Jews believe that it was all a lie? Were they trying to grasp to their last hopes that they will all survive? Were they all blinded by hope? Were they forcing themselves to believe in something that they knew isn’t true? Why couldn’t they open their eyes and see the truth? Everything was right there, right in front of their eyes. And yet they still refused to believe all the answers. An old man that returned from the death camps was telling them the truth and they still refused to believe him. Instead they believed the false letters that they got from their ‘relatives’ and ‘friends’. Today we also discussed our Jigsaw Puzzle. We got Ghetto Uprising. So far we have read about the Warsaw ghetto uprising. We also learned about the Tuczno ghetto uprising. We learned a lot from the small packet. Not many people knew that the Jews rebelled. But now with this packet, we know that they did try to do something. They formed organizations and made plans against the Nazis. Some of them succeeded and some of them failed. The rebellion in Tuczno was somewhat of a success. About 2,000 of the Jews made it to the forest. Although they were constantly attacked by Ukrainians, they still were an example to the other Jews who soon followed their example. My group has been heading more and more to the topics of the concentraion camps. We learned that Auschwitz is still standing and we were wondering why Auschwitz was still standing. Who would want to have a memorial of such a cruel and horrifying place?