Descriptive Essay Revisions

Haiden Bowman

Mr. Neuberger

ENG 101-101

25 February 2013

Better Than Gold

I hear a gun shot, and I begin to run as fast as I can away from the man who fired it. I’m tripping over myself. I can’t catch my breath. “Don’t look back,” I say to myself. My tightened legs are going out from under me, and my first thought is—someone is going to catch me.

Approaching the starting line is where it all begins. I gather around in the freezing bleachers with my team and wait for the person in charge to tell me which lane I will be competing in. I get my placement, and my team splits to four different corners of the track.

            I hesitantly hustle to the starting line and position my blocks. Are they too steep? Are they set just right? Am I ready? 

            Before I know it, one hand is up, and the bang of the gun awakens me. I take a powerful lead. My sharp track spikes bite into the track and I’m gone. The wind is thrashing me in the face, my nose takes in a whiff of the smell of fresh cut grass and the stadium roaring with support fills my ears.

            Adrenaline is rushing throughout my whole body even though I’m numb and can’t feel a thing. First hand off is coming up. Don’t drop the baton. One smooth handoff and I’m left in my lane encouraging my team.

            I stand slouched over watching athletes sprint by blowing snot bubbles and making questionable faces. The worst noise I could hear at this moment would be the clank, clink, tink of a bright baton bouncing away. To hear clanking, clinking and tinking is like hearing nails on a chalkboard. Ironically, the sound of a clink, clank and many sighs make me cringe. I look up and hope it’s not my team. At that very second lane one gets disqualified for dropping their baton.

            I stare at my team’s handoffs. Our angry anchor takes the baton and dashes for the finish line. All in sight is gold, and it’s waiting at the finish line. I hear my coaches in the back of my head, “Get your knees up! Come on! Finish through!”

            My entire team is thriving for success. We’re hungry for the gold, not the silver or bronze. I’m waiting for the competition to end and I realize my legs, butt, and arms are cramping yet I’m still sprinting to meet my team at the finish line.

            The race comes to an end and athletes right and left are either doubled over, chugging water or gasping for air. I’m thinking of juicy barbequed hamburgers waiting for me at the concession stand when my coach walks up. He asks, “How did you ladies do?” A moment of awkward silence fills the air.

            My team did great! I beat my personal record by a second and a half, but we got silver. I begin to relay the results to my coach who seems beyond impressed. The feeling of success, accomplishment and love fills my soul. I love running and would do anything to race again.

            Track season is the one time of year people see athletes running around the track, time after time, just to beat their personal records. I don’t have water bottles. I have a rusty, retired, red water spigot to run to. The track is where teamwork is practiced.

            Teamwork is the feeling of love and understanding even though things don’t always turn out right. Friendship keeps a team together. It’s a good feeling. Every year I know track and field begins with the national anthem and a gun shot. It will always end with a smile shining success even when I don’t get the gold.

Descriptive Essay

Michael Payne 

Mr. Neuburger

Eng. 101

Feb 28, 2013

My Skydiving Experience

            There are many things a person experiences in their lifetime. Skydiving is one of my favorite experiences. It’s the excitement and buildup before the flight, the adrenalin when you finally jump out of the plane and the beauty of the earth as you fall back unto it. It’s all the senses you feel during the moment and the freedom you feel once you conquer your fear and brace the experience. Sometimes when I feel trapped by everyday life’s routine. I like to do something that will bring me back to life, so let me tell you about an experience of a lifetime.

            Ever since I was a boy I have always dreamt about flying, as of most children do. I would pretend and imagine myself flying through the earth like superman and imagine the freedom and rush it could be to soar through the air. As I got older the fantasy of me flying never left. I knew I could never fly, but I could create the illusion of flying by falling out of a plane. By the time I was 16 I decided to experience bunji jumping, although it was over in a matter of seconds, I enjoyed the exhilaration and the adrenalin rush I got from it. I knew right then that in my lifetime I would feel the ultimate experience of skydiving. As time went by I would go to Branson or St. Louis to do sky coaster or bunji jump, to feed my urge to fall, but after 37 falls it was not enough. I had to feel more; I needed a longer fall; I longed for more wind in my hair, more tingling in my spine; 10 seconds of falling was not enough, in a blink of an eye it seems over. So for the next 5 years I would only dream about skydiving until one day I had waited long enough!

            In the winter of 2011 a group of friends came to me and told me about a Vegas trip they have been planning. Of course I have always dreamt about going to Los Vegas and experiencing, “the city that never sleeps.” Once I decided to buy vacation package to Vegas, I began looking up thing to do in Vegas for fun. I would spend hours online playing with ideas and planning events. I would look up pictures and sites of all the magnificent things you can do in the great city of Los Vegas, and bam! It hit me like a bat on a cold hollow pole. Skydiving for only $400, they would pick you up from the strip, sit you through their class and after eight hours you were falling over the great Nevada desert, not too far from the Grand Canyon. I knew this was it, not only would I be finally skydiving, but I would be falling down to the earth looking over the Grand Canyon!

            Now I won’t get into the experience of Vegas, so I will fast forward to the day of my great release, the moment I had been waiting for, for many years. I was to be up at 5 a.m. and be waiting at the lobby for my shuttle bus to pick me up. It wasn’t like I was able to sleep. I was in Vegas! All the lights, the sounds, the smells of many foods, the stench of alcohol hovering around people like bees, the smiling faces and laughter, the disappointed faces of losses, this was an overwhelming experience and to top it off I was building up the anticipation of my soon to be fall to the earth. Now if you ever ben to Vegas you know they have slot machines right by the door so that you can gamble right when you come in, or maybe one more try at your luck before you leave. This was a convenient place for me to wait because I was by the door and could see the awning where they will be picking me up.  Sure enough at 7 minutes till 5, a white shuttle bus marked Skydiving experience come pulling up and I knew it was real. I never forget the feeling of walking out of that casino/ hotel and into that musky white van. I was lost in the moment of Vegas and entering another moment of anticipation and thrill, kind of like I was sleep walking into a dim tunnel of cars flying by you. You’re waiting to get hit with reality and wake up from a dream but you’re not dreaming and the actions are real, very real. Now when you get into a van with a 300 pound man driving, the last thing you want to hear is “I am going to apologize in advance, but last night I had a bad pork sandwich and it not agreeing with me.” The only other guy in the van looked at me like a terrified squirrel in traffic, acknowledging the threat is real, and then I knew this was going to a long 45 min drive. Every 10 minutes or so the driver would roll down the windows trying to be polite but it didn’t work, it just blew that horrifying stench right at our faces like a 70 mile an hour of snowball packed shit. I remember being mad at the people who designed that van, why wouldn’t they install windows you can roll down by the passengers, why would the only 4 windows that can open be in front or behind us, is it to ensure the fact of smelly drivers to haunt you?

            After 45 minutes of wondering when the next wave of rotting corps was going to sneak up on us, we were finally there! I remember walking into the classroom and only 5 people being in a classroom that is ready to seat 50 people. I remember the anticipation in the room, the smell of cologne and coffee, the sun beating through the blinds, and the air conditioning humming through the vents. The instructor was just as excited as we were, he was full of energy and way too happy for as early as it was. I joked around with him, asking him to make my coffee like his. As the day went by the fidgeting and nervousness started to surface in the air, the excitement and with each passing moment it felt like my heart was beating faster and faster. After the longest, but fastest eight hours of my life it was time to prepare for flight. When we the four of us walked into the plane hangar, we saw four huge backpacks, which held our parachutes and I knew this was it not to even think about backing out, but to keep moving forward. Everyone joked with me about how confident I seemed, you can tell by the jolting movements and slow but steady steps, the other three were extremely nervous, they looked like bunnies in a garden full of dogs. On the surface I was confident and ready for the plunge, but underneath it all I was probably as nervous as they were. I knew I couldn’t let myself show any doubt, that I had to stay focus and determined so I don’t lose my composure. Before I could blink we were all loading on the plane and right when we all sat down the plane was taking off.        

            I cannot describe in words the emotions and thoughts running through my head as the plane took off. I was in calm, but raging exciting trance.  Could feel us rise higher and higher, knowing I will soon feel the opposite gravity feeling. At this point the woman who came with her boyfriend decided she was not jumping and there is nothing anyone can say to change her mind! Before any of us could finish trying to talk her into it we were at our jump zone and it was now or never.  As our instructor approached the door to open it we all looked at each other like we were in a tough spot together, and even though we were all strangers we came together in a moment that we all shared. We were like soldiers on the front lines ready to embrace the unknown. I knew now was the time to be the strongest and I yelled at the top of my voice, “I didn’t come this far to back out now, let’s do this!” I stepped in front of everyone and the other two guys behind me.

 The instructor said, “Ok, remember your training! As soon as I jump you all jump 2 seconds apart!”

When he jumped I barely counted to two when I jumped and for a split second I thought I went blind. When my heart caught up with my body I knew I was not blind I was just embraced with the light of the sun and when I looked down I could see the most amazing view of the earth. I felt like I was taking in the whole world and every emotion at once. I was looking at the curve of the earth at 14000 feet and falling fast, I could see the Grand Canyon in the distance, I could feel an extreme amount of wind slide against my body and the temperature warm up as I fall. I remembered at that moment a promise I made to myself. I remembered to pretend like I was flying. I would briefly fly to the left and turn to the right and open myself up to slow my speed, before I could finish I saw the instructor pull his shoot which was my sign to pull now! Right when I pulled I felt like god himself reached down and grabbed me out of midair. Although I was still falling down, it felt like I was at a complete stop for a few seconds. Now that I was falling much slower I could appreciate the view more and acknowledge my fellow jumpers. I will never forget the look on their faces, like they won the first place in the biggest race of there life. I imagined I had the same look on my face, and as we fell closer and closer to the desert, I couldn’t believe it was over. I had done it! I Michael Payne had skydived and not Tatum! I, for a brief moment flew like a bird, felt the wind against me, and saw what earth looked like from my naked eye, without a window or plane closing me in. I did it!

            I feel life is what you make of it, at the end of your life when you’re in your death bed, you will realize, life is all your memories, good, bad and everything in-between. I do not want to be dying, wishing I would have done this or not have done that. I will do all the things I want to do and not just talk about it. I still have a lot of living to do, and a lot more experiences to encounter, but I can cross skydiving off my list!

Halocaust Survivor

     Holocaust Survivor Samuel Steinberg, his name back home was Sychmho SchSteinberg. Sam was born September first 1928, in a city called  Tomaucho Machiexti, near Large Poland. He was the youngest of 3 children and his parents owned a utensils and windows store. He grew up in a loving home and was well taken care of, had everything he needed as a child.

When the war started the heard the Germans were coming, many people started packing up and leaving home. Before Sam's family gotten far they were chased back to home and saw many dead Poland's in ditches. "When the Germans first came in they took over factories, they replaced all broke dark windows with new ones." He became a worker with his father and brother and lived relatively peaceful life and made just enough to provide essentials until 1940 when the Ghetto was over ran with Jewish people, and German soldiers. They found out in December 1942 that Jewish people would be moved out of the Ghetto and "that’s when the shooting happened, and would start seeing bodies pile up in the streets." At that time they were told that the Jewish people would be moved and that the workers including him would be moved to be moved to a safe place. Sam was moved into a kitchen as a worker peeling potatoes and would sneak some to his family so they could eat better. There was this soldier that took a liking to Sam and would make sure he was taken care of and fed, but would try to take advantage of him sexually. The soldier would not force it upon Samuel but did make some sexual abuse. He did not go into much detail, but you can tell it affected him. Sam then was moved into a work area breaking rocks, he would for 10 hours a day break rocks and would see dead bodies occasionally. He was not directly involved in areas of many killings but would hear about it a lot. Sam would witness the "DeatMarch, were if a worker was to fall down or even trip, the Germans would make sure they never get up again." Sam would witness a lot of killings this way.

     Sam was then moved into a farm where he was harmed and put into barns, the following day they heard the U.S. troops were here and they walked out free. At this point Sam was 17 years old and was finally safe, cleaned and fed. Sam was then told he was liberated and had nothing to worry about anymore, but he had no place to go. A man named Maurice adopted Sam moved into an apartment in Germany. After a few months Maurice heard he had a sister and wanted to find her so he went with him to Bergenbelsin and could not find her, but found a woman he fell in love with and married her. Around May of 1946 Maurice found family in the U.S. and he moved to America and then brought Sam into America months later. Sam once he got established started going back to school for half a day and worked at a factory the other half. Sam then rented out a room of a woman by the Rubenstein, and met his wife Selma. He then quit school and got a good job at a factory. He ended his interview by, " be generous and be giving, this world needs more generous people and kindness." He was hard to follow and could not remember much details about his story, so I'm sorry if this summary seems unclear in some areas, he jumped around a bit. 

A Film Unfinished

This was a documentary video about collected recording during the Holocaust. Although a lot of the footage was edited, you could witness the horror and evil that the Jews encountered. This film was troubling to watch, but very informative. I have always heard about the war, and had some knowledge of the event that took place, but to actually see how dead bodies were piling in the street and the countless mounds being buried and burned by their owned people is appalling. How can people with feelings and a conscious let that happen? I feel that anyone with good judgment should stand up and fight for noble causes. Instead of fighting for money, and power, I believe people should fight for the right reasons. In that film it showed people starving and people walking over their own people’s dead bodies. It showed the coldness most of the Germans showed to the Jews and how bad the Jew had it. I felt this film was very realistic and illustrated very well how things happened during that time. I felt like this was a powerful film and  I feel people should watch this film and remind themselves what  hatred and racism brings.

a film unfiinshed

                 The film unfinished was created by the Nazis for the suspected use of propaganda against the Jewish people. The movie showed major contrast between the higher class Jewish communities to the begging part of the community. Even when I was watching I caught myself thinking of how these people could just walk by and not help their fellow man, but then I remember that most the scenes were staged. The documentary was very moving in another aspect because before I couldn't even imagine what they had went through. Even now after the movie I can’t imagine because it only showed what the Germans wanted us to see so allot of it was fake. The living conditions were so horrendous and I don’t understand how anyone could keep motivation for living and keep their appearances up. I would go into a deep depression and probably try and fight back. The Nazis that were sent to film the ghettos had to know what they were doing when they were tapping some of the drastic differences. I think they are just afraid to admit the truth to the camera and the world now.

I have such mixed emotions toward how things went down, and I don’t understand how a whole community could be rounded up and shoved into a town only guarded by a handful of Germans. If that would of happened now a days or in the u.s we would rise against and fight back. Why didn't they fight back when there were so many cooped together? Were they just too terrified or were they to passive maybe I just have had a different life style and I have higher expectations for myself.  Also what’s not told in the movie is that the Jewish community was promised work and better conditions so maybe that’s why they were so passive, but overall the movie is very graphic. Sometimes humiliating for what they have the Jewish peoples do in the staged scenes. I really didn’t want to finish the movie because the emotions it caused and just how horrifying to think that this took place not to long ago.

video response

Ethan Knapp

Mr. Neuburger

English Comp 101

20 March 2013

            Video Response

            In the world we live in today, we wake up and we turn on the news to hear about shootings, natural disasters, war and famine. It has become such a natural occurrence we have become somewhat desensitized to it. That is at least until detrimental disaster strikes close to us or effects us directly. We buy our coffee, we eat our cheap take out, and we become completely complacent and satisfied in our daily “struggles.”  Which is not harmful to certain extent. Of course our capitalist way of life depends on trade and flow of currency. When we buy our coffee and our food we perpetuate our monotonous lifestyles. It is not until an urgency sweeps our sleeping hearts that we even think about changing anything.

            When the Germans first began their assault on the Jewish people it was subtle. They began with infringements on their rights such as when they were allowed to shop and various daily routines. Naturally, like any other people, they became uneasy when their monotony was interrupted. Though uneasy, no one had ever expected in a relatively short period of time their lives as they knew it would be over.

            The germans were intriguingly clever in their ability with words and propaganda. It is my idea that Hitler, having done so much for Germany by the way of mechanization and industrialization, was believed by all to be trustworthy and intelligent in his methods.

            The germans were obsessed with technology. The camera at the time was still a rarity to see, so people would do things they would not normally do to be in front of one. The Germans used this to their advantage when they were filming in the ghetto. This is one thing that I thought peculiar about the film. Even though conditions were extreme for most people, the sight of the camera and the possibility to be on it, brought a smile to some faces.

            Watching a once proud people be reduced to such standards is so difficult to watch and impossible to un-see. As I stated in the beginning, we go untouched by tragedy for the majority of our day to day lives and until it strikes us or someone close its no more than a picture on television. This was different.

            I could not help but try to imagine my life upturned the same way the Jews’ lives were. Seeing the anguish the film brought to the faces of the people who had lived through the conditions absolutely breaks a normal human being’s heart. To see my family and the people I know reduced to such indignity just seems so surreal. Our traditions and norms completely disregarded and things like hygiene and human interaction coming second to the need to find food and survive. It seems impossible. Which I am sure the Jewish people thought as well at the time.

            I fear we inch a little closer every day to another situation such as the holocaust. More people should see this film. We hear about it and read about it growing up. We spend a chapter or two learning about World War Two in general where we read thing like “America defeated the Nazis! Oh yeah hitler killed millions of Jewish people and put them in unbelievable conditions.” you are never given the chance to get so close to it when you learn about it in junior high. More people need to understand how small the holocaust started. Never take your most basic freedoms for granted.

Response to “A Film Unfinished”

Jonny Woods

Mr. Neuburger

ENG Comp 101-101

20 March 2013

 Response to “A Film Unfinished”

The video we watched called “A film Unfinished” was a very disturbing kind of documentary. It gave you a very clear view of some of the atrocities committed by the Nazi’s in WW2. The propaganda in the creation of this film was so apparent that it’s hard to believe it was going to be put out for the public to see, even if it was edited. The things that were permitted in this time were deplorable to say the least, and watching some of what transpired in a real time setting made me sick to my stomach. How could people, any people treat an entire race with such hatred, such disgusting disregard that animals were treated better?
             I understand the reason for having to study this kind of material, even if it does not interest me. It’s hard for me to find any kind of inspiration to study in depth this kind of information because of its dreary nature. I would think that most people would feel this way, but perhaps I am wrong. I would prefer to be told what happened, and be given the story in a parable setting, but I have a conscience and know the difference between right and wrong. I have to submit that some people do not, or why would we have to study these horrible things?
            The impact that this movie has on me is the same that it was when I first learned what happened to the Jews at the hands of the Nazi’s during WW2. If something like this were to happen again, I would rather die doing the right thing then be caught up in that kind of treacherous debauchery. I would also like to think that the human race have evolved past the point of this kind of thing, even though I know that to be a naïve notion, and that evil very rarely dies, just takes naps until we forget the travesties committed by our ancestors. In seeing what I have written, perhaps the study of such things is more important then I give it credit for.

free write

Today im just not sure what is going to happem. I hope nothing big happens, like my car breaks down or something. I dont have alot of things to do so i'm i just have to play it by ear and see what happens. So I was thinking and people have more than 5 senses like the since of time, limb postion, acceleration, movement. there are other ones. But what do i knoww, im just a kid. I have no buisness in bhuisness so im just going to lay back. so some friends came over and we hung out, and it got a little crazy. recently i have bought a 42 inch flat screen hdtv it is preety awesome. at least i think so, fits into my entertainment center preety well. I dont know if it is to big, also it is plasma so i have to do some research on that. But other than that not a bad craigslist buy for 160. I saw the add on craigslist, so natraully i called and she sounded young dumb and blonde so i took advantage.

Response to Holocaust Video

Haiden Bowman

Mr. Neuburger

COMP 101-101

20 March 2013

Response

                While watching the film I was simply amazed by all the gruesome scenes filmed. It upset my stomach and made me feel like I was going to vomit. The descriptiveness of the video was great. I didn’t like the video at all, but I believe seeing the bodies laying on the side of the street is what interested me the most. I don’t mean it in a weird way, but I wondered why. That wasn’t the only scene that was disturbing to me.

                I found that the scene where the German’s were sending bodies down a slide into a pit was the most alarming. I know that they didn’t have any respect for them whatsoever but that was nothing but disgusting. The children throughout the movie that were shown made me want to cry not only because they were so tiny but because there are children in the world today that look like that too from starvation.

                The whole video was a great clip for the eye to see and the heart to feel. It makes younger generations, like me, realize the impact that the Holocaust really had on the people from that time era. Before is saw this and started learning about the Holocaust I just thought it was similar to a terrible war, where people died, and that was the end. Ignorant is what you can call me when it comes to this, but I have learned so much more.

                I didn’t like how the women were mistreated and thrown around like they were nothing. I don’t like that they were whipped when they wouldn’t move and I hated seeing children begging for food. The children in the video are what truly touched my heart because they were so young and there was nothing they could do. They didn’t have family or anything. I do understand that it was difficult for even adults, but I really disliked the fact that they filmed innocent children in the conditions that they were in.

                I’m thankful that the Holocaust is over for the people who lived in that time’s sake, for everyone around me and my own. It’s ridiculous how one can get away with something so terrible. I will probably never watch this film again, but I will always remember it.

Film Unfinished

Landon Gardner

Eng Comp 101-101

Mr. Neuburger

19, March 2013

A Film Unfinished

            I have read a few books about the holocaust and have watched a few Hollywood movies about it, but I have never seen actual footage of it. I could not believe how bad it actually was I knew they lived in less than optimal conditions but I had no idea that they were that bad. The starvation was something I had never seen. Starvation is what hit me hardest when watching the movie to see how skinny some people were, it was as if their bodies were caving in on themselves. When they showed videos of the dead bodies they didn’t even look like people, they looked like bones with just a small layer of skin over them. Just the amount of pain and suffering these people went through is truly remarkable; to see friends and family being taken from you not know whether they were dead or alive and looking through garbage just to find food. It also amazes me how conniving the Germans were sitting up situations and filming them trying to trick Jews about the truth of ghetto life. I never knew that they would just let the bodies of those who died of starvation just lay around. How someone could do this with a clear conscious is way beyond me. It really goes to show how evil people can truly be. It also amazes me at how long it took for anyone to do anything about it. It also struck me at how the Jews just became so desensitized to death and the mistreatment of others, know if they tried to help others it would just inflict more pain on them. There was one survivor in the movie who I believe said “I couldn’t cry for them then, in fear of what they might do to me, but now I can cry and I thank God that I can cry.”

3/20 Film Reaction

Just to give you fair warning, there’s absolutely nothing intelligent here, nor is there a coherent flow. I’m just going to spend this time ranting & whatnot. The film was completely nerve wrecking and horrific. I was sighing and pissed off the entire time I was watching it. Don’t get me wrong—I understand the whole ‘we need to remember the mistakes of our past or we’ll be doomed to repeat it’ theory, but this was just glorified torture porn. The way the scenes were ‘set up’ and people were instructed how to act just messed with my mind. It’s like sick compounded with all the other sick they committed. I have only a few ideas of what on earth they could have had in mind for this little project, and all of them anger me. Ok, I’m done. Give me a D if you have to.

My Response To:

“A Film Unfinished”

            This film was very curious to me on a lot of different levels. It also made me feel a few different emotions starting with anger. It made me sad to see the children put into that situation, and it made me question things I thought I knew about that period of time in that part of the world. I have always been fascinated with World War II and the holocaust, but until now, I didn’t know about the ghettos. I suppose I haven’t done my homework on the subject in the past. I’ve watched documentary after documentary on the war and the holocaust on the History Channel and feel like I haven’t heard the whole story. I’m not sure if they have done a story on the ghettos and maybe I just missed it, but the ghetto needs to be more of the story of the holocaust than it is presently.

            To start with, seeing the children suffer is the foremost thing that made me sad. That in turn made me very angry, but I will get to that part later. It makes me sad to see any human suffer, but to me, children always come first. Seeing the children who are obviously starving and suffering is bad enough, but to see their skinny, lifeless bodies being thrown into a pit was truly heart breaking. It was hard to tell on that film, but just knowing that there were a half million people in what amounts to a few city blocks, was also heart breaking. I suppose people live like that in New York City, but to be there without the resources that people have in New York has to be miserable. Add the starvation, the dead bodies, and the Nazi’s, and that multiplies the misery.

            Now it’s time for me to talk about my anger. To be sure, I am angry that the Nazi’s done this to human beings, it doesn’t end there however. It also made me angry at the Jews in the ghetto. Some of those Jews were better fed than others, and some looked quite healthy. If I would have been one of the better fed ones, less of those children would have went hungry. I

cannot imagine walking those streets with a full stomach, or even a partially full stomach, and walk by a child that is hungry and in tattered clothes without reaching out a helping hand. Obviously, those Jews had little control over what was happening to them, but the one thing they did have control over is how they treated each other. I noticed in the film it was stated that food in the shops was extremely expensive, the problem is however, the shops were owned by other Jews.  I do understand the Nazi’s probably made it to where the food was extremely ridiculously priced. What rubs me the wrong way is the fact that if Christians were ever rounded up by a government and put into that same situation, and I worked in a store that sold food, everyone would eat. If the government were to shoot me for it, so be it. At least I done the right thing.

            This film also made me angry at the United States for not getting involved earlier than it did. I know people say that we just didn’t know what was going on over there, and that’s something I want to research, but I believe Winston Churchill was warning us about the things going on. We might have been able to help all of those people before it got out of hand. We might have saved someone that could have made our lives so much better. Either way, we could have saved some of those children from suffering. The fact that we did not, irritates me.

This film also made me thirsty for knowledge. I want to really study this period of time more than ever now. It left me with answers, but also a lot of questions. As much as I thought I knew about this period of time, I know now that I have a lot to learn.

Video Response

A Film Unfinished Response

            I was not sure what to think of the first half of the film. I thought the film was supposed to be a random collection of different cuts from a cameraman who filmed different areas of Germany. E fact that the first half or so was staged with actors and was meant to portray the current situations of people didn’t make any kind of impact on me. The second half, however, is what I expected from the film. A man browsing the streets of the ghetto recording the agony of the people that had nothing to their names and no confidence that their situation would improve. The lives of those people were gone long before they’re deaths. The emptiness was not just in their stomach, but it was n their eyes as well. Nearly every year the Holocaust gets touched on whether it is a history or English class, but I have never seen actual footage of anything from that time and it touched me very deeply. My great grandmother was in a concentration camp but died when I was too young to remember her. It is very eye-opening to see what these people went through, and not just from a documentary that people that were not actually there put together.

Video Response

The Holocaust was obviously a terrible event in human history. Whether or not it was the most tragic loss of life in our history, I do not know. I feel very confident that if another genocide was taking place today that we would put an end to it. After I make that comment, the war in Syria comes to mind – granted they started what they’re currently in. However it is still difficult to imagine what the average German was thinking during the Holocaust. Is Hitler right? Are the Jews really to blame? Another question one thinks of is did the average German even know what the Reich was doing to the Jews? Had they been utterly unaware, I could understand their silence. Perhaps there were attempts from the Germans to voice their opinions on the matter, or even attempts to put an end to them; one might recall a failed Operation Valkyrie.  

The film wasn’t as difficult for me to watch as it was for others in the class. Did it make me angry? Absolutely. There is not a perfect race of people, and there is not a perfect human on all of Earth. Every race and religion has its fakes and murderers as well as thieves. This being said I can honestly say that there was probably at least one person who was murdered that had committed a crime which called for death as a punishment. I am not saying that the gas chamber was a humane way to punch out, but they were dead either way.

Depending on how you look at the Holocaust, there was one positive outcome – medical advancement. If we didn’t have humane groups for this and groups for that, we would be so much more advanced in the medical field than we already are, however the negative side of that would be more death from testing.

In conclusion I will say this – the next time a dictator rises to power and decides to massacre his own people, I will stand between them.

malka veideo

malka baran was born in warsaw poland on jan 30th of 1927, and moved to transelhoovah at the age of 1.
she spent most of her child hood in that city, her and 3 other lived in a 1 bedroom apartment above her dads printing shop. she attended one of the higher class school because her aunt was the secretary for the school. they would go back to warsaw to visit family and she found a love for opera, and not to long after warsaw and translehoovah was converted into the ghettos. in the summer of 44 early in the morning they were woken up by germans, her parents stuffed as much gold as they could on there body's before being marched into the market where they were seperated. her mother and brother were taken on the opposite line and were shipped to a treblanca. malka and her father was shipped off to a metal factory that sorted shells and cleaned them up. she developed a memory block to protect her from all the bad memory's  her friend filled her in with most of the information she doesn't remember. her father and brothers were taken to work on the rail road lines and were shot in the back so she never saw them again.
 she stayed in cabins with other workers and they slept on bunks of wood stacked 3 high and had no covers or anything to keep them warm. she always loved little kids and they had a little boy that hid out in there room because his mother was their maid. she said he was her savior because she got to play with him and tech him, when she became sick she had to leave the barracks. she was put into the sick ward and contracted typhoid ass well as the skin disease. the Jewish doctor was able ot cure her and send her back to the room she was originally in. she as in the camp for 2 1/2 years before being rescued by the Russian army. but she was afraid of the army so her and some girls hid in a apartment fining for themselves. they had a neighbor that was in the Russian army, he a a Jewish Russian soldier and took a liking to malka. he swore to take her home to his wife, but the army had to move out and he couldn't take her. he sent a lt. back to bring her to where he was based out of and she started working for the Russian army peeling potatoes in the kitchen. they started to attend school again but the kids were not nice because the way the dressed so they decided to never go back.
      The jewish soldier had to leave again and the commander wouldnt let them go with him because they could be spys so after he left malka and the girls decided to leave the army and go on a train back to poland. they were intercepted aking to join the jewish group for people who didnt have homes. so she left and she arrived to isreal with fake papers and on the beach her name was called. a relative had found her and set her to be picked up by a friend. she stayed with the friend for awhile, and met her husband there and after marriage they moved to new york. they had 2 kids and she started at a school teaching, she now has 6t grand kids and 1 of her daughter moved to isreal to study the holocaust. this experience has made her a deeper person

daniel hamiton-film unfinished response

Film Un Finished Response by eliaszdad

video response

I went through a vast range of emotions as I watched this movie, but none of them were the fluffy feel good kind.  I found myself sad, mad, scared and even sick at my stomach a few times.  It was obvious to me that the Nazi regime knew that they were wrong, or they never would have felt the need to lie about the treatment of the Jews in concentration camps. 

Another thing, how in the world did the guy filming this go home and sleep at night.  How did he sit down at a table and eat at night? How did he keep from sneaking out some of the children somehow or someway?  Was he part of the Nuremburg trials as a defendant?  If not, then why? 

Seeing the disregard for the dead was pitiful.  There had to be something that they felt.  I guess what it all boils down to is I never would have made it long on either side.  Standing up for myself would surely have gotten me killed, or I would have been killed because I would have stood up for someone else.

I can’t help but to think that if enough would have rallied together things could have been different.  I know that still there would have still been causalities, but not the scale that it was.  I know how people believe things now about people and they become indifferent to a race, religion or whatever because of the things that they have heard.  I also realize that things are very different today, and maybe because of things that happened in our past we are the way we are today and should be grateful.  But I do not know how one society could ever get past, or not hate what happened to so many of them. 

I am glad that we have documentaries like this so that if it is ever necessary we can look back on the past and make sure that we do not make the same mistakes.   Also so if ever necessary, we may see how one group of people did not allow themselves to hate a culture of people for the treatment of the generations before.

 

 

Video Response

The video we watched was very emotional for me in the way that is devastating. It is one thing to see pictures and analyze what is happening in them but to see the people moving in a video and know and see what they are going through is another. I used to think that the Holocaust was a long time ago and that it wouldn't be affecting us today but I was wrong. It was a very short time ago to the point that my grandparents could be affected by it. The video showed how the poor survived in those times and how society looked like then. The rich were living quite well while they walked down the streets in their fur coats and nice hats passing by people who were starving to death on the streets. You would see people passed out on the streets because they had no where else to go. You would even see dead bodies on the streets. The people did not even know why they were filming they just acted normal. The poor became so weak that they could not go downstairs to take out the trash so instead they just tossed it out the window and a giant pile of trash built up and other people would go through that to try to find anything to eat. The poor would walk around without shoes and had sores on their feet. They had no water to clean their clothes, or their bodies. They were so hungry they were not even concerned what they looked like or how they were dressed. The camera man that was being interviewed was not told what to film, he just filmed anything and he was not told why he was filming either. People who survived the Holocaust watched these films and even recognized some of the areas and the people that was filmed. People that were starving slowly to death were filmed with their deformed bodies and dirty faces. People walking on the streets would not even glance in their direction and walked right past them. It was very sad seeing all of this and how people could just let all of this go. People living in such filthy conditions with nothing they can do but try to survive. You also saw the insides of peoples homes with their family crammed together all grouped in a doorway. The video makes me glad that I am living in the United States and do not have to suffer those living conditions. People that survived this are very strong and I respect them greatly. They were able to get through the worst conditions that to us are unimaginable and now they are thriving but still have to live on with the memory of the horrible torture they were put through and what others were put through. They have lost very close friends and family members but have gotten through and live happier and have learned that nothing is impossible.

Unfinished Film Response

The movie The Unfinished Film is a documentary of staged and accidental un-staged video recordings of life in the Warsaw Ghetto. It was a compilation of videos, never put together, meant for the eyes of the German public only to continue to fuel the German’s systematic destruction of the Jews. This movie had a very great impact on my thoughts on the Holocaust; I have seen many documentaries on the Holocaust and pictures, but to have it put that graphically put it in a very new and very real light. I think that is the way it was for everyone in the classroom. The film shows how the Germans would torture the Jews by starving them, public humiliating them, and starving them. The films would show dead corpses along the side of the road, just lying in the street though there is no were to take the dead bodies, and there is a viedo clip of later on in the stages of the Warsaw Ghetto of the Jews digging a mass grave, and being forced to dump the dead into it, as many as the pit would hold, and the numbers were many. Nearly every single one having died of starvation. I think it is horrible the amount of terror that the Jews were forced to go through during World War I. One survivor who was intervied during the movie who had lived at Warsaw said that her mother had gotten an abortion shortly after the ity was made into a Ghetto, and if she hadn’t then they all would have been  killed because of that baby. I think it is a very sad thing that happened and a very sad movie and I hope the world never sees any thing like this again in our time or ever again. 

A Film Unfinished

Although, I am not sure that I fully understand why the film was being created and what they intended to do with it; I do know that it was very disturbing and I will not forget anytime soon some of the scenes. I find it hard to imagine that people were being treated so poorly just a few decades ago. It must have been very difficult for the actors to pretend when being filmed, while others, probably family members were being treated so badly. The scenes that were staged in the restaurants, the nice apartment, and Jewish people dressed in nice clothes walking freely, and the fancy funerals could not have been further from the truth. How difficult it must have been to trip over a dead body on the street wondering how much longer before that’s you laying there dead from starvation or disease. The constant in all the survivors I’ve seen is that they still get very emotional when either talking or watching the film, that what happened to them is still very painful even now. I am getting a better understanding of that myself in just what little bit of time we’ve spent watching the movie. The scene when they were sliding dead bodies on the board down into the large pit was nauseating for me; it is hard to imagine how one could have lived in those circumstances for any length of time. It was hard to see the children who were obviously starving; scared and dirty wearing mostly rags.

response

Cameron Cruise Mr. Neuburger Eng. Comp 101 18 March 2013 Response “A film not yet finished” This is a movie about a movie used for the World War two Holocaust Propaganda. It is spoken in the native tongue of the characters involved. This film has impacted me strongly, in the sense to get a visual perspective on the frightening deeds that humanity is capable of whenever we just trust the governing class to make moral decisions for us. By Quietly being passive and doing whatever we are told can sometimes have huge consequences, even if the idea is portrayed to be good for us or good for our country. It also shocks me that the moral compass can be so far off in a group of people that it could lead to the genocide of another race. Summarizing this movie in essence is trying forget all of the gruesome details that are involved in genocide, but I will give a few interesting points that I feel like make this pursuit of extinction different from the others that have happened throughout history and are still going on today. The first thing that draws disction to me is that in the holocaust the “pursuit of purity” was extremely creative and very will planned. From the usage of propaganda to the extermination methods. One could argue that people would never let such a thing happen if it was coming at them in full force and right in front of their face. So perhaps the need for creativity was derived from insuring that this plan be executed flawlessly and without the interruption of people opposing the idea that a few determined was the answer to all their problems. Another dramatic difference in this extinction episode that varies from the mass genocides that are taking place as we speak, is the attention that this one event has received. Does the holocaust attain more attention because it was perhaps more creative than what we have ever seen, or wish to see? Or was it the fact that it was an “elimination express lane” that draws the attention of the civilized class of culture. Whatever it so compelling about this event eludes me. The one thing that doesn't surprise me most is the lack of sanitation and the starvation involved. But what shocks me most is the numbers. An Estimated six million people died DURING the holocaust, six million people die annually from stravation alone.

Herman Cohn

Herman Cohn was born in Essen Germany in 1921; he was the oldest brother of two and did not have an easy childhood. Herman's dad remarried a woman who lost her biological children and caused her to envy the fact that her step-children survived, so Herman and his younger brother was not loved and received extra punishment from there step-mother. Herman went to a Jewish school until high school where he went to a German High school. Herman's dad began sending money to The U.S. before Germany started laws to take away all Jewish privileges, he did not send much but enough to get started in the U.S. His Family moved to Chicago Illinois in the early 1941 and he immediately joined the U.S. army in hopes to fight the Germans in the war against Jews. Herman started in the army as a tailor and met his wife on the fourth of July. When the Germans invaded Africa every able man was turned into infantry including Herman.

            Herman traveled with the U.S. Army and saw many terrors of the war, he says “there were thousands of suits hanging, and there were thousands of gassed, shot and tortured dead bodies, a sight I should not ever forget." Herman killed a lot of the guards that were guarding the Jews, at least the ones that did not run away. He would travel with the army and kill any Nazi that he would come across. The day the war ended Herman was in Ettal Switzerland. Herman was granted a three day leave and went back to Germany and found the guy who ripped off his dad for thousands of dollars and had the British army arrest him and beat him out of a confession. Herman witnessed the war from two different angles and actually fought the Nazis with the U.S. army. After being discharged from the army Herman became a successful family man and opened up 2 businesses in America and now his children run and opened a Hallmark store. Herman ended with, " how can they say the stuff that happened, didn’t happen?" “I was beaten and witnessed many horrors of this evil time; I will always be haunted by the images."

Holocaust Survivor

Landon Gardner

Eng Comp 101-101

Mr. Neuburger

13, March 2013

Herman Cohn

            Herman Cohn was born in Ennce Germany in 1921. His mother died in child birth when she had his younger brother. His father was in the German army. On the night of broken glass his father went to help a friend and the S.S. Searched for him and when he returned home the next day the S.S were there and the beat him. A few days late the S.S. burnt down there Synagog and Herman told someone about it and the S.S found out and they brought him to their headquarters were they beat him for spreading rumors that were true. After that he and his family left Germany and went to Chicago. Once there he enlisted in the army to fight the Germans.

Landon Gardner

Eng Comp 101-101

Mr. Neuburger

13, March 2013

Joseph Morten

Joseph Morten was in Ludz Polland in 1924. He grew in a mostly Jewish community, as a kid he did not have any non Jewish friends. Since his town was mainly Jewish it was turned into a ghetto, where they lived for a couple of years, before being transported to Achwitz I believe by cattle car. No one his cattle car died however it was very crowded and just a hole in the floor to use the restroom. He was a worker in Achwitz. After they were liberated he immigrated to Canada. In Canada he meet his wife and they had a few children before they moved to the U.S. When asked why he believes he survived he says it was mere luck and God had nothing to do with it.

Holocaust Survivor Samuel Steinberg

     Holocaust Survivor Samuel Steinberg, his name back home was Sychmho SchSteinberg. Sam was born September first 1928, in a city called  Tomaucho Machiexti, near Large Poland. He was the youngest of 3 children and his parents owned a utensils and windows store. He grew up in a loving home and was well taken care of, had everything he needed as a child.

When the war started the heard the Germans were coming, many people started packing up and leaving home. Before Sam's family gotten far they were chased back to home and saw many dead Poland's in ditches. "When the Germans first came in they took over factories, they replaced all broke dark windows with new ones." He became a worker with his father and brother and lived relatively peaceful life and made just enough to provide essentials until 1940 when the Ghetto was over ran with Jewish people, and German soldiers. They found out in December 1942 that Jewish people would be moved out of the Ghetto and "that’s when the shooting happened, and would start seeing bodies pile up in the streets." At that time they were told that the Jewish people would be moved and that the workers including him would be moved to be moved to a safe place. Sam was moved into a kitchen as a worker peeling potatoes and would sneak some to his family so they could eat better. There was this soldier that took a liking to Sam and would make sure he was taken care of and fed, but would try to take advantage of him sexually. The soldier would not force it upon Samuel but did make some sexual abuse. He did not go into much detail, but you can tell it affected him. Sam then was moved into a work area breaking rocks, he would for 10 hours a day break rocks and would see dead bodies occasionally. He was not directly involved in areas of many killings but would hear about it a lot. Sam would witness the "DeatMarch, were if a worker was to fall down or even trip, the Germans would make sure they never get up again." Sam would witness a lot of killings this way.

     Sam was then moved into a farm where he was harmed and put into barns, the following day they heard the U.S. troops were here and they walked out free. At this point Sam was 17 years old and was finally safe, cleaned and fed. Sam was then told he was liberated and had nothing to worry about anymore, but he had no place to go. A man named Maurice adopted Sam moved into an apartment in Germany. After a few months Maurice heard he had a sister and wanted to find her so he went with him to Bergenbelsin and could not find her, but found a woman he fell in love with and married her. Around May of 1946 Maurice found family in the U.S. and he moved to America and then brought Sam into America months later. Sam once he got established started going back to school for half a day and worked at a factory the other half. Sam then rented out a room of a woman by the Rubenstein, and met his wife Selma. He then quit school and got a good job at a factory. He ended his interview by, " be generous and be giving, this world needs more generous people and kindness." He was hard to follow and could not remember much details about his story, so I'm sorry if this summary seems unclear in some areas, he jumped around a bit.