kitteringhamhistory12:

 When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, they sent virtually the entire Jewish population to Auschwitz. A Jew and a medical doctor, the prisoner Dr. Miklos Nyiszli was spared death for a grimmer fate: to perform “scientific research” on his fellow inmates under the supervision of the man who became known as the infamous “Angel of Death” - Dr. Josef Mengele. Nyiszli was named Mengele’s personal research pathologist. In that capactity he also served as physician to the Sonderkommando, the Jewish prisoners who worked exclusively in the crematoriums and were routinely executed after four months. Miraculously, Nyiszli survived to give this horrifying and sobering account.

This was really brutal.  Not only were people being shot, gassed or cut open but the Nazis were getting the “races” they hated to do the work for them. (I use the term races in quotations because we’re all human. its stupid to think otherwise) Day in and day out just examining the bodies of innocent victims, it must have been rough beyond belief for Nyiszli, especially if he was unfortunate enough to get to know the victims like with the father and son.  In my opinion it seems like getting gassed was the easy way to go.  If you were going to be experimented on you were killed, poked and prodded, if you were gassed it was over in minutes.  I’d rather be gassed and burned to ash than have my body boiled and have my skeleton (usually people with minor defects. Crippled, hunched, etc…) used as an example of my ethnic group’s physiology.  Its demeaning, degrading and misleading and the worst part is people actually swallowed that garbage.  I honestly don’t know how Nyiszli survived with his sanity in tact after that beyond traumatic experience.

kitteringhamhistory12:

STEPS TO HOLOCAUST BLOGGING

The Same Instructions That Were Distributed In Class

STEP 1:

Go to www.tumblr.com and create an account

                - Fill in Email, Password, and Website name

                -Website name MUST include your first and last name                                        (Logankitteringham.tumblr.com)

STEP 2:

Go to www.kitteringhamhistory12.tumblr.com and click “follow” at the top right side of the page

STEP 3:

The first item that you can begin posting on is a YouTube clip of a Holocaust survivor who visited WGSS and shared his experiences at Auschwitz, the most notorious of the Nazi death camps. I have also posted a marking rubric and a possible list of guiding questions. I encourage you to blog on whatever strikes or grabs your attention while watching, exploring or reading about the Holocaust. The guiding questions are a last resort for those students that find themselves in need of some direction or guidance. Students who choose not to use the guiding questions will not be penalized and their mark will not suffer. In addition to the aforementioned YouTube clip, this Tumblr blog also includes short excerpts from five different books related to the Holocaust. At the beginning of each excerpt is the cover of the book from which it was taken and a short synopsis of that particular book. Everyone must read the one and only page from the book titled The Holocaust Chronicle. Of the five remaining book excerpts you must read and respond to two of your choice. There is also a picture of the entrance to Auschwitz, that when clicked is linked to an interactive online museum. You must respond to something related to exploring this website or to the material presented in the Holocaust survivor YouTube clip. That means you have a minimum of four items to respond to. You are required to offer up at least five deep and meaningful responses/reblogs. You can respond in any of the following ways….

1.       Respond directly to something of interest in the text on the page you encounter it on

2.       Summarize the entire excerpt on the first page of that particular excerpt

3.       Respond to something that someone else in the class has said

4.       Explain how something makes you feel

5.       Explain how the text has enhanced your understanding of the Holocaust

6.       Ask questions that others can respond to, but if you do this you must return to your blog and respond to their responses at least once.

STEP 4:

When you are ready to blog simply….

·         go to tumblr.com

·         log in with your new account (your computer might now automatically do this for you)

·         go to http://kitteringhamhistory12.tumblr.com

·         click the bottom section (posted) of the page you want to respond to

·         You should be able to see the responses of other students now

·         You now go to the top right and click on reblog

·         Entire your comments and click reblog post

·         The dashboard button on the top right is a convenient way to see your work and edit it as well.

·         Good Luck and enjoy

This video really gave me a new perspective on why the Jewish people just committed to the “Marches of Death”  With no money, no way to communicate with the locals and no allies its easy to see why the prisoners of the Nazis just followed the caravans.  I figured Nazi guards with guns is what would have kept the prisoners in line, but really it was the knowledge of even if they do escape they have no where to go.  People would have sold them out for peanuts, and even when he came home there was no one there welcoming him back but his sister.  I guess most countries were almost no better than the Nazis…

kitteringhamhistory12:

Great Work Ryan, 

Insightful thoughts so far. I have a question for you and others….Do you believe what Commandant Hoess is telling you? To what extent do you trust this source? Happy Blogging!

ryanw-13:

               Rudolf Hoess’ description of his sentiments regarding his role in exterminating the Jewish population at Auschwitz intrigued me. I had never actually considered that the Commandant of Auschwitz would have felt the slightest bit of sorrow for the Jewish people. I had assumed that he would have dehumanized them so much that he would no longer be affected in any way by their suffering.   He would often visit his horses which he found therapeutic to try and recover from the horrors in which he had taken part. He writes this to explain his struggle to be around those he cared about after destroying the families of others.  

                Secondly, I was surprised that he did not commit suicide.  Having caused so many terrible events, you would think that he would have become ridden with guilt.   Nobody knew how horrible he thought the events were because he was not allowed to show any emotion while witnessing these atrocities.  It is hard to believe that someone could maintain such a composed expression while ordering and witnessing so much tragedy.  In fact, he was rationalizing the deaths.  Although he struggled with many inner doubts, he honestly believed that it was Hitler killing the Jews and that it was best for Germany that they died. Despite all that Hoess describes in his book, it is still difficult to take what he said truthfully. He was a man who had been sentenced to death and may have been trying to justify and rationalize his actions so that he would be remembered in a more positive light by future generations.

One thing I thought interesting about the excerpts from Hoess was how the victims acted.  They were rather calm and collected, some going out with dignity and some dying in ignorance.  The truly mind blowing thing is the Special Detachment members.  How could they guide all those innocents, women, children and men alike, into something like that with such efficiency and, well…  Detachment? These are their fellow Jews, Gypsies, and Communists and they sell them out.  It didn’t even change their fates, they still had the same fate as the ones they were ushering in and undressing, so is it worth it to abandon your humanity completely for maybe a week not worth living?

I also see Hoess is going for sympathy in his novel.  Not once did he call the people he was executing his or the Nazi’s equals.  He was willing to accept they were human, and it seems like it did in fact haunt him, but not enough for him to question why he was doing this or to try and stop it.  It haunted him but who wouldn’t that haunt?  There was regret his words, but it also seems like he’s looking for an appeal.

kitteringhamhistory12:

Dear Kwon, 

I want to stop and highlight your post for a moment. Your post clearly demonstrates that you have read the article from the specific examples you mention. Well done. While horrible, do you see any value in the Mengele’s experiments? Was he just being cruel or was he actually trying to learn something useful? 

chankwon:

kitteringhamhistory12:

 This short excerpt explains the horrible medical experiments conducted by the Nazis.

The fact that the Nazi’s used humans a “guinea pigs” for medical experiments disgusts me. The types of experiments conducted were pure torture and evil, and I cannot grasp how humans can inflict such suffering on other humans for personal gain. Some examples of these experiments include intentional infection of deadly diseases, removal of testicles, and injection of toxic chemicals. Essentially, the prisoners were toys for the Nazi’s to “play around with”; for example, Dr. Mengele attempted to change the eye colors with chemical eye washes. This total disregard of humanity reveals the heartlessness of the Nazis during the Holocaust. 

I cannot fathom what the Nazis was trying to accomplish.  As far as their “experiments” go, they were okay for trying to figure out how certain diseases or defects work, but it doesn’t seem like it amounts to anything.  If the goal is to create an “invincible master race” why were they spending so much time killing people through diseases, shooting, and gassing?  If he is trying to make the perfect man shouldn’t they be trying to cure these diseases and find out why they work?  Is there any scientific base for them throwing chemicals into people’s eyes to turn them blue, or putting toxins in peoples bodies?  I just don’t see a clear train of thought for this and that’s the scary part.