Kristallnacht Journal and Each Person

We had to write a journal for English tonight as a response to Night and a packet we read about Kristallnacht , the "Night of Broken Glass." I like what I wrote, so I'd like to post it. (The last paragraph is the most voice-ful part of it...the best written, in my opinion.)

The Holocaust was a tragedy too massive and horrific to even be characterized by words alone. The best we can do in our education about it is to understand the ways that stereotypes, discrimination, and apathy bred genocide and persecution of an unimaginable scale.

It is important to commemorate Kristallnacht because, first of all, it was one of the first major and public cruel acts taken against the Jews. We need to be able to see that something that may seem like a stand-alone event, like Kristallnacht, could grow into something so much huger. It is considered the beginning of the Holocaust and the carrying out of the “Final Solution.” These things to be studied and remembered so that they may be recognized if a similar situation were ever to arise again. Second, the story of Kristallnacht reiterates the point that we’ve talked about multiple times: that standing by and watching others suffer while not doing anything is just as bad as making them suffer ourselves. There were many non-Jewish people around during Kristallnacht that let the attacks go on without a blink of the eye. We have to look at this and realize that sometimes we should listen to our moral judgment rather than that of authority.

Whenever I’m reading or watching anything about the Holocaust, the thing that bothers me the most about it is all the innocent children that were involved. When we watched Schindler’s List, I cried when the children were taken away in trucks to the gas chambers. While reading Night, I was especially struck by the passage where Elie talks about the babies being thrown into the crematorium. It’s hard for me to even write those words without stopping and mourning the loss of all those little children for a moment. If I were to teach someone about the Holocaust, I would stress how important every single human being is. I would want them to understand – I want everyone to understand – that each person is a unique individual who has something to offer to the world; and it won’t be the same without them. We are all equally human beings; we all have hopes, dreams, fears, loves, quirks, talents, opinions, values that could influence others…we are more than just bodies – and these things mustn’t be erased. I would want to ingrain this understanding so deep inside a person that it would be completely impossible for them to feel prejudice against any other person for any reason at all; but, unfortunately, it seems that it is innately human to hate to some degree, and to classify people by their physical appearance or one belief they may hold. Events like the Holocaust can teach us how dangerous this side of humans can get. If there was one thing that I’d want someone to remember, it would be the babies – the babies that were torn away from the lives they could have had, the families they could have been a part of, and the world they could have made a difference in – for no justifiable reason. If that doesn’t touch a person’s heart, I don’t know what would.

As I mentioned in that last paragraph, each person is unique. Every person is important, every person is a part of the earth, a part of humanity. This links with what I've thinking about a lot lately, beginning a couple of years ago - who I am. Finding myself. It's something we must all do at some point, especially at my age. There are so many things that constitute "Mollie" alone - things welcome and some not, but all that I'm proud of in some way - that it disgusts me to think that numerous identities - whole people - personalities, talents, dreams, could and have been completely eradicated by another human. It's horrendous and unimaginable.