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Tag Archives: Holocaust

Sonnets Over the Jewish Experience. (An Outside Perspective)

07 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by cje0100 in Uncategorized

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anti-Semitism, Holocaust, Judaism, Sonnets

Before you get to reading the actual Sonnets I wrote, I just wanted to answer a question that some of you may be asking. “What do Sonnets and the Jewish community have in common?” The answer is really nothing, but that’s because Sonnets are simply a medium that can be used to express a thought or an idea. Sonnets are well known for expressing love and desire for someone romantically, however, Sonnets have been used to convey a wide range of topics since they were popularized. One example would be Sonnets written about protecting the environment during England’s first Industrial Revolution. So with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy both my Sonnets and my reasonings behind them!

  1. An Onlookers Thoughts:  
    (Shakespearean Style)

The news had shown a familiar face,                                 
Another Synagogue under attack,                                         
As if their culture had been out of place,                         
These killers act like their getting payback.                      

But what could the Jews have possibly done,                      
To deserve so much hate, is this their fate,                        
All for following their own religion,                                   
No man should carry this ludicrous weight.                           

A peaceful religion that does no wrong,                            
Is the target of many whom think poor,                              
Of a group who now sings a sadder song,                           
Yet these battles wage on, and all are sore.                      

Though the victims of yesterday are gone,                         
Our memories of them will carry on.

Explanation:

This poem for me was inspired by my Holocaust class that I was also taking this semester. Every week we would look for an article that dealt with an anti-Semitic event from that week. When that class started I kinda thought that was unreasonable. It only took one google search to find out that was far from the truth. so this is why I started the Sonnet out with the line “So the news had shown a familiar face” because antisemitism is constantly recurring in the modern world. The 2nd line was actually referring to the attack at the Poway Synagogue in California last week. The rest of the Sonnet is pretty straightforward. Also, a quick note, Shakespearean style refers to the rhyme scheme. So for this type the rhyme scheme goes A,B,A,B.C,D,C,D.E,F,E,F.G,G. Just incase any of y ‘all were curious what that meant 😀


2.   The Millions Forgotten
       (Petrarchan Style)


A past that we all fail to share,  
Is doomed to be wholly lost,
Millions had to pay the cost,   
Just for us to fail to care?

All they did was say a prayer,     
But their stories have been tossed,   
Who knows of the Holocaust?
How is any of this fair?      

Survivors have much to say,     
But death has stolen many,
Time will take their words away,  
So lets cherish the lively.  

To be preserved is their aim,  
So let us speak of their fame.  

The other Sonnet I wrote is less about anti-Semitism, and more about remembering the Holocaust. This has been the topic for most of my projects in this class so far because of how many people simply aren’t learning about this stuff. It also focuses on how most of the remaining Holocaust survivors will sadly not be around for much longer. They are past their 70’s and there will come a time when none of them are left. I feel very deeply about making sure these survivors get the respect and credit that they deserve, considering how anti-Semitic groups have been on the rise over the past couple of years. These survivors and Jews in general have done nothing wrong to earn such hate from the alt right or any other radical groups. And also, incase anyone’s curious, a Petrarchan rhyme scheme is simply A,B,B,A,A,B,B,A,C,D,C,D,E,E.

I hope this post has been entertaining for anyone who actually made it this far! Sonnets can be used to convey essentially any topic, and they are not too complicated, so I’d recommend learning more if the format seemed appealing to you! To end I’d also like to say, please learn more about the Holocaust and anti-Semitism if you haven’t already. One google search really is all it takes to have your eyes opened to all the prejudices they have to deal with on a global scale.

Auschwitz, Selfies and an Endangered History

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by cje0100 in Uncategorized

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Antisemitism, Film, History, Holocaust

Nobody is ever happy about studying the Holocaust since it’s kinda a really sad topic, however, making light of a tragic history over 70 years ago is beyond repulsive. Using a concentration camp as a background for your next bomb ass selfie, may show a smidge of disrespect for those who were murdered in that exact location. Why should anyone care about the dumb decisions of kids and teenagers whom we’ll probably never hear about again? Events that seem obviously deplorable, like using concentration camps as selfie backdrops, can be signs of a generation that is ignorant to what really happened during Hitler’s Germany. The Holocaust is a topic that I have delved into quite a bit over the past semester, and if you are actually still not bored by any of this, I’d like to show you how easy it is to learn more about the Holocaust.    

The best way I think anyone could learn quickly about the Holocaust is through movies and documentaries. Watching educational films on the topic is almost effortless, yet it could open up the eyes to anyone who wants to explore the topic. Some movies that are based around the Holocaust are not 100% accurate, however, they overall are still beneficial to anyone who may not really understand what actually happened in this time frame. So here are just a couple of movies that I would like to point out for anyone who’s interested!

  1. The Counterfeiters/Die Fälscher
The Counterfeiters Poster

This Austrian film was released in 2007, and it is a phenomenal piece of work. It is not a documentary, but rather it is centered around certain group of jews who were tasked with producing fake currencies for the Nazis. The unique perspective displayed in the film makes it one of my absolute favorites. The music and the cinematography are also huge in making this movie so impactful and jaw dropping. I figured this film would be the best to start with since it is both newer and its plot is super engaging.

2. The Yellow Star/Der Gelbe Stern

The Yellow Star: The Persecution of the Jews in Europe - 1933-1945 Poster

This Documentary is probably what most people think of when someone mentions Holocaust films. The documentary was released in 1981, and it explains simply how Hitler rose to power. It also describes how Jewish life was all the way from 1933 to 1945, when WWII ended. What’s handy about this film is that it is entirely free to watch on YouTube, so it’s extremely easy to find. It is, however, a film that may not be as interesting to most since it’s more informative than entertaining. The film was Oscar nominated, and was made with historical footage from 16 different countries, so I’d say that even if you aren’t a history nerd, it’s still worth watching.

Honorable Mention

Jacob the Liar/Jakob der Lügner

Jacob the Liar Poster

One of the best films to come out of East Germany, back when it was a part of the Soviet Union, is this Jacob the liar. The film doesn’t cover life in the concentration camps, rather it focuses on the Jewish ghettos. This film is also similar to The Counterfeiters since it is has a fascinating plot for everyone to enjoy. The main reason I didn’t list it as one of the top 3 is because it is not as educational as the other films, but that is no reason to not check out this beautifully made film!

3. Night and Fog/Nacht und Nebel

See the source image

This Film is also a documentary that was released in 1956. This was the most recent film after the Holocaust to show the graphic atrocities that took place. It is probably the hardest film to watch out of all of the movies on the list, yet I believe very strongly that everyone should see this film at least once. The footage in the film is both black and white and also in color, and the music is top notch. The Film shows the concentration camps just 10 years after all of the concentration camps had been liberated. The film was actually a French production, that was almost not released due to how controversial it was. The film was the first of its kind, and it is certainly a film that you will never forget.

So why do I think more people should watch these kinds of often depressing films? To put it simply, the Holocaust is becoming an endangered history. Many younger generations don’t even know what a concertation camp was, and that to me is an extreme mistake that must not continue. We should never let the histories of those who lost their lives in these camps be forgotten.

Holocaust Survivor to Speak at UNT

30 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by Jacqueline DeMeritt in Campus Events, Extrajudicial Killing, Genocide, Germany, Take Action

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Auschwitz, Holocaust, survivor, UNT

On Tuesday, 4 February 2014, at 6:30pm, Holocaust survivor Jack Repp will give a free public talk in the Eagle Student Services Center (Room 255).  The talk is sponsored by the Dallas Holocaust Museum, the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth & Tarrant County, the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, the Leo and Rhea Fay Fruhman Foundation, and the UNT Jewish and Israel Studies Program. It will be followed by a Q&A with Mr. Repp.

Jack Repp was born in 1923 in Radom, Poland. His family was interned in the Radom ghetto in 1941. Separated from them, he worked in a labor camp in Radom in 1941-42, a Radom concentration camp in 1942-43, an ammunition factor until the end of 1943, and was then sent to Auschwitz.

The American army eventually liberated him from a work camp in Staldach, Germany. He moved to the United States in 1949 to work for his uncle selling clothes, and settled in Dallas in 1950.

For more information, contact Jewish-Studies@unt.edu or 940-369-8926.

JackReppFlier

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