Reflection

In my opinion the blogging assignments have been pretty fun, but i'm not sure how helpful it will be to us for college next year. As far as how much we learned on the subject, The Holocaust, was great. I learned so much more about it and now i have a little better understanding of how much really took place back in that day. It is a very interesting topic. Blogging does help me to write better because i am able to express my words and opinions but in a good way because you make us write with proper grammar. When blogging we have to write alot so i do think that it helps us in our writing, and to find better ways to express ourselves in a respectful way.

I think that blogging could be a good thing, but in small proportions. As a senior, I feel that I need to know more about writing papers than blogging for when I go on to college. I don't think that just throwing a research paper on us will prepare us either. I think that we need to break it down and learn the fundamentals of a paper, rather than just writing one. Again, I did like blogging, I thought it was fun and helpful to be able to work with other students my age and write back in forth our opinions and have discussions between us.

Reflectionnnnnn :D

Well. My opinion on this whole blogging ordeal was half and half. I enjoyed the whole topic of the blogging. The Holocaust interests me in good ways. But, i don't think that blogging will help us in the near future of college. I think that as Juniors this would of been a good activity for them at that age. But, as Seniors (i know people will hate this when i say this) i think we need to do more on how to write papers, and techniques of writing. I also think that we didn't get to express our feelings as we wanted to. You would get us in trouble for saying things that weren't even "hurtful," whenever they could say rude things and we couldn't even defend ourselves without you yelling at us, or you deleting one of our comments. But other than that, I didn't mind it. It was fun

Like or Dislike!

At the begining of the semester i didnt really likr the blogging. As time went on however, I started to like it. The holocaust topic is what kept me interested. The discussion were very opinonated and strongly supported. I think being able to say what I think, but also knowing what others thought and felt was the best part. This project not only helped us learn about a very important history event, but also helped show what these people had to go through this trying times. All in all i liked the blogging I think that you should continue this next year and years to come.

Thoughts on Blogging:)

I've never been on a blog before so this one was an interesting one to start with. First off, I would like to say that I really did like reading the book Night, and I learned a lot from it. I never could imagine just how horrible the conditions of the Holocaust were and reading the book gave me a better idea of it. I also liked reading the thoughts and ideas in other peoples posts and learning how much different people are. I enjoyed being able to comment and express my opinions on what others had said. I liked how some of the topics were deeper than others so they required more thought and feeling in the answers. What was hard about commenting on the posts was trying to come up different, non-fluff comments for posts that pretty much said the same things. Also, it was hard to write what I wanted without getting in trouble for being to mean. I'm very opinionated so it was tough writing what I thought without being to critical. What I did not like about this blog was that sometimes we were not allowed to write what we really wanted, which I do not think is right since this is a blog and half the time we were asked for our opinions. Sometimes we were criticized for being to mean or blunt which I do not think we should have been because we were just saying our opinions. I liked blogging better than doing a research paper. Overall there were more likes than dislikes, so it was a pretty good experience.

Melanie Atwell

This Blog Experience

This blogging experience has taught me more things about myself than anything else. I learned, for me, it is easier to criticise other people than to build them up. I realized it is easier to be a jerk than to be nice on a deep level. I would rather give fluff answers than really get into a deep conversation when I disagree with the other person. On a different note, I learned how to blog since I never have blogged before. I also gained more knowledge about the Holocaust overall. This blog helped me see how other people veiw the Holocaust in a different light. I must say I would rather do blogs than write research papers. This was easier to go on and come up with new ideas than to sit down and write a couple page research paper. In the beginning, I would have never said this. I had a deep hatred of computers but now Im ok with them.

Semester Reflection

This project we were doing this semester was actually pretty interesting. The reason I say this is because I learned a lot about the Holocaust that I didn't know from before. After reading the Book "Night" and answering some of the questions that were asked got me thinking about a lot of things involving forgiveness, and faith among other things. It made me realize that if you have faith or even if you don't that forgiveness is one of the key things in life. I say this because people should forgive one another so that the world isn't a dark selfish chaotic place, that if you forgive someone you'll be able to live through life better and not as a dark shell.
I liked the way Mr.Neuburger had us do our assignments, I really like the blog ideas and interacting with other schools and getting a different point of view of things. It is always good to get a different point of view on things that way you can compare and work discussions that may arise.
Though the only thing I don't like about this is that you had to comment on every little thing. It got annoying after a while. Besides that I didn't think there was anything wrong with this project.

In the course of the past few weeks we have been blogging on several topics of the Holocaust. During this time my knowledge over the vastness of this topic ranging from forgiveness through putting God on Trial has grown. When we all first started this project my knowledge of this era in our history was very little but has grown over the projects. I have enjoyed blogging with my classmates and by myself, it has helped me to communicate better with my classmates in writing and expressing what is on my mind. When i first started blogging it was hard for me to start off with topics, but as we worked together my we became more open to each other and it helped alot that we all had the same views about our faith and the way we all wrote.

At the beginning of the year we all started out writing research papers, I'm glad that we are not working on them now. This blogging has helped out a lot by giving me practice in starting out on a random subject and writing a full paragraph on that topic. Overall i have enjoyed this experience with my classmates and another school. It helped show me all of the different views of this world.

My Final Post!

By doing this blog I learned that I can be a good writer. I have never done a blog before so I learned a lot about it by going through this experience. Also I guess I can be a blunt person some times. It taught me how you communicate better with people through writing where you do not come off as rude or mean. I really like how we got to comment on other people's blog, it showed me the areas I need to work on.

What I liked was reading the book, Night, it made you really think about the Holocaust did to people. I did not like having to write the research paper at the beginning of the year. We had just got back to school so I was not ready for that. It was to demanding of you to make us do that at a early stage of school. But I did learn a lot more imformation about the Holocaust that I did not already know. It really prepared me for the upcoming blog. The whole blog experience was alright. I did not really like how we could not put our true feelings on the comments. Even though they would have been really mean. It was weird at first having to do the blog, but it got more normal during the end. Commenting was really what I did not like having to do. It was hard to find things to talk about on them that were not "fluffy". Other than that I thought that this was a fun experience and enjoyed it.

Blogging Reflection

I have learned an incredible amount through this blogging experience. I really did not have any prior knowledge of the Holocaust. The blogging experience has been great for me in both learning and working with others. It is been very helpful in letting me work with others and getting others input which has helped me to broaden my perspective.

However, I think we should have spent more time working on research papers and writing in M.L.A. style. We should work on researching and writing for a paper more often in my opinion.

Overall, this was a good thing for us to do because we were still writing and getting critiqued on our writing. It helped us because we got more than one person's point of view on our posts which brought up more things for us to work on. This will help me to form into a better writer in the future.

-Tyler Abma

Work and Play all Darn Day

Learning about the Holocaust brought many feelings to me that were both positive and negative at times. Reading and studying about how people were affected and all of the torture and loss of the Holocaust definitely brought a sad negative feeling, but it is important to learn what happened in the past so it can be prevented in the future, and the souls of the past can be fondly remembered. My research paper that I wrote over the Holocaust was based around Dr. Mengele and his medical experiments at Auschwitz. I was horrified at the level of cruelty Dr. Mengele went to, and mostly towards children. I learned so many things, not necessarily that I wanted to know, but it is important to know. The blogging experience has been completely positive! Of course there was a bit of disagreement between my College English class and the McCool class, but everyone has their own opinion and I think we did a good job respecting that. Commenting on posts has given everyone constructive criticism and its an awesome way for us to be able to have the chance to understand how others view and interpret our writing so that we can practice and get better, because nobody is perfect. We also had many chances to show our creativity while showing how much we learned. An example of this would be the powerpoint we created and presented to the class. I like powerpoints because they are easy and you can throw your own personal style and fun in there with colors and patterns! So overall this has been a positive and fun experience and I'm going to miss it in a way after I graduate.

Opinion on first semester

I have learned many things this semester and enjoyed much of it, but I am not sure how the Holocaust is going to help me later on if I decide to go to college. I know that the Holocaust may have just been something Mr.N wanted us to learn about but also use our English skills within all of the projects. I did not enjoy although I did learn a lot from the research paper we did at the beginning of the year. I do think that we had to write the paper a bit soon and we should have learned more about the Holocaust before writing it, for the reason that we could have put a lot more detail into the paper and would not have just tried to force things into it. I did not like reading the book "Night." I am not a big reader I know it may help us but I personally think that reading is something you should do on your own time. The last thing we have done is this blog. I really enjoyed it, and I wish we could do more things like this in all of our classes, this has probably been one of the funnest things we have done in English. I really liked talking to people outside of our class and hearing all of there opinions. I though it was cool being able to comment on other peoples post letting them know my opinion and hearing what there responses to that were. Overall I think this English class has helped me out a lot and has prepared me for college.

Some Sort of Reflection

Studying the Holocaust in depth, as we did this semester, was kind of difficult. It is hard to learn about something so horrific. I always thought I had a good grasp on what happened, but I can't tell you how many times my jaw dropped this semester, or a tear escaped from my eye in class. The real stories of the people who went through that make it so much more real. You learn that this mass killing happened, but when you think about how we live now you kind of imagine some villain in a movie or some horror novel. Its hard to grasp that it really happened and not more than eighty years ago. I have grandparents that saw the holocaust, that are still alive today. How can something so horrible have happened so recently in history? I'd like to think I'm a part of a people that has good buried deep down, no matter how messed up their exterior is. The fact of the matter is that the Nazis cannot have good anywhere in their sadistic souls so it makes me question the people I live around. More than anything this experience has opened my eyes to see that if you are in the dark about your history, your future can seem blurry. You should learn from the mistakes of the past and know when to fight your fight.

Blogging was a great experience. This is actually not my first experience with blogging, I blog in another one of your classes and I have blogged online for a few years. I really liked that there was not really any actual pencil/pen work to do in the class, because I can type so much faster than I write!! Its a lot easier to go back and edit your work and keep everything organized when you never have to wonder what something said or think you lost it. It was also a lot easier than I would have imagined to team up with another class and do collaborations. I liked how that went, but I think that in the future we should get web cams so that instead of always doing our ideas against theirs, we could do mixed groups and really get diverse ideas and conversations going. It would be really cool to talk with these people, and actually hear their voice. I am very opinionated and this experience was one of the few times in school where people asked me, "How do YOU feel about that?" Putting your thoughts and ideas out there is an awesome thing. When someone would comment me, I thought to myself that its an amazing thing when people can connect and understand each other. Whether we all agreed or not this experience not only taught me about our past, but also how to work with people from all walks of life.

Reflection

This experience throughout the semester has been amazing. I was never really interested in the Holocaust, until this class. I learned so much about the holocaust and now i know how important it was. I had actually read the book "night" once before this class and didn't really like it, never really understood it. Mr. N helped me with that, this blogging helped a lot also. I had know idea how to blog, i didn't even know what blogging was until this class lol.. I got to other students from somewhere else, there was a lot of criticizing but you learn how other people think and how they feel on the matter also. It is nice to have people you agree, and also people that you can argue your point with. It is amazing how you get to have your own opionion on everything. All and All i love this semester it was a wonderful experience that i would like to have in more classes.

Thank you Mr. Sir------Ashley

What was the question again?

My view over this semesters assignments and activities is positive. Going over the Holocaust was a good thing for myself and many of my other classmates. The blogging taught me a lot about being nice to other people no matter how many grammatical errors they make, and with that, how to look over the errors and into the content of what is being said. The thing which touched my heart and I learned so much from was the video clip of the man on the train. This man had driven the cattle trains so often he knew exactly how to control the train so it would stop right in front of the Auschwitz sign. The only thing I would change would be the research paper. It was excruciating, especially when they had to be done the first week of school. It nearly killed us all. Although I did not like to do this paper I did learn a lot researching about it that I had never before known about the Holocaust. When we shared our power points as a class I had a greater opportunity to learn what others had learned and to expand my knowledge of this topic.
Love, Jordan Byrum

Reflection

The blogging experience has been different, but interesting. At first I did not like blogging, at all. Once we got further into the assignments, blogging became more interesting. I really liked the heated discussions, and even was interested to hear the different opinions of the other kids. Even though I, as well as others, got kind of defensive of our opinions, it was what made the whole experience interesting. The specific assignments brought up alot of interesting topics like forgiveness and faith, and really made you have to think for yourself. And I really enjoyed actually having to think seriously about things that actually mattered. I have also learned alot about the Holocaust from the different perspectives of Holocaust survivors. I do wish we could do more writing assignments though. It seems to me that with the commenting our writing isn't focused on as much. I know that when I go to college next year I want to be confident of my writing techniques. With the commenting and group posts, (even though we are graded on it) we don't really get any feedback on if what we are writing is correct.

Reflection on Blogging.

First of all, I want to note that throughout this blogging experience I have learned many things. When we first started this study of the Holocaust, I had little knowledge, but now I feel I learned quite a bit of new information. But.... there is always a but, sometimes I wonder how this is going to benefit me. I often find myself wondering how this is going to help me in college. When usually hear about a College English class, that first thing that comes to mind is research papers. This is not saying I want to write a paper, its saying that I need to learn all of the in's and outs of writing them. But to finish this post out on a positive note I want to emphasize that I have learned a lot of new information throughout this experience, in which if I was not blogging I may not of had the chance to do.

Unlocking the Past in Poland

Erin Einhorn (pictured) traveled to Poland to visit with the person who hid Einhorn's mother during the Holocaust. I just thought if you have time you might want to listen. It's about twenty minutes long but fascinating.

To Forgive or Not Forgive?

Elie should forgive the Nazis. He already has gone through hell and had so much hate towards the Nazis build up in his soul. It would be like a great weight lifted off his chest if he forgives those horrible people. The Nazis don't deserve to be forgiven by any means, they killed his whole family and Elie even had to watch his own Father slowly die. Because he went through such a horrific event and had to endure so much pain and suffering he needs to start over fresh and forgive. It's not like he has to be friends with the Nazis but he should be able to look into their eyes and say, "I forgive you." You destroyed my life, you killed my family, you took my home away from me but I want to forgive you so I can move on with my life, because this heart full of raw hatred is weighing me down." If Elie was able to do this and truly forgive them, he could leave the pain and hate behind which would enable him to prosper and progress with his life.


- Matthew 18:21-35
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Should Elie Wiesel forgive the Nazis, or should Elie hold a grudge and keep the pain they caused in side? What is the best way to go on with life after a tragic incident like the Holocaust? Especially when you were one of the victim’s that lived through this horrific event. I believe there is room for forgiveness, but you will always remember what they did. There for how they treated you is always going to play a big role on how you would like to treat or think of them. And even if you have forgiven them you will always have hatred towards them. Also, it would take more than a day or two, to forgive them, but I think it is possible and should be done. Whether you are a Christian or believe in other faiths or none it all, I was raised Christian and taught to forgive others for there trespasses. There for I think that should go for everyone whether Christian or not, it is the polite thing to do and it will show who is the bigger man by forgiveness.

No Forgiveness

Should Elie forgive? There are many outputs on if the Jews should have forgiven the Nazis for what they did to them during the Holocaust. My thought on whether they should forgive them or not no, I don’t think that they should. What I would do in if I was in that situation, I probably would not forgive them for what they did. How could you? Here you have a group of people who have taken away a couple years of your life, starve you, humiliate you, and treat you like dirt till you didn’t believe that you were human any more. I know that I wouldn’t be able to forgive anyone for taking away a couple years of my life where I could make a difference in the world, just to have me stay in a concentration camp and rot away like an old piece of meat. I especially couldn’t forgive the Nazis if they would of taken away all of my family members away from me, and then I would not know what of happened to them, and would never see them again. So should Elie forgive the Nazis for what they did to him, and to the rest of his family and the rest of the Jews, I don’t think so.
Alex Siebert

Forgive?

After the holocaust the Jew’s had to decide weather to forgive the Nazi’s or not forgive them at all. Elie shouldn’t forgive the Nazi of the crime they have committed. (at least in my opinion it’s a crime) The Nazi’s killed his mom, his sister and his dad, I know if they killed my family I could never forgive them, a matter how much they begged me to forgive them. While he was at the camps he had to work long hours with out no pay if he stopped he could face the chance of the Nazi’s killing him. He had to watch not only his family die but other Jews die for no reason. Many people would forgive the Nazi’s but I don’t know how they could. The Nazi’s put the Jews through so much and killed million’s of Jews for no reason, he had to live through the pain, the suffering. Then having to watch the Nazi's kill his parents. This is why I couldn’t forgive the Nazi’s, Hitler or the people know days that don’t even believed that this has happened.

Elie should not forgive

Brady West

I wouldn’t approach the subject of forgiveness. Ellie shouldn’t forgive, If some were to treat me that way and lock me in a concentration camp I don’t know if I could ever bring myself to forgive any of the Nazis. The Nazis striped him of his dignity stole his faith and basically took his life for the time he was in the concentration camps. If some one took me away from my family and sent us to separate concentration camps I could never forgive anybody. If you were to think about his whole situation and what happened to him over the time period. He was taken from his home striped of his clothes and property, thrown into a room to get his head shaved basically getting dehumanized. They took his name and gave him a number. And weather or he can forgive god. Well I think I would be able to do that god had nothing to do with what the Nazis were thinking and what they did.

Forgive?

PICTURE YET TO COME...HAVING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!

Should Jews forgive the Nazis for what they did or they should they not. Elie Wiesel as well as the Jews faced death during the holocaust witch is something that would be very difficult to face. He should not forgive the Nazis for all of the killings of there family’s, also the Nazis killed his mom and his father and his sister. If a group of people or other wise known as the Nazis killed your family it would just ruin your life and you would have to live with your family dead for the rest of your life. For him being a young age having to live with no family for the rest of his life would be something hard to forgive. What the Nazis did to the Jews was terrible they treated them like dirt and they pretty much brought them to hell and very few got out alive. If you put your self in their shoes and went through what they did and they killed your family would you forgive them?

As We Forgive Those who Tresspass Against Us

The men that took his everything , his all, his life. Should he forgive the man that took his identity, tore out his heart of faith, vanished his life and family? A person can’t hold onto hate forever, it eats away the good, the part of life that ticks. So, yes he should forgive that man that let his faith burn, his family die, his heart left empty. Forgiveness is hard to give out, but time doesn’t last forever, you only get one chance to live, so forgive. Yes I feel that he should forgive the Nazis, but not only them, maybe that anger that stole his faith, that soup that never filled, or his heart that seemed he could not love, he needed to forgive himself. To meet the men face to face that took everything he had may make him feel like his heart can no longer beat or his voice would not speak, but maybe to forgive those men would let life tick and his heart beat. Life may hate them, but his heart should forgive them. All lives will go on, but forgiveness will live on for those that go on.

How?

Should Ellie Forgive the Nazi’s for what they had done? There are two kinds of forgiveness; there is forgiveness from god and forgiveness from human. Ellie should forgive the Nazi’s for what they did. When you do not forgive someone for what they have done you live with all that hate in your life. If Ellie would choose to not forgive them he would go though being angry and not enjoying the rest of his life that he has left. The reason why he should is so he does not live with the hate of the Nazi’s forever and is able to spend the rest of his life with happy thoughts and remembering the good things in life. If he doesn’t forgive no matter what good things or events come up he will still have a lot of anger and stress and he has already gone though enough of that in his life. It will not be easy for him to forgive but in order for the remaining part of his life to be happy and joyful without remembering what he had gone though and getting upset and mad about it throughout the rest of his life. Elie should forgive the Nazi’s so he can move on with the rest of his life.
-Michael

Won't Forgive or Forget

Elie should not forgive the Nazis for the pain and suffering they put him and the Jews through. To forgive somebody of something is to accept their apology for something they have done and the killing of nearly six million people would be very difficult to look past. The Nazis took away nearly four years of his life as well as his family, the most valuable object in his life and that’s something you can’t get back. How can you forgive somebody for that? Taking a life can never be forgiven, unless it was unintentional. A person cannot be duplicated. The only piece that’s left of the family is the ashes and the memories made before the Holocaust started. You may get your house and valuables back but never again will you have your family and friends in your life. Family means way to much to give them and up and some of the survivors would say, “You don’t know what you got till its gone.”
-Kyle

Forgiveness

Elie should forgive because everyone will eventually forgive some of the people who had done some terrible things to the people or did something that had changed their life. If people did not forgive then there would be a bunch of hate in the world today. If there were to be a bunch of hate then nobody would like anyone or anything that they do. But forgiveness has a whole different perspective on how people look at the world as far as forgiving someone for doing something and everyone has room for forgiveness in their hearts but some choose not to take advantage of that room and use it for what they are supposed to be using it for. The room in your heart for forgiveness is there but some people choose not to use it. When people choose not to use forgiveness then it’s their own fault that they don’t forgive anyone in the world. So Elie should forgive people that has done anything bad to him and his family even though he may not like them. If Elie does not forgive anyone then he will not be able to forgive at all. But anyone can forgive and forget what people do.

How do you forgive that???

If I say that Elie should forgive the Nazis, I would get complaints from people who think it would be wrong to forgive such heinous, ruthless acts. If I say he should not, I would still get complaints from people who say it would be wrong not to and you are just harboring angry feelings from the past. You could kind of say it is a double-edged sword. If he forgives, then he lets down all the victims and he gives up everything people everywhere have fought against and he is no longer an advocate for his people. If he does not forgive, in a sense he is no better than the rest. Elie should not forgive. The Nazis do not deserve forgiveness. After everything that they put millions of Jews and countless others through, they are not deserving of one man's kindness and compassion. They do not deserve to be forgiven by a man who lost his whole family, most of his childhood, and his dignity because one person wanted a "superior race."

Forgiving is Life

Elie went through "hell" in his passed experience in the Holocaust, should he forgive was and still is the real question. In my opinion, yes it was a horrible event that made history, but I think he should forgive what happened. To me, God would want everyone to be happy, although it was a bad time and there are second chances that should be given in the world out there. What the Nazis did to millions of people was wrong in every way, but it is all over with and we can only learn from the past. If you think about the Holocaust and learn about every event that took place in it and open your eyes a bit, you would realize that it could happen to anybody, at anytime, at anyplace. I believe that Elie should forgive what happened, he made it through the nightmare he never dreamed of and is now telling his stories to billions of people. He is changing the lives of many humans and we learn from it all. I know I have. So to complete this post I do believe that Elie should forgive what happened to him, it can happen to anyone!

McCool Student
Jackie M.

NO!!!!! There is no way I believe that Elie should forgive those ruthless Nazis. Personally I believe that they should have the chance to show the Nazis what it was like. To go through the same horrable events, the torture, and the living hell they all had to face. I don't even understand the want to forgive anybody for the haneous crimes comitted against the Jews. I'm sorry Elie but I can't see it. I can understand the "go along to get along" but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. The fact that the Nazis didnt even try to apologize in any way is just stupid, their "better than everybody" mentality kept them from showing the slightest bit of weakness. True it might not have worked but it would at least showed they gave a crap. I wasn't there but I still say no way to any kind of forgiveness to any one of the Nazis.

He Should Forgive.

I think that Elie should forgive the Nazis, even though they did unspeakable acts to him and millions of other people. Hitler is the one who started the whole Holocaust with one single idea, and he is the one who should be blamed for the whole thing. Yes, Hitler had an army to back him up, but a lot of the people in that army were too scared of him to stand up for the Jews if they even wanted to. So even if those people did do awful crimes to the Jews under Hitler’s orders, they have a reason as to why they did those things if in fact they weren’t for Hitler. Fear can make people do crazy things, and that is what a lot of people did under Hitler’s rule. Not only did the Germans who did not agree with Hitler do what Hitler asked, but a lot of Jews even gave up their religion just for a chance to stay alive. The Nazis were not the only guilty ones.

Forgive or not forgive?

How would you feel if you were in Elie’s position at the time of the Holocaust? Elie shouldn’t forgive them because after what they did to them and how they treated them was just horrible. When they were there at the camps they faced some of the hardest torture and death related kills that would end their lives. He would be feeling like he was just another person that was hoping not to be killed and living there day by day was the worst there was at the time. Everyday he could only hope that he would be going home instead of getting killed. The torture that he had gone through and killed him inside and he could never have that feeling that he had before when he had been taken there. If you were in Elie’s shoes what would you be feeling like or have to face when he did while he was there? Would you ever forgive someone who would do that kind of pain to you? He has the right now to forgive them for what he faced and I know if I was him I wouldn't forgive them just because what was going on there.

Nikki W.

The burning of hatred eats away inside of you, so as hard as it seems Elie needs to forgive the Nazis, the ones who killed like there was no need for any prisoners to live. Without forgiving others you hold on to the past, the guilt of not finding a solution to end the past. You are holding on to the whole past, the anger, the pain, the suffering, you are completely living in that past, making yourself have no future. Forgiving the ones who caused so much hurt, pain, sorrow, and suffering is hard to do. You have to be the one to relieve yourself from everything so you can live your life the way you want it. You must never let go of yourself. Keep the memories, even the painful ones, forgiving the Nazis from the pain and sorrow won’t solve every painful memory, but you can keep those as motivation or you can choose to forget the bad ones and not look back. Forgiving others is one of the hardest challenges that you will face, choosing to face the pain and not let the past from hell keep you from living your life is the greatest challenge of all.
Andrea Root

Forgive?

Elie in his heart should forgive but never forget, because if he dwells on it life will become harder and harder. He was going through what people would call "hell on earth" for such a long period of time that in his mind he is probably doesn't want to forgive the Nazis for the pain and suffering he experienced. You have to understand in Elies eyes you can't hold on to something so hurtful forever. He will never forget the time he and his family were separated or when he was beaten and tortured, but in time he will forgive them for what happened to him. Some people would ask, "Why would he forgive the Nazis?" The answer is really you don't want to sit around day to day thinking about all that has happened, at some point in Elies life he realizes its time to let go and you can't be mad at them forever. I understand it would be hard to forgive the people that hurt you, but would it be harder to not forgive and sit there everyday remembering what you went through? Forgiveness is hard, it takes so much from a person to gather the strength to forgive someone. In the end forgiving would make life easier, never forget, but forgive.

Shelby E.

Foregiveness is the Key

Forgiveness is one of the most complex concepts to consider in this situation. On one hand forgiveness seems necessary for one to have a healthy outlook on life. To deny forgiveness and bottle up hatred can lead to depression and one being perpetually stuck in the events of the past. To forgive is to allow the individual to grow as a person, to move on. On the other hand, it would be extremely difficult to forgive those who were personally responsible for all the tragedy and hardships in one’s life, especially in Elie’s case. However, I do believe that Elie should forgive the Nazis, even though they definitely do not deserve it. Yes, what happened to him, and millions of others, was terrible, tragic, and should never have been allowed to happen in the first place, but it happened in the past and cannot be changed now. By forgiving those who have hurt him he can achieve closure, and move on with his life. Forgiveness is the key to unlocking happiness.

Shelby Smith

Forgiveness

After the Holocaust, each of the few survivors of Nazi atrocities had to figure how to move on with their life. Furthermore, each survivor had to confront whether they should forgive or not forgive their persecutors. In your life things may happen that you are not able to let go, but if nobody forgave people for the wrongful thing they did than there would be so much hate and anger in this world. Forgiveness is not forgetting, you do not have to forget what that person has done it would make you feel a lot better in the end if you did. Forgiveness is a decision to let go of all the thoughts of revenge that you may have picked up on throughout your life. Forgiveness can reduce anger and hurt, which could help you live freer and happier in the life that you are living right now in the present. In my opinion it would be hard to be able to forgive the Nazi’s, but a lot of people have a stronger will and are able to forgive a lot easier than others could.

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. ~Paul Boese”

Ashley~~~Ashtard

Elie should not forgive the Nazis because they ruined his life and put his life through hell. Elie should not forgive the Nazis because they killed his mom, sisters, and his uncle. Not only did he have to deal with his family being killed, but he also had to witness many people around him being killed. In addition, he had to work a ton and was a slave. After being put through all of that, I do not see how anyone could forgive that. It is unforgivable. Elie should be disgusted with the Nazis and at the time should have been thinking about getting back at them. He should want to kill every single Nazi after having to deal with them taking him out of his home, taking him to a camp, and witnessing everything that he did. The question should not be if Elie should forgive the Nazis, it should be if Elie should have gotten back at the Nazis. He may be able to forgive the people that did all of these horrible things and that is understandable but there is no way I would forgive there actions.

Forgive But Do Not Forget

Saying the word forgiveness can be an easy thing to say, but in reality when you are faced with having to forgive someone the action seems harder to do. Elie should follow the word of God, overcome the hatred in his heart, and find strength inside himself and his faith to forgive the Nazis. The only way Elie will ever live in happiness again is to forgive, but he should never forget since the Holocaust will always be a part of his life. The Nazis did do terrible things to the Jewish people, they killed five million of their people and tortured many others, and unfortunately overcoming this is a hard thing to do. However, to stop being a victim Elie needs to forgive. Elie is a survivor, he needs let go of the hurtful strings by telling people his story, this way he can take a step toward forgiveness. Forgiveness can be a long process when people have done horrific things to you; however, some people need to go through this process in order to achieve inner peace. Elie needs to forgive, but not forget.

To forgive

A major contribution to trying to get over being a victim of the Holocaust is forgiveness; you have the choice to forgive or to have an everlasting hatred toward them, in most religions forgiveness the best possible way to feel a peace in life. Some religions indicate such as the Jews believe there are two types of forgiveness. There is human forgiveness, which is between the transgressions of man and man, and that God cannot forgive the transgressions Gods forgiveness between God and man that humans cannot forgive the transgressions. Over a short period, it would be hard to forgive any one whose pure hatred ruined millions of lives for generations to come, but over time, most would realize if they did not forgive the Nazis they could go on living there lives with that huge blackness in there life. Most would say in life forgiveness is everything and without it, there would be emptiness in life. Everyone should forgive one another for any wrong doing that might in some way ruined there lives, no matter on how hard it would be for them. Elie should forgive the Nazis.

Forgiveness

God says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It would be very hard for one to forgive someone who has done so much wrong and heaped so much suffering on them. We, as readers about the Holocaust who were not actually there, cannot see the full picture of what all took place in that time period. It is hard to say Jews should forgive just because we cannot fully understand what they went through. Most people believe in order to forgive, the wrongdoer should ask for forgiveness, but if one had any little faith at all, they would know that God’s will is to forgive everyone so we can get away from our misery and not have to dwell on the past because God does not want to see any of his children suffer. It is important that we forgive so that one can move on with their life and have a chance for a happier future. Elie should forgive because God says that everyone should forgive everyone, no matter the circumstances, and so he can find a peace and happiness in his heart.

Forgiveness

Without forgiveness, there is no happiness. A person who does not forgive could continue on with their life, move on to different things, and think that they are happy, but in their heart there would always be a place of bitterness, grief, and anger; they would never truly be happy. Yes, Elie should forgive the Nazis, even though they probably do not deserve it. It is easily understandable why no one would want to forgive them, considering all the impossibly horrible things they did to innocent people. However, what is done is done, no one can go back and change what happened, and it can not be undone. Harboring anger and unforgiveness for something that can not be changed only continues to destroy a person from the inside out. The only way to stop the destruction and to heal the wound is to grant forgiveness. It is not our place to hold on to things and to judge those who have wronged us, the Lord is the one who judges and avenges the wrongs against us. Let go and let God.

Reason for forgiveness

All people should have forgiveness. None of us should carry around a burden of hatred and regret that will eat away at us on the inside turning ourselves into cold dark shells. Many people believe that you should not forgive somebody that is unrepentant. Those who choose not to forgive condemn themselves with a life of hatred. More hatred and regret comes out from living life in darkness, once you hold on to that hatred devastating effects come from that as a repercussion; you begin to feel angrier and you take it out on everything in your way for absolutely no reason. Without forgiveness there cannot be any happiness, without happiness there is no real reason for life. Elie should forgive the Nazis, what happened in the past happened and no one can change it; no one should dwell and linger in the past for it causes more darkness. To move on and forgive the Nazis, Elie would regain happiness and live life easier not full of all the darkness that comes from not forgiving them. All people should forgive others whether or not they deserve it; no one wants to live life as an empty shell. No one wants to live through life without happiness. With forgiveness comes happiness; with happiness comes peace and tranquility along with serenity.

Forgiveness = Happiness

One major theme of the Holocaust deals with the topic of forgiveness and raises the basic questions of whether or not to forgive the Nazis for their terrible acts of persecution. There are many different opinions that arise when people hear this question, and in a personal opinion, my belief is that OVER TIME the Jewish people almost have to forgive the Nazi people for there terrible acts. After enduring such acts and being a survivor of this terrible tragedy, living a life full of hatred afterwards would be a miserable life to have. There will be people who will not forgive the Nazi people what so ever, and will have an everlasting hatred towards the Nazi race, but by keeping this burning hatred, those people’s lives are ruined. Those people that do not release this anger and frustration are bothered for the rest of their lives. It would be absurd to think that a Jewish person could quickly forgive the Nazis, but overtime, working through all the grief and pain eventually, to be happy, they would have to release the anger and forgive the Nazi race. The Bible says it best, you must forgive people who have done you wrong, it may be very hard but you must do so.

Forgiveness

Elie should forgive those who have persecuted him, although they treated him in the worst ways because everyone deserves second chances no matter how badly they have sinned. If everyone can repent and get forgiveness from God, then everyone should be able to obtain forgiveness from human beings because no sin is greater than another sin. On the other hand, some sins deserve more punishment then others do, it takes longer to forgive people who have sinned in such ways. Those who have persecuted him have been punished for their actions and now deserve forgiveness from him. It would make his life much easier and it would rid his mind of bottled up anger. If he were to go on with his life and never forgive them, he would live with regret and always feel anger towards them when it’s not healthy to hold grudges, especially in this situation. Elie really needs to get in sync with his spiritual side, he needs to get closer with God and let Him help him through this because it would really relieve him of any stress. Forgiveness is a difficult thing and forgetting is close to impossible, but the world needs forgiveness.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is essential for humans to live in peace with one another. I believe Elie should forgive because without forgiveness, the world is nothing. By not forgiving others for the wrongs they have done you, can be a way of dwelling in the past, but forgiveness is the first step in moving on from whatever you have gone through. This process is not an easy thing to do and cannot be achieved instantly, especially for those who are survivors of the Holocaust. The things survivors of the Holocaust went through were horrific, and understandably, it would be exceedingly difficult to forgive the Nazis for all the deaths they caused. However, the only possible way for them to leave the Holocaust behind and move on with their lives would be to forgive and forget. God has a reason for all things that occur and He had a reason for the Holocaust. As humans, we may never understand the purpose of it, but we must forgive one another or the consequences will be forever living in the past.

Forgiveness

Elie in my opinion should forgive the wrong doings of his Nazi persecutors. Forgiveness is an important role in life for people to be able to have peace and harmony in the world. However, Elie should give forgiveness because God says that all people should forgive everyone. I know that with this circumstance it would be hard to trust in God, but no matter the problem Elie should trust, forgive, and be able to move on with his life. If he does not forgive and continues to dwell in the past Elie is never going to be content with life. Forgiveness is just part of every day, without it there is never going to be anything to anybody’s life and no one would ever be happy or content with themselves or anyone else. In time, people will just have to face that God will do everything for a reason whether we like it or not. We may never understand why the hurting happens but have to trust that it is the right thing for the time and just learn to forgive and trust that in time all will be well.