Lit Terms 2
5 years ago
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
20 lbs...
Gerda Weissman Klein and her family members were told that they could carry 20 lbs worth of items when they were deported. Look around your room, your house, your car, your school... can you imagine if your entire life, your history, your life story had to be collected into a 20 lb package? What impact must this have had on Gerda and her family? What impact would it have on you? Is there a societal difference between the world she was living in prior to the Holocaust and our materialistic country?
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6 comments:
20 pounds...it seems like a heavy weight but when thats the restriction on how much you can take of valuable things, it is very small. I don't think i could imagine only being able to take 20 pounds of memories of my life with me if I had to go somewhere. It would have had a very big impact on her and her family's life because they wanted to bring so much, yet they could only bring a little. It would have an even bigger impact on me. We live in a materialistic world where people who have the most things are "winners". I am guilty of being materialistic sometimes, and i try to catch myself when i am being like that. Yes, i believe there is a difference because back then, most people only wanted and needed essentials, other things were just a bonus. In todays time, essentials are a given and people want and need the bonuses.
Twenty pounds is so little in comparison to their real possesions. It's depressing to think that someone could be so cruel to do this to human beings, which they were contrary to Nazi propaganda. Being able to only carry twenty pounds leaves no room for them to bring along things that would actually bring them joy, like games. They would only be able to take necessities like clothes, food, etc. Unfortunately, even this little amount of what they were able to carry was even taken away, whether it was because they traded it for something else, or the soldiers would take it from them. I couldn't even imagine having to do this.
A 20 lb collection would not be a lot even though it seems heavy. You would only be able to take a few clothing items, little food, and whatever necessaties you needed. I believe the impact the Germans wanted to put on Jews was that they didn't own anything and they were the most worthless things on earth. The impact on Gerda's family was that it stripped them from their history, their memories, and other priceless objects. It made it seem as if they weren't really people anymore with pasts and memories, but they were just pests who had an extermination in the end. I think the impact on our society now would be totally different from the one it had in Germany. Ours would be so much more materialistic. It's sad that if our society was put in that position we wouldn't worry about clothing or food first (well atleast the teenagers) but our cellphones or Myspace or something materialistic. We would still worry about status if we were only allowed to take 20 lbs. It makes me wonder how many people in todays world would think to bring memories like pictures and notes or if we would just think of our blackberries and laptops?
20 lbs really is (like everyone else has said) so little. While yes our world is much more materialistic, when you're reading the book Gerda mentions many times how much all of the stuff in her house meant to her. Also, with our technology, all of your family pictures, and home videos (which, to me, are the material posessions that matter most anyway) can be held in far less than a single pound. I also think that in terrible times, you don't really think about all your stuff but about everything that matters so much more than that. Your family, your friends, and your memories. However, I'm not saying that it wouldn't be beyond difficult to package your world into 20 pounds, nor am I trying to make the situation seem less horrible.
I definitely agree with bethany when it comes to being able to carry things that are very light (like digital cameras and stuff) and can carry memories of a lifetime. But you have to remember...they didn't really have fancy digital cameras and all that jazz back then. I do agree that twenty pounds is, by no means, a great deal of one's possessions. It is easy to say that all I really need is food and my cell phone (forget the blankets and real-life necessities), but I WOULD need more. I enjoy reading books and the majority of my favorites are quite large. I hear many times over from my parents and grandparents and others that "we only had our imagination and...and...we played outside for fun. Now all of you kids just ask for us to buy you stuff to have fun with." This in itself is a great indicator of the differences between present times and during the time prior to the Holocaust. Sadly, our society will never reverse. We will continue to get more object-oriented until it consumes us..
--if it hasn't already.
Having to pack only a 20 lb bag would have been horrible. I bet Gerda and her family had to think a long time to be sure to pack the right things cause they most likely wouldn't see them again. It would have a big impact on me. I have no clue what i would do with only 20 lbs. I wouldn't know what to pack. I think there is a difference between the two times because now we have more technology and we have all of our own gadgets that we love so much. We would pack all the stuff we want, but not all that we need.
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