Hamlet Memorization
6 years ago
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I am so lucky to have an amazing job at the best high school in the world with the most wonderful students (MOST of the time). Here I will share my musings, reflect on literature, and showcase cool assignments.
What I'm Reading...
- Grace for the Good Girl by Emily Freeman
- In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
- Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Blogroll...
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Week of 9/106 years ago
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Extra Credit Assignment13 years ago
Sonja DuBois
We were honored to have Sonja DuBois, Holocaust survivor, hidden child, spend the day with us on Thursday, April 3. Her story was compelling and moving and we so enjoyed getting to know her. She is pictured here with her husband, Ron.
Survivor of Sobibor
Pictured here are some of my students with Mr. Phillip Bialowitz, one of the ten living survivors of the Nazi extermination camp Sobibor. His son, Joe Bialowitz, is in the picture as well. It was an honor to hear Mr. Bialowitz speak.
Blog Archive
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2008
(90)
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April
(19)
- These Great United States of Ours
- Haunting...
- Do Not Mourn Me
- Love and Anguish
- Raining Death
- Memorials
- Blended Poetry Based on The Cage
- Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed
- Survival in Auschwitz
- Dry Tears
- Milkweed
- In My Hands
- I Have Lived a Thousand Years
- Holocaust Lit: Your Input Needed
- Their Stories
- "Escape from Sobibor"
- The Passionate AP Students to...
- What Cause will You Commit to?
- Your Responsibility
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April
(19)
About Me
My Top Ten Books
- The Bible
- The English Patient
- Night
- All is Vanity
- The Things They Carried
- Three Weeks with My Brother
- The Alchemist
- Redeeming Love
- King Lear
- Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas
13 comments:
I loved this book. It was great to hear about a rescuer in the holocaust. I think that Irene was a great person.The scarifices she made to save her friends were unbelieveable.
I have not gotten very far into the book so far, but I have already noticed something...When we think of the Holocaust and World War II, we don't realize that others were thrown into turmoil besides the Jews. In the book, Irene must fight for her life as the Germans and Russians begin to invade Poland. She is constantly fearing that she will be taken somewhere against her will, and she even encounters a couple of instances where she is the victim of several sexual attacks. So far, the book has opened my eyes to the reality of the horror inflicted upon the peoples of the countries occupied by the Nazis.
In response to Robby's comment. The whole time I was reading the book I was also thinking about how I had never really considered the others that suffered besides the Jews. I don't know what I would do if someone was invading my homeland a telling me how to live.
And I think that is one thing that our Israeli visitors said to us about Israel's required military service. It makes a person a lot more willing to serve in the military when you are going to be defending your homeland as opposed to leaving and going to serve in another country.
What I like about the beginning about the book is how Irene and her mother and sisters would take in injured animals and nurse them back to health, I think it adds a touch of humility, just a thought.
anonymous is Harry
BOOGA BOOGA!!!
Mrs. Davis brings up a good point which I had not considered. As Americans we never think about sustained fighting on our own soil because it has only happened during the American Revolution and the Civil War. The peoples of Europe have a whole different outlook on military service because they are usually directly protecting their homeland.
One thing that stood out to me in the book was when Irene, after having seen the ghetto from the window, had to decide whether to allow her sister to see what the Nazis were doing to the Jews in the ghetto. It would be such a hard decision because you want to protect those you love from any type of physical or emotional pain, but you also want them to know the truth.
I would not have let my sister see the ghetto. I would want to spare her from the horrible visions, but Robby makes a good point because I would want her to know what is going on. Another part in the book that made me really think Irene was a good person was when she became a mistress just to protect her friends.
Another part that made me think Irene was an amazing person was when Ida found out that she was pregnant and Irene told her that they would find a way to keep the baby.
*We need to start coming up with questions for the test.*
I am enjoying this conversation, but aren't there more people in this group? Elizabeth and Robby's grades are going to be great, what of the rest of yours???
Harry says: Well one of the problems Poland faced at the beginning of the war is the possibility of a two-front war. Poland did not know if the Red Army was going to invade at the same time as the Wehrmacht, because both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia wanted to set up their own "sphere of influence" Polands military power was very weak and definitly did not stand a chance in mechanized warfare, which is why they had to resort to partisan warfare. Also remember that the land that the Russian take will be taken by the Germans in Operation Barbarossa June 22, 1941 and will be fought on again when the Germans retreat after the fall of the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad. So to sum it all up and stop me from ranting, yeah the Polish people and the army suffered heavily thru the war.
P.S. I have questions written down just ask if you want me to post them.
Well I just finished the book, and all I can say is that it was amazing. At first it started out a little slow for my liking but as I got deepeer and deeper into the story I found myself reading for longer periods of time. Anyways, I just wanted to talk about what I thought to be the pinnacle of the storyline. The part of the story where Irene is caught standing at the top of the stairs with Clara and Fanka when Major Rugemer walks in is very powerful, not so much because of that particular situation, but because of the results of it. Irene is a very moral girl. She has principles. So when she is faced with the decision of whether to sacrifice her morals to become Rugemer's mistress or to betray her friends, her inner struggle is apparent. With her decision to sacrifice her morals in order to protect her friends' lives, her dedication to those friends and to what is right is solidified to the highest degree. It just really embodies the spirit of the partisans and rescuers during the Holocaust. For me, it was the part of the book which will stick with me forever.
Harry says: I really enjoyed reading the book. I would have to say what affected me the most in the book, which was weird because it was at the beginning, is how she reacted to hearing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact. I really liked the story as a whole and it was a really good read.
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