More Thoughts on the Holocaust

By: Morgan

This day was the most emotional of all the days on the Freedom Tour so far. Today, we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. When we got to the front door, we had to wait in line. All of our hearts were heavy because we knew what we were going to see, and we were all sad. I asked Dash what he was feeling at that time. His reply was, ”I was wondering what it was going to be like. I was nervous.” We all were nervous as we entered the museum. We walked down some stairs and took an identity card. The identity cards are cards that are four pages long. One the first page there was a picture of a real person who experienced the Holocaust, and information like when and where they were born. You open that page on the fourth floor (we start on the top and work our way down), then the next page on the third, and so on. You don’t know if they survived until the end. After getting our cards we all sat down and listened to what we were going to experience and the rules. There were three elevators that could each hold twenty-five people. We got on the elevators in the order that they came and once we were inside the TV started to play. The video that was playing was about the Nazis and Germany. We reached the top and stepped out. The first thing that you saw was a large picture of a pile of dead bodies inside a concentration camp. It was very sad to see how many people had been killed so cruelly, and the fact that they were just thrown into a pile together was sickening to think about. After going around the wall you came upon a room. This had one of the outfits that the prisoners wore hanging up, as well as a little theater and pictures and information on the rise of the Nazis. I went in to watch the video along with many others. The video was called The Nazi Rise to Power, and the title says what it was about. I learned many things about the Nazis that I hadn’t known before, including that Hitler took his right arm raise from the Italian leader. After the presentation was over I continued on through the fourth floor. I came across this section about how the Nazis burned any book that they deemed “un-German.” There was a quote on the wall that said:


“Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned.”

- Heinrich Heine

German Jewish Poet


This quote sadly became true, as the Nazis burned many people inside the concentration camps. I think that, when Heine wrote this, he didn’t know that it would become sickeningly true. The fourth floor continued on, talking about how the Nazis rose to power and took over Germany. The next thing you saw was how the Nazis used propaganda and fear to manipulate the German population. They had posters with drawings of artist-depicted  “Jewish” people, which were drawn unrealistically to scare the Germans. This was a very cruel thing to do as they were not all actually monsters as the drawings showed but kind, loving people. The next part was about technology that the Nazis used. One thing that stood out to me was that they needed a machine, called the Hollerith, to keep track of how many prisoners they had. Just the fact that they needed technology to keep track of them shows how many that they took. When I walked around the corner I saw a bed, but a inhuman-looking bed. I read the sign next to it and learned that it was one of the beds that they used to killed handicapped people in. Hitler had created an operation called Operation T4, which was a secret killing of handicapped people. This is something that I didn’t know had happened, and I was shocked to learn about it. This was the end of the fourth floor.

To get to the third floor you walked through a sloped glass hallway. On one side of the hallway was the names of all the Jewish towns and cities that had been nearly or completely wiped out by Hitler.   There were so many towns. I stood there for a second, then I moved on. The first thing on the third floor was about the ghettos that the Jewish people were forced to live in. They were small, cramped places that had little to no sanitation, which led to sickness and death. At the end of the war they found out that there had been 400 ghettos all around the country. This took me by surprise. I had thought that there would have been far less, but I was wrong. The next section appalled me. I learned that there were specially trained “killing squads” that traveled with the Nazis as they invaded other countries. They killed thousands of Jewish people right then and there, then threw them on the ground and left. This was very disturbing, so I moved quickly on. The next thing that I saw was one of the train cars that they used to transport the Jewish people to the concentration camps. I know that they put up to eighty people into the cars, so I was taken aback when I saw just how small the cars were. They were very small. I can’t imagine the uncomfortableness and pain the inhabitants must have been in. I walked through the car and continued on. The next thing that stood out to me was the shelves filled with peoples belongings. There were hairbrushes, pillows, and prosthetic legs there. These were very sad to look at, but I was horrified at the next room. This room, on both sides, were filled with shoes. There were children’s shoes, high heels, slippers, avery kind of show you could imagine was there. To think that these shoes had all been wore by a living human being that had been put through terrible and tragic events was heartbreaking to think about. The next room had a picture of all the hair that the Nazis had collected, whether to use it to stuff mattresses or to line shoes. The next room had a video that you could watch that was about the medical experiments they did to prisoners. The video showed pictures of a person being put under air pressure that was getting thicker and thicker, and it showed the pain that he was being put through. It also told us about the cold water experiments and the surgeries that they did to the people, while they were still alive. This was very disturbing to watch, and I am disgusted that a human being could do that to another person. That was the last thing that stood out to me on the third floor. 


To get to the second floor you had to walk through another sloped glass hallway, but this time the inscriptions were names of victims, whether they lived or not. The first thing that I saw on the second floor was a video of how they disposed of the bodies. They showed a girl being dragged across the ground then tossed into a pit. The most disturbing way, however, was when they had a big pile of bodies that they pushed with a bulldozer into the “grave.” “There’s really nothing more horrifying than seeing thousands of bodies being dumped without any care or remorse into a big dirt pit,” Mikayla said. This floor had a hallway dedicated to the children of the Holocaust. One of the sides was filled with drawings that some of the children made in the ghettos before they were sent off. It was very sad to think that many of these children probably didn’t survive. The next thing that touched my heart was the video that they were playing. It showed different survivors telling there stories. One was about death marches. She said how they had to line up four abreast and march with no rests through freezing weather for months on end. They shown a small light on the group, and if you stepped out of the light or lagged behind they shot you. She said how, to get some rest, the other three girls would hold you while you slept for five minutes, then switch off, all while marching. They did this for five months straight. The fact that they managed to survive through all of this touches your heart and makes you rethink everything you have ever complained about. After watching this for about fifteen minutes, I continued on to the first floor. 


The first thing you could do on the first floor was write in a book your feelings and thoughts. It was very touching to read everything that people had to say, and there even was a Holocaust survivor that had written in it. On this floor there was a Hall of Remembrance, which you could go in and light a candle for all those who died, and for the ones who lived. The final thing that you could do was walk through this set up of Daniel’s life. Daniel was a made-up boy, but was based off of real children during the Holocaust. You could walk through his house, then the ghetto and concentration camps he lived in. Along the way you could read some of his diary entries explaining what was happening at that time. At the end you could write him a letter and “mail” it to him. The Holocaust Memorial Museum was a very horrific yet touching memorial that played on my heartstrings and made me question what humanity is. It is very hard to express just what I was feeling, so I wrote a poem about the Holocaust.


Never Forge

Shoes piled high

Hair in a mound

Millions who will nevermore utter a sound

Cut short from life

In horrible ways

With solemn eyes they gaze

At their tormentors and saviors

Family and friends

Who tried to stay with them all through their ends

Never forget those who perished

Never forget the ones who were saved

And never forget all that they gave

One More Post

Today was the last day of the Brunswick Freedom Tour 2012. We woke up extra early and drove to New York City to go to the today show. This was an amazing experience for all of the kids. "Being able to put a poster on the today show that said 'In loving Memory of Alex Labbe' meant so much to me. It shows how much Quinn and I really care about him, and how we will never forget him. He made a great impact on our lives. I like making people happy, and I know I made Alex's parents more than happy." -Lilly Gardiner. We then went to the Top of the Rock, took pictures, walked about, then got into groups and went shopping throughout Times Square. This was a great opportunity for the kids that don't get to go shopping, or kids that most likely won't go to back to New York City. I know it meant a lot to me because I have seen anew York City on TV for my whole life, and it came my reality for a day - my birthday! I, and all of the kids that came on the Brunswick Freedom Tour 2012, had an amazing time and amazing opportunities. Thank you Phil, Marybeth, Tom, Chris, and all the volunteer leaders for making all this possible for us kids. It mean more than we could explain.  

Quinn

Hi my name Keenan. I'm not the best typer ever so bear with me. The Freedom Tour was a great experience. The stuff you see doesn't sink in when you think about like it does when you see it. You can't learn the same thing in school as you can learn it in person. Seeing it make you realize a lot more. But its not all about learning about the Amish or WWII memorials it's also about the little things too like the bus rides and the hotel. I get to be with my friends and peers and have a great time learning about our country and its great triumphs. From day one the tour taught a lot. This is a experience you can't miss. Even if you're too old to go on the tour take a road trip. You won't be disappointed at what you see. It will teach you a lot. I'm so glad I took the trip and the time to spend learning more about our history and what has happened to bring us to where we are now. I love learning about our history and seeing where it has brought us and think about what will come. The Freedom Tour was one of the best decisions I had made this summer and I would like to do it again.

Our final days of the Freedom Tour have drawn to a close. As I write this, we are traveling through New York on our way to Brunswick. We started off our day at 5:00 AM. That was not a typo, it really said 5:00. We were all zombies who were barely awake when we got on the bus, but by 7:00, when we reached the today show, we were all wide awake. It was so exciting to see all of our favorite news anchors. We even got to meet Al!!!!!! The  most exciting part was seeing Peter Parker A.K.A.  Andrew Garfield. Some of the students got to have a conversation with him and said that he was very nice. Libbey, when asked about Andrew, said, "OH MY GOD!!!!!! HE IS A TERRIFIC DANCER AND HE IS SOOO HOT!!!!!!" I never knew Libbey was such a spider man fanatic. Aurora said to me, "Andrew is just so funny!" Even after Andrew asked us to get out of the pouring rain, we continued to stand dutifully outside. After the Today Show we went to the top of the rock where we could see all of New York. Then it was time for the thing all of us have been waiting for; shopping! We went all over downtown New York looking for the perfect souvenirs, or in Libbey's case, the perfect chocolaty snack. Monica  was one of a few people who went to Abercrombie & Fitch and got her picture taken with a male model. Our group had tons of fun at Urban Outfitters when we decided to try on the most ridiculous shoes we have ever seen in our lives. We then headed to lunch at the Hard Rock Café to meet up with the rest of the group. Inside the restaurant was some of the coolest artifacts we've ever seen. They had suits belonging to The Beatles and even some vintage motorcycles. Now we are on the bus heading home. I've asked a few students their opinions on the Freedom Tour. Alexis remembers the dinner theater as her favorite part of the trip, "I liked how everyone got to dress up," she exclaimed. Lena's favorite place to visit was Gettysburg, "It made history come alive," she explained. "The saddest part of this trip was either the Holocaust Museum or the Pentagon Memorial. The Holocaust was such a sad and scary piece of history; it was hard to see all the things that happened. However, the Pentagon was horrible too. As we entered through there, many people cried." None of us will ever forget what went on this week of our lives and we can not thank everyone enough. Thanks to the volunteers, Phill, and Marybeth. Most importantly, thank you. The parents who helped us get to the trip. We love and miss you! Can't wait to get home! 
~Mikayla 

Day #7 NYC....Again/ Trip Overview

Wow, it's the last day of the Freedom Tour and I can't believe how fast it's gone by. today we went to NBC's the Today's Show in the pouring rain to see Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone from the upcoming The Amazing Spiderman. After we went to the top of Rockefeller Plaza, went shopping, and ate lunch at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square.  All in all I must say that the trip ended on an awesome note. the trip itself had started in New York City in insane heat, and was pretty fast paced. On the third day we whisked off to Pennsylvania to see Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and the Amish country. Then after just one day and a short morning we were off to Washington D.C.  where the history was incredible. Going to the White House, Smithsonian Museums, Holocaust Museum, and the many, many, many memorials and monuments was a one in a lifetime chance. 
Toby's Dinner Theatre was incredible, and the Pentagon Memorial was beautiful, yet very sad. Now we are leaving New York behind on our last day. The memories we made were incredible. From the very first few meetings at school to rejoicing about even limited pool time. And of course, who could forget about the dance parties on the bus?! Everyone had memories to share.

Below are interviews with some classmates:

Alexis:
Most Memorable: "The hot weather! I will never forget that, and all the fun memories involved.
Funnest Thing You Did: "Dance parties on bus, most definitely."
Last Thoughts: "I think anyone who is even slightly interested should go. It was one of the best things you can do in life."

Dash:
Most Memorable: "Katz's Deli, the food was AMAZING!!"
Most Fun: "Dance parties on the bus." (Shocker)
Last Thoughts: "I wish it had been cooler in Chinatown, it would have been more enjoyable."

Mae:
Most Memorable: "The Today's Show, seeing Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone."
Most Fun: "Umm tough question, probably bus rides and Today's Show. Pool time too. And shopping, and Toby's Theatre."
Last Thoughts: "I'm tired."

Lena:
Most Memorable: "Buying from the street vendors in New York City."
Most Fun: "Pool night at the resort!"
Last Thoughts: "When buying from street vendors, check your merchandise before walking away..."

As you can see, New York left a lasting impression on most people. I also want to add a thought for you all. When faced with the decision to go, sign up without hesitation. You will make new and unexpected friends, and memories that will last a lifetime. 
The one thing that stuck with me all week was D.C. learning about different wars and the Holocaust. By far though, waving to Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield was an amazing moment. For my precise thoughts on him, read Mikayla's blog. From bus rides to boiling heat, from the heat to ecstasy in the poring rain over major stars, this week was incredible. You really learn what freedom means. Freedom has a price, it's a right that has to be protected by the brave soldiers who fight for it. Freedom from your parents and to make good choices. 
I will never forget everything I did this week. I mean, I got to perform at the legendary Apollo Theatre! How many fourteen year-olds can say that?! To wrap things up I want to say some thanks. Thank you to the head chaperones Phil, Chris, Officer Stanton, and of course Mary-Beth. Thank you to the parental chaperones/ team leaders, bless your souls for dealing with all of us for a week! One last one, a MAJOR thank you to the nurses and people who supplied water! You.Are.Amazing. 
Lastly, I'm a very lucky girl for getting to go on this trip, anyone who has the chance should take it.

CIAO!
~Libbey 

"I truly think this was a once in a life time opportunity" The first morning of the trip, I had to wake up early because I always forget to pack one item (usually the more important items). When I finally arrived at the Bath YMCA I just could not wait to get on the bus to go to New York City, but after a few hours on the bus I was ready to get off. Sure enough we arrive in New York City, and it was nothing like I have ever seen before, the buildings were huge, and I loved how there was so many cultures mixed altogether in such a small space. When we arrived in Apollo theater, everyone was so welcoming, and a great environment to be around. Tessa and I went on stage and got everyone to do "Head, shoulder, knees, and toes". We also got to go to Katz's deli which has amazing brisket sandwich, and good french fries. The next morning we took a ferry ride to Liberty Island, and of course saw Lady Liberty. I learn a couple of "fun facts" about Lady Liberty, she is the roman goddess of freedom, and the seven pokers on the top of her head represent the seven seas (I also think it could be the seven continents). Then we went to Ellis Island, and learn about the reasons why people immigrated to the United States, wishing for a better life, jobs, and family. Then we went to Battery Park which I think is were I learned my best lesson. I went to get water from a stand, I only had two one dollar bills, and one twenty dollar bill. The sign said two dollars for a water, I paid with the two ones that I had, the man said that the water was three dollars, so I gave him the twenty. I was supposed to get nineteen dollars back but I on got nine dollars back (At the moment I did not check what I gotten for change) but when it was time to go I realized I was ripped off. I was not  to happy about that for a while because I thought that I would never get my ten dollars back but thanks to Michelle (My group leader) she got the money back from the guy.The next day I had a lot of fun in Philly (Philadelphia) buying things, and learn that the Liberty Bell weighs 1,800 pounds, and the reason why its cracked is because after so many years of ringing it finally cracked. After than we got to go to Amish country were I bought really nice soap. The next day was a hard day because we visited the Arlington National, and the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. The next day we went Toby's dinner which I would love to do again everyone looked very put together, the food was great, and The Wizard Of Oz, was great. Today we got to go to the Today show and got to see spider man (the actor) and got to be on National Television. "I completely would do this again, and I think I truly understand the meaning of the freedom this country has fought for, and protected.

-Alexis

      
The Freedom Tour has taught me so many facts about the history and freedom of the United States. Some of the things I learned this week was about the immigration during the 1900's and how many immigrants came over to Ellis Island to register in New York City. I also learned about the Lady Liberty and how she was made out of copper and was given as a present from France for the United States's 100 years of independence also in New York City. I learned many other things in Philadelphia including learning about the Declaration of Independence and also about how the United States got it's independence. The next day we went to Gettysburg and we learned about the Battle of Gettysburg which was one of the most bloodiest battles of the Civil War. We also got to see the battlefield of that war. The next day we went to Washington D.C. We got to see many of the memorials including the Holocaust Memorial, Pentagon Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and many more. After going to Washington D.C. for three days we decided to go back to New York City and shop and also see the today show. The today show was great and amazing because my friend and I were seen on television and it was one of the most greatest experiences ever. I think that the Freedom Tour was the most greatest experience of my life because it's a once in a life time chance to see all of these amazing states, cities and towns. 

During the Freedom Tour, I had many favorite sights that I loved to see. One of the sights was the Pentagon Memorial. The Pentagon Memorial was one of the most depressing moments of my life because it symbolized the 911 attack on New York, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. Even though there were many moments that I had to let out my feelings, I thought that it was one of the most important life lessons to learn from. My second favorite sight was the Vietnam Memorial because I got to learn many things during the whole tour and I also got to hear stories from children who had fathers and brothers who fought during the war. My third favorite sight was Ellis Island because I got to learn about where and how the immigrants got through to get into the country. I also loved to see the Ellis Island because I always wanted to see the island and the history behind it all. The Freedom Tour was one of my favorite trips and I would want to go back onto the trip if I could again.

Kelly