Introduction

                I’m a senior at Westborough High School.  Every year we are able to choose a few different elective classes but I wasn’t sure what to pick for my last year of high school.  After reviewing all my choices I decided I was interested in taking a history class.  I always enjoyed learning about the past so I chose the course Facing History and Ourselves.  All I knew about the class was that we were going to watch many different films.  I wasn’t sure what to expect because I didn’t know what events we were going to review.  Once the class began I quickly realized that what we were being taught was important historical events that everyone should learn before graduation.  We started the course by learning about identity, what it meant, what ours was, and how to determine someone else’s.  We learned that the most important thing to us is our identity; it’s what makes us who we are.  We were then taught about segrigation and racism in America.  Mr. Gallagher then showed us real footage.  We also discussed the Armenian genocide.  After that Mr. Gallagher showed us movies about the holocaust.  We talked about true historical events and watched movies about how life was in concentration camps.  This course wasn’t the same as any other class I have taken because we went deeper into how the holocaust began.  It showed us how horribly humans were treated.  I think it’s so important for everyone to learn about the past so this history will never repeat itself. 

What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me

                I chose the course Facing History and Ourselves because of its reputation.  The entire group of students, who took the class before me, said it was a must have prior to anyone graduating.  The only thing I knew going into the class was that we would be watching upsetting movies.  I had no idea it would change the way I viewed everyone around me. 

                We learned a lot about history during the semester, but what stuck to me the most was learning about segregation between the black and whites in America and the holocaust.   Segregation and racism was a big issue in America.  The whites looked down on the blacks.  They separated themselves from them and didn’t think of them as humans.  We watched movies of real footage that showed the way the blacks were treated.  Watching real footage really hit me.  It is one thing to learn about the people being mistreated and beaten and it’s another seeing the action.  We all learned about discrimination in other history classes but in Facing History and Ourselves we went deeper into specifics.  Before learning about segregation we learned about identity and what determines who we are.  A main reason that people were hurt or killed due to racism was because a lot of people thought they were better than someone else.  They used the part of people’s identity that no one has control over as a weakness and many others would stand up to them to force them to stop.  Hearing about these stories of history made me even more certain that I would never use anyone’s identity against them.  Another realization I came to was that watching someone being bullied and not putting a stop to it is just as bad as bullying that person.  If there was someone there to stick up to racists then racism and segrigation would have died out a long time ago. 

                We also learned about the holocaust by watching close to historically accurate movies, having discussions, reading articles, and watching documentaries.  The way this course was taught was something I never experienced in all four years in high school.  I learned more from watching the movies and having serious discussions with Mr. Gallagher and the class then I ever did reading a text book.  We watch movies like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Uprising, The Pianist, and Grey zone which helped me understand more about how horrible it was for the Jews.  Each movie showed a different point of view towards the holocaust which I believe was critical for us to see to get the whole picture. 

                The Boy in the Striped Pajamas showed the view point that a young German boy had.  It was a creative historical fiction movie about a SS officer who moved his family closer to the concentration camps in order to continue his work.  Eventually the German family realized how horrible the Jews were being treated but not before accidently killing his own son.  The Uprising was about Jews trapped in Warsaw who fought back.  I never heard of the Jews defending themselves and fighting the Nazis.  We were also shown the beginning of The Pianist which gave us an idea about how badly the Nazis treated the Jews.  The movie was based off of the true story of the Polish-Jewish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman.  I was able to finish the movie, on my own time, after being inspired to complete it because of how intriguing the beginning was.  It was so upsetting watching the Nazis treat the Jews with such disrespect.  One scene which I’ll never forget is when a soldier shot a defenseless woman after asking where they were taking them.  The movie helped me imagine how the Jews felt by seeing it from the point of view of a Jewish musician.  We also watched the Grey Zone which was also based on a true story.  It was about a Hungarian Jew chosen by Josef Mengele to be the head pathologist at Auschwitz, Dr. Miklos Nyiszli.  It was interesting to hear about the Jewish workers who would trick other incoming Jews by telling them everything would be okay, even though they knew it wouldn’t be.  They used prisoners to lead others into the gas chambers and then burn their bodies.  It was also interesting to learn about the Jewish doctor.  He would do horrible things to the people in concentration camps.  We learned about his torturous experiments on hyperthermia, which I never heard about.  It’s disgusting thinking about how bad the conditions must have been for the Jews if the Nazis could turn some of them into their helpers out of fear and even worse that they would eventually kill them every four months.  The last video we watched in the class was one of the most important in my opinion.  We saw actual uncensored footage of what the American soldiers saw when they came to the camps.  Seeing what those people had to go through was absolutely horrible.  You could see the evidence of torture by just looking at the barely living bodies.   I think that real footage helps students understand what really happened because we can see the physical evidence.  As we watched the faces of real human beings, I knew I would never be the same person.   Seeing this video benefited me the most as a student and a person because it pieced everything together.  I believe everyone needs to be educated about the holocaust so nothing close to this would ever happen again. 

                After taking this course I have a greater appreciation for life.  Most high school students have a hard time during their four years with making decisions and maturing.  We think mostly about ourselves and forget about the rest of the world.  Taking this course is a big wake up call.  Seeing what these people had to go through put everything in perspective.  We are so lucky to be living in a country that it’s against the law to kill anyone for just being different.  I now am so aware of all the blessings we get every day.  I learned to be more grateful for what I have and how I am living.  I’m glad that I chose to take Facing History and Ourselves before graduating and leaving home.  Mr. Gallagher’s movie choices and discussion topics were unique and taught us more about what truly happened during the holocaust. 

Work Cited

The Grey Zone movie poster.  Found on Google.  May 17, 2011.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas movie poster.  Found on Google.  May 17, 2011.

Uprising movie poster with actors.  Found on Google.  May 17, 2011.

The Pianist movie poster.  Found on Google.  May 17, 2011.

Picture of Jews at a concentration camp.  Found on Google.  May 17, 2011.