Final Task: Ideagram

By: Kayla Smart

To what extent can prejudice be overcome?

Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where hatred was non-existent? Well as nice as it is to think about, unfortunately, I think that even though we have evolved so much since the holocaust, there will always be those few people that will know matter what "pre- judge". There are going to be those few dozen peoples that think some people aren't as equal as they are; or don't have the same rights as them because they look different or have a different religion. In the novel "Parallel Journeys" there are signs that prejudice is conquerable. Near the end of the novel, Helen, the Jewish main character spent two months at Auschwitz, where two million people suffered throughout the war, the smoke from the crematoria was always in sight. Helen was then shipped to Kratzau, a work camp where women were given very little food and lived in freezing tents filled with lice. She was extremely weak and ill by the time the Russian troops finally reached Kratzau to free her and the other survivors. so in conclusion, even though we may never reach the fantasy of living in a world where there is no hatred, we can still be thankful to live in a world where prejudice has made an extreme amount of progress.

Quotes from "Parallel Journeys"

"It was an event that brought to an end all hope of fair treatment for the Jews in Germany. the Nuremberg Racial Laws were passed. These laws made it very clear who was a Jew. Immediately, all Jews lost their citizenship . They could no longer fly the German flag. German citizens of the Third Reich were forbidden to marry Jews. Many towns in Germany announced a new goal- to be Juderien- clean of Jews."

This quote screams discrimination. After the laws were passed, it was the beginning of a long, hurtful journeyfor the Jewish. They were treated like dirt, put into camps, tortured and killed. Reading this quote can make a person think that prejudice will never be overcome.

"If you were Jewish with a common name like "Karl" or "Heidi", the Nazi said you must change your name to something "obviously Jewish" like "Abraham" or "Sarah" so you could be identified more easy"

I think that the Germans have taken it too far. The Jews were already being treated like they are an unknown species so I dont understand why they had to go out of their way to make it even worse for the Jewish. These are the reason i think prejudice will never fully be overcome. If these people go this far to make the Jews miserable then i think there is a very slim change that they will just forget about
" The government was sending them away to work in Poland, Maybe this wasn't right or fair, but the Fatherland needed workers. Why not send the Jews? nobody wanted them anyways."

There really isn't anything that mind-boggling in this quote, but the last sentence says so much. " why not send the Jews? no one wanted them anyways." This is simple but it means so much more than it looks. It pretty much means that they are using them to do their dirty work. they are treated them like lab rats. Its not fair. So in conclusion, in all of these three quotes, it doesn't sound like there is ever going to be a world without prejudice. Fortunatley, society has done an amazing job of trying to extinguish prejudice.

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viewing the holocaust today: Phillip Brooks

" During the holocaust, thousands of paintings and sculptures were either stolen by the Nazis or left in the homes of Jews who had been fled or arrested. The stolen art has often been sold and resold, donated to museums or passed from one family to another with no knowledge of origin."

The Nazis took this artwork because they thought the Jews were already gone to be arrested or killed so they wouldn't need it anyways. The Nazis don't care about what happens to the Jews as long as they can get the artwork.
" Upon the arrival of the at Birkeneau, the receiving area at the Auschwitz camp, Elie and his father were separated from his mother and younger sister who were immediately killed in the gas chambers. of this experience weisel writes in night: never shall i forget this fight, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed... never shall i forget these moments which murders by god and my soul and turned my dreams into dust. never shall i forget these things. Even if i am condemned to live as long as god himself. Never."

Looking at this situation from his perspective I realized how hard it must be for the Jews to have to cope with their families and close friends dying on top of being tortured by the Germans. The Germans discriminate against the Jews so much and I don't think that they deserved such miserable lives.
"Conditions for Jews and other unpopular minorities improved briefly during the 1936 Berlin Olympics but quickly worsened after the games ended and attention from the outside world shifted elsewhere."

Hitler went to the Olympics with the national team of athletes in Berlin 1936. he went in thinking his athletes were going to walk away with all the golds but were found very angered when an African- American athlete named Jesse Owens won all the the golds instead of Hitlers team. the conditions worsened after the Olympics because Hitler was furious that his team didn't excel. but as much as Hitler wanted to attack, he had to resist because the whole worlds eyes were on him."
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This picture represents the discrimination towards the Jewish. They had these signs every where as to show the Jews they weren't allowed, as if they didn't know already. i think this picture is very symbolic because it shows the prejudice against them. The Germans know, the Jews know, Everybody knew that they weren't welcomed anywhere but the Germans still but up the signs as a reminder.