Blog #6 - Gerda Weissmann

Our Survivor Remembers was an educational and also very touching film about a girl named Gerda Weissmann, a Jewish girl living in the time of the Holocaust. Although Gerda and her family tried to hide from the German Nazis, one by one the Weissmann family was torn apart from each other. First, her brother, Author, whom she was very close to, was forced to register to a labor camp. Similar to her brother, Gerda’s father was forced to leave her and her mother to go to a camp. Soon after, German officers deported Gerda and her mother. When arriving to their destination, Gerda soon figured out that she and her mother would be going to different places, separating her family completely.

There were many powerful scenes in this film, but one that stood out for me was when Gerda and her friend, Ilze were walking in the Death March. During the Death March, Ilze fell very ill and knew her end was near. Before dying, she said, “I’m angry at no one, and I hope no one’s angry at me.” This stood out to be because she didn’t have any hate towards the German Nazis even though they tortured her tremendously. This showed me that even if people do horrible things, they can still be forgiven. Another scene, that stood out to me was when Gerda jumped out of the back of the truck to be with her mother. Unfortunately, she wasn’t successful and was forced back onto the truck. The man said, “You’re too young to die.” From that, you can infer that her mother was probably being taken to a death camp such as Auschwitz to be killed. I think this was important because although the main goal of Nazis’ were to kill all the Jews, they didn’t want them to be useless, but get something out of them first. Although that was usually the case, when the officer said this, I didn’t take it in that way, it made me feel that he actually cared for Gerda and didn’t want to see her die.

During the Holocaust, the dehumanization of Jews was an important thing for the Germans to make them seem in control and make the Jews self-esteem go down. Some examples were making them sleep on the ground, not feeding them, and being mentally and physically violent to them. While in a slave labor factory, Gerda meet a woman there that proved to her that not all Germans were cruel and mean. This gave Gerda hope that maybe there were other Germans like her. Also, Gerda’s imagination helped her get through the long death march.

If everything were taken away from me, I would fantasize the good times that I spent talking and laughing with my family. Also, I would miss the dinners my mom makes for me every night. Before learning about the Holocaust, I didn’t realize how much is taken for granted. The Jews in the camps would give anything to see the family members just for a few minutes, while I have mostly all day to be with mine. You don’t realize how important someone or something is to you, until it’s gone.

Persecution today many not be as big like the Holocaust was, but it is still just as important. One example is bullying, bullying definitely isn’t persecution in a way such as the Holocaust, but is still a topic that shouldn’t be forgotten. Bullying usually affects kids and teens, making their self-esteem go down and making them feel not important to society. Bullying in today’s world shares the same effects to Jews being dehumanized by German officers. Similar to Jews being persecuted by German Nazis, the people of Darfur are being persecuted by militias from Sudan. The people of Darfur are being forced from their homes and killing them, just like the Jews. To help prevent persecution from occurring over and over in history, we can start by beginning to stop caring that people are different than others, and except everyone whether they’re like you or not. Also, you could go to the president or leader of your country to get help and make it more worldwide.

In this film, the heroes were Gerda’s friends and some kind officers. They were able give her inspiration to keep going and not to give up. When Gerda jumped off the truck to be with her mother, the officer stopped her and forced her back on the truck saying he thought she was ‘too young to die.’ For me this was a slight foreshadowing that made me feel like the officer saved her life because he knew something good was going to come out of it. Also, another officer saved Gerda’s life by making forcing her to work. Although this doesn’t sound like it was saving her, it did because if the officers found Gerda lying in the barrack sick, they would have taken her to a death camp to be killed. During the death march, Gerda survived because of her courage, but also from the support and hope she received from her friends. Her friends made her realize she shouldn’t give up and made her strive to keep going until the end. The last hero in the film was the man she met at the end of the death march. If Gerda wasn’t standing were she was at the moment when the man saw her, she probably wouldn’t have survived, and would have died sooner, similar to all the other women. He gave her the will to keep going. This film taught me that even if you’re in a bad time, you just need to dig deep and find the strength to keep going. No matter what the situation, you can always get through it if you have the courage and hope.