Introduction

This school year, as a senior, a made a very good decision to take Mr. Gallagher’s course, Facing History and Ourselves, I think that this was one of the best choices I have made as a WHS student in terms of picking and choosing classes. This course takes it’s students on a journey through discrimination in history. The students will see documentaries and films about civil rights and the Jim Crow era, as well as films and documentaries about the Holocaust and the years leading up to it. Not only do you get a good understanding of what actually happened during the Holocaust, but you also get a good understanding of what was going on during that period of time historically. Mr. Gallagher will show the class a great mixture of articles, documentaries, and Hollywood films, as well as actual footage and images from the death camps. 

I chose to take this class mainly because every year, weather in English or history, I have learned a little bit about the Holocaust, but it seems like every year it is the same old thing. I wanted to learn more about what actually happened and I knew that Mr. Gallagher was the perfect guy for the job. He knows what he is talking about and cares a lot about the topic. When I was a sophomore and had him for US History I he discussed the Facing History course with our class and since then I have wanted to take this course. I am glad that I did as I learned a lot not only about the Holocaust, but also about myself in general. Facing History and Ourselves certainly helped me to gain civic agency.

Reflective Essay

Mr. Gallagher’s junior/senior course, Facing History and Ourselves is quite possibly one of the best and most impactful classes I have taken in all my four years as a student at Westborough High School. I learned so much about myself as a person and the Holocaust as a historical event while in this class. Three facets of this course that influenced me the most were the films The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Pianist, and Swing Kids. Films have a tendency to impact me much more than any documentary or news article, and with each of these films giving a different message and being about a different aspect of the Holocaust, each one impacted me in a very different way.

                Although I had seen each of these films before, seeing them in context with this class made a much greater impact on me than any of them had before.



Bruno



Leon

                Ill start by talking about The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. This film was very sad to me the first time I had seen it, but after taking Facing History it made me feel so much more sadness towards the ending scene. When I had first seen this film I saw it simply as a sad ending to a heart wrenching film. Seeing this film after learning all that I had in this course made me feel so much more remorse for the boy and hate for the father. I now feel that the father in this film is a much worse person than I thought he was the first time around. I mean, he knew what he was doing and probably knew that it was a bad thing that he was doing. He was keeping secrets from his family, and he was the one who had brought his children out of their comfort zone and into a house so close to the dangers of his job. Seeing how the daughter was effected simply by the move and her being surrounded by soldiers and tutored into the ‘Heil Hitler’ mentality made me feel angry toward the adults around her. They allowed her to think this way, which is also the way in which they thought. I find it so disgusting that a father could bring his whole family into a place so dark and dreary and so very very near a concentration camp. The fact that the young boy was alone enough to go out and find the camp and then continue to visit his new friend their and even manage to sneak it is a scary thought to me. He had so little companionship that he made friends with a boy in a camp, something dangerous anyway. Now that I have learned more about the Holocaust and seen what the camps looked like for real I cannot even fathom the events of this movie. Just thinking about it now makes me feel sick, a feeling that I had not had when I had first seen the movie and had just been a little sad yet seemingly unaffected by The Boy In The Striped Pajamas.



The Pianist



                Moving along now to The Pianist, another film that I had previously seen, this film made me think more the second time around about the ghettos. After seeing and hearing about what the ghettos were really like this film made me think more about how the Jews had to live. Before this class I would see films like this and just kind of think ‘wow that’s sad’ but not really think too too much of what the conditions were really like. Looking back now, I could not image having to pack up and move into a place so small with so little food and money. I mean, when I think about what I would chose to take with me into the ghettos I couldn’t even image. People being shoved into such small quarters and deprived of such basic needs, before even being taken to a work camp, is so much more disgusting to me now than it ever had been before. The German Nazi’s were treating these people like animals. I feel as though through this course I have become a lot less sympathetic towards the Jew’s situation and a lot more angry toward Hitler and his little Nazi friends. They are more despicable now than ever because of what I have learned through Facing History and Ourselves.



Swing Kids



                Finally, and probably my favorite film that we watching in this course, Swing Kids. The first time I saw this film I was in middle school and I thought it was an incredible film. Having seen it many times previously to this course I was very interested to watch it in context of the class. My views of the film did not change as much as my views of the other films that I have previously talked about. I still believe that this film is a very inspiring film about doing what you believe is right, fighting the power, and not letting the big man hold you down. However, now that I have taken this course, I watched the film while constantly thinking how suckish it must have been to be dictated what you could listen to and watch and dance like. I mean, I couldn’t fathom having that in my life because Im a very creative person and do not like to be told what to do or say or watch. It must have been quite rough to have the government say ‘you cannot dance like that- you cannot listen to that.’ After seeing this film in Facing History I feel so much more blessed to be able to listen to Rob Zombie and Chevelle and not have the government telling me that I cant.

Nazi Death Camp Entrance.

                Thanks to the Facing History and Ourselves class offered at Westborough High School I have learned to have civic agency. I now have a better understanding of what the Holocaust was and how terrible it really was. After seeing these three films which I had already seen in the context of this class, I now have a different view of each of them and I feel so much more aware of this terrible time in the World’s history.

Works Cited.

Boy in the Striped Pajamas Bruno. GoogleImages. Online Image. 24 May 2012.

Boy in the Striped Pajamas Leon. GoogleImages. Online Image. 24 May 2012.

Nazi Death Camp Entrance. GoogleImages. Online Image. 23 May 2012.

Pianist. GoogleImages. Online Image. 24 May 2012.

Swing Kids. GoogleImages. Online Image. 23 May 2012.