After learning about the holocaust and seeing the museum, I no longer think that humanity is quite as perfect as I used to. I used to think that there were some struggles in the world, but they could be overcome with a little hard work and perseverance. I never thought that anything near the horror of genocide could occur.
Even after we had begun to learn about the holocaust in school, I thought that it was still some distance in the past, and my concept of how wrong it was was still fuzzy in my mind. When we went to the Holocaust Museum, it began to cry as I saw all of the suffering that took place. Seeing the bricks of the Warsaw Ghetto were like a slap in the face. The fact that they were still there seemed insane, and I realized that the holocaust did not take place that long ago. It became very real to me what humanity is capable of. It especially struck me when I saw the picture of a man that is most likely related to the Auchuler family. I felt very angry, yet helpless. Another moment that I began to realize that life does not always end like a fairytale, sometimes very far from it, was when we watched Life is beautiful. I thought that the father would live, and that everything would be all right, but it was not so.
In his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Elie expresses that remaining silent does the same as siding with the oppressor. I feel strongly that this is true. After this unit, I see that we have a responsibility as humans to make sure that genocide never happens again. We are responsible to take action against oppression, whether it be large or small, for remaining silent makes us as guilty as if we were committing the crime ourselves.
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