Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Holocaust Remembrance Week
The 2010 National Days of Remembrance are this week, April 11-18. The Northwest Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Ethnocide Education invited holocaust survivor Noemi Ban to speak at Western yesterday. The event was free, but it was not easy to get into. Luckily I knew about this event a few weeks in advance so I pre-ordered a ticket and was able to get in before all the people who didn't. Noemi is an amazing woman, the amount of misfortune she went through and how lucky she is to be alive is amazing. Some of the stories I remember:
In Buchenwald:
- On arrival at the age of 25 she was separated from her family (mother, grandmother, younger sister, baby brother) to go into a group of other young women to be stripped, shaved and thrown in a cold shower after which dresses were thrown at them and if you were lucky the dress was your size or too big because there was no trading and those that had too small dresses had to fit in. After a few days it was learned that "or else" from an SS guard meant death, don't second guess them. Noemi came to learn later during her stay at Buchenwald that all those sent in the other line were not lucky enough to have showers with water.
-Noemi's father had already been sent off to some labor camp a few weeks before.
-For breakfast and dinner they were given a piece of bread along with a cup of coffee. Lunch was a thin soup that everyone drank from a single bowl that was passed down the line. After initially refusing to drink the soup because no one wanted to use that bowl the guards gave the typical answer: "drink, or else" Noemi discovered shortly thereafter that you HAD to drink this because it stops menstruation. An aside: Here Noemi told us that she knows at least three women (and she's sure there are many more) that weren't able to have children after the war was over due to this brew. She then told us about her two sons, five grandchildren and six great grand children.
- After breakfast and before dinner all the residents had to line up and stand for three hours where they were counted. Those that passed out while in line were thrown onto the backs of cars never to be seen again. Noemi actually fell unconscious once while in line but the three women around her reacted quickly and held her up for nearly two hours until she woke up again. The SS never noticed. Those women saved her life.
- Once while getting water, which was brought in one big bucket and fought over by everyone, she and the few others who spoke and understood German overheard the guards say they were worse than animals for reacting so. She and the few others that heard stopped drinking water for the next four months. They only had their two coffees a day. Aside: Here Noemi tells us that whenever she thinks about this she gets thirsty; luckily the people that invite her know this so there's always plenty of water for her.
-After about four months at Buchenwald, she and eleven other Hungarian women are sent to Berlin(?) to work in a factory. They build bombs by following color-coded instructions: blue wire to blue marker, brown wire to brown marker, etc. Part of the components were actually explodable and should any of the women drop it the factory would explode (including the Germans guarding them in the other room). They actually considered dropping it on purpose knowing it would take the guards with them, but decided they'd rather live. After fully completely one bomb to be sent off it hit them that they were building bombs that would be used against those trying to help them so they planned a little sabotage...Discussing everything in Hungarian so that the guards wouldn't understand them they decided to mix up all the colors so they didn't match anymore. Any time the guards would come check on them they would work fine, but as soon as they left chaos would consume. An aside: here she tells us that she actually never knew if what they did worked until a few years ago when at this point in her talk an old man listening to her said that he knew. He was part of the American forces moving toward Berlin towards the end of the war and Germans were dropping bombs right and left but none of them ever seemed to explode. So even if not all the bombs were those built by these women, they weren't the only group to plan some sabotage.
- During transport away from camp where all the factory workers were kept the guards changed out of their uniforms and into civilian clothes. These 12 women knowing that something was happening one by one escaped from the marching line of all the factory workers and into the nearby woods where they met up with an American soldier who informed them in his horrible German that this part of Germany had surrendered and they were free!
-At the medical facility Noemi found that she weighed about 60 pounds!
However horrible her story was I really enjoyed hearing about it directly from a survivor. She made sure to tell us too about one of the reasons she talks about this is that were part of the last generation who will be able to hear about the Holocaust from those that were in it. Before too much longer they won't be around anymore.
In Buchenwald:
- On arrival at the age of 25 she was separated from her family (mother, grandmother, younger sister, baby brother) to go into a group of other young women to be stripped, shaved and thrown in a cold shower after which dresses were thrown at them and if you were lucky the dress was your size or too big because there was no trading and those that had too small dresses had to fit in. After a few days it was learned that "or else" from an SS guard meant death, don't second guess them. Noemi came to learn later during her stay at Buchenwald that all those sent in the other line were not lucky enough to have showers with water.
-Noemi's father had already been sent off to some labor camp a few weeks before.
-For breakfast and dinner they were given a piece of bread along with a cup of coffee. Lunch was a thin soup that everyone drank from a single bowl that was passed down the line. After initially refusing to drink the soup because no one wanted to use that bowl the guards gave the typical answer: "drink, or else" Noemi discovered shortly thereafter that you HAD to drink this because it stops menstruation. An aside: Here Noemi told us that she knows at least three women (and she's sure there are many more) that weren't able to have children after the war was over due to this brew. She then told us about her two sons, five grandchildren and six great grand children.
- After breakfast and before dinner all the residents had to line up and stand for three hours where they were counted. Those that passed out while in line were thrown onto the backs of cars never to be seen again. Noemi actually fell unconscious once while in line but the three women around her reacted quickly and held her up for nearly two hours until she woke up again. The SS never noticed. Those women saved her life.
- Once while getting water, which was brought in one big bucket and fought over by everyone, she and the few others who spoke and understood German overheard the guards say they were worse than animals for reacting so. She and the few others that heard stopped drinking water for the next four months. They only had their two coffees a day. Aside: Here Noemi tells us that whenever she thinks about this she gets thirsty; luckily the people that invite her know this so there's always plenty of water for her.
-After about four months at Buchenwald, she and eleven other Hungarian women are sent to Berlin(?) to work in a factory. They build bombs by following color-coded instructions: blue wire to blue marker, brown wire to brown marker, etc. Part of the components were actually explodable and should any of the women drop it the factory would explode (including the Germans guarding them in the other room). They actually considered dropping it on purpose knowing it would take the guards with them, but decided they'd rather live. After fully completely one bomb to be sent off it hit them that they were building bombs that would be used against those trying to help them so they planned a little sabotage...Discussing everything in Hungarian so that the guards wouldn't understand them they decided to mix up all the colors so they didn't match anymore. Any time the guards would come check on them they would work fine, but as soon as they left chaos would consume. An aside: here she tells us that she actually never knew if what they did worked until a few years ago when at this point in her talk an old man listening to her said that he knew. He was part of the American forces moving toward Berlin towards the end of the war and Germans were dropping bombs right and left but none of them ever seemed to explode. So even if not all the bombs were those built by these women, they weren't the only group to plan some sabotage.
- During transport away from camp where all the factory workers were kept the guards changed out of their uniforms and into civilian clothes. These 12 women knowing that something was happening one by one escaped from the marching line of all the factory workers and into the nearby woods where they met up with an American soldier who informed them in his horrible German that this part of Germany had surrendered and they were free!
-At the medical facility Noemi found that she weighed about 60 pounds!
However horrible her story was I really enjoyed hearing about it directly from a survivor. She made sure to tell us too about one of the reasons she talks about this is that were part of the last generation who will be able to hear about the Holocaust from those that were in it. Before too much longer they won't be around anymore.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Spring Quarter
No snow yet! It's apparently somewhat of a tradition around Bellingham for it to snow somewhere around spring break. So far this year it hasn't come to pass, and sadly I don't believe it's going to. Weather here is mostly wet and windy with the occasional sunbreak.
Spring quarter was off to a nice start this week. I absolutely love the way my schedule is this quarter! I was worried for a while because the only chemistry class that would fit with the schedule I wanted was full and the professor is one of the best so his classes get picked up fast. All through spring break and I was worried I would have to shift classes around, but Saturday afternoon when I checked there was a single spot open in his class and I got it! So now I have class Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30-2 with a break between 11:20 and 12! I have no class on Tuesday and chem lab Thursday morning. I wasn't sure how I would feel about having classes one after the other, I mean, I know I did it in high school but come on I wake up now at the same time school used to start, things have changed. I love it though! It allows me to stay in school mode through all of my classes. I don't get distracted and flustered like I did before when I would have a two hour break between class when I would tool around and watch TV on the internet.
This quarter I'm taking four classes, adding up to 17 credits. Here's the low down:
Political Science 101: Government and Politics of the Modern World
I'm not quite sure about this class yet. I'm not opposed to it right off the bat, but I'm not exactly sure what the class will entail. My idea was something along the lines of: "This is so-and-so's government and this is how it looks, this is how it differs from ours, and this is an article written from the perspective of so-and-so and how they view Democracy" So far though we've watched an episode of the Simpsons to find political themes to show how politics can be hidden in just about anything we watch, read, or listen to.
English 101: Writing and Critical Inquiry
This is not a class I'm looking forward to. I'm mostly just thankful that C-, the grad student that teaches it, seems nice. Because English 101 is a required freshman level class, most of the students there don't want to be there and the grad students that teach it don't want to be there either creating a super wonderful class (please note that sarcasm was intended). English 101 is also known for the fact that it's essentially impossible to get an A. Last quarter C- gave one A and three A-'s, the English department is really good at reminding the Western populace that technically a C is average, even though when you get one you feel like you failed. Writing composition is not my strongest subject, hopefully I can learn something without failing in the process.
LUNCH!
Chemistry 123: General Chemistry III
I'm really bummed that the teacher I had the last two quarters for chemistry isn't teaching the third and final installment of the gen chem series. I really liked the teaching style he had, and he's great to go to during office hours. Over the quarter he learns nearly everyone's names; something incredibly hard to do in a class of 100+ students. Ah well, the professor that I signed up for is thought to be basically the best chemistry teacher here. Professor Peyron's teaching style is something I'll have to get used to, but is not too incredibly difficult a thing to do.
Philosophy 107: Logical Thinking
The room that this class is in is more geared toward having someone give a presentation than teach a class. The chairs are super comfy and the lean back a little so you can lay back and see the front of the room super easy because the floor is slanted. Luckily I'm not a person prone to napping or I could foresee a serious problem...Like all the classes we haven't started doing too much yet, but what we have done do far is interesting. Right now we're learning the basics of logic, arguments (A=B, B=C, so A=C) and the different ways people can get mixed up. For instance, an argument or premise (the statements that make up the argument) can be valid even though it is false; an example:
-All Canadians are born in Washington
-I'm Canadian
-So, I was born in Washington
The argument is true: I was indeed born in Washington, It's valid: if everything was true it would be correct, The premises are false though. So this argument is valid, but it's not sound. I just thought that was interesting, it can be valid without being right.
In other news:
Rugby- A bunch of the team went down to Utah for the challenge match against Santa Clara, if we won we stay in Utah for regionals... and we won! Now they have to win at least one of the two games at regionals to qualify for nationals.
Judo- I earned my green belt!
Grades- I got all B's last quarter. My college GPA is currently 3.05, pretty average.
Spring quarter was off to a nice start this week. I absolutely love the way my schedule is this quarter! I was worried for a while because the only chemistry class that would fit with the schedule I wanted was full and the professor is one of the best so his classes get picked up fast. All through spring break and I was worried I would have to shift classes around, but Saturday afternoon when I checked there was a single spot open in his class and I got it! So now I have class Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30-2 with a break between 11:20 and 12! I have no class on Tuesday and chem lab Thursday morning. I wasn't sure how I would feel about having classes one after the other, I mean, I know I did it in high school but come on I wake up now at the same time school used to start, things have changed. I love it though! It allows me to stay in school mode through all of my classes. I don't get distracted and flustered like I did before when I would have a two hour break between class when I would tool around and watch TV on the internet.
This quarter I'm taking four classes, adding up to 17 credits. Here's the low down:
Political Science 101: Government and Politics of the Modern World
I'm not quite sure about this class yet. I'm not opposed to it right off the bat, but I'm not exactly sure what the class will entail. My idea was something along the lines of: "This is so-and-so's government and this is how it looks, this is how it differs from ours, and this is an article written from the perspective of so-and-so and how they view Democracy" So far though we've watched an episode of the Simpsons to find political themes to show how politics can be hidden in just about anything we watch, read, or listen to.
English 101: Writing and Critical Inquiry
This is not a class I'm looking forward to. I'm mostly just thankful that C-, the grad student that teaches it, seems nice. Because English 101 is a required freshman level class, most of the students there don't want to be there and the grad students that teach it don't want to be there either creating a super wonderful class (please note that sarcasm was intended). English 101 is also known for the fact that it's essentially impossible to get an A. Last quarter C- gave one A and three A-'s, the English department is really good at reminding the Western populace that technically a C is average, even though when you get one you feel like you failed. Writing composition is not my strongest subject, hopefully I can learn something without failing in the process.
LUNCH!
Chemistry 123: General Chemistry III
I'm really bummed that the teacher I had the last two quarters for chemistry isn't teaching the third and final installment of the gen chem series. I really liked the teaching style he had, and he's great to go to during office hours. Over the quarter he learns nearly everyone's names; something incredibly hard to do in a class of 100+ students. Ah well, the professor that I signed up for is thought to be basically the best chemistry teacher here. Professor Peyron's teaching style is something I'll have to get used to, but is not too incredibly difficult a thing to do.
Philosophy 107: Logical Thinking
The room that this class is in is more geared toward having someone give a presentation than teach a class. The chairs are super comfy and the lean back a little so you can lay back and see the front of the room super easy because the floor is slanted. Luckily I'm not a person prone to napping or I could foresee a serious problem...Like all the classes we haven't started doing too much yet, but what we have done do far is interesting. Right now we're learning the basics of logic, arguments (A=B, B=C, so A=C) and the different ways people can get mixed up. For instance, an argument or premise (the statements that make up the argument) can be valid even though it is false; an example:
-All Canadians are born in Washington
-I'm Canadian
-So, I was born in Washington
The argument is true: I was indeed born in Washington, It's valid: if everything was true it would be correct, The premises are false though. So this argument is valid, but it's not sound. I just thought that was interesting, it can be valid without being right.
In other news:
Rugby- A bunch of the team went down to Utah for the challenge match against Santa Clara, if we won we stay in Utah for regionals... and we won! Now they have to win at least one of the two games at regionals to qualify for nationals.
Judo- I earned my green belt!
Grades- I got all B's last quarter. My college GPA is currently 3.05, pretty average.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)