What I found most difficult about this project was just choosing seven stories. There are so many stories of brave experiences that these survivors have had. There is no doubt in my mind that sharing these stories was a difficult task. I wish there was a way I could thank these brave men and women for sharing their devastating stories. I appreciate every story that I read, because I know that it represents a hard time in each of these peoples lives. Who they are today has been shaped by the way that they were treated in their past. Their gentle hearts, and lack of hatred towards people is what I find similar in each of these stories. One of the things that surprised me the most is that not one of the stories I read emphasized hatred towards the guards that held them in the camp, or the people who forced them to work, or even towards the murderers of their family members. The forgiveness that the survivors of the Holocaust show is astonishing, and for that I will always respect them.
~ Ashley Harrington
What I found to be the hardest about this project is reading these stories and hearing about how these people were being treated. It is sad to think that people who were fully capable of having human emotions and feelings were not being treated as humans and were being denied human rights. They were not seen as human simply because they came from a different back round and they didn't share all of the same views. These are stories from the few who were able to escape this horrible treatment. Most suffered from the loss of family members and I can't even begin to imagine the thoughts that have ran through their minds millions of times to try and explain to themselves how or why this would ever happen to anyone. I want to learn more about what was going through the guards minds about who these people were if they weren't really people. I want to learn what they told themselves that gave them the right to treat people this way so that the questions that run through the few surviving victims minds can at least be attempted to be answered.
-Elizabeth Ivey
~ Ashley Harrington
What I found to be the hardest about this project is reading these stories and hearing about how these people were being treated. It is sad to think that people who were fully capable of having human emotions and feelings were not being treated as humans and were being denied human rights. They were not seen as human simply because they came from a different back round and they didn't share all of the same views. These are stories from the few who were able to escape this horrible treatment. Most suffered from the loss of family members and I can't even begin to imagine the thoughts that have ran through their minds millions of times to try and explain to themselves how or why this would ever happen to anyone. I want to learn more about what was going through the guards minds about who these people were if they weren't really people. I want to learn what they told themselves that gave them the right to treat people this way so that the questions that run through the few surviving victims minds can at least be attempted to be answered.
-Elizabeth Ivey