i^_cc[ho - Teens in Print

TEENS INTOLERANCEPhoto by: Ping ZengPhoto by: Mary NguyenIt was a cold January afternoon. She wasstaring out her living room window whenmen in uniforms started marching downthe street. She didn’t know what wasgoing on. It was a random fear, ascary feeling for a young girl living inHamburg, Germany. A new leader was amongthem. Things started happening and her lifewas changing. She was no longer allowed togo to the park. She could no longer sit oncertain benches with her mom and eat icecream. She knew something was wrong,but she never dared to ask. She got upat 6 a.m. and lined up, was counted, andrecounted. She watched people faint. Shewatched people die and even then, tearscouldn’t come out of her eyes.Sixty-two years ago, Adolf Hitler, leaderof Germany, motivated by his hatred ofJews, created a way to eliminate citizenswho were not part of the “pure” or Aryanrace. His definition of a “pure” German,or Aryan, included: coloring (blond hair,blue eyes, and white skin); categoriesfor people of “mixed blood” such asJews and Gypsies; and sub-categoriesof mental illness to include, in his mind,homosexuality. Hitler’s goal was to have anation state full of ‘pure’ Germans.Hitler used concentration camps as aplace where he would torture and eliminateJews. People were put into gas chambers,shot, and starved to death. Those whowere not murdered were forced to work andeat only rations. This was a long journey forthe Jewish people. Every day was a battle tosurvive. Families were separated; lives wereleft behind. Families depended on each other.When they didn’t have each other, they werefilled with depression.My mother introduced me to a friend of hers. Iremember seeing numbers imprinted on her arm. ISTOP!had come face to face with a Holocaust survivor:Vera, who was still so scared she refusedto use her last name. As a young adult shelost her family. The Nazis forced her brotherinto a work camp where he was tortured,starved, and died. You could only imagineVera’s sadness. Vera had been taken fromher family and put in a concentrationcamp called Auschwitz. They shaved herhead and took her clothes. Somehow,she managed to live through this experience.An event as big as the Holocaust,which has affected Vera, along withmillions of survivors, killed 6 millionJews, a fact that isn’t well known byour generation. History is a part of ourlives. Even those who know about theHolocaust only know a little, and mostdon’t take enough time to care.Gladys Cooper, 14, from WestRoxbury High says, “I think theHolocaust is when all the Jews gotterrorized and killed by the Germanswhich I believe were lead by AdolfHitler.” This is just a synopsis of theHolocaust. The Boston Public Schoolsystem only teaches students thebasics. Students need to hear about thelives of survivors such as Vera.Some teens may find the Holocaustto be just another irrelevant story inhistory, but it is similar to today’s genocidein Darfur. A young woman seesJanjaweed militia, an Arab-supremacistgroup terrorizes villages in Sudan, lightsher village on fire, and forces her brother toleave his home. She walks around her villagefearlessly, but she has no home and is missinga part of her family. The lives of Holocaustsurvivors can teach us to care about currentinjustices to humanity.i.