One Survivor Remembers: Gerda Weissman

1. What scenes or images were the most powerful for you, and why? What lessons or messages did these scenes offer?

I felt that the images of Gerda's family were the most moving. Many people would think that the scenes with many bodies of people or people suffering would be the most moving because of the things that those kinds of images they made you think of. I think that the pictures of her family were the most moving because they are depicting her family members that she was forcibly separated from. To think that she never saw her family again is really sad and is one of the worst parts of the Holocaust: the separating of loved ones and family.

2. How did the Nazis dehumanize Jews? How did Gerda Weissman work to overcome dehumanization, and who helped her?

The Nazis dehumanized all Jews by making them work with no pay, starve while they enjoyed comforts and luxuries, shaved off all their hair, gave them numbers instead of names, and at the beginning of a camp, they made Jews walk naked to and from different buildings. In Gerda Weissman's story, it doesn't say too many things on how they dehumanized her. I'm guessing it was just implied but what they did tell us for fact was that they made her work for long hours and also made her starve. Gerda Weissman overcomes these dehumanization tactics by living her life. She carries on and that is what helps her overcome these adversities. She is practically saying that no matter what they do to her, she is still human and will act normaly. Her friends that she makes along the way help her with this because having friends is part of a normal life.

3. During her ordeal in the Nazi camps, Weissmann says she fantasized about enjoying a simple morning with her family or deciding what dress to wear to an imagined party. What simple things in your own life do you think you'd fantasize about if everything were taken away? What ordinary things do you think you take for granted?

If I lived through the Holocaust like Gerda and everything was taken away from me, I would fantasize about one thing: a giant Thanksgiving feast. If I had no food and no water, that would sound amazing. You never really think about the food you are eating on Thanksgiving because you think, "It's Thanksgiving, eating like this is mandatory." But if everything were taken away, you would have nothing to eat on the day of thank. Another thing that I would miss a lot and the thing that I take for granted is my bed. It is very warm and comfortable and I sleep in it every night. It is where a person prepares for the following day. Without a good night's sleep, you are useless the next day. Its funny how things have very little value until none of it is for you.

4. This film focuses on the persecution of Jews in the Holocaust, but others also murdered, including Soviet POWs, Roma (Gypsies), gays and lesbians, and Communists. In what ways do you see persecution happening in today's world? What groups do you see being targeted? What can be done to work against such prejudice and intolerance?

In today's world, people that are persecuted are not killed like in the Holocaust, but it is not much better. Many people in today's world persecute gays to be "dirty" or not right in nature. Many other groups such as Blacks, Hispanics, mentally disabled, and communists are persecuted in racial and stereotypical ways. People say that African American and Hispanic people are bad news and always getting into trouble which is not true at all. These kinds of rumors and stereotypes are today's form of the Holocaust, but of course not nearly as bad.

5. In many ways, this film is about hope for the future. Who are the heroes of the film? What did they do that makes you hopeful? What can you do to help make the world a better place?

The hero of the film is obviously Gerda because she is the one whose whole family was taken away yet she still survived year after year of sadness and fear. Although she is the hero of the film, and her survival and her story makes everyone know that people can get through bad times, I think that the people who made me most hopeful were the people who voted for Gerda to win the Oscar. It shows that people really do care about what happened and are mortified that we almost let it happen if America hadn't acted quick enough. The people who voted gave her the Oscar not because of her great story telling, but to show her that the world is a better place, to show her that we do care, and to show her that we, the American people, will never let anything that horrible happen again.