Introduction:
Westborough High School is your average public high school.
We have the typical science, math, and English courses. Among this cavalcade of
courses there stands one course in the B wing of the third floor that is
unique. Although slightly unknown, Facing History and Ourselves is by far the
most life changing course in our school. Taught by former businessman Mr.
Gallagher, the course explores the harsh times and reality of mankind in our
history. Through the semester we cover the times and ideals that led to the
Holocaust. Although most of the course focuses on the times in the Holocaust,
we learn what could’ve made the entire world turn on a group of fellow humans. I
chose to take the course the day that I signed up for the electives that I
wanted to take my junior year. I hadn’t previously heard of the course and the
description given by the school wasn’t too revealing. To be honest, the main
reason that I chose to take the course was because of my brother. When I asked
him about the course he told me that he had taken it his junior year. He told
me that the course covered the times surrounding the Holocaust. This intrigued
me because I realized that I knew almost nothing about these times. I’ve always
found history interesting, especially when it involved controversial times. When
he told me there was no homework besides the occasional blog entry, it became
an easy choice and was added to my list. I was lucky enough to be chosen to
take the course and am extremely grateful. I’m a 16 year old, Caucasian
teenager. I’ve grown up catholic my whole life and am considered to be in the
upper middle class. Because of these traits, it follows that the Holocaust
hasn’t personally affected my life almost at all. This course has shown me that
it truly has affected me more than I could’ve imagined. This is the only course
in the school that can truly change your mindset and affect you for life.
Essay:
What Facing
History and Ourselves Meant to Me:
I went
into Facing History without knowing anything about the course. I went into it
expecting to watch some movies and learn a little bit about history in the
process. I never imagined that I would come out of the course with a new
outlook. From day 1, Mr. Gallagher stressed that this course was aimed at the
bystanders. He showed us the different role players in a predicament. I know
now that he was right now; a course like this could never change the
perpetrator. But for the people in the class, like myself and millions of
others that stand by and watch as other people are hurt by the bully, they can
be changed. I’ve always believed that history is extremely important;
specifically we must learn about previous times in order to not repeat the
mistakes that were made previously. I’ve been asked before if I believe that a
modern day holocaust could take place in our world. To this question, I have no
answer. I don’t know if humans could be as ignorant, racist, or terrible as
they were during the Holocaust. I do know that if we do not learn about events
like the Holocaust and if it weren’t for classes like this, no one would
change, and humans would inevitably repeat their mistakes and doom the world.
It’s safe to say that this class has had a profound effect on my life and I
won’t soon forget how it has changed me. The perfect mixture that the class has
is a maelstrom of change for many students including myself. There is a perfect
balance that is created between the material that we experience, and more
importantly the teacher of the course, Mr. Gallagher.
Facing
History and Ourselves began by examining the timeline of events that could’ve
led up to the Holocaust. We looked at the ideology of the time and some of the
experiments that were done later into the mind and conscience of the average
man. We discovered that racism was not only a prominent cause of the Holocaust
but still exists today and is a real threat to the good nature of man. Several
of the documents and films that we watched had a big effect on me. There were
two different experiments that we examined that spoke to me and showed me the
dangers that we can present upon each other. The first of these experiments
that we saw was the experiment done by the schoolteacher on her class of small
children. Have you ever heard the idea that children are the example of what
man is, that a child is truthful and because they are unable to cloak
themselves in lies and false identities, they can express the true ideas of all
humans? I’m a firm believer in this idea and this is why this experiment was so
interesting to me. Simply by telling the children that one color of eyes was
inferior to another, she was able to turn a group of friends against each
other. They went from classmates and friends to enemies that would chastise and
even hurt each other in a matter of hours. The next day she was even able to
reverse the roles and the same things were found. She was trying to prove that
African Americans were not inferior to whites, as the extremely popular ideal
of the time was. Even worse, she was removed from the school and decades later,
the people of this small town were still holding a grudge against her for
teaching the children about acceptance. This shows one of the ideas that this
course has reinforced for me; the most terrible and inhumane things are
possible as long as there are humans to believe these ideas. Because of this I
believe no one can put themselves or anyone else above another person. As soon
as you create an imbalance, we turn on each other. The other experiment that we
watched was the Milgram Experiment. This experiment was done by a doctor at
Harvard in the 1960s, after the holocaust. This showed the deceptive powers
that one can have over others and bring them to the point of hurting another
person. His subjects were put in control of a board that would deliver shocks
to another person that they met beforehand. If they answered questions wrong on
this simple test they were to increase the voltage on the person. The vast
majority of the subjects continued up to the life threatening levels on the
board and even went back down. Many objected but after only a little convincing
and small lies from the doctor, they almost all continued to hurt the other
man. The most important message that this documentary had on me was that the
right people in power can corrupt any man. This is exactly what happened in the
Holocaust. The Nazis had a crazy ideal and used doctors and other intelligent
people. As soon as they were in control, they were able to convince the world
that Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and many others were inferior to the Arian
race. This was an eye-opening documentary for me. The right people in the right
places can help the world, but alternatively these same people with the wrong
ideas in the wrong places can change everything to fire and brimstone. This is
a huge reminder that you should create your own ideas. I will never let anyone
control what I believe. Later in the course we focused primarily on the
Holocaust. These documentaries and movies were heart breaking but important.
Almost every movie that we watched about the holocaust had a new message to
bring but a few had huge effects on me. First of all, and most recently, The
Grey Zone was terrifying. The most disturbing part to me was seeing what the
life of the Jewish Kammandos was like. They were in charge of both the gas
chambers and the crematoriums. These Jews worked day and night escorting,
tricking, picking up the bodies of, and burning fellow Jews. They were almost
always drunk and would be dead in 4 months themselves. This showed me how cruel
the Nazis were, using the Jewish people against themselves and making them do
the dirty work. Another movie that had an effect on me was Fatelessness. This
movie was based on a book and was extremely interesting. It took a new point of
view on the Holocaust. It followed a teenage boy through his journey from
concentration camp to concentration camp. He quickly goes from trying to
survive to wanting to die. In the reading it says that he began to believe the
Nazi ideology. He decided that the Nazis were correct, he felt that he was
inferior and his life wasn’t worth living. On the brink of death, the allies
infiltrate the camp and he is saved but changed forever. This story showed me
the view of a boy struggling to understand this complicated time. It showed how
confusing this could be for the people that were put through it. Because he was
my age I felt that I could connect easier with him. It almost made me feel
worse to see him after he was liberated because his life would never be the
same. A final movie that affected me was Uprising. This movie was one of the
only ones we watched that showed the success of the Jews. It was about a group
of fighters that joined together in the Warsaw ghetto. These freedom fighters
stood tall and held off the attacks of Nazis for months. They were eventually
bombed and almost all died but before made a statement that not every Jew would
lay down and die. This was the only inspiring movie that we saw. I cannot
explain the fulfilling feeling that it gave me to finally see a group fighting
back for their freedom. It showed all that could’ve happened if the Jews were
better able to band together and fight back. Unfortunately, these attacks were
few and far between. Mr. Gallagher is the best teacher that I could imagine to
lead this class. He is intelligent, thoughtful, and sincere. His calm attitude delivers
a chill of seriousness into the class that it needs but also is reassuring to
the students. He is polite and always respects every student. I can’t say what
the class will be like without him next year. It will be hard for someone else
to fill the shoes that he will leave behind. This class has changed me, as it
has changed many before. It is indeed a diamond in the rough in this school and
it is too bad that not every student has the chance to experience the class. I’ve
been moved by everything we’ve seen and although I’m sad that the journey
through time is coming to an end, I won’t forget the lessons of acceptance it
has taught me.
Images:
Works Cited:
Holocaust Timeline. Google
Images. Image. 12 January 2014
Spewing Chimney. Google
Images. Image. 12 January 2014
Milgram Experiment Diagram. Google Images. Image. 12 January 2014
Two Jewish Fighters in Warsaw. Google Images. Image. 12 January 2014
Dachau Gas Chamber. Google
Images. Image. 12 January 2014
