Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Krissi Wester
ENG 102-104
Mr. Neuberger
10 October 2011
Ellen Brandt
Escapee not Survivor
Ellen Brandt was born Ellen Ruth Friedsam in Manheim, Germany. She was the only child of her Father who was a banker and mother who was a home-maker. Her family moved to Munich when Ellen was only six months old. According to her they lived in an upscale neighborhood in Munich and she even had a nanny. Her father owned a paper factory and according to her they had a very comfortable lifestyle.
Ellen’s family was not very active in the Jewish community. She stated that she truly never knew which of her friends or her parents friends were Jewish until the beginning of Nazi occupation of Germany. According to her she grew up living one block away from where Hitler resided. “If anyone had any idea what was to come, my father would have gone up on the roof, ….,, taken a gun and changed the course of history.” Her father was a decorated World War I veteran. Her family did not observe holidays, attend Synagogue or Temple. Although never having had real ties to Judaism, and never having experienced anti-Semitism she recalled being ostracized at school for being a Jew. Particularly when school was coming to an end one year during the class picnic she and the other seven Jewish girls in her class were taken to after boarding the bus last and sitting in the back of the bus where they were segregated from the rest of the students. She recalled that they were left out of all activities and not given any food either. When she returned home that evening all she could do was cry and her parents decided to send her to a Jewish private school.
Her father even gave up his paper factory and went to work for an Arian company because it was safer than being a Jewish business owner. When things started to worsen in Germany and Jews were disappearing more and more the family attained an affidavit to go to America. They were required t o have someone in America to provide the affidavit and post a bond for their acceptance to America. She said many wanted to escape but there wasn’t a country that would take them. She said of freedom of speech, “In America, people criticize the President, my God, it was totally unthinkable” in reference to speaking badly of the Nazis.
While she did not experience the death camps, she considers herself an escapee, not a survivor. After relocating to America she truly turned away from being German or Jew, and learned to speak fluent English and really doesn’t carry the German accent like many immigrants. She married a Broadway producer and became a television commercial actress portraying the average American housewife. She said of her sixteen years in Germany that it probably held her back because even today she hates any profession that dons a uniform, especially police, and was surprised that she never ended up in jail.
As a closing to the film she stated that films made by Americans, for Americans, except Schindler’s List, only perpetuated the misconceptions of what truly went on in Germany during the occupation and that Americans should pay closer attention to the similarities of Germany in 1938 and America today.
ENG 102-104
Mr. Neuberger
10 October 2011
Ellen Brandt
Escapee not Survivor
Ellen Brandt was born Ellen Ruth Friedsam in Manheim, Germany. She was the only child of her Father who was a banker and mother who was a home-maker. Her family moved to Munich when Ellen was only six months old. According to her they lived in an upscale neighborhood in Munich and she even had a nanny. Her father owned a paper factory and according to her they had a very comfortable lifestyle.
Ellen’s family was not very active in the Jewish community. She stated that she truly never knew which of her friends or her parents friends were Jewish until the beginning of Nazi occupation of Germany. According to her she grew up living one block away from where Hitler resided. “If anyone had any idea what was to come, my father would have gone up on the roof, ….,, taken a gun and changed the course of history.” Her father was a decorated World War I veteran. Her family did not observe holidays, attend Synagogue or Temple. Although never having had real ties to Judaism, and never having experienced anti-Semitism she recalled being ostracized at school for being a Jew. Particularly when school was coming to an end one year during the class picnic she and the other seven Jewish girls in her class were taken to after boarding the bus last and sitting in the back of the bus where they were segregated from the rest of the students. She recalled that they were left out of all activities and not given any food either. When she returned home that evening all she could do was cry and her parents decided to send her to a Jewish private school.
Her father even gave up his paper factory and went to work for an Arian company because it was safer than being a Jewish business owner. When things started to worsen in Germany and Jews were disappearing more and more the family attained an affidavit to go to America. They were required t o have someone in America to provide the affidavit and post a bond for their acceptance to America. She said many wanted to escape but there wasn’t a country that would take them. She said of freedom of speech, “In America, people criticize the President, my God, it was totally unthinkable” in reference to speaking badly of the Nazis.
While she did not experience the death camps, she considers herself an escapee, not a survivor. After relocating to America she truly turned away from being German or Jew, and learned to speak fluent English and really doesn’t carry the German accent like many immigrants. She married a Broadway producer and became a television commercial actress portraying the average American housewife. She said of her sixteen years in Germany that it probably held her back because even today she hates any profession that dons a uniform, especially police, and was surprised that she never ended up in jail.
As a closing to the film she stated that films made by Americans, for Americans, except Schindler’s List, only perpetuated the misconceptions of what truly went on in Germany during the occupation and that Americans should pay closer attention to the similarities of Germany in 1938 and America today.
Krissi Wester
ENG 102-104
Mr. Neuberger
10 October 2011
Edith Coliver was born in Karls Ruhe which interpreted means Charles’ rest. Hers was seemingly a normal middle class childhood of a German Jew. Her father was a conservative and her mother an orthodox Jew. She was one of three children born to her parents. Her father was a banker who had been injured in World War I and her mother a Nurse in the war. They lived a comfortable life where the Jewish community was very confined and tight knit.
Edith said she never considered herself much of a German after age ten. She was kicked out of her school because she was Jewish. An Uncle that was in America wanted Edith to join him and go to school in America, but she refused to go and was sent to England to attend school at age 11. After only one year of school there, her father announced that they were going to America. Her father was able to secure passports via his connections at the American Consulate and they left for America in 1938. Edith stated about the cultural climate in Germany at the time: “It was very un-American. It was guilty until proven innocent.” Although she herself never witnessed the atrocities that were going on, she heard stories of the extermination camps, and heard some of the tasteless jokes that were told during that ttime about the SS. The family’s departure from Germany was a new beginning for them in America.
Edith attended Berkley and was Phi Beta Kappa, although according to her, it never assisted her much and she threw her key into the Hudson river. She later went on to be an interpreter at the Nuremberg trials of the Nazi war criminals. Her father told her when he found out that she was going to Nuremberg, “You belong to the generation that was disenfranchised by Hitler, but as you go to do justice, be just, and don’t forget that you are a Jew.” During the trials, she said she believed the Germans who stated they were powerless to the Nazi’s, but not those who said they didn’t know. When asked about speaking publicly about the Holocaust she stated “I was going on the courage of my convictions.” Edith has lived a long and prosperous life since leaving Germany and says that to her knowledge she only lost one family member to the Holocaust, but she did lose many friends from her early school years, particularly her best friend Gertrude Marx, and still today when she encounters other survivors from school, it is awkward at best.
ENG 102-104
Mr. Neuberger
10 October 2011
Edith Coliver was born in Karls Ruhe which interpreted means Charles’ rest. Hers was seemingly a normal middle class childhood of a German Jew. Her father was a conservative and her mother an orthodox Jew. She was one of three children born to her parents. Her father was a banker who had been injured in World War I and her mother a Nurse in the war. They lived a comfortable life where the Jewish community was very confined and tight knit.
Edith said she never considered herself much of a German after age ten. She was kicked out of her school because she was Jewish. An Uncle that was in America wanted Edith to join him and go to school in America, but she refused to go and was sent to England to attend school at age 11. After only one year of school there, her father announced that they were going to America. Her father was able to secure passports via his connections at the American Consulate and they left for America in 1938. Edith stated about the cultural climate in Germany at the time: “It was very un-American. It was guilty until proven innocent.” Although she herself never witnessed the atrocities that were going on, she heard stories of the extermination camps, and heard some of the tasteless jokes that were told during that ttime about the SS. The family’s departure from Germany was a new beginning for them in America.
Edith attended Berkley and was Phi Beta Kappa, although according to her, it never assisted her much and she threw her key into the Hudson river. She later went on to be an interpreter at the Nuremberg trials of the Nazi war criminals. Her father told her when he found out that she was going to Nuremberg, “You belong to the generation that was disenfranchised by Hitler, but as you go to do justice, be just, and don’t forget that you are a Jew.” During the trials, she said she believed the Germans who stated they were powerless to the Nazi’s, but not those who said they didn’t know. When asked about speaking publicly about the Holocaust she stated “I was going on the courage of my convictions.” Edith has lived a long and prosperous life since leaving Germany and says that to her knowledge she only lost one family member to the Holocaust, but she did lose many friends from her early school years, particularly her best friend Gertrude Marx, and still today when she encounters other survivors from school, it is awkward at best.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
A Film Unfinished
Disturbing Images
To be honest, “A Film Unfinished” was more disturbing at age forty five, than the television mini-series, “Holocaust” was at the age of 12. I very distinctly remember having watched it when it was released on television because it was how I first learned of the atrocities that Hitler had committed during his short reign with the Third Reich and thought at the time how disturbing it was. After having watched this film at my current age I only now realize how truly devastating and atrocious the acts that Hitler was guilty of were more than criminal, it was the methodic attempt to exterminate an entire group of people based solely on their religious preference. In a way it really opened my eyes to the fact that we here in the United States had basically tried the same thing except we tried to enslave an entire group of people based solely on the color of their skin.
I really hate when people say that Hitler tried to wipe out an entire race of people, because truly we are all only one race, and that is the human race. However if we had to break it down, there are maybe different breeds of humans just as there are different breeds of any animal, but I digress. It seemed that Hitler was attempting to pit Jew against Jew on the streets of Warsaw. His attempt to depict Jews having a wonderful time amidst the filth and poverty, was at best futile. The faces of the people being filmed were anything but the faces of those that are happy and well adjusted. Once could see the pain and anguish on the faces of those both in the actual filming done in Warsaw, not to mention that of those who were watching the original film on the film. Those were the faces that disturb me the most. They lived that madness and destruction. They barely escaped with their lives, if not their families since so many people were lost in those despicable acts which were ordered by a psychopath.
I have always been disgusted and appalled whenever I hear Hitler’s name spoken or referred to in conversation. I don’t think he is worthy of the attention given. However that is a flaw of the human race, to glorify the macabre, study it, and attempt not to repeat it. However we always truly fail at the attempts not to repeat. Like now, America is Hitler and we are slowly but surely trying to exterminate any non-Christian based faith. Every war in history basically has been based on the spread and/or destruction of one religion or another. We are still fighting the “War of Faith,” and it is a true World War. Hitler was only a symptom of the illness of society that has manifested as hatred of others based on superficial reasons. The question is: What do we learn from the images.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Intro
I am a native of the area, having been born in St. John's Hospital, right here in Springfield, Missouri. I spent most of my childhood living in Clever, Missouri and graduated from Clever High School in 1984. I am the mother of five children, with four girls and one boy, ranging in age from twenty three to fourteen. And for the record, I HATE teenagers. Nothing personal to fellow students, but I have disliked teenagers from the time I was a teenager. I am a single mother and currently have only two children remaining at home. If I survive the next four years of their high school careers, it will be a miracle. I have returned to school late in life because of my decision to have a family, as well as some other poor decisions that kept me from completing a degree earlier in life. I am currently employed at JP Morgan Chase as a customer service associate. I am seeking my Associates of Arts in Psychology and plan to continue toward my Bachelor's, most likely at Missouri State, however I am not sure where I will go from there. My son, who is a sophmore in high school, is a basketball player with a promising future in the sport so my future could be affected by what turns his career takes in the sport. I have attached a photo of my children, however the photo also includes my first husband and father of my oldest three children, and his son and step-son from a second marriage, so the young man on the far right and the small boy in front are not mine, but the rest of the children in the picture are mine. This picture was taken last May at my middle daughter's from high school in West Palm Beach Florida.
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