Personal ReflectionsEach week, students wrote diary entries and reflected on the week’s work. The diary entries were a way for students to express themselves in the same format as Anne Frank and to digest our class discussions and meetings with outside speakers. Dawn gave us prompts for some of the entries, which included taking a passage from Anne Frank’s diary and writing a personal entry with the same tone and sentence structure, reflecting on the Anne Frank poetry reading, and summarizing a survivor’s story from the USC Archives for Holocaust Memorial Day. Here are excerpts from each student’s favorite diary entries.
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Allison Marill
"I also appreciated the focus of genocide at the Anne Frank poetry reading. Julia touched upon this at the event, but one of the many unspoken genocides is the genocide of the Native Americans. Over winter break, I went to the American Indian Museum in Washington D.C. I was heartened to see the museum’s prominent location by the Capitol building and the large crowds at the museum during DC’s offseason. Yet, the main exhibit on treaties (more like broken treaties) disconcerted me. Plaque by plaque, the museum described each Native American tribe, the treaties made (broken), and then depicted maps of shrinking land and population. There must have been at least thirty descriptions of such events and I was astounded by the lack of attention and restitution that is offered to the Native Americans. I felt betrayed by my formal education, which mentioned these injustices yet did not offer it the recognition it deserves. This brings up important questions about why we focus on some genocides rather than others and how we can use Anne Frank’s diary to discuss genocide."
Becca Joseph
"Interviewing Larry Langer was an amazing experience through which I learned a lot. At first I was a little apprehensive interviewing Larry. The impression I got from him in our class was that he was famous and extremely intellectual as well as a knowledgeable Holocaust scholar. This came across as intimidating to me, but I could not be more wrong about his personality. At Larry’s house, when Brittany and I asked him what triggered his interest in the Holocaust, he told us a long story about how “Auschwitz was an overwhelming experience and I asked if there was any literature about the Holocaust experience,” with passion dripping from every word that left his mouth. I learned that Larry took an interest in understanding the concentration camp experience when nobody else had been brave enough to do so and “asked and got permission from Simmons College to teach the Literature of Atrocity, the first class on Holocaust literature.” He went on for a while describing how “survivors look back and don’t want to see how you were then [during the Holocaust],” how it made him “more skeptical about world peace”, and the works he created as a result of his research. Larry answered every question in great detail, even going so far as to say, “this information won’t be useful to you but I’ll tell you anyway.”"
Michelle Wexler
"Settled between a picture of my best friends at college and photo from my study abroad experience, one might not notice it at all. If one did happen to pick it out from the twenty some odd photos in my room, one would not think twice about the significance of this postcard. It displays a pink patterned wall with pictures and posters scattered on it. Visitors in my room would probably assume that is just another memento from my Europeans travels. To the well-informed eye, however, this postcard displays one of the most important walls throughout history. It is Anne Frank’s wall. It is the scenery that Anne Frank was surrounded by day and night throughout her period of hiding. Since taking a trip with my family to Amsterdam in 2010, I have kept this petite postcard with me. I have one propped next to my bed at home in New York and one taped on my dorm room wall at Brandeis.
Though the gesture is small, I feel that the presence of the postcard in my room gives me perspective. There came a day where Anne did not wake up to her pink patterned wall that had become so familiar to her. Instead, she woke up in concentration camp. Rather than seeing movie stars and family photos around her, she saw suffering and despair. There too came a day where Anne did not wake up at all. She was unjustly killed at hands of the Nazis at Bergen-Belsen. Everyday that I wake up, looking at that same pink patterned wall, I am reminded that I have time that Anne did not have. With this time, I promised myself a long time ago that I would work to create a world of tolerance: a world in which children like Anne are safe from the horrors that she experienced. My postcard keeps me present for Anne. My postcard keeps me connected to Anne. My postcard keeps me determined for Anne."
Brittany Wolfe
"Prior to taking The International Legacy of Anne Frank, I hadn’t realized how easily accessible Holocaust resources are and how much knowledge and primary information that analysts and volunteers have gathered over the past few decades. In class, we discussed how people were often hesitant or did not initially put thought into speaking to survivors following Holocaust. It wasn’t until the late 20th Century did people begin to see the value in gathering testimonies and other firsthand accounts of the Holocaust, although this resource was quickly disappearing. While watching Cornelia Aaron-Swaab’s testimony, I felt as though I took in the role of a Holocaust testimony analyst as I observed Cornelia’s body language and emotion as well as the interviewee’s questions and timing of the questions. I noticed that the interviewer often asked clarifying questions that disrupted the fluidity of the interview and Cornelia’s particular memory. After observing this, I realized how important it is to have extensive background knowledge on the Holocaust as well as pay very close attention during the interview in order to avoid redundancy and ensure that the interviewee relays their unique experience and memories. I’ve learned that Holocaust testimonies play a critical role in society’s understanding of the Holocaust and that these primary accounts inform us of otherwise hidden aspects of the Holocaust, experience of those in hiding, and those who endured the concentration camps. Having worked with Julie, a student in Amsterdam, has helped me to realize the importance of the interaction between students across cultures and how this interaction helps us to develop a better understanding of widely acknowledged events such as the Holocaust and consequently widen our perspectives."
Lauren Buckman
"Today is my last diary entry for our Anne Frank class, a reminder that commencement is not too far away. It seems surreal that I am finishing my senior year at Brandeis. As much as I try to live in the moment, take everything in, and slow down, it is a challenge to not rush in the scheduled world we live in. It is a challenge to stop time from moving so fast.
Yes, this is my last diary entry for our Anne Frank class, but it is not my last diary entry. I am fortunate to live with freedoms upon freedoms, privileges upon privileges. I do not need to rely on a non-Jew to provide me with paper and pens. I am not stuck in an attic. In fact, I hear the birds chirping now. Tomorrow, I will go outside to enjoy the fresh spring weather. I will take in a deep breath of fresh air and remember Anne Frank, remember how she yearned to go outside and be a normal kid again. You see, Anne Frank did write a last diary entry and that is what made her story so tragic.
This course has been a journey: through the diary of Anne Frank, through the plays and the movies, the comics and the music, the art and the artists. Our journey began when we came to the realization that Anne Frank is an icon of the Holocaust. Her name and her story came to represent millions of victims, most of whom weren’t as privileged as her. And not only did she represent victims of the Holocaust, but she eventually came to represent victims of genocide and hatred from around the globe.
So why then, do historians, such as Lawrence Langer, struggle with the idea of learning about the Holocaust through The Diary of a Young Girl? I understand him completely. How can students realize the true horrors of a war when masked by the Frank family experience. The annex does not compare to the camps, nor to the stinky, pest-infested conditions of a barn. Anne’s inability to play outside does not compare to the inability to move out of line during a roll-call, nor to the inability to move in a barn attic to the point where a woman doesn’t even realize she is six months pregnant. Anne may complain about eating beans for weeks, but can that compare to the liquid served at the camps, in which the dirt crunched between their teeth as they consumed it?
The point is not to say that Anne didn’t get the worst of it. She did. She experienced the trains, the slave labor, the inhumanities of Westerbork, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. And after all of that, she suffered from and succumbed to Typhus. So what is the issue that historians grapple with? It is that the horrors are not included in the diary. But this is certainly not Anne’s fault, so what can be done?
This class has taught us exactly that. The Diary of Anne Frank deserves all of the fame that it received, but educators and learners of the Holocaust must keep in mind that the diary is a starting point. It is but one experience amongst millions.
We are fortunate to have access to many other testimonies, whether in video interviews, books, or from survivors who are still living today. We read testimonies in the diary of Etty Hillesum, and Anna Ornstein’s memoir. We listened to the testimonies of survivors in hiding. While the facts and numbers of Holocaust victims are horrifying and vital to understand the intensity of the Holocaust, in order to gain a deeper, more personal understanding, we must turn to individual stories. We must take advantage of being the last generation to personally be able to meet survivors and hear their personal stories. We must take responsibility to carry the legacy of survivors who didn’t get the fame that Anne did.
This takes me to a major theme in our journey: survivorship. What does it mean to survive? Unfortunately we have seen that even those who survived the camps, have not all survived. They are also victims: victims of slave labor and victims of witnessing their loved ones taken before their eyes. What is inspiring though, is to see survivors who are able to put their trauma temporarily aside and turn their effort to have a positive impact in the world. In many cases, this is by teaching the Holocaust and fighting Holocaust denial.
So, The International Legacy of Anne Frank. At times, I felt like a more appropriate title was necessary: Legacies of the Holocaust, Writers of the Holocaust, Hiding during the Holocaust, a title that encompasses the idea that our course went beyond the story of Anne Frank.
But at the same time, I can understand how the title fits. We began with the globalization and remediations of Anne Frank’s story, and end with the impact of her legacy around the world today. It was inspiring to talk with young Human Rights activists, Cihan and Jvana, who help other young individuals to promote peace, something that Anne clearly wanted in the world, even at such a young age. It has been an invaluable experience to have Dienke share her knowledge, research, and experiences with us. What she, the team at the Anne Frank House, and representatives from the Anne Frank House around the world ultimately teach us is “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world” (Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl)."
Meredith van der Walde
Dearest diary,
Today is my last diary for our Anne Frank class. I really cannot believe it. For me, during my final months here at Brandeis, this semester has been a whirlwind of emotions, of angst, of excitement, of personal hardship, and of impending change and transformation. One piece of the puzzle that has remained constant, however, is my thirst for knowledge. As I wrote in my college admissions essay prior to attending Brandeis, I am inquisitive by nature and I love to learn.
On January 4th, I received an email from Professor Skorczewski, in which she requested that I, along with the other Undergraduate Departmental Representatives for Sociology, publicize her unique course within the department. And unique it is. Had I passively forwarded along her email to interested students, I never would have taken this class. When choosing classes, I typically did not peruse course offerings in the English Department. I more often took Sociology, Psychology, and Legal Studies classes throughout my four years here. Fortunately, I opened her email and the attached flyer and I was hooked. I knew that despite a shockingly early class time (I am not an early riser), I would gain a great deal from enrolling in International Perspectives on Anne Frank. So, I did.
As a young Jewish woman who attended Hebrew School for eight years, became a Bat Mitzvah, participated in Jewish youth groups, and traveled to Israel three times during college, I am sad to say that my knowledge of the Holocaust had been somewhat limited prior to taking this class. I learned about World War II in history classes and about the Holocaust in Hebrew School and at museums. However, my exposure to and understanding of individuals’ personal stories (i.e. their struggles and triumphs) via testimonies and memoirs were definitely not as expansive as they could have and should have been. As one of twelve students in class, I have had countless hands-on opportunities to broaden my knowledge of this significant and unforgettable episode in our world’s history.
The flyer for this class stated that students will 1) gain a basic understanding of World War II and the Holocaust, and how those historical events impacted literature and culture afterwards, 2) gain background knowledge about the many versions of the narrative of Anne Frank, and 3) make connections with faculty and students in an international classroom space. Objective #1 brings to mind the book Anne Frank Unbound. While AFU did not serve as a history textbook, per se, it provided students with extensive information about the ways in which the Holocaust, primarily with reference to Anne Frank, shapes our culture and media.
Before participating in this class, I knew so little about Anne Frank’s prominent role in our world today, which brings me to objective #2. I had virtually no idea that after the Holocaust, Anne Frank became an icon, an idol, a talking piece, a point of contention, a character to be performed on stage. She was and is more popular than I ever knew.
In regards to #3, I feel that I have made a great number of connections, both inside the classroom at Brandeis and in the larger sphere of Holocaust studies. As a member of Professor Skorczewski’s twelve member class, I took part in small, intimate discussions wherein I could hear the insightful opinions of my peers. Their thoughts and reflections also became pronounced in their diary entries that were at times emailed out to the class, as well as in class presentations and at the Chum's poetry night. I learned so much from my incredibly intellectual, sensitive, and introspective classmates. It was also an extremely unique (and at times, humorous) academic experience to video chat with faculty, students, and my own professor in Amsterdam! Additionally, I very much enjoyed conducting phone interviews with Fran Sterling from Facing History and Susan Stein, creator and producer of the Etty play.
One of the most valuable parts of this class, I believe, was the variety of perspectives and contexts from which we approached the large topics of “Holocaust education” and “Anne Frank.” We of course read The Diary of Anne Frank, along with articles from Anne Frank Unbound, My Mother’s Eyes, and The Ghost Writer. We watched a film adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank, we read poetry, we recited poetry, and we were constantly sharing our thoughts and reflections and bouncing ideas off one another in class. We worked in teams to present on a topic of our choosing. We wrote weekly diary entries, which at first, seemed daunting to me. I initially felt fearful of running out of ideas and of not producing entries comprised of quality writing. In hindsight, however, I am happy to have had the opportunity to practice my writing skills and prove to myself that sometimes, letting my ideas freely flow is not necessarily the worst thing. We watched testimonies of survivors and spoke with multiple Holocaust scholars over video chat and in person.
As I move forward, away from Brandeis and into the “real world,” I feel confident that I can carry with me lessons and sentiments from this class. Next year, I will be working as a Paralegal at a wonderful law firm, one which grew out of a lawyer’s work during the Civil Rights Movement and which is rooted in the ideals of social justice and equality. As a future lawyer, or whatever type of professional I become, I hope to make positive change. Anne Frank’s optimism, the power of activism, and concepts related to the Holocaust about good and evil, right and wrong, and human rights are ideas that I can and will hold onto. Thank you, Professor Skorczewski, for a great semester.
Yours,
Meredith
Brianna Majsiak- in response to USC Shoah testimony of Selien Abram
"...At this point of the testimony, I was in awe, to hear her remarkable and unique story and then see her children standing before her as well as her grandchildren. She mentioned beforehand that her sons don’t like to hear about her experience during the Holocaust and she painted their understanding of it and her experience in a negative light- that they were disinterested and feel that they were raised differently and that she should just forget it. Then once the family members come into the interview frame the interviewer asks Selien if she would like to add anything else, and she says, “I don’t know, I’m glad it’s over.” And then her eldest son, the one that she gave birth to while in hiding and had to give temporarily to a foster family, says sharply, “the war, or the interview?” and then laughs. I was pretty disgusted by this and I could see Selien’s facial reaction to this comment. It was hurtful to watch, especially after listening to this woman’s truly remarkable story of survival. It’s sad to think that her own son, who’s life was so effected by his mother’s experience could make a joke like that during the interview process with Shoah. It disheartened me to think that he put her experience in hiding during the Holocaust, as the butt of a joke for a cheap laugh. This reminded me of the many conversations we’ve had about using the Holocaust for comedic purposes and I never thought something so crude would be done by the son of a Holocaust survivor."
"I also appreciated the focus of genocide at the Anne Frank poetry reading. Julia touched upon this at the event, but one of the many unspoken genocides is the genocide of the Native Americans. Over winter break, I went to the American Indian Museum in Washington D.C. I was heartened to see the museum’s prominent location by the Capitol building and the large crowds at the museum during DC’s offseason. Yet, the main exhibit on treaties (more like broken treaties) disconcerted me. Plaque by plaque, the museum described each Native American tribe, the treaties made (broken), and then depicted maps of shrinking land and population. There must have been at least thirty descriptions of such events and I was astounded by the lack of attention and restitution that is offered to the Native Americans. I felt betrayed by my formal education, which mentioned these injustices yet did not offer it the recognition it deserves. This brings up important questions about why we focus on some genocides rather than others and how we can use Anne Frank’s diary to discuss genocide."
Becca Joseph
"Interviewing Larry Langer was an amazing experience through which I learned a lot. At first I was a little apprehensive interviewing Larry. The impression I got from him in our class was that he was famous and extremely intellectual as well as a knowledgeable Holocaust scholar. This came across as intimidating to me, but I could not be more wrong about his personality. At Larry’s house, when Brittany and I asked him what triggered his interest in the Holocaust, he told us a long story about how “Auschwitz was an overwhelming experience and I asked if there was any literature about the Holocaust experience,” with passion dripping from every word that left his mouth. I learned that Larry took an interest in understanding the concentration camp experience when nobody else had been brave enough to do so and “asked and got permission from Simmons College to teach the Literature of Atrocity, the first class on Holocaust literature.” He went on for a while describing how “survivors look back and don’t want to see how you were then [during the Holocaust],” how it made him “more skeptical about world peace”, and the works he created as a result of his research. Larry answered every question in great detail, even going so far as to say, “this information won’t be useful to you but I’ll tell you anyway.”"
Michelle Wexler
"Settled between a picture of my best friends at college and photo from my study abroad experience, one might not notice it at all. If one did happen to pick it out from the twenty some odd photos in my room, one would not think twice about the significance of this postcard. It displays a pink patterned wall with pictures and posters scattered on it. Visitors in my room would probably assume that is just another memento from my Europeans travels. To the well-informed eye, however, this postcard displays one of the most important walls throughout history. It is Anne Frank’s wall. It is the scenery that Anne Frank was surrounded by day and night throughout her period of hiding. Since taking a trip with my family to Amsterdam in 2010, I have kept this petite postcard with me. I have one propped next to my bed at home in New York and one taped on my dorm room wall at Brandeis.
Though the gesture is small, I feel that the presence of the postcard in my room gives me perspective. There came a day where Anne did not wake up to her pink patterned wall that had become so familiar to her. Instead, she woke up in concentration camp. Rather than seeing movie stars and family photos around her, she saw suffering and despair. There too came a day where Anne did not wake up at all. She was unjustly killed at hands of the Nazis at Bergen-Belsen. Everyday that I wake up, looking at that same pink patterned wall, I am reminded that I have time that Anne did not have. With this time, I promised myself a long time ago that I would work to create a world of tolerance: a world in which children like Anne are safe from the horrors that she experienced. My postcard keeps me present for Anne. My postcard keeps me connected to Anne. My postcard keeps me determined for Anne."
Brittany Wolfe
"Prior to taking The International Legacy of Anne Frank, I hadn’t realized how easily accessible Holocaust resources are and how much knowledge and primary information that analysts and volunteers have gathered over the past few decades. In class, we discussed how people were often hesitant or did not initially put thought into speaking to survivors following Holocaust. It wasn’t until the late 20th Century did people begin to see the value in gathering testimonies and other firsthand accounts of the Holocaust, although this resource was quickly disappearing. While watching Cornelia Aaron-Swaab’s testimony, I felt as though I took in the role of a Holocaust testimony analyst as I observed Cornelia’s body language and emotion as well as the interviewee’s questions and timing of the questions. I noticed that the interviewer often asked clarifying questions that disrupted the fluidity of the interview and Cornelia’s particular memory. After observing this, I realized how important it is to have extensive background knowledge on the Holocaust as well as pay very close attention during the interview in order to avoid redundancy and ensure that the interviewee relays their unique experience and memories. I’ve learned that Holocaust testimonies play a critical role in society’s understanding of the Holocaust and that these primary accounts inform us of otherwise hidden aspects of the Holocaust, experience of those in hiding, and those who endured the concentration camps. Having worked with Julie, a student in Amsterdam, has helped me to realize the importance of the interaction between students across cultures and how this interaction helps us to develop a better understanding of widely acknowledged events such as the Holocaust and consequently widen our perspectives."
Lauren Buckman
"Today is my last diary entry for our Anne Frank class, a reminder that commencement is not too far away. It seems surreal that I am finishing my senior year at Brandeis. As much as I try to live in the moment, take everything in, and slow down, it is a challenge to not rush in the scheduled world we live in. It is a challenge to stop time from moving so fast.
Yes, this is my last diary entry for our Anne Frank class, but it is not my last diary entry. I am fortunate to live with freedoms upon freedoms, privileges upon privileges. I do not need to rely on a non-Jew to provide me with paper and pens. I am not stuck in an attic. In fact, I hear the birds chirping now. Tomorrow, I will go outside to enjoy the fresh spring weather. I will take in a deep breath of fresh air and remember Anne Frank, remember how she yearned to go outside and be a normal kid again. You see, Anne Frank did write a last diary entry and that is what made her story so tragic.
This course has been a journey: through the diary of Anne Frank, through the plays and the movies, the comics and the music, the art and the artists. Our journey began when we came to the realization that Anne Frank is an icon of the Holocaust. Her name and her story came to represent millions of victims, most of whom weren’t as privileged as her. And not only did she represent victims of the Holocaust, but she eventually came to represent victims of genocide and hatred from around the globe.
So why then, do historians, such as Lawrence Langer, struggle with the idea of learning about the Holocaust through The Diary of a Young Girl? I understand him completely. How can students realize the true horrors of a war when masked by the Frank family experience. The annex does not compare to the camps, nor to the stinky, pest-infested conditions of a barn. Anne’s inability to play outside does not compare to the inability to move out of line during a roll-call, nor to the inability to move in a barn attic to the point where a woman doesn’t even realize she is six months pregnant. Anne may complain about eating beans for weeks, but can that compare to the liquid served at the camps, in which the dirt crunched between their teeth as they consumed it?
The point is not to say that Anne didn’t get the worst of it. She did. She experienced the trains, the slave labor, the inhumanities of Westerbork, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. And after all of that, she suffered from and succumbed to Typhus. So what is the issue that historians grapple with? It is that the horrors are not included in the diary. But this is certainly not Anne’s fault, so what can be done?
This class has taught us exactly that. The Diary of Anne Frank deserves all of the fame that it received, but educators and learners of the Holocaust must keep in mind that the diary is a starting point. It is but one experience amongst millions.
We are fortunate to have access to many other testimonies, whether in video interviews, books, or from survivors who are still living today. We read testimonies in the diary of Etty Hillesum, and Anna Ornstein’s memoir. We listened to the testimonies of survivors in hiding. While the facts and numbers of Holocaust victims are horrifying and vital to understand the intensity of the Holocaust, in order to gain a deeper, more personal understanding, we must turn to individual stories. We must take advantage of being the last generation to personally be able to meet survivors and hear their personal stories. We must take responsibility to carry the legacy of survivors who didn’t get the fame that Anne did.
This takes me to a major theme in our journey: survivorship. What does it mean to survive? Unfortunately we have seen that even those who survived the camps, have not all survived. They are also victims: victims of slave labor and victims of witnessing their loved ones taken before their eyes. What is inspiring though, is to see survivors who are able to put their trauma temporarily aside and turn their effort to have a positive impact in the world. In many cases, this is by teaching the Holocaust and fighting Holocaust denial.
So, The International Legacy of Anne Frank. At times, I felt like a more appropriate title was necessary: Legacies of the Holocaust, Writers of the Holocaust, Hiding during the Holocaust, a title that encompasses the idea that our course went beyond the story of Anne Frank.
But at the same time, I can understand how the title fits. We began with the globalization and remediations of Anne Frank’s story, and end with the impact of her legacy around the world today. It was inspiring to talk with young Human Rights activists, Cihan and Jvana, who help other young individuals to promote peace, something that Anne clearly wanted in the world, even at such a young age. It has been an invaluable experience to have Dienke share her knowledge, research, and experiences with us. What she, the team at the Anne Frank House, and representatives from the Anne Frank House around the world ultimately teach us is “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world” (Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl)."
Meredith van der Walde
Dearest diary,
Today is my last diary for our Anne Frank class. I really cannot believe it. For me, during my final months here at Brandeis, this semester has been a whirlwind of emotions, of angst, of excitement, of personal hardship, and of impending change and transformation. One piece of the puzzle that has remained constant, however, is my thirst for knowledge. As I wrote in my college admissions essay prior to attending Brandeis, I am inquisitive by nature and I love to learn.
On January 4th, I received an email from Professor Skorczewski, in which she requested that I, along with the other Undergraduate Departmental Representatives for Sociology, publicize her unique course within the department. And unique it is. Had I passively forwarded along her email to interested students, I never would have taken this class. When choosing classes, I typically did not peruse course offerings in the English Department. I more often took Sociology, Psychology, and Legal Studies classes throughout my four years here. Fortunately, I opened her email and the attached flyer and I was hooked. I knew that despite a shockingly early class time (I am not an early riser), I would gain a great deal from enrolling in International Perspectives on Anne Frank. So, I did.
As a young Jewish woman who attended Hebrew School for eight years, became a Bat Mitzvah, participated in Jewish youth groups, and traveled to Israel three times during college, I am sad to say that my knowledge of the Holocaust had been somewhat limited prior to taking this class. I learned about World War II in history classes and about the Holocaust in Hebrew School and at museums. However, my exposure to and understanding of individuals’ personal stories (i.e. their struggles and triumphs) via testimonies and memoirs were definitely not as expansive as they could have and should have been. As one of twelve students in class, I have had countless hands-on opportunities to broaden my knowledge of this significant and unforgettable episode in our world’s history.
The flyer for this class stated that students will 1) gain a basic understanding of World War II and the Holocaust, and how those historical events impacted literature and culture afterwards, 2) gain background knowledge about the many versions of the narrative of Anne Frank, and 3) make connections with faculty and students in an international classroom space. Objective #1 brings to mind the book Anne Frank Unbound. While AFU did not serve as a history textbook, per se, it provided students with extensive information about the ways in which the Holocaust, primarily with reference to Anne Frank, shapes our culture and media.
Before participating in this class, I knew so little about Anne Frank’s prominent role in our world today, which brings me to objective #2. I had virtually no idea that after the Holocaust, Anne Frank became an icon, an idol, a talking piece, a point of contention, a character to be performed on stage. She was and is more popular than I ever knew.
In regards to #3, I feel that I have made a great number of connections, both inside the classroom at Brandeis and in the larger sphere of Holocaust studies. As a member of Professor Skorczewski’s twelve member class, I took part in small, intimate discussions wherein I could hear the insightful opinions of my peers. Their thoughts and reflections also became pronounced in their diary entries that were at times emailed out to the class, as well as in class presentations and at the Chum's poetry night. I learned so much from my incredibly intellectual, sensitive, and introspective classmates. It was also an extremely unique (and at times, humorous) academic experience to video chat with faculty, students, and my own professor in Amsterdam! Additionally, I very much enjoyed conducting phone interviews with Fran Sterling from Facing History and Susan Stein, creator and producer of the Etty play.
One of the most valuable parts of this class, I believe, was the variety of perspectives and contexts from which we approached the large topics of “Holocaust education” and “Anne Frank.” We of course read The Diary of Anne Frank, along with articles from Anne Frank Unbound, My Mother’s Eyes, and The Ghost Writer. We watched a film adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank, we read poetry, we recited poetry, and we were constantly sharing our thoughts and reflections and bouncing ideas off one another in class. We worked in teams to present on a topic of our choosing. We wrote weekly diary entries, which at first, seemed daunting to me. I initially felt fearful of running out of ideas and of not producing entries comprised of quality writing. In hindsight, however, I am happy to have had the opportunity to practice my writing skills and prove to myself that sometimes, letting my ideas freely flow is not necessarily the worst thing. We watched testimonies of survivors and spoke with multiple Holocaust scholars over video chat and in person.
As I move forward, away from Brandeis and into the “real world,” I feel confident that I can carry with me lessons and sentiments from this class. Next year, I will be working as a Paralegal at a wonderful law firm, one which grew out of a lawyer’s work during the Civil Rights Movement and which is rooted in the ideals of social justice and equality. As a future lawyer, or whatever type of professional I become, I hope to make positive change. Anne Frank’s optimism, the power of activism, and concepts related to the Holocaust about good and evil, right and wrong, and human rights are ideas that I can and will hold onto. Thank you, Professor Skorczewski, for a great semester.
Yours,
Meredith
Brianna Majsiak- in response to USC Shoah testimony of Selien Abram
"...At this point of the testimony, I was in awe, to hear her remarkable and unique story and then see her children standing before her as well as her grandchildren. She mentioned beforehand that her sons don’t like to hear about her experience during the Holocaust and she painted their understanding of it and her experience in a negative light- that they were disinterested and feel that they were raised differently and that she should just forget it. Then once the family members come into the interview frame the interviewer asks Selien if she would like to add anything else, and she says, “I don’t know, I’m glad it’s over.” And then her eldest son, the one that she gave birth to while in hiding and had to give temporarily to a foster family, says sharply, “the war, or the interview?” and then laughs. I was pretty disgusted by this and I could see Selien’s facial reaction to this comment. It was hurtful to watch, especially after listening to this woman’s truly remarkable story of survival. It’s sad to think that her own son, who’s life was so effected by his mother’s experience could make a joke like that during the interview process with Shoah. It disheartened me to think that he put her experience in hiding during the Holocaust, as the butt of a joke for a cheap laugh. This reminded me of the many conversations we’ve had about using the Holocaust for comedic purposes and I never thought something so crude would be done by the son of a Holocaust survivor."