Movie Analysis: Hidden People And Hidden Morals

Jared Wade

English II, B7

Mrs. Scott

April 16th, 2015

Hidden People and Hidden Morals “There are two kinds of evil people in this world. Those who do evil stuff and people who see evil stuff being done and don’t try to stop it.” This surprisingly deep quote from Mean Girls, a high school movie that talks about a girl from Africa, the silliness of popularity, and the harshness of adolescence, can actually relate to a lot of people that didn’t help stop one of the worst events in human history. The event in question is the Holocaust, which is the period of time when Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, Aka the Nazis, planned and executed the systematic extermination of around eleven million people, six million of them

“Often it was a gradual process, with the rescuers becoming increasingly involved in helping the persecuted Jews. Agreeing to hide someone during a raid or round-up - to provide shelter for a day or two until something else could be found – would evolve into a rescue that lasted months and years” (“Rescue by Righteous” 1). This was the same with Corrie, who only hid a couple of Jewish people at first, but eventually started hiding many, many Jews before she was caught and captured. Corrie also, as well as other resistance workers, helped with the “escape and smuggling of Jews from towns and ghettos to the forests for partisan warfare; and hiding by individuals in various hiding places, collective rescue efforts, and rescue of children” (“Jewish Armed Resistance and Rebellions” 1). Another thing that Corrie and other resistance members did was feed the Jewish people they were helping out, “would undertake to provide food – not an easy feat for poor families in wartime – and taking care of all their wards' needs” (“Rescue by Righteous”1) As well as just seeing what they did as the morally right thing to do, many people during this time saw that the hiding of Jewish people was one of their duties as a Christian. An example would be how some groups, who were led by pastors, “felt it their Christian duty to hide and save as many Jewish children as possible”(“Rescue by

In certain parts of Europe, you would be sent to a jail or one of the many camps. But in some countries, like Germany, “Germans executed not only the people who sheltered Jews, but their entire family as well” (“Rescue by Righteous” 1). Luckily, in Corrie’s case, she was not executed by German soldiers, and instead was sent to a prison with the rest of her family, and some unlucky guests. After months of solitude, Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to various work camps throughout Europe, unlike her father (who died shortly after being imprisoned) , brother, and sister, who were released soon after being sent to prison. After various camps, long marches, and awful train rides, they ended up in a work camp in Germany, which is sadly where Betsie lost her life one week before Corrie and her were supposed to be released together. Not all resistance members were as lucky as Corrie though, but they didn’t help people to be lucky and survive through the war. They did it for the certainty that the innocent were