Thoughts and Opinions on “Legacy Interrupted” by Shlomo Ben-Asher. Peyton Hartman Modern World History - HIST-2320-151 Mr. Padgett 27 Feb. 2024. In “Legacy Interrupted” by Shlomo Ben-Asher, is the private correspondence of a Jewish family during the Holocaust, revealing the intricate tapestry of family history and personal struggle. This novel showcases historical first-hand documents, examining the state of the world and how it can affect just one family. We are shown a window into time that allows us to have great insight into an event that happened long ago. From these letters, we get to see the inner workings of a family placed in the middle of an unspeakable tragedy. These letters, with raw emotion and unspoken …show more content…
This paper delves into the depths of these confessions, examining how they illuminate the characters’ journey through hardship, identity, and the quest for understanding within the folds of their shared legacy. “Legacy Interrupted” by Shlomo Ben-Asher compellingly explores the impact of generational trauma on personal identity and the impact it has on a person. The novel’s portrayal of Shlomo Ben-Asher’s journey through historical revelations highlights the persistent shadow of the past. The letters of Zerna show the beginning of this journey in his novel. Zerna’s letters provide a glimpse into the hidden struggles and resilience of the older generation, shedding light on their experiences during significant historical events. The letters of Zerna Morgenstern show the hope people carried before the Holocaust started. Her letters to Rachael show that her child's innocence represents the hope many people felt that a war would not come. As well, it showcases how so many people gave trust to others and their governments before the Holocaust. In addition, Zerna’s desire to see her family again and the belief that it was possible also symbolizes this same passion found in other Jewish families. Zerna’s letters compared to the older generation also show the differences in
During the Holocaust six million Jews lost their lives, while others lost their friends, family and dignity. Helen Waterford discusses her survival in the novel Parallel Journeys . Through Helen Waterford’s journey to hide, survive, and rejoin society, she realizes that she cannot dwell on what has happened to her but learn and become wise from what she has endured.
It is interesting to read the connections of Night, by Elie Wiesel because they include the experiences of the Holocaust from other people's’ points of views. In A Spring Morning, by Ida Fink, it is shocking that the innocence has been stripped away from the child as the speaker reveals, “Fire years old! The age for teddy bears and blocks” (Wiesel 129). This child is born innocent, she has not harmed anyone, yet she has to suffer. Reading about the Holocaust is difficult, I wonder how others had the motivation to live during it. The description of a little girl getting shot is heartbreaking as the speaker explains, “At the edge of the sidewalk lay a small, bloody rag…. He [Aron] had to keep on walking, carrying his dead child” (Wiesel 133).
Six million Jews died during World War II by the Nazi army under Hitler who wanted to exterminate all Jews. In Night, Elie Wiesel, the author, recalls his horrifying journey through Auschwitz in the concentration camp. This memoir is based off of Elie’s first-hand experience in the camp as a fifteen year old boy from Sighet survives and lives to tell his story. The theme of this memoir is man's inhumanity to man. The cruel events that occurred to Elie and others during the Holocaust turned families and others against each other as they struggled to survive Hitler's and the Nazi Army’s inhumane treatment.
The Silber Medal winning biography, “Surviving Hitler," written by Andrea Warren paints picture of life for teenagers during the Holocaust, mainly by telling the story of Jack Mandelbaum. Avoiding the use of historical analysis, Warren, along with Mandelbaum’s experiences, explains how Jack, along with a few other Jewish and non-Jewish people survived.
Most historical events, whether beneficial or detrimental to society, bear witnesses. Regardless of how many total were affected by the event, each person owns a personal account of what they endured during the event. Elie Wiesel, author of Night, expresses the personal account of Elizer, a Jewish teenager, who fought to stay alive during the holocaust, and shows the importance of witness accounts, the will to survive, and the remembrance of past historical events. Night encompasses the idea of “Literature of Witness” by simultaneously showing how millions of people were affected by the holocaust and how each person, principally Elizer, has their own personal story to tell to understand and remember that horrendous time.
Many outsiders strive but fail to truly comprehend the haunting incident of World War II’s Holocaust. None but survivors and witnesses succeed to sense and live the timeless pain of the event which repossesses the core of human psyche. Elie Wiesel and Corrie Ten Boom are two of these survivors who, through their personal accounts, allow the reader to glimpse empathy within the soul and the heart. Elie Wiesel (1928- ), a journalist and Professor of Humanities at Boston University, is an author of 21 books. The first of his collection, entitled Night, is a terrifying account of Wiesel’s boyhood experience as a WWII Jewish prisoner of Hitler’s dominant and secretive Nazi party.
Many different responses have occurred to readers after their perusal of this novel. Those that doubt the stories of the holocaust’s reality see Night as lies and propaganda designed to further the myth of the holocaust. Yet, for those people believing in the reality, the feelings proffered by the book are quite different. Many feel outrage at the extent of human maliciousness towards other humans. Others experience pity for the loss of family, friends, and self that is felt by the Holocaust victims.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II, Winston Churchill, once said, “Those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.” Throughout Elie Wiesel’s autobiography, Night, his faith in humanity, his belief in God’s justice and his childhood and innocence destroyed and changed his identity as a result of his experiences during the Holocaust. Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew in the book Maus written by Art Spiegelman, struggles through life during this European catastrophe, but does not portray a memory as affecting as Elie Wiesel’s. Night and the book Maus both contextually focus on survivors of the Holocaust, but Night illustrates a more graphic and realistic memory of this gruesome event. The portrayal of memory has similar, yet, contrasting effects when Elie Wiesel and his book Night, play a more vital role in remembering the broad perspective of the Holocaust compared to Vladek Spiegelman and the book Maus.
Mr. Wiesel had intended this book to describe a period of time in his life that had been dark and sorrowful. This novel is based on a survivor of the greatest Holocaust in history, Eliezer Wiesel and his journey of being a Jew in 1944. The journey had started in Sighet, Transylvania, where Elie spent his childhood. During the Second World War, Germans came to Elie and his family’s home town. They brought with them unnecessary evil and despair to mankind. Shortly after young Elie and thousands of other Jews were forced from their habitats and torn from their rights of being human. They were sent to different concentration camps. Elie and his family were sent to Auschwitz, a concentration and extermination camp. It would be the last time Elie sees his mother and little sister, Tzipora. The first sights of Auschwitz were terrifying. There were big flames coming from the burning of bodies and the crematoriums. The Jews had no idea of what to expect. They were not told what was about to happen to them. During the concentration camp, there was endless death and torture. The Jews were starved and were treated worse than cattle. The prisoners began to question their faith in God, wondering why God himself would
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed…“(Wiesel 32) Livia-Bitton Jackson wrote a novel based on her personal experience, I Have Lived a Thousand Years. Elli was a Holocaust victim and her only companion was her mother. Together they fought for hunger, mistreatment and more. By examining the themes carefully, the audience could comprehend how the author had a purpose when she wrote this novel. In addition, by seeing each theme, the audience could see what the author was attacking, and why. By illustrating a sense of the plight of millions of Holocaust victims, Livia-Bitton Jackson explores the powerful themes of one’s will to survive, faith, and racism.
A prominent them in the literature of the Holocaust we have read in this class is the role of family and heritage. Many of the works we have read have dealt with familial relationships, cultural heritage, and the passing down of culture from one generation to the next.
Rittner, Carol, & Roth, John. Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust. New York: Paragon House, 1993. Print.
Dwork, Deborah, and R. J. Van Pelt. Holocaust: a History. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.
Using lines and basic shapes to emphasize shading and detail and then teamed with such a complex theme, Art’s story and graphics join together in a complimentary marriage. With the nearly childlike drawings and the intense mature storyline, there is a message that this is being written by the child telling the story of the parent. The story emphasizes his father’s inability to grow and repair from his past but even without the words you can almost see that Art has never truly be able to move past his the trauma of growing up with his parents. Using his frustrations and the need to explore the history of his father’s idiosyncrasies, Art creates a poignant story not only about the tragedy of the holocaust, but of the realities of being a child growing up with survivor parents.
Kaplan, Marian A., Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany, Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999