Reflection Questions: Holocaust Video, Chapter 2-3

After watching the chapter 2 and 3 of the video of Oprah and Elie Wiesel at Auschwitz, answer the following questions on your own blogs

Describe the areas the Orpah and Elie Wiesel visit in Chapter 2 & 3.
In the video, they visited the museum where they overlooked all the children's shoes. they also visited the gas chambers where the Germans found easier and more efficient way of killing the Jews. They came across the crematorium but did not go in for the reason being that Elie Wiesel was so traumatized by the horrors he has seen in there that he doesn't want to go back in and relive all those memories.

Why do Oprah and Elie Wiesel refer to the camp as a "death factory"? how was it "industrialized"?
The camp(s) were referred as a 'death factory'because hundreds and hundreds of people died each day. They were either, worked, tortured, starved, or burned to death. And when that didn't do the job of killing them German Nazis would shoot them.
When they say the 'death factory' became industrialized it means that the German Nazis have found new innovative and more efficient ways in killing large masses of Jews in faster and easier way. This is where gas chambers came in. German nazi soldiers would cram in hundreds of Jews into one room or cellar, turn on the poisonous gas. The Jews would inhale this and die.

What is the significance of the hundreds of labelled suitcases? of the baby clothes? of the shoes?
Before the Jews even knew they were going to die at the concentration camps they thought they were being brought into a new more wonderful place where they could work and earn money, they were told to pack a few of their most precious belongings to bring with them onto the train. Eager to escape from the bad economy they were living in, each suitcase was labeled with its own owner. When they had arrived at the camps, they were told they were going to take showers and left all their belongings and clothes with German soldiers thinking they were going to be returned back to them. But showers turned out to be gas chambers and they died leaving their precious belongings with them. So each shoe, piece of clothing, and suitcase represents a life that has been taken away all with their own personal true story. We have no idea what these peoples' significance in life could of been. In the video, Elie mentioned that any one of these people who have died could have found a cure for aid and cancer, but we would never know.

How is this video different in video technique and style from most videos or movies that you are used to seeing? (think about your answers to question 2 on the previous reflection)? Do you think the difference in style was effective? Why or why not?
I think this video is very different from all the interviews i have ever seen or have done myself. I think this particular way of interviewing is so much more effective because of the topic they are focusing on, more of a dramatic and emotional interview. The technique being that we could see long shots of both Oprah and Elie talking and how they react to what each other says.

After watching the video and reading the book, what is your impression or response to this thing called the Holocaust? How did the experience of watching the video differ from that of reading the book for you?
While reading the book, it felt so unreal that humans were doing such inhumane things to other humans. It was so hard to picture the dead bodies piled high on each other until i saw the book. When i watched the video I could not only read about it but now I can visualize and see all the things that happened inside the camps. And especially with Elie's voice himself talking about brings so much more emotional and meaning to the words in the book.

Reflection Questions: Holocaust Video, Chapter 1

After watching the first chapter of the video of Oprah and Elie Wiesel at Auschwitz, answer the following questions on your own blogs

What details about the Holocaust experience became clearer or more vivid for you because of the video?
Aside from reading about the Holocaust in books or on the internet, I think what really made the Holocaust much more vivid and made it seem so true and real was having Elie Wiesel there to tell his actual story, to say what he saw, what he heard, and what he felt like. Also, I think just seeing the buildings and the places the Jews were killed really opened my mind and made me say 'this is where it all happened'. The graphics included in the video also made the video clearer and much more vivid to me. Such as pictures oh starving Jews crammed onto beds, the gas chambers where they were killed, and the trains where the Jew rode in for days.

Describe the video techniques used to tell this story:
Camera angles: The camera angles work nicely that while they were talking about where things happened like where they stood in lines and where the died with the angles, I was able to see Elie Wiesel talk about a certain place while at the same time see where it all happened.
Graphics: Graphics were so important in this video and topped everything it gave me such a good visual of what the Jews had been through.
Interviewing: The interviewing portion made everything seem more real and because Oprah was there and is such a good speaker many of the questions she had asked answered all my wondering questions.
Excerpts from the book: Taking the excerpts again like what I had said earlier, him just saying them aloud with his own voice reading what I had read made it seem so true and believable. When he read the excerpts from the book on the video it just brought more emotion and meaning to his written words.

What is the "madness" the Oprah and Elie Wiesel speak of at the end of this section?
I think the 'madness' in this video is about how the Germans had treated the Jews, killing them so harshly and so fast, being so determined to get rid of the Jewish race. I think the 'madness' would describe all of the inhumane things the Jews had experienced.