If only I had believed what you'd said about the German Soldiers and their cruelty. If only the rest of Sighet would've believed you too. What I've seen and experienced over the last couple of weeks has been beyond words, and incredibly absurd. I never would've believed babies were thrown up into the air and shot like a target, until now. I witnessed with my own eyes babies and young children being thrown into thick, blazing flames. How could anyone ever have the heart to murder innocent children who could've done little to nothing wrong in their entire lives? When I first entered Birkenau after we traveled for days in the crowded cattle train cars, I was separated from my mother and sisters, as all of the males and females were separated. I have not seen my mother or sisters since we were separated. Then soldiers came around and started asking us our ages and a man told me to lie so I wouldn't be sent off to get killed right away. I also lied and said that I was a farmer! Little did I know that answer would get me sent to jump into a ditch filled with what seemed like eternal fire. I was standing in a line with others, just waiting to jump into this pit of death, when a miracle occurred.
After I escaped death, I was marched with the others to barracks where we were deprived of our clothing, and were left with only our belts and shoes. Being completely naked around so many strangers was uncomfortable and and a very disturbing experience. Though, it was the thing I was least concerned about. I had almost just died, and watched others forced to kill themselves by the German soldiers. I was not worried about my appearance anymore. We were then shaved and all of the hair on our bodies was gone. We were all just skin and bones, and had nothing left but each other. We were then a day later taken to be "disinfected" and then sent to take showers to wash ourselves down. I don't understand why we needed to be disinfected. Anyone with a disease or serious illness was already sent to another part of the camp. Though again, I didn't give it much thought. All I could think about was how inhumanely and disgustingly we were being treated. We were given extremely small rations in food and were beaten by the soldiers. We would run naked in the freezing cold for long periods of time, and were not allowed to sit down but simply had to stand for extended periods of time in the cold, cramped, dingy, barracks. Then suddenly, things changed a little bit.
One article that I found absolutely interesting was Emily's! Her article was about the mis-documentation of death and concentration camps. She explained that there was a postwar estimate of 7,000 concentration camps during the Holocaust. Though years later it was found that there were actually around 42,500 concentration camps run throughout the Holocaust. I found this incredible because there were actually 6 times as many camps as it had originally been thought that there were, which is huge! It's not like there was an estimated 9,000 concentration camps and there were actually 10,000. It went from 7,000 to 42,500 when it was all said and done, which effected other statistics about the holocaust as well, like the death estimate! Obviously if there were more camps, there were going to be more deaths! So, if the number of camps was 6 times more than what was originally thought, then there would be 6 times the deaths. This would shine a whole new light on the Holocaust because it would show people that the Holocaust was so much more widespread, and did so much more damage than some people could've ever imagined! I found it so interesting that the numbers were so off, and it must've given people a new view of the Holocaust who had seen the first numbers, and then the new ones!
Something huge that I've accomplished as of the new year, is getting accepted into Saint Ignatius College Preparatory high school. Saint Ignatius is one of the more prestigious high schools in the state, and being accepted was a huge honor for me. I doubt myself and my abilities a lot, and I was very nervous about getting into this school. I filled out multiple practice tests, took hours to write the essay portion of the application, and awaited long, nerve-wracking weeks for a letter to finally come. When a letter finally did come with the news that I had been accepted, I was absolutely overjoyed. I put a lot of work into applying for the school, and there were a lot of days where I thought there was no way I was going to get into the school. Though, I'm extremely proud of myself getting the opportunity to attend this incredible school!
Athziry had an article about the impact social media can have on suicide rates. It is shown that viral suicides result in higher suicide rates amongst teens. This is like the posting of suicides on YouTube, and suicide notes/goodbye videos on FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. This has led teens on the verge of committing suicide to take that jump and actually kill themselves which is what is leading to the higher rates of people killing themselves. If people weren't posting this on social media, then I'm sure suicide rates wouldn't be so high, and a lot less people would be convinced to commit suicide themselves. Social media should never be used to show or promote negative things (even though a lot of people do use it for that reason) and if people weren't posting suicides, I'm sure less people would think it was just okay to actually kill themselves. When someone posts a suicide note or video, any teen who might be depressed could find that relatable. Who knows what they've been through and what they can take. Seeing others doing it, it looks okay, and it makes it seem like the idea is less spontaneous and crazy. Though, these suicide pictures and videos are doing more harm than good, and leading to huge news on suicide rates.
Citlalli's article also was about how social media is being used to convince young girls to join ISIS. A girl named Aqsa recently convinced three girls from Scotland to join ISIS, and that with her help, they could successfully get to Turkey, and live a better life as an ISIS bride. It is clear to most people that ISIS is a dangerous terrorist group that is only making people's lives miserable, yet this girl is using the power of social media to convince people to leave their families and practically join forces with evil. Aqsa, being the bride of a man part of ISIS herself, posted pictures over her Tumblr blog of executions carried out by ISIS and also posts tutorials for young girls looking to be ISIS brides themselves. She has tutorials on everything from how to get a flight to Turkey, where to stay, who to talk to, where to travel, etc. She recently DM'd (Direct Messaged) the three Scottish girls and convinced them that joining ISIS would be a great idea, and that they would be able to live a much better life as an ISIS bride. If Aqsa had not created this social media account where she tried to convince and pressure girls into joining ISIS, girls would be a lot safer and in a lot better of a position than if they were to join the terrorist group that has shown that they are not afraid to behead anyone if they feel the need. Social media is what is causing this whole situation to occur, and these Scottish girls would be much, much safer if they would've never seen this Tumblr blog.