Shawn Wheelock Sociology 10 Midterm Paper Tuesday Section

I really liked this paper, so thought that I would share it...... (They incidentally told me that it was not passing because it did not appropriately address the question of what did the "cultural event" that I choose to see say about contemporary american society.  I think that my TA and Prof were on crack. So I wrote a paper that vastly inferior and it got a good grade.  Strange, strange people. The cultural event was, obviously, a Holocaust survivor speaking on campus.)

Alicia's story is amazing, and she has written it in the book, Alicia: My Story. I recommend it highly.

Alicia Appleman-Jurman, a survivor of the Holocaust, spoke at the Stevenson Dining hall at UCSC. With great compassion, and obvious pain she related her story. As a child, she lived in a small town in Poland. The first acts of aggression against her people came when Hitler and Stalin signed their non-aggression pact, and divided Poland between them. Soviet rule was brutal. One of her brothers was taken to a reeducation school in Moscow, and escaped, eventually finding his way back home. He was systematically hunted down, and promptly hanged. This was just the beginning of their troubles. When the Germans took over her town, they required her father and oldest brother to ‘register’ at the town square. Unbeknown to them, this involved being taken into the forest, forced to dig a large pit, standing at the edge of it, and being shot. This was particularly convenient as the bodies would fall into the pit.

In time, the rest of her siblings were killed, and only her and her mother remained. She was a character of incredible courage, even reporting for ‘registration’ in place of her mother. She was taken, beaten, and given Typhoid infected water and thrown in a pit as a convenient way to eliminate her along with the rest of those who were registered. Her near-dead body was taken from the mounds of the dead by a kind Jewish couple, snuck in a cart beneath hay to their house, and nursed back to health. Upon returning to her hometown, the situation worsened, eventually culminating in her mother being shot while she watched. Now she was alone, and was finally broken. She does not know how she continued at that point. When the war ended, she somehow was left alive while everyone she knew was dead. In fact, she had escaped death six times.

"How is it that you were able to carry on?", I asked her. Alicia responded that she had swore on her brother Zachary’s grave that she would be his voice, that she would tell his story now that his was silenced.

With a sigh of relief, he finally settled down in his cubicle, and started up his computer, a smashing new Sun Ultra Sparc 100 Workstation with ten gigabytes of RAM, now that was a nice machine. The commute was just insane – everybody and their dog out on the road going over the hill. Somebody should do something about that. Widen the dang freeway. And to make it worse, his car was in the shop. He was so angry – his brand new Chevy Suburban, jet black, 4 wheel drive, a total babe magnet if there ever was one. His alternator had gone out, so he had to rent a car. Will his problems never cease? His thoughts were interrupted by the computer’s beep signaling that it was ready for use. He wondered what email he had waiting for him. No sense starting work before he had to. First things first.

Alicia recounted an incident that was just too bitter for her to include in her book, saying that it would have broken her heart to do so. As she was waiting to be "registered", behind her in line stood a mother and young child, stiff with terror. As a SS guard strolled up the line, the child dropped the doll which she was clutching to her breast. In an unexpected gesture of kindness, the Nazi picked up the doll and handed it back to the nameless child. Surprised, the child smiled from ear to ear, and said, "Thank you." Without a word, the soldier whipped out his gun, and shot her dead.

"Do I still believe in God? [Yes,] God gave us the great gift of being able to choose. They (the Germans) choose to forsake Him. God did not shoot babies in the face. People did. In my 14 year old mind I decided that maybe if I were a good girl, maybe God will have faith in us again."

He spun around and fumed, "Listen, I have just about had it with people like you. I don’t need your religion! I don’t need your crutch. In fact you can take that Bible of yours and shove it up your ass! If God does exist, he is an Asshole, just. like. you."

I told her that it was people like her that gave me hope in humanity. She responded that it was people like me that gave her hope. It was the students of the world, she said, that gave her faith in humanity. Coming and talking to children infuses her with hope. "Children do not hate, they learn that from grown-ups. Children just want to love." One of her favorite things is going into a college dining hall and seeing students be able to eat all they wanted and be clothed. "I have never forgotten the hungry eyes of the children ."

As he saw the missionary wince, he smiled and said, "And have a good day." Satisfied with himself, he headed back down the street to get lunch. What should he get today? He was pretty sick of the bistro, and Chinese was definitely out. Hmmmm…

Alicia’s parting comments were the same words which she writes in every book she signs. "A tragic page in history was written for my generation. God willing, you will write your page with happiness, love, shalom and a celebration of human dignity. With all my love."