Berlin Memorial Activity

During this WWII memorial activity I learned that Hitler and his government created laws that slowly but surly took away Jews's human and civil rights. In the beginning they took away their ability to seek entertainment. They made laws such as: Jews expelled from all sports, choir, and automobile clubs, Jewish actors prohibited from performing, and Jews banned from swimming pools. These were slightly minor compared to everything else. At the same time Hitler took away their jobs. They made laws that prohibited Jews with certain careers from working and basically got them fired. Hitler took away their ability to make a living. Then Hitler took more personal things. Things such as their pets, names, identity, valuables, homes, family, basically the government took away their way of life.

I think this monument was built to remind the generations of what Hitler did to innocent people and how the population followed his way of thinking. This monument shows things that no one realizes could easily be taken away, especially because it has been done before. It really helps people these days to respect what they now and not take advantage of their freedom. It show freedom is very valuable yet very fragile. The monument really puts things in perspective.

I noticed that in some years there were more laws passed and in others there were only a few. I think this happened because it was Hitlers plan to slowly take away freedom and conquer the world. In the beginning he made quite a few laws regarding Jews and their freedom (or lack of). In 1938 he really started to pound down on the Jews with labeling them, changing names, segregation, etc. Then he made a few more each year, but in 1942 he really took Jews lives away; literally and figuratively. He took their possessions, family, and their actual lives. 

I think the restrictions I would have the most trouble dealing with would be taking pets away. I love animals, and pets are literally family to me. Taking away a dog or cat would feel like someone taking my heart out. I wouldn't be able to handle it. I live for my animals, it's would terribly hard to live without them. Obviously it isn't as bad as the ghettos or concentration camps, but in my eyes it's a close second.