Irving Bienstock – A Holocuast Survivor
Rarely do we get oppotunities to meet and speak with survivors of the Holocaust. Today offered such an opportunity.
I took the class through Children_of_the_Holocaust which led into a rare up close and personal visit with Irving Bienstock. Mr. Bienstock was born and lived in Dortmund, Germany until he was about 12 years old, whne he miraculously made his escape from NAZI ruled Germany. We heard him take us through his story whcih gave us an idea of what life was like before NAZI Germany, during build up toward the final solution, and after he escaped the horros of NAZI Germany.
Afterward, I fielded some questions to the best of my ability.
We then did a brief warm up on FORGIVENESS.
FINALLY, we copied down the widely known writing by Martin Niemöller – And then they came for me – and reflected upon personal responsibiilty when faced with the fact that someone else is being bullied, exploited, rediculed, told they are “less than”.
It is an honor to be able to hear a real life story about a holocaust survivor. Most of the people were killed or changed their religion. I am proud of Mr. Irving for surviving and being able to be hear to tell us his astonishing story.
It was a great day when Irving Bienstock, a Holocaust Survivor came to our school and spoke with us about the horrible tragedies he went through while living under the rules of the Nazis. It’s a privilege of us kids these days still hearing and learning from things that really happened back then. I also agree 100 percent with the comments above talking about how our generation is so sucked into the new technology, which is true and really don’t care much for the history that killed millions of people. It’s better to be informed about the past rather than not knowing anything at all.
I’m glad that we had a chance to hear him talk about how he experienced the Holocaust and what happened to him and his family as he was a child while Hitler was around. He was a Jew so he had the most pain of all being sent of into camps and almost being killed when his mother went too ask for help about the Nazi’s coming and burning their houses killing their own people. Luckily, him and his family did survive well not all of his family but his mother, father and I think he had a brother or another relative that survived the Holocaust. They’d gotten into America and now he’s still living, he’s living a good life because he’s aliv and he’s safe from anything like Hitler’s Raid ever happening too him again. I didn’t know the Holocaust was that bad actauly I didn’t know rarely anything about Hitler and the Nazi’s until he came and spoke with us and for so many people to have been killed by the nonsense of a jerk is really sad.
I agree with Jenna also because to me it is very important to know about the holocaust. I’ve read so many books about it and about children who survived and or people who lives have been impacted by the holocaust. I think it is such an interesting topic and if the children in the younger generation dont learn about this they are missing out on some of the most imprtant and the most interesting history of the earth that i have even heard of…
The Holocaust is the proper name for the historical event that began in1925 when Hitler’s Mien Kampf was first published and ended in 1945 when the Allies won WW 2 on August 9, 1945. It gets a capital ‘H’. A holocaust ont he other hand is a common noun which means “Great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of life, especially by fire.” as defined by thefreedictionary.com .
I agree with Jenna, as well. It was really great to have Mr. Irving Bienstock, a survivor of the Holocaust, come to our school and speak to us about his childhood and what he had dealt with during that time period. Right now, we whine about the littlest things and take things for granted. Kids of our age back then feared of losing their own life, and wondered if they will live to see the next day. Mr. Bienstock’s story was very interesting and gave us all an idea of what life was like during the Holocaust and we were very thankful to have him.
I agree with the comments above. Forgiving someone is the best revenge because the war or argument would be over and there wouldn’t be anymore fights. Mr. Bienstock told us the story of his life during the Holocaust and he wanted us to know that it was a true event. He wanted to inform us about what happened during the Holocaust. We should take it into consideration and learn from it !
Ignorance is when one does not know, or has no knowledge about something. If we continue on our separate and narrow paths that focus on only our own lives, and not very important moments in history such as the Holocaust, we will never get past our ignorance. The saying “history repeats itself” is evident throughout history, and it was a result because people were ignorant about history. Discrimination occurred during World War 2, and also in the genocide in Rwanda, and another time in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement. Even the worst moments in history can repeat itself, and its important that we don’t let another terrible thing like the Holocaust happen again.
I think that giving us an oppurtinity to listen to the story of one of the millions of people that went through such cruelty will really affect us , and make us think differently about what the Holocaust was really about. Learning about this now, will help us grow up to be good people, and treat everyone the way they deserve to be treated because everyone is equal. Now a days, we have everything basically handed to us, because we dont find the need to work for it. During the Holocaust, they did not know when they were going to see their families again, when they were going to have their next meal, and if they were going to wake up alive or not. It was a matter of life or death. Some of us would never have thought of looking back at the history of the Holocaust. With this opportunity, we got the chance to do that.
Savion Manuel- Are you saying that it was right for the Natizs to punish the Jewish for all they things that they were BLAMED for? If they so called did the things they were BLAMED for do you think it was necessary for the thousands that were killed during the Holocaust?
I also agree with Jenna. Today kids are on their cell phones, ipods, ipads, and computers. Instead of them telling each other who they like, when they are going to ask them out, and gossiping they should take the time to learn about what happened during that time period. Most poeple have the internet so, instead of facebook they should be on Google looking up history. They use it for everything else why not look up history? The Holocaust is and important and in my opinion one of the most devastating times in history. Some people deny the fact of it ever happening, but it most definitely happened. There are few people that survived but nobody would make up a tragedy like this.
It’s good to know that other people are agreeing wiht me, because most kids want to argue with the fact that we are spoiled. We have access to some of the best technology for our generation, while the best thing some of these kids had was a picture of their parents, or an old cloth from a childhood blanket. Most of the time we waste like playing apps for hours, could be used on learning the things we need to know!!
I agree with Jenna. If we don’t learn about all the things that have happened, we will grow up not knowing and just be unappreciative and not know a huge part of our history. The Holocaust DID happen and it is in our history so we should learn about it and know what happened so we can learn from that and continue in life knowing what happened and appreciate what we have now today and be better for it.
I agree with Jenna. Our generation thinks they are suffering when they don’t get what they want. But other people like Mr. Bienstock have felt a lot more pain than us. Back then, it was a matter of survival and living. But nowadays, kids whine over the little things. Our troubles are nothing compared to the time of the Holocaust, when you didn’t know if you would wake up alive.
I think that this a major topic in earths history and it is sad that alott of people do not know about this event. This was a great opportunity getting to meet a holocaust survivor and hear his story. I think that many schools should give this opportunity to there students and inform them about what has happened so that history does not repeat itself.
I agree with Jenna. I too think that we have taken advantage of the new technologies in the new century and all types of other unnesscessary items that we have discovered. I would like to metion that we have evolved from that time. I am assure that if the people had the exact same technology back then as we do here then they might have not suffered as bad. You fail to remember that this was a simplier time, the people had no other choice but to react the way they did.
I think it was a great privilage to be able to listen to someone that actually experienced what the NAZI party was really doing to Germany. While listening to Mr. Beinstock I could never imagine being seperated from my family so young. In my opinion I think that most of the kids in the United States are lucky to have a family.
I’m glad that our generation had a chance to hear the story of a holocaust survivor, in my opinion we don’t hear a lot about it any more. I think everyone should know, so that they can see what kids our age had to go through. Here we are texting, facebooking, and whining when we don’t get what we want; while they suffered in fear of losing their lives. If we don’t learn now about the truth, when will we ever?