Laura

How has my world view changed since the study of World War II?

By: Laura C.

My world view has changed unbelievably since I began the study of World War II at the EL center. Even though l’II never completely understand what it was like, I learned what the many sufferers of the war were put through. It was horrible, and I plain can’t imagine it happening today, although it might. Some people will think: It’ll never happen again. Not to me! But the truth is that it could happen again. I used to be one of those people that weren’t worried at all about war. Now I realize that I was wrong. It could have been my dad, my brother, or my grandfather. I now know how incredibly lucky we are to live in this world today rather than living in fighting countries of WWII.

Some soldiers, and even people that weren’t involved in the war, just living in the time, are still thinking about their time during the war. One of our veterans even said, "I’m proud that I could be part of living history, and when I see a flag it brings tears to my eyes." Another vet talks about how he made friends with a German shortly after the war. They were both trained to hate the enemy. Most of the war focused on hate. Most people didn’t want to kill, they were told to, so they did it. That’s what most people will say. I didn’t want to, but I did because I was told to.

I think it was a war that shouldn’t have happened, but it did. People died, children cried, but now all that war is over. But in many countries today, war and the atrocities of war continue. Hopefully, it will never mimic the deaths of 6 million Jews and 5 million other people who lost their lives in WWII German ghettos and camps. People died in these camps that were made for Communists, Jews, and other people that Hitler did not approve of because they were not of the Aryan race.

The victims of the Holocaust were basically put through three things: suffering, pain, and, the unfortunate ones, death. Adolf Hitler, Germany’s former leader, hated Jewish people and wished them all to be dead. Because of that, he put most of them in concentration, death, and labor camps. There they suffered. They lived a life with meager food and water rations. Their life was work or death. After people died or were murdered, they were burned. Sometimes, the crematories weren’t working as fast as people died, so their bodies lay for days. This makes me think. This could have been me. I could have been put through all of this pain. I could have died. I didn’t, but that will forever make me an anti-war believer.

My life wouldn’t be the same if it hadn’t been for the Allied efforts that were put into the war. I might even be under German or Japanese laws today. This makes me love the country that I am living in. … For the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

My thoughts have definitely changed since the beginning of my study. Now do you realize why???