The documentary really opened my eyes to how little help the victims of the Holocaust received. Gerda suffered many years, experiencing malnutrition, dehydration, and living in conditions that were inhumane. In the end of the documentary, Gerda recalls the soldiers monitoring the death march the was forced to do left the remaining living women in an abandoned house. She remembers hearing the trucks of the soldiers coming down the road and finally feeling relief when she realized they were from the United States. A man held the door open for her as she talked to him, not having been treated like a woman (never mind a human) for years. In the end, she married the soldier that liberated her and the few women left that she was with.
Watching this documentary just made me think where is the United States in all of this? Maybe if the country got involved more, and earlier, people could have experienced what Gerda did, without the suffering and loss of family. So much death, so much pain, could have been prevented. I understand that we didn't want to get involved in the war in the first place, but I simply cannot imagine how many people would be alive even today had we intervened sooner.
Gerda went up with the director of the film when the Oscar was won. Wait until Gerda beings speaking ... this is honestly one of the most touching videos I have ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zn-fPM4KS0
I strongly recommend seeing this documentary; all 9 parts are on youtube as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment