Berlin Memorial Activity

  1.) What did you learn?

       I learned a lot about all the different types of laws Nazi Germany created for Jews. Some of the laws I found especially surprising would be the removing of Anti-Jewish signs during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Jews’ last testaments and wills would no longer be valid, and finally, the law that allowed Jews to shop for groceries between 4 pm and 5 pm only. The removing of Anti-Jewish signs during the 1936 Berlin Olympics was especially interesting for me because Germany was committing all these atrocities, knew it was wrong, and still managed to try and hide them from the rest of the world. The laws about prohibiting Jews’ last testaments and wills was interesting because it was such a simple thing, and the Nazis took that away from them. Finally, the law that allowed Jews to shop only between 4 pm and 5 pm was surprising to me because people needed food to survive and the Nazis thought that they only needed a hour, adding restrictions on shopping groceries. What would happen if Jewish people were working between 4-5 pm?

2.) Why do you think this monument was built?

    I think this monument was built as a remembrance factor for the world. The Nazis
committed many crimes during the Second World War. The most famous crime being the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the mass killing of Jews under the rule of Hitler; 11 million people died! It is
something too large to just let go and forget. People should learn from history to not repeat mistakes

. The Berlin Monument is a great way of remembering, and learning about the Holocaust!

3.) What did you notice about the number of laws passed during certain years?

    I noticed that the number of laws passed each year from 1933-1945 were very much scattered and not constant. A lot of times there would be almost a sort of build up of laws. For example, in 1934, one law was passed, then in 1935, two laws were passed, in 1936, three laws were passed, in 1937, two laws were passed. You see the number of laws passed each year slowly building up, then in 1938,  19 laws are passed! A similar pattern repeats between 1940-1942. 1940 has three laws passed, 1941 has eight laws passed, then in 1942, 15 laws are passed!

4.) Which restrictions do you think you would have the most trouble dealing with and why?

    I think I would have the most trouble dealing with the law that allows Jews to only shop for food between 4 pm and 5 pm, passed 7/4/40. Not only would I struggle with this, so would the entire family. If you don’t have any food, you’ll be forced to starve, steal, or ration. If parents are working during that hour, you have no way of buying food. I think it would just be very hard to survive with a limit on food.