Monday, 22nd June 2015

Hi!

I'm sorry I'm late, but today I haven't  had any time  for doing anything but watching a film called Adiós, muchachos (Au revoir, les enfants). It was impressive. In the end, a priest dies in Mauthausen. We have watched a documentary about this in Social Sciences. It was just shocking, I couldn't describe it. It was about a concentration camp of the nazis in Mauthausen (Austria). It started in August 1940 and it ended in 1945. There were 8 Spanish old men talking about that. They were survivors. They were Spanish republicans who moved to France and then were arrested and exiled to Mauthausen. They had to survive practically without eating. They had  "black water" at breakfast, water with potatoe zests and turnips at lunch, and 1/4 of a bread slice with a piece of sausage. They were in such an extreme situation that they prayed for the people who were worse to die because death was better than what they were going through. I was too sad when I've watched this:

These were the stairs they had to climb and take down, running.

And this is how the Spaniards were dressed (at least until they were allowed to wear clothes).

The part of the French songs was also very sad. I think these men must be proud of themselves. They are heroes. 

It was one of the most painful and emotional things I've seen in my whole life. 

See you!

https://youtu.be/PkUuoCiU0LU

Monday, 22nd June 2015

Hi, I'm Minerva!

Today in Social Sciences we have watched a documentary about the concentration camp of Mauthausen. It is about 80 minutes, so we have stayed for two hours in the classroom.

Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.es/2015/05/05/mauthausen-liberacion_n_7212326.html

During the documentary, some Spanish people who survived in Mauthausen talked about all they lived there. They talked about the things they saw, what they ate and the stories they lived there until they were released. 

They were sent there because they were captured in France, where they were exiled after the Civil War in Spain. They were identified with a triangle with an S inside it.

Source: http://www.heraldo.es/noticias/comunicacion/adios_vida_rescata_los_recuerdos_los_presos_aragoneses_mauthausen.html

During the documentary we can see all the horrors committed there. At first it was bad for the Spaniards to stay there, but when the senior officers visited the camp and they knew they were Spanish against the government of Spain, they ordered to be merciless with them.

They worked in quarries all the day. They had to break the rocks and then, go up with them through a long stair. 

 Source:http://www.abc.es/fotos-toledo/20140131/imagenes-horror-1611861614448.html

Source: http://negativosparalahistoria.blogspot.com.es/2013_01_01_archive.html

We have been talking for a long time about what  we would have done if we had the opportunity of punishing the Nazis. All of us agree in the same thing; we would have treated them as they treated the people in the camps. Paqui has said that if we would have done this, we would be like them. She has said that she would have sent them to live with the people they hate so they could saw that they were similar.

I knew that the concentration camps were the selfsame hell, but I was wrong. They were worse. I couldn't even imagine they were like the video shown and I can't even imagine living there for years. I'm sure I couldn't live there not even for a week or a month.

Seeing your friends dying or smelling everyday the odor of the bodies being burnt is enough to be traumatized for the rest of your life.

I see this and for me, it's impossible to think that this ocurred just 70 years ago. It's striking how the human being can be, how can we hurt each other only because we think in a different way.

I think we should learntabout the history, because a lot of these things are repetitions from the past.

Despite all the wars that have happened during the history, I think this is the bloodiest, the cruelest and senseless one up to this moment.

For me, the most emotional part of the video is when the survivors told us how was the entrance of the American troops in the camp and how happy they were.

 Source: http://www.eldiario.es/el-holocausto-espa%C3%B1ol/gusen-mauthausen-nazi-deportado-franco-suner-himmler-hitler_6_349325071.html

Source: http://vidaytiemposdeljuezroybean.blogspot.com.es/2015/05/campandas-de-la-historia-47-la.html

"Los Españoles antifascistas saludan a las fuerzas liberadoras"

Here you have the video if you want to watch it:

I hope you like it. 

P.S.: If you want to read a book about this, I have found this one:  

Los últimos españoles de Mauthausen, Carlos Hernández de Miguel.

Here you have the synopsis: 

http://www.edicionesb.com/catalogo/libro/los-ultimos-espanoles-de-mauthausen_3401.html

Hope you have a good summer!!

Monday, 22nd June 2015

Hi, I’m Clara Inés!

Today in Social Sciences class as there weren’t many people we have seen a documentary about the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp.

Source: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/gallery.php?ModuleId=10005196&MediaType=PH

The documentary talked about the Spanish people who were sent  to this camp, but not all the Spanish people survived. These Spaniards were sent there because when the Spanish Civil War ended most of the Spanish people went  to France to live there and when the WW2 started with the Nazism many of these people were sent to this camp by Hitler's orders.

Source: http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Mauthausen/KZMauthausen/History/introduction.html

On the documentary these people talked about the five years that they “livde” there, in the camp. Almost all the people who were confined  there died of hunger, were executed or they committed suicide.

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_subcamps_of_Mauthausen

In my opinion I think that the documentary was very hard. These people suffered a lot of, they were battered and abused. For me the most emotional part was when the Nazism started to disappeared and all the people of this camp could start to goes home, for me this was the most beautiful part.

Source:https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campo_de_concentraci%C3%B3n_de_Mauthausen-Gusen

And the worst part was when the people died and they were stacked and were moved with excavators, These people were very skinny, due to the hunger.

Source:http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Mauthausen/KZMauthausen/ZiereisDeath.html

That's all for today. Have a happy summer and enjoy it.

Bye!!