Custom «A Teenage Girl's Holocaust Memoirs» Essay Paper Sample

1. Describe Fanyas relationship with Jan.

Fanya is the author of the Love in a World of Sorrow-a Teenage Girl's Holocaust Memoirs. In the story the author narrates the ordeal that she encountered during the holocaust; this was a time that the Jewish families that lived in Europe were attacked by the German soldiers with the aim of completely wiping them out of the face of the earth. The story is centred on the pain, romance and perseverance that Fanya encountered during the holocaust period.

In the story there is a character known as Jan who is a Ukrainian militant man who decided to risk his life and help Fanya's family from being attacked by the German soldiers who were attacking the Jews in Germany (Heller, 2005). Jan collaborated with another couple family in order to hide the family members of Fanya which includes her father and mother, despite all of them being non Jews.

Why does she describe this as "strange and unexpected?"

Fanya describes the deeds of Jan for saving her family as a very strange thing that has ever encountered in her life; all these happened during her teenage period she was only 18 years old when the holocaust began. She knew that she was going to be killed together with her family members because they were the targets of the Germans'. But she unexpectedly survived the holocaust when a non -Jewish couple with the help of Jan managed to save Fanya's family from facing the hostile treatment that was being subjected to Jewish families during that period. 

It was also strange in a manner that Jan had decided to risk his life in saving her family because of the love that he had for Fanya. in order to prove the love he had for her, he had to save her family and her life and this worked really well for him as he got the favour of her father who asked her not to leave "Be nice to Jan," and that was real love (Heller, 2005).

What role does Jan play in the keeping Fanya and her Family alive?  

Jan plays an important role in keeping Fanyas family alive is by organizing a safe place that will act as a hide out of this family. This is when he collaborated with a non -Jews couple in order to help the family in hiding from the selfish hands of the German soldiers. The other incidence is when he vowed that he would risk his life for the sake of Fanya's Love; the love for her made him sacrifice his life for her.      

2. One of the biggest issues for Fanya and her Family in WWII was to decide to stay together or to separate.

Describe the pros and cons of staying together during WW II?

The advantages of staying together of the family will ensure that the family will be very happy; this is because every individual in the family will easily relate with each other. Thus improve the unity amongst the family members thus ensuring that the family can be  a team that will oversee the progress of  each member.   

Describe the pros and cons of separating? 

The Pros of separating is that each individual in the family will be separated from the others and this will ensure that they are not interfered with. An example is when the Fanya wanted to be a scholar and leave Ukraine and have a better life in America (Heller, 2005).

The cons of separation is that the family members will not be in a position of cohesion and  living with each other as a team this will make an individual weak. An example is when Fanya fears for her family and doesn't want any of them to die.   

Describe one example of this family separating.

The family will separate as a result of the holocaust that aimed at killing all the Jews that lived in Europe; this will result to the family separating as some members might be attacked by the German soldiers or even captured, as some may also run for their lives in other secure places. 

Describe one example of this family staying together.

The incident that maintained the family unity was the rescue of the family by Jan and the Christian non -Jews couple who helped the family by hiding them from being attacked by the Germans soldiers this eventually resulted to the unity of the family.      

4. Susan Zuccotti, author of The Holocaust, the French, and the Jews, in her review of this book writes "Mrs. Heller shows us both the worst and best of which human being are capable. We are profoundly horrified by the worst, yet grateful to be reminded of the best".

Describe two examples in this book to illustrate "the worst" that human beings are capable of.

In the book by Zuccotti, there are instances of worst human actions that are shown in the book review. The most worst human actions in the books is the case of murder, the books have shown how humans developed a cold heart that they would use in murdering their fellow human beings with no remorse (Heller, 2005). As in the case on the holocaust the German soldiers attacked the Jews and killed them in huge masses; this eventually resulted to the Jews numbers reducing drastically and thus exposing them to trauma and excess fear for their lives. Thus they had to hide themselves and even hide in order fro them to escape the wrath of these German soldiers.

The other worst human being practice was the rape of the innocent people; this was done with the German solders who raped the Jewish women, girls and children before they killed them. This exposed them to a lot of fear and hatred to the German soldiers.           

Describe two examples in this book to illustrate the "best" that humans beings are capable of.

Humans also poses the best behaviours; this is indicated in the books when the non- Jews Christian couple saved the family from the unfair treatment of the Germans; this really was a good move that showed the there are good people in the world who are caring and concerned about their neighbours (Heller, 2005).