Created by Vinny Hogan, Remy Csendes, Romir Vishwanath, & Bryce Nash
Introduction
During World War 2, from 1939-45, there were two major sides in conflict, the Axis and Allies. Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Japan were part of the Axis while the US, UK, France, the USSR, and others were part of the Allies. World War 2 officially started when Adolf Hitler became the dictator of Germany, and invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Hitler was driven by hate, and took advantage of the already existing anti-semitism in Germany to gain popularity by using Jewish people as scapegoats for all of Germany’s problems.
Running Dove
Hitler was charismatic, and used this trait to gain the favor of the public to achieve his goals. Further into his dictatorship, he created the “Final Solution” as a systematic plan to exterminate all European Jews. To achieve the Final Solution, he turned the murder of people into an industry. He established concentration and death camps all over Germany and Poland, which were the core of the industry and the “Final Solution”. The two types of camps, concentration and death camps, were constructed for different purposes. Concentration camps were mainly used to exploit inmates into forced labor, while the death camps were used to kill large amounts of inmates, usually via gas chambers. The camps made by the Nazis have had a long lasting effect on hundreds of millions of people. And as the war went on, the Allies started to push towards Germany on both sides, from the west and east. The Nazis had to evacuate camps and re-allocate the prisoners to different camps. The way in which the Nazis did this was by marching prisoners for miles on end. These evacuations were known as Death Marches.
By the time that the Germans knew that they had already lost the war, they still found more ways in which they could cause more pain and suffering to the prisoners. Before commencing the marches, the Nazis covered up the evidence of the camps in an attempt to mask the evidence of their war crimes, and to evade possible punishment from the Allies. They burned down camps to hide evidence of torture and attempted to exterminate any remaining camp witnesses. Then, the Nazis would commence the “forced evacuations” or death marches. An example of when the Nazis attempted to eliminate all witnesses was when, “7,000 Jews, 6,000 women and 1,000 men, were force-marched for 10 days. Seven hundred were murdered en route. Those who survived the march itself arrived at the Baltic Sea on January 31. That very day, the Nazis pushed the remaining prisoners into the sea and shot them – only 13 survived”(Yad Vashem).
What the Jews and other “undesirables” experienced during the marches was indescribable. They were watched like hawks by the SS, who were usually on motorcycles, and anyone who couldn’t keep up the pace was shot to death. Marches could be incredibly long, as much as 37 miles. Moreover, the Jews and others in the camp had to do these marches in awful health conditions, as they were starved in the camps and lived in unsanitary conditions. In some marches, close to 250,000 people lost their lives. Ivan Becker, a Jewish-Hungarian Holocaust and death march survivor describes his perspective on the conditions of the marches when he says, ”It was raining. It was muddy. … there were no bathroom possibilities. There were slit trenches, dark, and where we essentially had to find a place to lie down amongst thousands of people– which, in fact, you couldn’t.” Although this description of the marches depicts them as muddy and wet, the conditions could vary to being snowy and bitterly cold as well.
As the war came to an end, the Allies liberated any camps they came across. Despite the fact that the prisoners were freed and the war was over, they stayed put in the camps. They feared they would be killed if they left, and couldn’t differentiate friend from foe. The trauma and absolute atrocities they have suffered will forever remain with them. Additionally, their homes were likely destroyed and had nowhere to go after liberation. The effects of the war and death marches have had and will continue to have an everlasting impact on those who experienced it. In another testimonial from Ivan Becker, he uses one quote to convey the long-lasting impact that his experience in the death marches had on him when he said, “To this day, if I go in a group of people, I must be one of the first. I am so uncomfortable being one of the last because of the threat of death if you are the last one, number one.” Becker’s experience conveys the powerful and long-lasting emotional impact the marches inflicted on those who were in it. Additionally, he shared this experience half a century after his experiences in the death marches. Clearly, the marches would usually induce trauma for the people who experienced it, as displayed by Becker.
It is essential and incredibly important to memorialize the events of the death marches. Firstly, the death marches were awful forms of human rights violations, as was the rest of the Holocaust. And as much of the other parts of the Holocaust, they should be remembered to ensure that they will never happen again. The death marches and everything surrounding them in the Holocaust were unspeakable war crimes. But it is not only the atrocity that we should remember, but also how it displayed the strength of the human race. The people who survived the death marches transcended every obstacle to do so, including starvation, pain and exhaustion only because they saw the tiniest sliver of hope and possibility of surviving. For the people in the death marches, hope was the silver lining in a cloudy sky of despair.
Artifact Statement
In our artifact called Running Dove, we focus on a part of history called death marches. These forced deportations tested Jewish prisoners as they took on challenging conditions. In the memoir Night by Elie Weisel, Elie tells what happened to different people during death marches, “When the SS were tired, they were replaced. But no one replaced us”. Elie explains that when the Nazis were tired they got to rest. When Jewish prisoners were tired, they were killed. It showed how cruel the Nazis were no matter who it was. Through our artwork, we show how these marches affected prisoners emotionally and mentally.
We want our art to make you feel something deep inside. It’s not just about the past; it’s about remembering the people who suffered and died during these marches. By looking at our art, we want to honor the memory of those who went through these terrible experiences and to remind all of us to be more caring and understanding towards one another.
Planning, collecting materials, and finally building our artifact has taken our group through a journey. In our early stages, arriving at a symbolic representation of the Death Marches took a while. We eventually settled on a rough design and attempted to work out all of the fine details. The only thing about our project we really knew about was the environment. Our group decided to replicate Elie Wiesel’s struggle. Wintery, dark, and a barren wasteland.
At the start of construction, our productivity was low and we weren’t even sure what the base of our artifact would be made out of. Once we finally made our base out of six square panels of wood, we became far more productive. Our group quickly assigned jobs and got to work. Everyone put in their work during their free time, during recess, study hall, or even after school. Our vision was finally coming to fruition. However, towards the end, we still didn’t have our main pieces: The Dove and The Prisoner. We planned on 3D printing them with no other options. There were countless failed attempts when the print failed with less than a week to spare.
Eventually, we had a successful print for the dove, but not for the prisoner quite yet. There were a few imperfections in the prisoner which led us to use hot glue for an arm and paint over it. From there, hanging the bird with string and attaching lights luckily had no hardships. But when it came to sliding the swastikas on the metal rod, we could just not make it work for wood. We had to resort to cardboard instead. In the end, everything came together nicely. Although we couldn’t include all of our original features(such as a moving base and a mechanically running person), our artifact was successful in representing our message.
Our artifact represents the cruelty of the Nazis and the struggles of the prisoners during death marches. We chose to have a black background with white speckles and the bottom a black and green tint with snow above it to represent a snowy night which highlights the extreme conditions that the prisoners were forced to travel. We based it off of the memoir Night by Ellie Wiesel when Ellie tells the gruesome story about the death march he had from Buna to Gleiwitz; “I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support.
These thoughts were going through my mind as I continued to run, not feeling my numb foot, not even realizing that I was still running, that I still owned a body that galloped down the road among thousands of others”. The ceiling is holding up a dove that represents the hope and belief that they would be free. There is a person running after the dove, representing the people who still had a belief that they would survive the marches no matter how much pain or suffering they were in.
Personal Reflections
What Might Have Happened?
~Bryce Nash, Class of 2025
My name is Bryce Nash and I helped to create the artist statement as well as parts of the script for our documentary. As an 8th grade, we started a two-week long project on different parts of the Holocaust my topic was Death Marches. The theme was trying to remember but also honor the people who had died or went through the events. The experience’s biggest part was ensuring you had all of your facts right. We had to use multiple sources and find a testimony, memoir, or other source of someone who had gone through the event.
As a group, we split into two groups. Vinny and Remy worked on the artifact. Romir and I worked on the documentary. I also had to work on the artist statement and Remy helped with the documentary. When we had a point where we needed help we asked each other questions about how we could improve each part of the project. An example that I think of was when Remy told me to use a quote from the memoir Night by Elie Weisel. It helped me add more to the artist statement. Also, Romir had some ideas for the artifact that he gave to Remy and Vinny so they could put them in.
This project has made me realize how bad the Holocaust truly was. It was not just about making them do work, it was about killing them and making it so there was one race left white, and one religion, Christianity. It has made me grow and appreciate everything that I have been given in my life. From gifts to going to a school and not being hated for my race or religion. Just reading about it made me sad.
I will always wonder what would have happened if the 1932 election had turned out differently.
Doing What One Can Do
Vinny Hogan, Class of 2025
“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
-Primo Livo
My name is Vinny Hogan, and I am currently an eighth grader at the Fenn school. Just recently, the entire grade had a massive project about preserving the memory of the holocaust; the grade was split into groups of three and four, and given a certain part of the holocaust to research. I had received a concussion a couple of weeks prior to this project, so I couldn’t really contribute to the script because it was on a screen. That left me doing the artifact aspect of the assignment. A theme I noticed while working with my group was productivity. Despite my injury, I was still able to collaborate with my group and still play my role in making the artifact.
My group had four members: Myself, Bryce, Romir, and Remy. Bryce and Romir worked together on the script while I worked on the artifact. Remy bounced back and forth between groups helping with each, but primarily helped work with me on the artifact. My favorite moment displaying our teamwork was when we put our minds together about what the general concept of the artifact should be. We all listened to each other’s ideas with intent and in the final product, an aspect of each person’s own idea was included into the finished piece.
Working and studying with matters as serious as the holocaust got me thinking about human history. It made me reflect and ponder how cruel one group of people can be to another race. I also felt that the hands on work helped keep my brain stimulated during my concussion injury. The hardest part overall I’d say for me was not knowing what the script for our documentary looked like. Having it made without any supervision from me was personally uncomfortable. No discredit to anyone however; the documentary was excellent.
Because I was unable to write or research much after my injury, I don’t feel I grew much as a writer or a researcher. However, I do feel as if my creativity expanded with the hands-on work of building the artifact. This project was a great experience and success for my group and I, and I had a blast working with my peers despite the severity of the subject.
Much Done in Little Time
Remy Csendes, Class of 2025
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference”
-Elie Wiesel
My name is Remy Csendes. I’m part of the 2024 Death Marches group. In the start, I largely worked on the artifact and gradually shifted towards doing general work that needed to be done at the moment, largely parts of the script. Throughout the project, I’ve developed several skills. Starting off was difficult and coming with an idea was very much needed in a short amount of time. Whether I was writing a script or simply brainstorming, I constantly had to communicate with my peers to make sure we we’re always in agreement. Overall, everything went smoothly and the project was a very informative experience.
I was working in a group of four. At the start, we all assigned ourselves certain aspects of the project to get things kicked-off. Once things got going, we eventually just worked on what needed work. As deadlines got closer, more work was focused on that part of the project. Our strategy of adaptive tasks, moving to what needed work, worked well and allowed us to produce a high quality end product.
Working on this project has helped me better understand how to work better as a team while having a good time. I’ve expanded upon several vital skills such as communication and collaboration. We’d often check in to see how progress is coming along and ask for feedback. Getting started was difficult choosing an idea of what the artifact would represent and look like. Then actually making the artifact, finding materials, and working out all of the little details. Towards the final days, we were rushing to get the documentary scripts refined, recording, and editing. Adding final touches to the artifact and working out problems. Without any specific readings to research has further enforced my understanding of independent research while taking accurate notes.
Learning how to write a script for the first time has provided me with a new experience. Creating a documentary, artist’s statement, and artifact has made me much better at organizing tasks and deadlines, being a teammate, and a worker.
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