How a History Class Changed My Life~

“The other class saw this other movie here,” my high school history teacher said, holding up the VCR tape film on the Holocaust. 

The other high school class had watched this film. Our class watched a film on some other sort of history in which, oddly enough, I do not remember, haha.

But I eyed the Holocaust tape, and then prayed that the history teacher would let me borrow it. So, the next day, right before class began, I came up to his desk and asked if I could borrow the video for an evening and watch it at home. Reading the back of the movie’s tape cover, I was shocked – because this was the first I learned about the Holocaust – where Hitler exterminated millions of Jews in a variety of death walks, concentration camps, and brutal beatings, shootings – aka, he took care of each fateful woman, man, and child by brutally murdering them in cold blood.

My history teacher suggested I not only take the video home for the evening, but for the weekend, so I did. What I saw in that 2 hour video changed my life completely.

And then, of course, I wrote a book about it, haha 🙂 It’s called “The Sacrifice.” Basically, since I wrote it in high school and didn’t care about what was “realistic” or not (or didn’t want to care, haha), this was the plot of the book: a young eighteen-year old American journalist named Clara Franklin comes to Germany to investigate the Germans and their police forces. She comes with her strict journalist parents and fun-loving uncle. One day, they hear a knock on the door of the old, run-down apartment they are staying at, and a family of Jews with the famous stars on their chest rush inside, pleading with them to protect them from the outside world.

Little by little, Clara begins to understand the depths of the nightmares hidden outside, and she and her family find themselves forced to keep this family safe. The oldest child of the family is twenty-year old Zebadiah “Zeb” and he and Clara find themselves falling in love with each other.

Well, as you can imagine, the romantic tale turns into a twist for the worst when the Nazi Gestapos find the Franklin family and the Jewish family. By this time, it’s to the point of no return, so the Jews are forced from this kind family – virtually, Clara and Zeb are forced apart.

There is no amount of money or gifts that this clueless American family can even give the Nazis to win back these Jews. Hitler’s orders – they would resume the rest of their earthly life in cruel, brutal bondage.

The Holocaust is now one of my most favorite historical events. It’s heartwrenching to think about. When I watched the husbands being forcefully separated from their wives and children when my husband and I were watching “Schindler’s List,” tears were rolling down my cheeks. I cannot even IMAGINE what grief and misery those women were thinking, fearing they’d never see their husbands again.

Something to think about. 😉

What is your favorite historical time period? What do you enjoy / not enjoy the most about history?

Happy Writing to you writers out there!

Enjoy your week, everyone 🙂 Hopefully no more snow for us folks in the Midwest! 🙂

JMK~ 🙂