Post Escape Journey Questions for Thought & Discussion

1. What emotions did you experience on your Escape Journey?

2. Did you experience mixed emotions on your Escape Journey? Explain.

3. Describe a time when you were flooded with mixed emotions. How did you deal with them?

4. How does the following quote from 20th century German poet Rainer Maria Rilke relate to your Escape Journey?
And even if you were in some prison the walls of which let none of the sounds of the world come to your senses — would you not then still have your childhood, that precious, kingly possession, that treasure-house of memories?

5. How does the following quote by 19th century German poet Heinrich Hein relate to your Escape Journey?
Those who burn books will in the end burn people

6. What is the meaning of the following statements?
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived, and dishonest, but the myth: persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.

As the last generation to come into contact with actual survivors, it is our responsibility to carry on their legacy to future generations, as well as to spread their message to the present one.

7. Explain how the following statements might relate to your escape story:
You might leave the concentration camps, but they will never leave you.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
If not now... When?

8. How did government-sponsored anti-Semitism affect German citizens?

9. In what ways did Hitler make his campaign against the Jewish People legal?

10. In what ways can a person's everyday life be affected by political events?

11. Have you been directly or indirectly involved in a major historic event? How did it affect you?

12. Is there any way that people today could prepare themselves for having their lives suddenly changed beyond their control or imagination?