The first video, tells the story of how in 1943, a German Diplomat warmed a member of the Danish Parliament that the Nazis had a plan to come into Denmark to arrest and deport the Jewish citizens to German concentration camps. This is no different than what the Nazis have been doing all over Europe. The Jewish citizens were urged to hide their faith, go into hiding, flee to the neutral country of Sweden, or be relocated by the Nazis to concentration camps. Most Jewish citizens chose to flee to Sweden, which remained neutral during World War II. They offered an asylum to the Jewish Refugees. The Danish Resistance aided in this tedious process by smuggling Jews into Sweden. This relates to what is happening in Number the Stars. After the Johansens make a plan to save the Rosens and get them out of Denmark. All the plan involved was a fake a funeral and fake “fishing trips” to Annemarie’s Uncle Henrik’s house. After completing the plan, the Rosens safely crossed over to Sweden to seek a safe haven from religious persecution. The Johansens and the Rosens would both be safe. The Johansens, for harboring jews and smuggling them to Sweden, and the Rosens, safe from the Nazis in Sweden. This video applies to my lens, religion because the whole reason that Nazis persecuted the Jews was because they believed in something else. There has always been a long history of conflict and maltreatment between the Jews and the Christians. The Nazis actually believed that the Jews were the followers of a detestable religious doctrine, as did most Christians for the majority of history, but also that Jews had grabbed too much economic influence and were too intrusive in politics or culture.
The main idea of this video is what human rights are, who gets to chose what they are, and who gets to enforce them and how they are enforced. The definition of human rights is “that each one of us, no matter who we are aware we are born, is entitled to the same basic rights and freedoms.” This means that human rights are not privileges that a certain group of people gets, and they cannot be granted or revoked just because one group does not like the other. They are inalienable and universal. They are the same for every person created on this earth. No one person is above another. This is an incredibly complicated idea and practices when anyone tries to apply it in the world. Throughout the centuries in across the world, differing religions and cultures have struggled with defining the notions of the rightfulness and justice of these rights. That changed the most after, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is the most modern law of universal human rights. It surfaced from the ruins of World War II with the creation of the United Nations. The document was written by an international committee that was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. It is the basis for the modern international human right law now. The declaration is based on the principle that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The declaration takes no sides as to which rights are more important, insisting on their universality, indivisibility, and interdependence. Sadly, this does not apply to my book, because human rights was a concept very overlooked by the Nazis. Nazis dehumanized the jews and stripped them of any universal rights that everyone is entitled to and belongs to them. This is evident in Number the Stars because of all the mistreatment by Nazis mentioned by the characters in the book. One of the pinnacle moments for the main character, Annemarie, is when there is the threat that her best friend’s family, The Rosens, are under threat of being relocated. But this just means that they would be taken to the concentration camps to be killed later. This relates to my lens because the persecution of jews was predominantly based on religion.
The main theme of this video is the character trait of bravery and courage. It is defined that courage is “confidently doing what is right even if you feel afraid.” The opposite of courage is timidity, which is defined as “allowing fear to keep you from doing what needs to be done.” When courage is talked about, it is imperative to let kids know that if you're in a difficult situation you'll probably feel afraid and that's all right and common. So, courageous people go ahead and do whatever it is that they’re afraid of. Other people may mock your courage and that’s okay too. Being courageous no matter the standard is the ideal thing to do, it’s what’s right. This relates to the novel because courage and bravery is a major theme. At the beginning of the book when the Nazis first enter Denmark, Annemarie doesn't know if she can stand up for what she believes is right. She doesn't think that ordinary people (how she sees herself) can be heroic. But when her whole world changes and her best friend, Ellen, and Ellen’s family are being “relocated” by Nazis because of their religion, she becomes a hero. She risks her life multiple times, as does her family, to get Ellen and her family to safety. Friendship is another theme because the whole time people are risking their lives to save their friends. Everyone in this novel shows bravery, except the nazis, because everyone risks their lives for the greater good and to make a difference. Everyone also shows courage because they do their part in the resistance and to stop the nazis. They know the outcome if it doesn’t go as planned, but they still do what they must. They’re not selfish and all their actions contribute to the greater good. This video doesn’t really apply to my lens of religion. A religion doesn’t dictate how someone acts. Courage comes in the Atheist, the Jews, the Muslim, the Christians. Courage and bravery are traits that stretch over all cultures to all people, no matter their religion.
This video I added as an extra because I think that the things seen in this video can describe anything better than I can put into words.