What was the Holocaust?

by Sophia Reid

Before 1933, the Jewish population in Europe was over 9 million, and most Jews lived in cities that the Nazis would soon invade. By 1945, the Nazis killed 2 out out of every 3 Jews as part of their “final solution”. Imagine 2 out of 3 people you know being killed? The Nazis targeted all Jews because they  felt that they were  the reasons why Germany lost the first World War, and  their economic crisis. Recently, on February 24, 2016 me and my fellow classmates and my English teacher visited the Holocaust memorial. I have never been there before, and when I finally went I had many questions, like what did the 6 poles means? Who made it? Well I found those answers. The 6 poles represent the 6 million Jews, Polish people and other minorities that died during this terrible event, the 6 main death camps and the 6 years of this “final solution”1939-1945. The memorial was the idea of a man named Stephan Ross, a Holocaust survivor who lost most of his family, and it’s motto is “A Beacon of Memory and Hope”.  

http://www.nehm.org/the-memorial/history/

Holocaust Memorial

by Rudell Moses-Orr

   

The New England Holocaust memorial is one of the most famous monuments in the city, and an amazing design to remember this tragic event in history. It has six massive glass pillars with millions of numbers on them. It includes the numbers branded on every Holocaust victim. Those tattoos were permanent. It’s not like  the Nazis just wrote on the victims...it was literally melted into their skin. (I’ve heard that, because of this, even now some Jewish parents tell their kids not to get tattoos because it reminds them of the terrible things the Germans(Nazis) did  in the Holocaust.) Most people that were in the Holocaust went in with their family and didn't leave with them, or even didn’t leave at all. And this is why we remember.

Dig in at Quincy Market

by David Gillis and Kelvin Lewis

At Quincy Market there are so many different restaurants to choose from (33 to be exact). You might end up spending more time choosing what to eat than actually eating. Quincy Market has a large variety of restaurants, all with great food. Quincy Market is a historic market near Faneuil Hall in downtown. Quincy Market was built in 1826 for merchants and shoppers alike. Many famous people have stopped by, including people like Susan B. Anthony, Bill Clinton and many more. I recommend that you go there because of the great food and great environment. It’s both a piece of history and a lively food court.

Holocaust Memorial

Holocaust Memorial

by Kanbe Mao

The New England Holocaust Memorial is located in Boston, Massachusetts near Haymarket station. We just finished reading Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, so we were very interested in visiting this site. Once we got there, we were amazed by the architecture and design of the memorial. We were introduced by steam coming from below which revealed the 6 towering glass pillars. We went closer and saw that the pillars weren't just there for show. They had various quotes inscribed on them of Holocaust survivors, as well as the serial numbers of all the Nazi victims etched into the glass. The pillars themselves represent the 6 main Nazi death camps, including Auschwitz, where Elie Wiesel was a prisoner in 1944.

A quote that my fellow students and I found interesting was:

"Isle, a childhood friend of mine, once found a raspberry in the camp 
and carried it in her pocket all day to present to me that night on a leaf. 

Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry, and you give it to your friend."

Let's Rename Faneuil Hall “David Ortiz Hall”!

Let's Rename Faneuil Hall “David Ortiz Hall”

by Robert Anglin and Brendan McDonough

On February 24th we took a trip to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Faneuil Hall is named after Peter Faneuil and has been a famous part of Boston for over 200 years. Now let's get onto the topic of who Peter Faneuil was:  “Peter Faneuil was a wealthy Bostonian who made his fortune as a merchant in the slave trade”. A slave trader here in Boston? It's part of our history, and not a part to be proud of. Perhaps we should rethink the name. Maybe it should be called “David Ortiz Hall” or “Ted William's Hall” instead!

And while we’re on the topic of baseball, Quincy Market has baseball jerseys hung in the corner walls of the building... 2 Red Sox jerseys and two Japanese jerseys.. Dice K’s and Hideki Okajimas.

We visited Quincy Market, which has a lots of interesting food places and tourist shops. We went for a quick bite to eat, but there were so many delicious choices! We all ate different types of food (instead of the pizza like we usually do every trip- it gets a little bit repetitive after a while, lol). They had places ranging from Chinese Food to sushi to burgers. Quincy market looks kind of small at first glance, until you walk through and realize how big the building actually is- with seats on the lower level and an upstairs. Our writing group sat in the center of Quincy market. We highly recommend this stop for food because it has many interesting choices to grab a bite to eat.  

Holocaust Memorial and Faneuil Hall

Really, Really Old Burial Ground

by Brendan McDonough and Robert Anglin

During our visit to the Boston Common, we visited the Central Burial Ground (http://www.celebrateboston.com/ghost/central-burying-ground-ghost.htm)

which dates back to 1756. This cemetery is in the dead center (no pun intended) in the middle of the Boston Common and also is a huge attraction to people who are planning on traveling to Boston.This Burial Ground is where Paul Revere is buried, and other famous people. Revere was one of the founding fathers of America, and we visited his house earlier in the year. According to www.cityofboston.gov “It was established to alleviate overcrowding at King's Chapel, Copp's Hill and Granary Burying Grounds.” Which means that the other nearby cemeteries were OVERFLOWING! Gross!

Boston Common was a very good experience for me and my friends because we got to see
amazing sceneries, and we also got to taste a lot of different flavor options of pizza (Sal's Pizza highly recommended... next to Suffolk University Law School).