Writing Prompts - Leonid Saharovici

Prompt 1

In his interview, Leonid discusses how he was addressed on his identification card. He says, “It’s my identification card to the labor camp. Can you read what’s written here?  The word “Evreu” which means the Jew. We were not identified as Mr. and Mrs. but as a Jew Leonid Saharovici, and I keep it as a souvenir that stays with me for the rest of my life because it’s a document.” How would you feel about being identified in this manner?  Write an essay that summarizes and analyzes the Nazi attempt to dehumanize Leonid and destroy his identity with this action. Be sure to cite strong and thorough evidence from the film to support your analysis.

Prompt 2

Read the poem called “Homesick” from the book I Never Saw Another Butterfly:

I’ve lived in the ghetto here for more than a year,
In Terezin, in the black town now,
And when I remember my old home so dear,
I can love it more than I did, somehow.

Ah, home, home,
Why did they tear me away?
Here the weak die easy as feather
And when they die, they die forever.

I’d like to go back home again,
It makes me think of sweet spring flowers.
Before, when I used to live at home,
It never seemed so dear and fair.

I remember now those golden days...
But maybe I’ll be going there soon again.
People walk along the street,
You see at once on each you meet
That there’s ghetto here,
A place of evil and of fear.

There’s little to eat and much to want,
Where bit by bit, it’s horror to live.
But no one must give up!
The world turns and times change.

Yet we all hope the time will come
When we’ll go home again.
Now I know how dear it is
And often I remember it.
—9.3.1943 Anonymous

Volavková, H. (1994). I never saw another butterfly: children's drawings and poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944. New York: Schocken Books.

In his interview, Leonid discusses being forced from his home and living with an aunt. Write an essay that compares and contrasts the idea expressed in this poem with Leonid's story. Be sure to cite strong and thorough evidence from both sources to support your argument.