I Have Lived A Thousand Years By Livia Bitton-Jackson

Words: 846
Pages: 4

I Have Lived a Thousand Years The Holocaust was a brutal act of racism and terror. In I Have Live A Thousand Years, Livia Bitton-Jackson describes what her early life was like as a Jewish teen growing up in Auschwitz. Elli lived a normal life before the Germans began targeting the Jews. Like most girls her age, Elli enjoyed spending time with her friends and family. Elli was attending school, until her school closed due to the war. In the matter of only a few months, Elli and her family’s lives were completely flipped upside down. They suddenly had to give up their valuables and were forced to move to a ghetto. The quality of life Elli and her family lived worsened by the day due to lack of food, cramped quarters and being separated …show more content…
The Jews walked through anxious and afraid as they clutched important pictures of family they might never see again and meaningful documents and books. As Ellie was approaching the officers in the line, she panicked knowing they would take her poems so she swiftly stuffed them under her blouse where the officers would not suspect to look. The officers were ruthless, not letting people keep even a single piece of paper. The pile of papers, pictures, books, and bibles grew. Elli and the other victims were told that they would be getting their belongings back until Elli turned around; “Wild flames are dancing about the pile of books. A column of dark smoke is rising from the of the heap”(Bitton-Jacksmiddle on, 58). All of the items people cherished were being lit on fire. To see the pile engulf in flames was a situation that showed her and the other victims as well just how devastating and tragic their experience would be. To hear how the victims of the Holocaust were not allowed to keep their simple belongings shows how little the officers cared about the Jews and their basic human