Freedom to Be Me

The establishment of ghettos marked the end of freedom of movement for Jews.  Write about what freedom means to you in your life and what you think it would mean to lose it. (Echoes and Reflections)

 
Freedom to me means that you can make your own decisions without having someone judge you. I think losing my freedom would be losing my identity, losing a part that makes me, me. Without my freedom I wouldn't know who I was. In the book I'm reading, I Have Lived a Thousand Years, it says that ¨We are ordered to deliver all our valuables-jewelry, radios, and vehicles.¨ (page: 25). This quote shows that the Jews could not have any of their possessions. They were being stripped apart of their freedom, without their possessions they were not themselves. As well as getting their belongings taken away from them, they also got their education taken away. That did not stop them from learning; in the ghettos, adults organized secret ¨meetings¨ for young students. The adults and pupils learned to keep this a secret by carefully hiding books and other supplies. The ghettos were very crowded and often unbearable for the Jews because the Nazis would shove as many Jews into homes as possible. If Jews had a family it was easier to survive because you would share equally with each other but if you were alone, you would be forced to steal from others to survive. Even though life in the ghetto was unbearable, Jews made it work.  Losing my freedom would be like losing my respect for who I am.