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Transcript of Carpinteria High School Interview 2; Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Interviewer: Jeremy Garsha
Interviewee: GC, Sophomore in Casey Roberts’ Modern World History class
Prepared by Jeremy Garsha, 5/20/03

This was an interview conducted with a high school student that had not heard Nina, or any other Holocaust survivor. The subject was a well-informed male student. This interview was based on a preformulated list of questions.
I gave the background information, such as the details about our project, and myself to the student prior to the actual interview.
The interview took about 15 minutes to conduct, and roughly 2 hours to transcribe.

On June 4, 2003 Jeremy conducted a post-interview with GC.
Note: we have photographs of this student's Night project (shirt poster). [note to webmaster: add under photos, below]


Jeremy Garsha: Like I said, I’m a history student up at UCSB. I’d like to break the ice by naming a few words, and if you can just tell me the first image that pops into your head, or what you think about it. There is no right answer. Okay?
GC: All right.
J: When I say "Germany" what do you think?
GC: The Berlin Wall
J: "Nazi"
GC: Racist People
J: "Hitler"
GC: Racist Dude.
J: "SS"
GC: Secret Army
J: "Genocide"
GC: Doesn’t ring a bell, I should know…[all of the students interviewed did not know the word Genocide, although GC was the only one who at least recognized the word]
J: "Concentration Camps"
GC: All the people that died.
J: "Holocaust"
GC: 6 million Jews died [a textbook answer, this shows GC has an excellent grasp of the material].
J: "Refugees"
GC: People that escape their countries from their government or no food, stuff like that.
J: "Victims"
GC: People that are attacked by someone else.

J: Can you tell me what Mr. Roberts has taught you so far? What kind of stuff you’ve gone over in class?
GC: The people that went through the Holocaust, and we read the book Night. He just teaches us what it was all about and what happened to them. And he showed us a video of the European people, when they went to the concentration camp, and saw all the…all the Holocaust victims [probably a video about the liberation of some camps].

J: I noticed a bunch of projects in the room. Is that from your class?
GC: Yeah.
J: Did you do one of those?
GC: Yeah, mine was a poster, and we folded it so it was like a shirt, so you open it and there are pictures of people. It was like a shirt, with the strips, and we put the Star of David on it [the poster is a blue and white prison uniform, see photo]. That was about the book Night, about the Holocaust survivor.

J: Why did you choose to do the shirt (format)?
GC: Because that is what they wore. It was kind of cool because if you open it up you see pictures of all the people.

J: What kind of pictures did you guys put on the inside?
GC: Like survivors, and I can’t remember anything else.

J: That’s okay. Have you gone over World War II in any other class, other than in this one?
GC: Not really, but I pretty much know what went on.

J: When did you first hear about World War II?
GC: umm…
J: Just try to think back…
GC: Maybe in fifth grade.

J: How did you hear about it?
GC: Just in a history class, yeah in sixth grade.

J: And did you guys just touch on it?
GC: Yeah, just the basics of what happened.

J: Have you gone to any museums, like the LA Museum of Tolerance?
GC: No.

J: Have you done a Washington D.C. trip?
GC: No.

J: Have you just read Night, as far as books on the Holocaust?
GC: umm…Yeah.

J: Just Night?
GC: Yeah.

J: What did you think of Night?
GC: It was really good. It got to the point. It wasn’t that long, and it’s easy to understand.

J: Would you recommend that to friends?
GC: Oh yeah.

J: Do you think Casey [Mr. Roberts] should keep having that book assigned for his class?
GC: Yes.

J: Have you read any other books, maybe about Nazi Germany, or books that are set in World War II?
GC: Not really…

J: Do you watch the History Channel?
GC: Oh yeah.

J: What kind of shows do you watch on that?
GC: Mail Call.
J: Mail Call…
GC: Yeah, and sometimes I watch some World War II images…about the planes and the doughboys and everything. I watch that.

J: Do you watch any of the documentaries on there?
GC: Yeah.

J: And what did you think of those documentaries? Are there any images that kind of stick out?
GC: Mostly the people. How they suffered and what they went through. Especially Saving Private Ryan, that movie’s awesome.

J: Let’s talk about movies. You’ve seen Saving Private Ryan, have you seen any other World War II movies?
GC: No, I think that was probably the only one.

J: Did you ever see Hart’s War…or Pearl Harbor…[The pauses indicate that GC had not seen either of these films] did you ever see Schindler’s List?
GC: I heard that’s a good movie [Schindler’s List] but I never saw it.

J: Have you ever heard anyone talk about…anyone who has gone through a historical event themselves, maybe a veteran?
GC: My brother went to the Gulf War, but I really haven’t talked to him about it. But he is the only person I know that has gone to a war. He told me once that there was a little Iraqi kid, and he gave him a little piece of his sandwich, but that’s pretty much the only thing that I can remember.

J: When I say Nina Morecki, does that sound familiar?
GC: No.

J: She is a Holocaust survivor that might come up and speak.
GC: Oh, yeah he [Mr. Roberts] told us a little about it.

J: Did he mention her? What did he say about her?
GC: He mentioned that she came a couple times before to speak. And that the first time she spoke about it, it was with his class.

J: Okay, just to go back a minute; you said he [Mr. Roberts] showed some video in class?
GC: Yeah, the video was about these French guys who went and freed a concentration camp. And it showed all these images of people confused, and everyone else, and how they looked, just a bag of bones.

J: What struck you, was it gory to watch?
GC: It’s not gory, but it just sticks to you for the rest of your life. It shows you what war brings to people. It just…it sticks with you for the rest of your life.

J: Okay. I just want to ask you one last thing. Do you have any plains for after graduation?
GC: College.

J: College. Are you thinking of any place in particular?
GC: Probably just a college near here. I was also thinking of some Music college.

J: Oh, you’re interested in Music
GC: Yeah, I’m in a band.

J: What do you play?
GC: Tenor Sax [Not a typical instrument for this age group. This shows that GC is definitely a more advanced student].

J: Wow, nice. Okay…do you have any questions you want to ask me?
GC: No.

J: Okay then. We’re done. I really appreciate you doing that. Thank you.


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