Fritz Ottenheimer

The very best way to learn about history is through a primary source. Today, we heard from author, speaker, and retired mechanical engineer, Fritz Ottenheimer. He wrote the book Escape and Return, an autobiography, in which he details the first 14 years of his life in Constance, Germany during the time of Hitler's reign, as well as the years beyond. Mr. Ottenheimer was twice a guest at McD's Cafe. During his second visit, he was filmed (with his permission) so that his story could be told again and again to students. What he shared helped us to empathize with the Jewish people.

Since some of the injustice began when Fritz was only 8 years old, his first emotional reactions seemed to be shock and confusion. Once, when giving his talk at Seton Hill University, he said, "Our synagogue; our beautiful house of God, had been blown up by the Nazis. I was stunned. Why would they do that? Why?" His parents had said that they felt Hitler would not last long in power, but he did, and his power grew.

Mr. Ottenheimer's talk also helped us to grow in our understanding of our most recent novel Number the Stars. He shared the term propaganda with us; explaining how it was used by the Nazi government to convince people in Germany to believe certain things about the Jewish people.

Even though Fritz Ottenheimer did not visit us in person this time, we enjoyed his story. He's a wonderful teacher.

Today's class meeting topic was anger. We discussed whether it is viewed as a positive or negative emotion and whether there are ever situations where it is appropriate. Eventually, we discussed things that cause us mild anger and things that cause us to be furious. Ways we control anger or calm down were beginning to be shared when we closed our meeting. Next week, we'll continue our discussion of anger.

Books were exchanged in Library today!

Homework:
Reading - Number the Stars final will be tomorrow.
Math - First page of packet due tomorrow.
Spelling - Study words and review story. Test on Monday
Paragraphs due for Mr. Barzan on Monday.