What moved you about Mrs. Toby Levy interview
The interview of Mrs. Toby Levy is intriguing while at the same time, sad. It gives vivid descriptions and accounts of both humane and inhumane events that took place during her early childhood when the war broke out. The first account that really moved me was when the Germans soldiers took over, forcing the Jews in Poland to live in Ghettos. These Jews were treated with the dignity that did not even suit wild animals. They were considered as worthless beings who needed to know their place in that society. For instance, the children were not allowed to play outside or even walk in the middle of the street, where they could mingle with other people. I could not help but become moved and very emotional when Mrs. Toby narrates about how a small toddler was killed with a gun in broad daylight by German Soldiers for simply being found outside. The experience of living in the ghetto is depicted as being awful, as the narrator explains.
People being forced to wear uniforms for easy identification, mandatory working for all individuals irrespective of their age, and everything they owned being taken over by the Germans. After the invading of the Germans, they no longer had any human rights as they were considered less than human beings. The narrator experienced these horrid things as a kid, but she can still vividly remember the encounters clearly; she even has a big mark on her thigh that reminds her of the bombing planes. Every time she sees the mark, she remembers the tough task of having to fetch water using a pitcher from the square and how the bombing planes emerged. The random picking and killing of people, especially on Saturdays or holidays were an inhumane act that raises a lot of questions and emotions. How the narrator and her family escaped the brutal killing is moving and miraculous at the same time. There are so many incidences when she came so close to death and escaped narrowly. For instance, when they were hiding inside, and the baby was shot outside while they watched with the sister when her paternal grandfather was killed, and they were hiding underneath. It is extremely moving how the narrator and her family survived on very little food, and life in hiding was extremely tough, but they managed to survive in those conditions for two years.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
What specific aspect of Mrs. Toby Levy’s interview did you find effective, and why?
The various aspect about the interview that I found most intriguing and effective is the use of memory, presentation of the characters using pictures, and the tone used throughout the entire interview. The interviewer asks the narrator to just talk about the subject matter they are interested in, and as they listen to Mrs. Toby, they inquire further on interesting issues that emerge. Asking the narrator to describe the account in their own unique way allows them to efficiently and effectively make use of memory. This is evident as, during the narration, Mrs. Toby remembers interesting bits of the account that she failed to mention and elaborates on them before she can continue. The use of memory helps us in further understanding some details about certain actions or characters. The narrator has also prepared a set of pictures that she makes use of as she narrates the story. The pictures are of the main characters depicted in the narration, some before and after the war. The majority of individuals in the pictures are her family members and those that played a crucial role in helping them during the war. An informal and friendly tone has been used by both the interviewer and interviewee throughout the interview. They both talk to each other like two old acquaintances having a conversation, which makes it interesting and easy to follow. It is easy to follow the interview, the line of thought, the events taking place and the various characters as the narrator is free to elaborate on each of these as they wish unlike formal interviews where the answers should be precise and in most cases the explanations cut shot by the interviewer with more questions.
The aspect of irony has also been used by Mrs. Toby severally in the interview to depict the naiveness of not only the children but also adults before the war broke. There was a lot of talk about the horrible things that were happening to Jews in neighboring parts continent, but no one did anything. It was all talk without action, which the narrator describes using the metaphor "sitting on a time bomb." The news of what was happening created fear not only in adults but also in children who could not understand what was happening. When the Germans started invading, suddenly, everyone realized that running was the right call, yet they could have done it when they received the news. Ironically, even the adults did not fully comprehend the consequences of what was happening to other Jews until it started happening to them.
References
WJC INTERVIEW (2017). Holocaust survivor Toby Levy shares her story of hiding and surviving . Retrieved from: https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/wjc-interview-holocaust-survivor-toby-levy-shares-her-story-of-hiding-and-surviving-8-2-2017
