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•The form of the book “Gazing at the Stars” has many descriptive moments were Eva Slonim describes how she was tortured and pressured to do horrific things as well as many other children, adults and elders. She explains how her life was during world war two and the things she had to experience at such a young age as well as having to grow up with the memories and scars from her past. 

•This text has multiple language features including first person, historical fiction and description of setting these features feel more realistic. in further detail the use of first person helps the reader understand the circumstances that almost everyone had to go through in that time. 

•I think the target audience for this book is for young adults, I think its for them to understand what the difference is between now and then. She wants other people to benefit form the memories and understand how it really was.

•I believe the book she wrote was a very informative text. Before reading the book I only knew little amounts of historic facts but there were blanks but the book has filled me in and has answered questions I had before starting the book. I think everyone should read this book because it educates you on how they were actually treated and mostly the behind the scenes events.

•The book gives you a timeline from when the war first started to, the tiniest details like just observing other people to then the war ending for her. Thought out the book she’s explains how she wish everything would go back to normal, but she knew that there was no way for that to happen. She still lives with the scars and memories but she is now living happy life with a husband, children and grandchildren.

Genocide means the intentional extermination of a race, nationality or religion. It was invented by Rachel Lemkin who was a “Polish-born Jurist. Genocide has been performed and practiced through history. According to Thucydides, (who is the ancient Greek historians),for example, the people of Melos (Islands south-westerly of the major islands of Greece’s Cyclades) were slaughtered after declining to surrender to the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War. Indeed, in ancient times it was frequent for champions in war to exterminate all the men of a overthrown population.

In this book it was meant as if they tried to fight slavery they would be killed, but many people were still killed for doing nothing wrong but following their religion.

“every beginning has its end, one word, one step out of line, and you are dead.” (P 107)

•During the holocaust approximately 6 million Jewish people were killed due to genocide.

•The quote implies that if you refused to follow simple instructions you would have been killed for your actions therefore the person giving the command is implying that he isn’t afraid to commit genocide.

“I threw the shoes over first. She told me that we were both going to die anyway .” (p 110)

In this part of the book I believe she lost all faith in surviving and her family. All she wanted was to see her family and tell her she loved them, but she couldn’t. She knew exactly what was going to happen, and she knew deep down that there was a chance she would never see them again. She hated knowing that she would have to live the rest of her life remembering the horrific events that she had to experience. In Auschwitz Eva and her sister were tricked, they had been stolen from, they were starved and brutalised in many different ways, in ways you couldn’t even imagine.

Survival would have been one of the hardest things to think about in this time, many people didn’t survive although many did. I believe Eva’s intentions weren’t to survive for her, but they were to survive for her family. Many times, the book describes how she wishes survival was a possibility, but she knows that survival may not be a possibility for her. Many people had to live their lives without mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, children and friends and that thought to me is terrifying due to the fact that I personally wouldn’t know how to live without my family and friends.

“He was one of the Rotstein boys who had asked my parents and me to hide his girlfriend in Klariská Ulica. They had survived.” p 144

All Eva mostly talked about in her time of grief, was how she just wanted her family to be safe and together again. She cared so much for her family that I think her determination to survive was for her family.  At the start of her book She talks about how her family would all be together and how she felt to be happy and explained how lucky  she was to have her family. I believe many people take their families for granted in the 21^st century, but you don’t release how much you love your family until you cant say it to them anymore. Eva explains her heartbreak and her misery throughout the book many times and how she wishes it could all just disappear., and she could be with her family again.

“it was the goodbye to a family, to a people, to a time in history. It was the final goodbye to an entire way of life.” p 172

• identity would have been a very hard thing during ww2. many people in those times were frauds, Eva was told by her father that if she was to tell anyone her real name, she would have been killed right away. She was told she could not be called a Jew and if she was even tortured she had to take it to the grave. She had to lie to peoples faces only so she could survive, she was integrated and there were many close calls were she was tempted not to lie. She could not be a Jew and she could definitely not be Eva Weiss.

•“Stand up!’ he shouted. Now, take off your skirt.’ And now take of your underpants.”

•Throughout the book Eva explains the soldiers that she was surrounded by, which were tall, blond hair and blue eyed men. She explains mostly how they all look the same. She also is stereotyped In her journey  not because she is a “Jew” but because she was thinking statically with how she needed to survive. When she came to the selection she thought of a way her and her sister wouldn’t have to be selected. She said her and her sister knew how to knit. Which basically means in Auschwitz they made groups of people and it people knew how to do that job they wouldn’t be killed.

•“this morning you will witness the execution by gunshot of two Jews”p 93

In gazing at the stars race is a big theme of the book because in the text different races of people are treated differently for example they had to wear a yellow star pin, this shows that in WWII if you were of a specific race you would be treated unfairly and unequally compared to someone of a different race.

“it was common for the Gestapo to Use Jews to spy on other Jews. They Would be offered freedom in return For information.” p 92

She remembered throughout the book that when in times of need she would look up at the stars ( the title Gazing At The Stars) and remember that her family or her dad was seeing the same stars she was seeing. When tis happened she would feel a sense of warmth and love but then only to remember where she was and what she was being tortured to do. She also explains how she remembers what it was like before the war and how her family and herself were happy, mostly she wishes that things could go back to normal however she knows deep down that that would be impossible. She was also asked to remember things for other people.

“my name is Shmuel he cried. I am nine years old and my time has come. Promise me that you will was Kaddish for me. Remember this day, this date. Remember my name. My name is Shmuel!” P 119