What I Learned From Charlotte Guthmann Opfermann

All Holocaust survivors suffered during and after the horrid event. Whether they lost their families, or their riches, every survivor has a story to tell along with something to learn from it. This specific survivor was a girl named Charlotte Guthmann Opfermann whose family was captured and deported when she was seventeen. Her family was sent to a concentration camp and her father was killed upon entry because he was a well known Jew. Her brother survived many camps and was finally killed just before the liberation of Auschwitz. She and her mother only survived but her mother died three years after they fled the concentration camp. Charlotte survived the terror of WWII and she suffered the terrorizing experience that came with it.

One thing that I learned from Charlotte is that I always should keep my head up in the darkest times. In the story, she described people who were begging to be killed and were, but she wanted to live through. She even saw the Jews in the city she lived in decrease to three families before she was sent to a concentration camp. Charlotte also experienced her family die one by one until it was just her. I can learn from this because in school, if people don’t make the right grades, or not make the school team,
always keep the head up and hopes high. Eventually everyone will get what they want as Charlotte did, because she was released from the liberated concentration camp. I can also learn from this because having hopes high motivates people to keep going.

Another thing that I learned from Charlotte is that everyone should be thankful for what they have.
Charlotte had everything she could have wanted back in Wiesbaden, Germany and it was all taken away from her because she was a Jew. Charlotte lost everything that she loved and here I am taking a lot of stuff I have for granted. Charlotte’s life was once grand and happy just like mine is now. I should be thankful for the benefits that I have in my life like family, a house, and food. When Charlotte left the concentration camp, she had no family, no house to go back to, and no food to be bought by herself. Everyone should be thankful for what I have and I can adapt myself so that I feel thankful for things that some people
don’t.

Charlotte’s story impacts my future because I am going to change who I am. After hearing Charlotte’s terrifying narrative, I now realize how much I have. This will allow me to change how I behave in the future because I won’t ever put my head down, and I will always be thankful for what is given to me. Charlotte’s story changes my future drastically and it will change everyone who reads it.