Paul Tolentino

Little Red Wagon

October 24, 1939.
Coming home from school, I saw five aeroplanes fly in the sky. That is four more than
the previous days. I wonder whats going on. There arent usually this many. Its probably Sir
Hitlers birthday party too and he ordered a lot of food. Anyway, Im so excited for my eleventh
birthday party. Eight days seems so far away! I asked mom and dad for a brand new red wagon. I
was so upset when my other ones wheel came off. I really hope that I get this new wagon so I
can play with all of my friends from school. I should ask Hitler if he could throw my birthday
party since he has five aeroplanes of party supplies. The whole world must be attending!

October 27, 1939

Every day, more and more aeroplanes fly over. Today there were seven. Hitler must be
having many guests over. Anyway, I talked to my parents about the red wagon and they told me
that if I keep up my good grades in school, they would get it for me. And since Im a straight A
student, they will forsure be getting it for me! And my party is going to be so much fun! All of
my friends of school are going to be invited. We are going to have lots of food and decorations at
my house. Its going to be pirate themed and there are going to be games and everything!
Hopefully, I would have my wagon by then so that me and my friends can play with it. We could
use it as a pretend sailboat and sail the whole world. My party is going to be the greatest party
ever! Way better than Hitlers. I dont need seven aeroplanes worth of supplies to have fun! FIVE
MORE DAYS!

October 30, 1939

Oh my goodness! My birthday party is in two days! The only thing that sort of makes me
sad is that I have been hearing about wars going on overseas in Asia. I hope that they are okay. I
wish that they would stop fighting on the day of my birthday. I want everyone to be happy and
excited for my party. I told all of my friends and teachers at school to go and they said that they
will all be going! My mom and dad are the greatest. They got everything that the best party ever
would need like balloons, streamers, gift bags, and chocolate ice-cream cake. I dont know what
I would do without them. They plan my parties every year and they are always the best. I love
my parents.

September 1, 1939
My birthday party was the best! Everyone that I had invited showed up. Even my teacher.
I got so many presents and I even got my new red wagon from my parents. I love it so much. It is
just the one that I wanted. I promise this time that I will take care of it and not lose the wheel. I
really appreciate everything my parents have done for me these past years. They always look out
for me and take care of me and give me food when Im hungry. In other news, I heard that Sir
Hitler has started an invasion on Poland with Italy and Japan. I just hope this doesnt affect my
home. I really dont want to be in the middle of all of this drama. But its okay because my
parents will keep me safe.

October 13, 1939

I am beginning to get a little bit scared. My parents are wanting to leave the country but I
dont want to leave all of my friends behind. Im hoping that things just dont get out of hand.

December 24, 1939

It was hard to begin and celebrate Hanukkah this year. We didnt have much money to
buy food or presents. But at least I got to spend time with my loved ones. Now that France and
the United Kingdom have declared war on Germany, it has been hard to leave our homes with
them outside all the time.

March 3, 1940
Hitler has commanded all of the jews in my city to be relocated to a concentration camp.
They didnt let us pack anything. Not even my wagon. The people who took us were not nice at
all. I hope that this is only temporary.

March 4, 1940
The first day of camp was the most terrifying time of my life. First off, they had us all
strip down naked and then they branded a number to our body. We no longer had names or a true
identity anymore. Then they separated us from the men. They didnt let me say goodbye to my
dad. I hope they let me see him every now and then. I barely get to see mom anymore. She was
put into a different living quarter. They gave us hardly any food. Only bread crumbs. If people
were being bad, they were sent off to be punished. I wonder where they go to. Im not liking this
place so far.

June 12, 1940

I havent been writing for a while because I havent been able to. I have been trying to
stay alive. There are so many people here. I have learned not to get too attached to somebody
because you dont know if they are going to be there the next day.

December 24, 1940

Hanukkah was never the same. There used to be the smell of freshly cooked food and the
sounds of music and laughter during this time of year. But now all I hear is yelling and crying. I
saw mom once when they had inspection. She isnt looking to good. She looks pale and a lot
skinnier. I asked if she was okay and she insisted that she was fine. I also havent seen dad since
the day we got here. I hope hes okay. I really wish I had my wagon right about now to sleep in
or to play with. That was much more comfortable than sleeping on someone elses body or the
stone floors. They stuff so many people into one small room and expect us to be okay with it. I
am not okay with it!

September 1, 1941
Happy birthday to me. I have somewhat made some friends with the people in my living
quarter. But it doesnt even matter because the next day they could be killed. All this time, I
thought Hitler was good. Now I know that he is the most evil person ever! People are spreading
rumors of trying to escape this camp but those people have already been killed. Every day they
kill so many people by putting them into a gas chamber, shooting them or even burning them.
Im scared and alone. My parents arent here to keep my safe anymore. I hope all of this ends
soon.

September 1, 1942
There have been many uprisings from my fellow jews, but they have all been cut short.
The German army is too strong for us to stop. I am starting to lose hope and wish that they would
just choose me to be killed already so I can see my parents. Anything that we try to do is

hopeless. And at the rate that the Nazis are going at, the jewish race might even be completely
extinct. Im starving and have lost at least 30 pounds. On the bright side, there is more room in
the living quarters now. Oh, and happy fourteenth birthday to me.

March 13, 1944

It has been a while since I wrote. Not much has changed however. No food, people dying,
etc. But now they are transporting the remaining jews to their biggest concentration camp,
Auschwitz. Ive heard stories of this place, and not the good kind. They are closing down the
other camp for reasons that I am not sure of. I am really starting to miss my old life but you learn
to get used to it when you are trying to survive.

May 12, 1945

THE WAR IS OVER! We have been saved and I am alive. The British invaded the
concentration camp and liberated all of the jews. Im not sure on what to do without my parents
now. They would want to me to stay strong. However, I now have no house or family. They
returned me to my old home. Sitting just where I left it was my little old red wagon that my
parents had bought me. I took what was left of my belongings, put them in the wagon, snuck on a
boat and searched for a new home in America.

Paul Tolentino
Write-Up
The time period I chose was World War 2. More specifically, the Holocaust. I wrote it
like a child would write daily diary entries into their diary. I chose this time period because, to
me, it was the most memorable moment in the worlds history. There were more than 100 million
people killed and over 30 countries had participated. This is the highest death toll of all time so I
feel it should be remembered. There were also many invasions that actually led to the war. Also,
with all of the attention brought to it during school, people would understand it better than some
random war that happened in the middle of egypt. I felt that journal entries were the best method
to represent the Holocaust because it is a first hand account of what actually happened. Stories or
biographies are all third person accounts. And even if the person writing it actually lived through
it, the facts are going off their memory. But diaries are in the moment pieces of writing. They
are also more personal and connect to the audience better. If I were to write an autobiography,

the message wouldnt have come across as strong as a journal entry. Unlike The Diary of Anne
Frank, I wrote it more of a dear diary format rather than letters to kitty, Annes diarys
name. Although, I do think that the Nazis would have confiscated any of the jews possessions
as soon as they got there so a diary would not make too much sense. The entries were meant to
show the progression of a normal life of a jewish child living in Germany to life in the
concentration camp as a prisoner. The journal entries really helped with this by having the dates
of when the child was writing them. Some of the dates are arbitrary, but some actually have
meaning. Like the dates of the invasion of Poland and the date of the end of the war.
One of the rhetorical moves that I used was the fact that this child really loved his/her
parents so much. I tried to emphasize this a few times by the child writing in the journal that
he/she loves what the parents do for him/her. And once that they got separated at the camp, the
child never really gets to see the people they love the most. Also I used the little red wagon to
sort of represent normalcy. Back at home, the child had the red wagon everywhere they went.
But once they were moved to the camp, the wagon was taken away. At that same moment, their
normal life was also taken away. And once the child was returned to the previous home, the
wagon reappears.
These journal entries are meant to represent the Holocaust in a negative manner. 11
million people were murdered during the Holocaust. 6 million of them being jewish. And of that
6 million, 1 million were children. The Nazis took away so many things from 11 million people.
They took away their belongings, homes, families and even identities. Even during the
beginning, the child heard about the wars going on around the world. So many things were
happening even before the actual world war began. The Spanish Civil War was going on, Japan
invading China, and Italy invading Ethiopia. This period of the worlds history shouldnt be

forgotten by anyone because it affected not only German history, but it also affected the United
States history, Russian history, British history, and even Japanese history.