Share to Remember: A Comparison of Black Dog of Fate and Holocaust by Bullets Anonymous College

People have been telling stories since the dawn of mankind. They are ways to communicate about the past to younger generations and most importantly, a way to teach. In both Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian and Holocaust by Bullets by Father Patrick Desbois, the importance of stories as a way to understand and cope with genocide are apparent throughout the books. Along with stories, both Balakian and Desbois use primary documents to appeal to their readers, creating a mix of emotional and practical understanding. Although both texts differ in styles and subject matter, they aptly describe how humans deal with genocide.

Both Balakian and Desbois deal with the idea of “second memory”, or the telling of stories as a way to convey past experiences to new generations. In Balakian’s case, it is his grandmother, telling him stories of the old world. He always though that these stories were bizarre, vague and seemingly without a point. When he hears her story about fate, he remembers wanting to say “Gran, these stories of yours- they’re weird and I don’t get them” (Black Dog of Fate 10). While at the the time he doesn’t understand, the stories are the way to connect with the past. Balakian didn’t understand until much later the...