Abstract With powerful texts and illustrations, the book tells the story of the author's father Vladek during the Holocaust as a Jew. The paper discusses how the novel's status as a pictorial or graphic novel is especially memorable for the reader's and viewer's consciousness, because it forces the reader of "Maus" to identify with the image of a despised animal as well as a persecuted 'race,' particularly in the form of Vladek. The writer focuses on the character of Vladek an how animal symbolism is used throughout the novel.
From the Paper "Yet, brilliantly, despite this rakish quality of Maus' father Spiegelman the mousebreaker of hearts, and the dual historical resonance of mouse victim and vermin, the author also is able to make use of the childlike and storybook quaintness of having mice as protagonists, along the lines of a bedtime story. "Poppa," Spiegelman calls his father, and initially the two of them together seem like 'A Mouse and his Child,' a story tale or nursery rhyme rather than two men trapped in a larger history neither of them can fully comprehend, on an emotional, theological, or literary level of narrative. This whimsy deflates some of the womanizing of "The Sheik" as the framed device of the comic book reminds the reader and the gazer that this takes place in an old man's memory, and might make him seem more successful with women than one might initially suspect."
Abstract This paper discusses the life and works of Karl Marx and Max Weber, highlighting their contributions to sociology. The paper describes the similarities and differences in the philosophy of each man and hypothesizes regarding what they would have thought about Nazi Germany. The paper contends that both the thinkers felt that the key to understanding human nature was that of understanding human actions and these actions were based on social and structural changes. This may explain their feelings on Nazi Germany and the atrocities committed by Hitler, where his actions can only be understood as a part of the social and structural changes of himself as an individual, as well as of himself as he belongs to a society.
From the Paper "Max Weber, born in 1864, is one of the best-known and most popular scholars of 'sociology', as well as of 'economic work'. One of his best contributions to the cause of economics as well as to sociology is his work entitled "Vertstehen" or what is also known as the theory of 'Interpretative Sociology' and his thinking on 'positivism'. Weber's theory of Verstehen is often seen as being very controversial and questionable. His view is that any research that is connected to history or sociology or economics must be approached with a particular idea or concept, or what is called a 'conceptual apparatus'. This apparatus was referred to be Weber as the 'ideal type', meaning that when an individual needs to understand or comprehend a particular sociological phenomenon, the various 'actions' of the different participants of the phenomena, and not stop at merely describing the phenomenon in itself. (Max Weber, 1864-1920) "
Abstract This paper discusses the book "A Child of Hitler" written by Alfons Heck. The paper presents Heck's story of growing up in Nazi Germany and his affiliation with the Hitler youth movement. The paper examines the author's childhood and education, focusing on the Nationalist instruction he received. The paper questions whether Heck was a victim of the Nazi regime, even though he was a part of it.
From the Paper "In A Child of Hitler written by Alfons Heck, he tells a story of a young boy who grew up entirely in Hitler's Germany and was a fanatic until the day the Allied troops took him captured in 1945. Even then he did not want to believe the horrors of the holocaust and other brutality's of the Nazi regime. Heck blames his way of thinking on the Nazi propaganda machine and feels he was a victim just as the Jewish population. Alfons Heck is definitely a victim of the Nazi's. Now many people could not believe this because he was a member of the Nazi's and participated in their activities. However it is because he was in the Hitler Youth and followed every order that was thrown his way. A boy of six years of age in 1933 until 1945 when the Nazi's surrendered, which he was brainwashed with the Nationalist Socialist ideals and knew nothing better."
Abstract A detailed paper that outlines the history, rise, fall and death of Josef Stalin in Soviet Russia. It contains the first-hand account of capture and imprisonment in a gulag by the author's grandfather, a Polish citizen at the time.
Paper Outline:
The Man
The Ascendance
The Terror
The War
The End
From the Paper "Iosif Vissarionovich Djugashvili was born December 21, 1879 in Gori, Georgia; a small agricultural town situated about one hundred miles east of the Black Sea. Iosif was the son of an alcoholic cobbler and a pious peasant woman. He grew up with no siblings, because the families' first three children had died shortly after birth. Consequently, young Iosif was treasured by his mother who made great sacrifices throughout her life for him. An extremely hard-working woman, Yekaterina Djugashvili worked as a domestic servant to augment her husband's meager earnings. However, even the parents' combined incomes were not enough to keep the small family above the poverty line."
Tags: Social, Democratic, Party, communism, Iosif, Leon, Trotsky
Abstract This paper examines the assumptions that (1) Holocaust victims received differential treatment based on gender (2) gender differences affected the victims' overall survival skills and coping mechanisms and (3) the unique hardships of each sex ultimately affected how they experienced the Holocaust. The author points out that Nazi policies, which stemmed from Hitler's racist and sexist ideologies, emphasized punishing Jewish women specifically for the crime of spawning the "anti-race" and humiliated them by forcing the women imprisoned in concentration camps to exist in tattered clothing, which barely covered their bodies. The paper concludes that gender variances experienced by victims of the Holocaust, help to better understand that, though all people are equal, gender does influence the type and the extent of treatment received from oppressing forces such as the Nazis.
From the Paper "Aside from the variances in the types of violence men and women were subjected to, there roles within the ghettos and concentration camps often differed. Men were more likely to be deported to labor camps; the women typically lingered behind in the ghettos and struggled to carry on with domestic duties while attempting to secure enough food for the children, before they too were moved to concentration camps. Many women who were believed to be working against the best interest of the Third Reich were immediately executed rather than deported along with the men.Throughout this period of time, women also served as couriers and liaisons in resistance operations."
Abstract This paper explains that the ethicacy question is, that, although the means by which the science conducted during World War II by Nazi Germany is now considered unethical, the data produced is valid and should be available for analysis because the Nazi research, which was derived from human experiments, offers an unprecedented authenticity. The author points out that some people argue that, since the unethical crime had already been committed, the data should be used because its scientific merit is irrelevant to the manner in which it was obtained; whereas, others contend that the use of the tainted data is morally degrading to the victims of the Nazi-sponsored science. The paper concludes that this data should be used to improve the quality of human life only after paying respect to the victims and prolonging the memory of these events.
From the Paper "The Nazi sponsored science encompassed a wide range of fields. Research on diseases such as malaria, gangrene, sulfanilamide, tuberculosis, and wound and poison effects were heavily pursued. Josef Mengele, a scientist, worked closely with twins, as he would often infect one with a deadly disease, and upon the arrival of death, murder the other and compare the organs of the twins. Many medical experiments were conducted to try and improve the survival of German pilots in the Luftwaffe (air force). These tests included prisoners being subjected to high heat, high-pressure as well as low pressure, and freezing mixtures. Often the inmates were tested "until they expired." The particular scientific endeavor that I will be focusing on is the Dachau hypothermia experiments led by Sigmund Rascher. The experiments were designed to find the most effective order in which to re-heat pilots who had crashed in the North Sea."
Abstract This paper looks at the representation of fascism within the film medium of "1900". The paper looks at how films re-vision historical events and themes through close analysis of the portrayal of fascism in the film. The paper looks at Bertolucci himself, his views and beliefs and whether or not he challenges or advocates historical myths and assumptions.
From the Paper "Bertolucci was born in Parma, Italy in 1940. His father encouraged his love of film, being amongst many things a film critic, and history professor , while his mother, whom Bertolucci described as "the most mysterious person in my life" , played a rather remote role within the family. Bertolucci has created a number of films, many enjoying commercial and critical success. Bertolucci's films often make political comments, furthermore 1900, despite being funded by two major American film companies ironically displays communist sentiment. 1900 re/visions the class struggle between the peasants and the landowners within 75 years of Italian history. This is captured within a four and a half hour long 'epic', exploring the relationship between two boys born on the same day from different class structures and foregrounding the rise of fascism and socialist resistance in Italy. Arguably film is the chief carrier of historical messages , being more accessible than novels or history books. However, film is perhaps the most problematic means of historical representation. Hollywood films attempt to make profit, thus they strive to entertain, win awards, and to a much lesser extent educate. 1900 is not a Hollywood film, and despite having big name actors , the film by no means follows typical Hollywood conventions. Historical films 're/vision' history; they transcend the 'linear, analytic and scientific' , and often move beyond absolute realism. They provide a vision which is subject to the value systems and motives of the filmmaker and the period in which the film was made. Through close examination of 1900, Bertolucci's revisioning of the understanding of Fascism is clearly displayed."
Abstract This paper looks at how Rita Botwinick's "A Holocaust Reader: From Ideology to Annihilation" is a glimpse into the madness of the campaign to exterminate the Jews narrated from a historical and personal viewpoint by those who lived the nightmare. The author states that the Holocaust was not an accident but occurred because individuals, organizations and governments made choices, which not only legalized discrimination but also allowed prejudice, hatred and mass murder to occur, thus exhibiting the outcome of remaining silent and apathetic to the oppression of other human beings.
From the Paper "The intent of the Reich was to strip all identity from the Jews and make survival impossible. Reinhard Heydrich was the mastermind behind the Nazi death camps. On January 20, 1942 at the Wannsee Conference he illustrated his plans to murder Europe's Jews. In fact, Auschwitz was regarded as the most effective concentration camp created by the Reich to carry out the Final Solution. Rudolf Hoss was named the commandant of Auschwitz whose goal it was to eliminate every prisoner that entered the camp. On August 16, 1942 a section of the barracks was designated for women prisoners. The conditions were far worse than the other sections. They had deplorable sanitary conditions that caused the rapid spread of disease."
Abstract This paper explains that, in analyzing Polish-centered Holocaust literature and films, it becomes clear that certain themes are recurrent: Imagination vs. reality, exposure vs. nakedness, the inversion of Biblical meaning and of human order in general, pre-destined catastrophe and the appropriateness of humor. The author states that the Polish-centered themes are more vivid and their representation more graphically intense than the general writing about the Holocaust because of the concentration of death camps and the density of its tragedy; Poland is often perceived as the "ground zero" and the pivotal point by which Holocaust writers come to grips with the slaughter of the Jews and others. The paper analyzes many examples of Polish Holocaust literature: Alfred Andersch' "Efraim's Book", Arnold Wesker's " Sophie's Choice", Pierre Gascar's "Seasons of the Dead", Claude Lanzmann's film/ quasi-documentary "Shoah", Aaron Appelfeld's novella "Badenheim 1939", K. Tsetnik's "Salamandra", Henri Raczymow's "Un Cris sans Voix", Emanuel Ringelbaum's "Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto" and the Academy Award winning movie "Life is Beautiful".
From the Paper "In Shoah literature, certain questions present themselves again and again: Do these themes - which often reflect a universal character of sort - diminish the particular suffering and injustice of the event? Can any writing truly capture the enormous moral crimes of the Holocaust? Sparking a hotly-discussed debate, Theodor Adorno wrote that poetic treatments of the Shoah were a form of "barbarism." In light of this criticism, it has often been asked by both writers and critics alike, what justification does a writer have for treating the subject matter at all? This charge has seldom been directed at any other subject of fiction, but it might be argued that such outrageous criticism is simply evidence of the subject's moral and tragic dimensions."
Tags: concentration, mystification, documentary, humor, scene
Abstract This paper examines the manner in which homosexuals were treated by the Nazis. It explains that while their numbers were much lower than the Jews, they were also a presence in the concentration camps.
From the Paper "Sadly, after the eventual defeat of the Nazi Party in 1945, homosexuals were not recognized as victims of its wrath. Many gays who were imprisoned in regular prisons were forced to finish out their sentences. The Nuremberg trials did not address the plight of homosexuals with the same degree of seriousness as they did for other victims, and no one was convicted of crimes against them."
Abstract This paper provides an overview of how the Holocaust affected Jewish people as well as the many others who were also victimized by Hitler and the Nazis.
From the Paper "The Third Reich's massive assault resulted in the death of 6 million Jews. Hitler, however, did not stop with just this community. Homosexuals, transvestites, gypsies, Slavs, and anyone else considered "deviant" bore the brunt of his wrath as well, as 11 million of them perished. Furthermore, over 1 million children under the age of 16 were killed. Still today, all of these communities are trying to heal from the pain either they themselves endured or those they love did."
Tags: generations, tragedy, deep-rooted, world, violence, hatred, victims, loss, family
Abstract This paper looks at the conditions in the Sobibor death camp which was part of the Nazi death machine. It discusses how the conditions might have assisted in the successful escape attempt which occurred in the summer of 1943. An description in the from of a timeline account of the event is included.
From the Paper "The Sobibor death camp was one of the Nazis' best kept secrets. When Toivi Blatt, one of the very few survivors of the camp, approached a "well-known survivor of Auschitz," with a manuscript he had written about his experiences, he was told, "You have a tremendous imagination. I've never heard of Sobibor and especially not of Jews revolting there." The secrecy of the Sobibor death camp was too successful, its victims and survivors were being disbelieved and forgotten.
The Sobibor death camp did exist and a revolt by the Jewish workers did occur. Within this death camp, in operation for only eighteen months, at least 250,000 men, women, and children were murdered. Only 48 Sobibor prisoners survived the war."
Abstract This paper gives a detailed Jewish history of the city of Lodz from 1793 through to 1969. The paper provides statistics of the Jewish population and their growing influence on society in all realms of life, pre-war. It continues to give a detailed account of the plight of the Jews of Lodz through the Holocaust and its re-establishment, growth and finally its demise post-war.
From the Paper "The first deportations were started in December 1940 and lasted until late June 1942. A total of 7200 men were sent to forced labor camps, most of them never to return because of the harsh working conditions there. Starting January 16, 1942, the deportee's no longer went to work at a labor camp, there were now being sent directly to Chelmno, an extermination camp. In the span between January and May 1942, 55000 Jews and 5000 Gypsies were sent to Chelmno. The Germans forced Rumkowski to create a list of candidates for deportation, he tried to plead with the Germans about how many people needed to be on it, but nothing prevailed. Between September 5-12 1942, a second deportation took place, this time the Germans just took anyone they wanted, not requiring a list from anyone."
This paper examines the effects of the Holocaust on American Jews and how this atrocity has in large come to replace spirituality and traditional Judaic knowledge among assimilated Jews in the U.S.
Abstract The writer of this paper uses numerous and varying sources in explaining how American Jews were affected by the Holocaust by stating how their distance from the event compounds the difficulty of writing about the tragedy, both geographically and increasingly, chronologically. The paper also explains why Holocaust literature was not frequently written in America until the 1960s, when there was a sudden awakening of interest due to the Eichmann trial, the publicizing of which made the facts of the Holocaust newly accessible to Americans.
From the Paper "Nothing remains of the six million Jews and the European culture that died with them. In their places, we have the multitudes of responses from those who lived to bear witness and those who experienced the Holocaust only indirectly. Lawrence Langer delineates the difference between the event and the symbolism, which has since accrued:
For Dachau, like Auschwitz and in a related sense like Hiroshima, is no
longer merely a place-name with grim historical associations for those who care to pursue them. All three have been absorbed into the collective memory of the human community as independent symbols of a quality of experience more subtle, complex, and elusive than the names themselves can possibly convey."
Abstract This paper details the fascist regimes in Europe that used archeology as a means to justify and solidify the policies of political leaders and that the abuse of this science continues to this day. This paper centers on Germany's Nazi regime and their manipulation of past history in their rise to power. The research in this paper shows that the Nazis used archaeology not only to justify their claims of superiority but also for oppression and torture. The writer concludes that while archaeology explores the past it will always be subject to manipulation by political leaders who want to legitimize their nationalistic agendas.
From the Paper "The Nazis did not just use archaeology to justify their claims of superiority, they also used it to oppress and torture other people. They would go on to use pseudo-science to justify their morbid hatred for the Jews. "The Ahnenerbe had a special section known as the Institute for Scientific research for Military Purposes." (Epstein 31) This section carried out horrible experiments on live human prisoners from Dachau and other concentration camps. With these experiments, the Nazis invented anthropological evidence to suggest that it could be proven that Jews were an inferior race by measuring the size of their head. These beliefs combined with Hitler's call for Aryan pride roused a genocidal fury among Germans. For example, the administrator of the Ahnenerbe, Dr. Wolfram Sievers, became heavily involved in medical experiments on Jews who had been thrown in concentration camps. His tests were specifically meant to prove racial differences and the superiority of the Aryan race."
