Abstract "Night", by Elie Wiesel, is an autobiographical book about the survival of a young Jew, Wiesel himself, in the utmost degradation of the human soul. This paper dicusses how, in Weisel's book, "Night", the images of night and fire, the themes of brutality against children, the loss of spiritual faith, the idea of death, the inversion of the father-son relationship between the protagonist and his father, Shlomo Wiesel, all substantiate the degradation of the human soul from civilization and faith to savagery and loss in faith.
From the Paper "The recurring image of night itself and fire are significant. Night falls at the most crucial parts of the book: when Shlomo Wiesel, Elie Wiesel's father first announces the news of the "transports" (13), when Eliezer first observes the shocking vision of death by burning in the crematorium, and when the march from Buna commences. There is a gradual increase in the darkness especially before, during, and after the march: "an even darker night was waiting for us on the other side." (84) Eliezer's pain increases with the darkness and is finally numbed when the night becomes pitch-black. Once the procession reaches the barracks in Gleiwitz, the prevalence of death increases as the night grows longer to the point where "the days resembled the nights and the nights left in [our] souls the dregs of their darkness." (100) "
Abstract This paper analyzes the ideology of national socialism which Adolf Hitler developed and wrote about in "Mein Kampf." It explains how this ideology led to the implementation of the Final Solution in Germany. The paper discusses the rise of Hitler and his ideology and party and how they managed to psychologically condition the German people to support the Final Solution policies.
From the Paper "Early in the Second World War, Hitler and the Nazis began to implement the genocidal policy of the Final Solution, which consisted of a system of extermination camps which spread like a cancer across eastern Europe, primarily in Poland, into which innocent Jewish men, women, and children were taken in the millions for execution at the hands of the Heinrich Himmler's SS."
"In spite of the denials of millions of Germans that they had known anything about the Final Solution, it was carried out with the direct or tacit support of a great majority of them. Throughout the Second World War, tens of thousands of Germans were directly involved in developing, establishing, and maintaining the lethal infrastructure of Hitler's Final Solution, and no denials of responsibility can expunge their guilt."
This paper takes a look at Christopher Browning's 'Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland', which discusses a mass killing during the Holocaust.
Abstract In this article the writer explores Christopher Browning's controversial 1992 text, 'Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland'. The writer both summarizes the text's salient points as well as discusses the opinion of the academic community as to its veracity and merit. Every bit as importantly, this paper examines the methodology employed and looks at why Browning's text, if not a great book, can at least be described as an important one. In the end, by looking at the psychology of the killers as he does, the writer maintains that Browning forces the reader to confront "the banality of evil" which made the Holocaust possible on such an unimaginable scale.
From the Paper "The book is, simply put, a vivid portrayal of a horrifying event. It begins with the first mass-killing at Jozefow in the early morning hours of July 13, 1942. On that day, the members of Reserve Force Battalion 101 were roused from their bunks - they were effectively sequestered in a school building in the town of Bilgoraj - and ordered into waiting trucks. After a short time, they stopped at the small, aforementioned town of Jozefow and were ordered into a semi-circle around their 53-year old commander, Major Wilhelm Trapp. At this point, the first bit of horror in Browning's narrative unfolds. As he describes it, a tearful and badly-shaken Trapp tells his troops that the 1800 Jews in the small community were to be rounded up and separated into two groups - males of working age and everybody else."
Abstract The paper explores what the Catholic Church and the Vatican did and specifically did not do during the years of Hitler's Germany and the murder of the Jews. The paper provides a brief history of Judeo- Christian relations in Germany as recent as the Second Reich. The paper shows how the Vatican, Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church could have saved the lives of millions with their powerful influence. The paper discusses why the Vatican and German Catholic Churches watched silently as so many Jews were cruelly sent to their deaths.
From the Paper "The morality of the Catholic Church took a backseat slide between the years of 1933 and 1945. The church still struggles with their rather passive stance during the slaughter of the Jews in the Holocaust. In fact, they still have not recovered from it. Why did these "holy ones" keep so silent during the Holocaust? Was it for peaceful diplomatic means? Was it to try to salvage the papacy? Perhaps the anti-Semitic foundations in Christianity were partly to blame. Whatever the case, the atrocity we know as the Holocaust that took the lives of over six million Jews and little was done by the world, especially by the Vatican, Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church, who, with their powerful influence could have saved the lives of millions."
Abstract This paper discusses Richard Evans' book "The Coming of the Third Reich", which is the first installment of a three book series that historically documents the rise of Adolf Hitler's power in post World War I Germany. Thepaper explains how Evans takes special care not to instill any personal prejudices regarding the genocidal actions of the Third Reich, while his findings provide a great deal of insight on the roots of German fascism. The writer points out that the beginning of the book provides a great deal of information on the status of Germany during the reign of Otto von Bismarck. The writer looks at how the German involvement in World War I only perpetuated the delineation of political ideologies even further. The writer explains that Evans believes that the traditions passed down by the German Empire and the economic and political consequences of World War I provided the perfect environment for a military coup or a seizure of power by an authoritarian regime
From the Paper "The historical context entailing the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany has been documented numerous times. Many native Germans argue that the rise of national socialism and the Third Reich was a fluke, and the severity of its influence was due to the effective Nazi propaganda machine. Modern German politicians and government representatives note that the Third Reich was an anomaly and that historical evidence does not support the idea that Nazism found its roots within German history. However, Adolf Hitler and many Nazi officials have been quoted that the Third Reich was a revival of German values. Hitler borrowed the term "Third Reich" from Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, which translates to the Third Empire. The first empire of note was the Holy Roman Empire established by Charlemagne followed by the German Empire established by Otto von Bismarck."
Abstract During the twelve years of the Nazi reign, nearly 50,000 men were convicted of the crime of homosexuality. This paper looks at how representations of journalists and historians of the homosexual experience during the Holocaust are compromised by the small number of accounts available in the research, and by the oppression faced by autobiographical reporters. It discusses how by design, Hitler had attempted to squelch any and all threats to his ideology, and in doing so, he succeeded in eradicating the voices of thousands of gay men and women who silently died in the ovens, their harrowing stories taken to their graves.
From the Paper "When Adolph Hitler ascended to power in 1933, Germany was experiencing a period of severe economic hardship. Charismatically, and very likely operating with a delusional mind, he pledged the downtrodden German people that his regime would create a wondrous future by implementing a grandiose strategy in which a master German race would rise up to dominate Europe and beyond. Hitler's plan to create such a superior race of Aryans required him to exterminate any person who posed a physical, psychological, philosophical or political threat by resisting rigid adherence to his Fascist blueprint of a pure, superior German race. Because the Aryan population was highly constituted with blonde haired, blue-eyed, pale-skinned Caucasians, Hitler became obsessed with a pathological compulsion to exterminate all people who did not fit his prototype of the new master race. "
This paper examines two analyses of the history of European Jews, "The War Against the Jews" by Lucy S. Dawidowicz and "The Destruction of the European Jews" by Raul Hilberg.
Abstract The paper examines Lucy S. Dawidowicz's and Raul Hilberg's analyses of the history of European Jews. The paper discusses how both authors describe the nature of the process of the annihilation of the Jew and the way Germany was organized to carry it out, but Dawidowicz focuses more on the victims and how they reacted and what happened to them, while Hilberg focuses more on the machinery of death and on the lack of morality of so many functionaries and workers who assisted in the process.
From the Paper "Much of the Holocaust was indeed carried out by career civil servants, military personnel, and others in the private sector. The Holocaust itself thus became routinized so that it was carried on as if it were any other government activity. Two reasons given for the participation of ordinary men and women include obedience to authority, and the modern era's pursuit of specialization so that people could perform their part without knowing what the whole entailed, or without admitting what the whole entailed. It may be impossible to determine one reason why the many man involved committed the acts they did, for any general explanation is certain to be applicable only to a percentage of the whole. One force that we can see as operating in this case is the conditioning of society so that people respect and defer to authority. In this case, the society itself had a certain tradition of racism which affected these men and women and determined what they were being asked to do."
A review of the film, "Judgment at Nuremberg," directed by Stanley Kramer and the ethical or normative theories that affect construction of a desired society.
Abstract This paper discusses four major ethical or normative theories to the problem of the construction of a desired society. It looks at the significance of realism in normative analysis. The paper analyzes the film, "Judgment at Nuremberg," directed by Stanley Kramer in order to illustrate the challenges of devising a normative ethical viewpoint given the ethical complexity inherent in modern society.
From the Paper "While Nazi Germany is an extreme example it is, unfortunately, representative of many tyrannies in human history in which a minority has seen its rights stripped, and claims of justice and community values/virtue dismissed, to supply the happiness or greater utility of the majority. The system of slavery in the American South prior to the Civil War represents precisely a model of precisely such a challenge."
"In this regard, a normative analysis would suggest that rule utilitarianism offers a stronger and more viable principle of utility than pure utilitarianism. Modern rule utilitarians, for example, "place heavy emphasis on human rights and freedoms" (Dwyer 163) which can be incorporated in this normative theory in a way they cannot be in pure utilitarianism."
Abstract The paper discusses Browning's book "Ordinary Men", where Browning wants the reader to see how a unit of the German Order Police, who committed terrible acts by carrying out a number of killings and other atrocities as part of the Nazi effort to exterminate the Jews of Poland, were actually "ordinary men". The paper describes Browning's analysis of these men, which is told in a detailed way and that exposes all the questions that might be raised. The paper also highlights the Browning's difficulty in explaining how ordinary individuals could commit such terrible atrocities against the Jews during the Holocaust.
From the Paper "Brown asks how these men faced this dilemma and offers a history of the Order Police, though that history does not explain the central issue of why these men acted so brutally and so out of their normal character. Browning does try to answer the question of why these men acted as they did, though he also points out that no one reason can be offered as to why the many man involved committed the acts they did. Any explanation would apply only to a percentage of the whole and not to all. One force that Browning does cite as important is the conditioning of society, conditioning that accustomed people to respecting and deferring to authority."
Abstract The paper points out the numerous strengths of Lipstadt's work, including her lucid writing style, her careful research, her ability to vividly contextualize Holocaust denial and her intellectual courage. The paper looks at the book's failings and maintains that the author lets her political sensibilities get in the way of her better judgment in the labelling of some groups as anti-Semites. The paper concludes that nonetheless, the book stands up well to criticism and should be read by any young student interested in learning about the historiography surrounding the Holocaust.
From the Paper "Lipstadt's book is compelling because she provides a rich context within which the average student of the Holocaust can understand why - and how - individuals can "get away" with denying an event that a huge collection of video, written, and oral history proves really did take place. For one thing, Lipstadt points out how the historiography of Holocaust denial is remarkably similar to, and really born of, a larger historical tradition that sought to exculpate Germany from allegations that it was wholly responsible for the beginnings of World War One. This historiography, championed most conspicuously by scholars like Harry Elmer Barnes, argued that the American public had been misled about the nature of German foreign policy and by apparently erroneous reports of German atrocities in the early stages of the Great War."
Abstract This paper examines the outlook and the function of the propaganda of the Nazi regime. It explains that the propaganda came in the form of movies, radio, newspaper articles and advertisements, mass rallies and books and infiltrated all aspects of German life. The paper looks at how the Nazi propaganda's saturation of German life and the very nature in which propaganda should be used, set out by Hitler and Reichsminister Dr. Joseph Goebbels, were essential to the regime's popularity, the obedience of its people and the building of its psychological and physical strength and population numbers. The paper also notes that propaganda continued to be used by the National Socialists as a manipulator of the people even after they had gained power and that the focus shifted from politics to the demonization of the Jews and the mentally ill, and to the promotion of the Volksgemeinschaft. The paper further discusses how poster art was one of many suitable mediums for conveying these messages. In conclusion the paper shows that National Socialist propaganda takes its place in history as one of the most powerful and successful operations the world has ever known; a programme that indoctrinated a nation and seduced it into pursuing an ideological fantasy, which eventually resulted in catastrophe.
From the Paper "One such example of Nazi poster propaganda is the announcement of the "Third Reich's Day of the Farmer of 1935". The farmer, who had always held a place of high esteem in Nazi ideology, is portrayed as a strong, tall, idealised Aryan. He stands upright with his sleeves rolled up as if ready to work or take on some tremendous task. He appears brave, strong and physically idealised and a perfect example of a good German and Aryan man. The National Socialists had recognised that the farmer was the "fount of national health and future German greatness", and with this poster the Propaganda Ministry aims to create awareness of the value of the farmer and his physical and "Volkish" qualities in that he is putting the concern for the greater Volk above himself by farming. Not only is the poster a piece of propaganda, but the event that it advertises is also a propaganda act, held to "strengthen National Socialist values"."
Abstract This paper examines and compares the "Memoir Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account" by Miklos Nyiszli with the film "The Grey Zone" directed by Tim Blake Nelson. The paper argues that the two differ significantly in their portrayal of the reality of the gas chambers and crematoriums of Auschwitz. The writer believes that the essence of the book is a stark portrayal of the brutal, belief-defying reality of Auschwitz, however the film in typical Hollywood style, fails to capture this essence. The writer explains that the film focuses on one act of rebellion that took place in the camp, thus focusing on heroism but glossing over the full reality and horror of the SS death machinery, as well as the mystery of why so many people walked passively to their death. The writer concludes that while "The Grey Zone" is a good film with strong acting from an accomplished cast, it is too trapped in the conventions of Hollywood to do justice to the essence of the book on which it is based.
From the Paper "This is an example of the kind of evil that makes it inadequate to refer to Auschwitz as a moral gray area. Moreover, it should be noted that the detail of the murdered toddler twins is a good example of the way in which the film fails to capture the essence of evil that permeates the book. In the film, there is a very brief scene in which Oberscharfuhrer Eric Muhsfeldt (brilliantly played by Harvey Keitel in what must have been one of the greatest performances of his life) peeks at what looks like the corpse of a young woman on the dissecting table, and remarks that they are usually young. Nyiszli matter of factly explains that it is more usual to find twins together when they are young. This brief exchange does not remotely rise to the level of horror conveyed by Nyiszli's discovery that the twin toddlers have been killed with an injection of chloroform into the heart."
Abstract This paper analyzes the autobiographical diary of Anne Frank, entitled, "The Diary of a Young Girl." The paper specifically focuses on Anne Frank's voice and her tone throughout the diary. It looks at the way that her style changed over the course of the time that she was writing in her diary. The paper discusses the significance of these changes in voice and tone and how they correspond to what was happening in the world at the time.
From the Paper "Significantly Anne's fifteenth birthday is only two months away from her last letter to Kitty, to her people, to the world. Anne went the path of the righteous, the path of self improvement, growth, faith:" People who have religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things... It isn't the fear of G-d but the upholding of one's own honour and conscience."
"If you visit Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam, just listen and you will hear her laughter, her whisper, her joy of first love. You will hear the Gestapo stepping with their heavy dirty boots into a pure sweet life. A "Little bundle of contradictions" , who did so well in perfecting her traits, and returned her pure soul to her Creator."
An examination of the motivations behind the soldiers and other German officials who participated in the methodical extermination of approximately six million of Europe's Jews.
Abstract This paper considers the question of how so many otherwise ordinary, moral German citizens could; first, so broadly adopt the practice of violence; and second, could relish so fully in its practice. The paper notes that this question is one of the primary questions historians and humans in general have been forced to grapple with in light of one of the most horrific chapters in world history--the Jewish Holocaust. The paper further relates that it remains undeniable that something or someone drove these individuals to inflict pain and death of such massive proportions. The paper then goes on to discuss some of the explanations that are given in attempts to identify more general patterns, and more conclusive answers to the social and psychological phenomena responsible for human acts of malice.
From the Paper "Another explanation that relies upon the notion of mandatory conformity is connected strongly with the mob mentality and the following of orders. Writers like Christopher R. Browning point to instances in which groups of Nazi officers initially felt ill-suited to the acts of violence they were ordered to commit, but eventually became quite accustomed to them. "Once entangled, people encounter a series of 'blinding factors' or 'cementing mechanisms' that make disobedience or refusal even more difficult." This approach takes into account the joy expressed by many Nazi executioners by attributing it to peer pressures, pressures from above, and routine exposure to bloodshed. Still, it seems difficult to argue that the majority of the Nazi's who perpetrated the Holocaust were simply "going with the flow," and had no ideological or moral association with the actions they took. This would be to deny that the forces that brought the Nazi's to power had any association with romantic visions of Germany's future--that deeply rooted emotional ties supported the Nazi's racial cause and dream."
Abstract This essay examines the success of Nazi propaganda and argues that this shocking reality can be explained by four factors that came together to make a deadly poisonous brew. First, the writer notes that the fact that the Germans were so defeated in every sense in the 1930s laid the foundation. Secondly, the writer points out that there was the modern technology for mass communication which the Nazis used to spread their propaganda. Third, there was the Nazi's unusually skillful use of this technology. Finally, the writer notes that there was the German peoples' philosophy or psyche, which made them vulnerable to the Nazis. The writer concludes that these four factors combined to make it possible for the Nazi party's propaganda machine to win over the Germans.
From the Paper "The first thing to consider is the state of Germany at the time of the Nazi ascent, in the early 1930s. Germany had been the aggressor in the First World War, and after its defeat the victorious nations had punished it, and also attempted to subdue it, by bringing it to its knees militarily and financially. The harshly punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles made German economic recovery impossible, and sowed the seeds of anger and resentment that would make the Germans a vulnerable target for Nazi propaganda. The economic woes of the Weimar republic were compounded by the effects of the Great Depression. This began in 1929 and affected many European nations, resulting in the rise of several totalitarian movements. Of these, the Nazi party had the easiest task in winning over converts, due to the vulnerability of the Germans. With their backs up against the wall, unable to make a living, many Germans were easy targets for a charismatic leader who promised to save them from their overwhelming woes."
