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Psychological impacts of the Holocaust
Highlights of brainwashing paper
Psychological impacts of the Holocaust
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Brainwashing could be explained through two opposite claims: First, by social traditions that have been victims of authoritarian regimes, and second, by political opponents responding to certain fiascos that contradict their religious and political beliefs by claiming that their citizens are victims of brainwashing or thought reform. Reasons to why brainwashing is an inaccurate phrase is because, prisoners of war tend to claim to have been brainwashed in order not to be held responsible for revealing confidential information, no scientific experiments have found evidence to measure how brainwashing is done and many people couldn’t be brainwashed against their will.
Many scientists, consequently, claim that brainwashing studies are worthless because it is a propaganda technique used by powerful state leaders to manipulate and control citizens under their authority. We compare present Germany to Nazi Germany (1932-45). Although the Germans personal lives have been totally controlled under Hitler’s rule, today they have totally recovered into a democratic peace loving state. There are many reasons to think that, first many German’s perceive the holoc aust and Hitler’s era as a shame for the Germany nation, "The Holocaust fills us with shame," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany after 1945 was able to overcome the terror of Nazi control and to accept approximately 190,000 Jews return to Germany. Second, the continuous support of Germany to the formation of the state of Israel (through helping its economy and military strength) analysis that brainwashing is only a temporarily technique that within time fades away, according to Kathleen Taylor, “a state which expects its citizens to be politically sophisticated,...
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...es such as, persuasion, influence, propaganda that affects a certain individual or group is only defined by psychologist as free will. The following essay nevertheless concludes that real victims of mind-control are those that have been exposed to unethical experiments during the authoritarian regimes and the period of cold war.
Works Cited
Bowart, W. (1978). Operation mind control. U.S.A: Dell Publication Co., Inc.
Merkel, A. ( 2008, March 18). Merkel admits Germany’s ‘Holocaust shame’. CNN. Retrieved
from http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/18/germany.israel/
Persinger, M.A. (1938). Religious and mystical experiences as artifacts of temporal lobe
function: a general hypothesis. Percept Mot Skills, 57(3 Pt 2), 1255-62
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6664802
Taylor, K. (2004). Brainwashing. University of Oxford: Oxford University Press.
A Child of Hitler by Alfons Heck is an autobiographical account of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 from his perspective as a member of the Hitler Youth. Heck’s autobiography is abundant with emotional treatise and recollections from his childhood. Published in 1985, the book is targeted toward an adult audience. The overarching theme focuses on repentance and the overwhelming power of propaganda and the resulting passion produced by NSDAP indoctrination. Using this theme as guidance, Heck argues that Nazi propaganda was highly efficient and produced an indoctrinated generation that was consumed with Aryan and Third Reich superiority until the defeat of Germany in 1945.
Goldhagen's book however, has the merit of opening up a new perspective on ways of viewing the Holocaust, and it is the first to raise crucial questions about the extent to which eliminationist anti-Semitism was present among the German population as a whole. Using extensive testimonies from the perpetrators themselves, it offers a chilling insight into the mental and cognitive structures of hundreds of Germans directly involved in the killing operations. Anti-Semitism plays a primary factor in the argument from Goldhagen, as it is within his belief that anti-Semitism "more or less governed the ideational life of civil society" in pre-Nazi Germany . Goldhagen stated that a
“ Hitler used propaganda and manufacturing enemies such as Jews and five million other people to prepare the country for war.” (Jewish Virtual Library), This piece of evidence shows Hitler’s attempt of genocide toward the Jewish race a...
... Society is facing a challenge of whether or not the world should stop mental control or keep it going with the worry that it may take over the world one day. More realistically though, it could turn man into a community of people who are controlled by the government and do not have any emotions and can not figure out anything for themselves.. If the world misuses psychological conditioning enough, it will be a threat to humanity and that is not something that people of this world should think of as something good, because it could potentially ruin all of mankind. Works Cited Biderman, Albert D. "The Image of "Brainwashing"."
Rubinstein, William D. The Myth of Bombing Auschwitz. The Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies Could Not Have Saved More Jews from the Nazis. London: Routledge, 1997. 157-81. Print.
Even more troubling than Huxley's prescient description of technological advances employed to manipulate and control mind and body is the manner in which government seizes on a military threat as the vehicle to not only control the population, but also to convince the people, even as their freedom is being stolen from them, that it is necessary to do so, and that taking freedom will make them free. (Barr 850)
The Holocaust tends to be a bitter memory and an unpleasant subject to discuss. Although this event took place many years ago, repercussions are still present in the twenty first century. Especially in Germany, the Holocaust not only influences patriotism, but it also influences education and immigration policies. In contrast to other countries where nationalism is common, Germany has been forced to lessen the sense of nationalism in order to dispose false beliefs some individuals have of German racism. By allowing people from other countries to become German citizens, Germany avoids transmitting the sense of being a better and a cleaner race. A further sector influenced by the Holocaust is the education system. Approaches to teach about this event are difficult since the Holocaust is a sensitive issue and continues having vital importance in numerous families. Although the Holocaust continues conveying negative influences, the Holocaust also led to positive medical and technological improvements. In fact, numerous improvements are unknowingly implemented in societies today. Therefore, the Holocaust is one of the most horrific and influencing events in history whose repercussions are still felt in Germany today. However, in spite of the horrific occurrences, the associated medical findings and technological improvements make it intricate to look at the Holocaust as plainly evil. Thus, societies should view the Holocaust with a broader perspective.
While many may believe humans are inbreeded with certain believes and morals, they automatically diminish the probability of being brainwashed. Literary works as Brave New World, and the government of North Korea, prove controlling the mind to be possible.
Humankind has always had a thirst for power; over its peers, environment and spiritual beliefs. To quench this thirst it has gone as far as genocide; but has often employed more subtle techniques, such as mind control. In today’s socio-economical and political worlds, mind control plays a key role in dictating tastes and lifestyles; as well as controlling political thoughts, views, and people’s understanding of the world. It is accomplished using various channels to condition people’s thinking. Publicity and advertisement campaigns saturate people with products, broadcasting over radio, and television which in itself is a prime example. Many religions employ mind control, conditioning their followers to obey without questioning.
Through the course of history, the Jewish people have been mistreated, condemned, robbed, even put to death because of their religion. In the Middle Ages, they were forced to wear symbols on their clothing, identifying them as Jews. The dates 1933 to 1945 also marked the period of the deadly Holocaust in which many atrocities were committed other minority groups. Six million innocent Jews were exterminated because of Hitler’s “Final Solution.” This paper will exhibit how Adolf Hitler used the three anti-Jewish policies written in history, conversion, expulsion, and annihilation to his advantage which Hitler also used against the Gypsies.
The phrase "a lesson to be learned and a tragedy to behold" has been indelibly attached to the Holocaust that to think of it in any other way is thought to insult all those of the Jewish community who lost their lives to the attempted genocide of their race by the Nazi regime. Despite such brevity attached to learning lessons from the Holocaust one must wonder whether the lesson has actually been learned or if people will continue to repeat the mistakes of the past. Angela Merkel, the current German Chancellor, has stated that the German experiment towards multi-culturalism has failed, those who wish to migrate into the country must learn the German way whether it is the language they speak, the culture they have or the very religion they hold dear . Such sentiments seem to echo those of the former Third Reich which held the German way, the Aryan way, as the only path to which people should attempt to pursue. While this paper is not trying to vilify the current German government nor is it trying to compare it to the Third Reich, the fact remains that the steps their government is taking fall uneasily close to that of their vilified predecessor. The fact is though, the German government is merely following through with the popular sentiment of its citizenry who believe immigrants coming into the country disrupts the German way of life and all attempts to live side by side in peace have failed. Despite being a predominantly Christian nation who supposedly follow the way of Christ, to hear them say that makes one wonder whether their claims truly reflects their deeds. It is from this situation that the essay of Eckardt and its view that the Holocaust is a "Christian Problem" becomes relevant to what is happening in the world today.
The Nazis are infamous for their heavy use of propaganda during their reign in the Third Reich, they used many means of propaganda such as posters, cartoons, radio, film, etc. The German citizens’ constant exposure to all of this propaganda from all directions had a deep psychological and psychoanalytical impact on them, it redefined their identity and who they were as well as what they thought of the world around them. Nazi propaganda often had deep symbolic meaning usually associated with anti-semitism and German nationalism, these elements were already present in the minds of the majority of Germans so it wasn’t hard for Adolf Hitler and the rest of the Nazi party to further provoke and enrage the emotions of people concerning these things, they merely had to tap into these pre disposed emotions in a way that would have the most favourable psychological impact for the Nazis. Some of the opinions and mindsets that German citizens had may have been there even before the Nazis came into power and made it seemed like they were brainwashing people with their propaganda, but with what justification can it be said that Nazi propaganda had a psychological and psychoanalytic impact on the German population to a great extent, rather than it being the work of pre set psychological states of mind of people due to the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression, Hyperinflation, and other sources which may have led the German population to support and hold anti-semitistic and nationalistic ideologies.
…groups that often exploit members psychologically and/or financially, typically by making members comply with leadership’s demands through certain types of psychological manipulation, popularly called mind control, and through the inculcation of deep-seated anxious dependency on the group and its leaders (Salande, and Perkins 382).
The American dream is not having humongous house with a bunch of cars. It’s being able to support your family with a roof on your head and still have enough money for you cannot be living pay check to pay check. Many people say it’s not possible because America doesn’t give us opportunities but it’s not America that supposed to come and look for us and hand right to our hand we have to make the opportunities happen. The American Dream is possible to those who work hard and try getting the American dream; the dream is not going to be served to you in a silver platter, you got to work hard and not give under any circumstances.Is
“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.” In this quote, Aldous Huxley clearly illustrates the power one group of people strive to obtain by disregarding another group’s existence as equals. Through political and social systems that use fear, force, and disinformation, they aim to gain more domination through dehumanization. This mindset can be defined as the utter denial of the fact that a human being possesses needs, emotions, thoughts, and desires. Dehumanization is often a systematically constructed tool of those in power to remain in power. Creating new identities within a made-up hierarchy, it can easily make people forget their true