First They Came For The Holocaust Poem Analysis

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The mindless conformity of the Nazis regime was evident throughout World War II. Hitler was able to convince the Germans into thinking the Aryan race evolved more than all the other races. This lead to the deportation of the Jews into concentration camps as well as mass murder. The poems by Martin Niemoller’s “First They Came for the Jews”, and Karen Gershon’s “Race” use of themes, tone, and organization to show the effects of conformity. Niemoller’s speaker is indifferent to the Jews, Communists, and trade unionist. All of which are seen as a threat to the totalitarian German government. The speaker in Gershons’s poem wants to avoid the cycle of hate, racism, and intolerance towards others and views the world as the diverse place that it is. In “Total …show more content…

Niemoller’s speaker shows his/her conformity by not speaking out, and Gershon’s speaker witnessed firsthand the effects of the concentration camps and how those in authority conformed to Hitler’s idea of hate.
The theme of Gershon’s poem is man vs. man. The Germans vs. the Jews. “Found in every German face/ behind the mask the mark of Cain” (Gershon lines 13-14). The mark of Cain is in reference to the story of Cain and Abel. Cain killed his brother Abel because God liked Abel’s offering more than Cain’s. The Jews and Germans were part of a fellowship of people. In 1933, approximately 500,000 Jews lived in Germany. “The Nazis proclamations, repeated ad nauseam, that the Jews would be exterminated like bedbugs” (Arendt 6). The Nazis killed approximately 6 million Jews. The Nazis conformed to Hitler’s ideas and belief is even if it meant killing their own brothers. Niemoller’s theme is that of silence. The silence of the

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