Furthermore, when it comes to the Holocaust, we sometimes may ask ourselves this question, do Germans feel guilty for what Hitler did to those innocent Jews? The answer to this question may not be very clear, but some of the Germans feel sorry of what their President did and how they agreed to do what he asked them for. In a New York Times article by Amanda Taub and Max Fisher, they talk about how many Germans are ashamed of what Nazi Germany did. For instance, Mr. Björn Höcke states, “Germans were ‘the only people in the world to plant a monument of shame in the heart of its capital,’ he said, referring to a memorial to murdered Jews in Berlin” (Taub and Fisher 2). The idea of being a German who may be one of his family members killed and murdered millions of Jews may make many Germans feel guilty and ashamed. The memorial that they put in Berlin refers to their acknowledge of what they have done to those Jaws.
However, not all Germans were so bad in how they treated the
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They do not learn the lesson and avoid it. Vladek was one of those people who did not learn from all that had happened to him. Although of all the discrimination that he got, and all the hard that he faced because of his religion as a Jew, he could not get ride of his racist ideology. Vladek could not hide his racist beliefs, and when he saw the hitchhiker he directly felt uncomfortable, and when he left, he called him a thief. For example, he states, “I just can not believe it! There is a Shvartser sitting in here. I had the whole time to watch that this Shvartser does not steal us the grocery from the backseat” (99). This shows how time and life can not remove the hater that we grow up with. Thus, Vladek could not forget what he learned and grew up with. His mistake is that he did not learn from all that he had been through, but he is trying the same thing with the hitchhiker that symbolizes black
On Hitler’s Mountain is a memoir of a child named Irmgard Hunt and her experiences growing up in Nazi Germany. She herself has had many experiences of living during that dark time, she actually met Hitler, had a grandfather who hated Hitler's rule, and had no thoughts or feelings about the Nazi rule until the end of WWII. Her memoir is a reminder of what can happen when an ordinary society chooses a cult of personality over rational thought. What has happened to the German people since then, what are they doing about it today and how do they feel about their past? Several decades later, with most Nazis now dead or in hiding, and despite how much Germany has done to prevent another Nazi rule, everyone is still ashamed of their ancestors’ pasts.
Adolf Hitler came into power of Germany in 1934. Wanting power, land and revenge, Hitler gets troops ready to attack. Hitler was a troop in WWI for Germany. Once the Germans lost the war, Hitler took that personally, and wanted revenge. After coming into power with his army of Nazis, Hitler is quick to blame Jewish people for all the harsh debt and corruption in Germany. The Germans believe him, causing them to hate Jewish people. The holocaust happened throughout 1933-1945, it ended when Hitler killed himself.
Most can agree that one of the biggest catastrophes in the world. Though no one bothers to ask who was responsible. The most common response is that Hitler was the perpetrator, which is true to a degree but the responsibility isn't his and only his. There were many chances for people to help Jewish people in their time of need but nothing was done. It’s easy to say that measures should have been taken to protects the Jews though when it came to act on them many were bystanders. Many of these bystanders unfortunately included Americans, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jewish people themselves and lastly the Germans.
When the blame for the Holocaust is brought to mind, many immediately think to blame the Nazis, and only the Nazis. This is not the case, however. The Holocaust was a lesson to humanity, of utmost importance. Only blaming the Nazis for the atrocities is excluding an exceptionally important part of this lesson, which is unacceptable. In Elie Wiesel's book, Night, it is evident that blame be passed to Yahweh, the Jewish people themselves, and the non Jewish Europeans.
It is evident that World War II still affects the world today, but are these repercussions the aftermath of a master plan for destruction? The Nazi Party and Hitler were the most significant characters for World War II and thus, they truly made history, however, they made it worse. Many different causes for this devastation have been concluded starting with the end of World War I and the harsh blameful Treaty of Versailles, the new found control in Germany, and the Great Depression; even though was most harmful in America, affected the world in its entirety. Are these the factors that led to the ‘Final Solution’, are these the problems that encouraged Hitler to seize the world? There were many elements prior to World War II leading to the annihilation of Jews, Hitler’s experiences in World War I greatly influenced his outlook on warfare and the Jewish, another predominate factor was the approval of building the camps and chambers in Germany, and lastly the documented intentions for the ‘Final Solution’.
at the end of your roads, or telling an SS officer about a Jew in your
"While fighting for victory the German soldier will observe the rules for chivalrous warfare. Cruelties and senseless destruction are below his standard" , or so the commandment printed in every German Soldiers paybook would have us believe. Yet during the Second World War thousands of Jews were victims of war crimes committed by Nazi's, whose actions subverted the code of conduct they claimed to uphold and contravened legislation outlined in the Geneva Convention. It is this legislature that has paved the way for the Jewish community and political leaders to attempt to redress the Nazi's violation, by prosecuting individuals allegedly responsible. Convicting Nazi criminals is an implicit declaration by post-World War II society that the Nazi regime's extermination of over five million Jews won't go unnoticed.
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.
Botwinick writes in A History of the Holocaust, “The principle that resistance to evil was a moral duty did not exist for the vast majority of Germans. Not until the end of the war did men like Martin Niemoeller and Elie Wiesel arouse the world’s conscience to the realization that the bystander cannot escape guilt or shame” (pg. 45). In The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick writes of a world where Niemoeller and Wiesel’s voices never would have surfaced and in which Germany not only never would have repented for the Holocaust, but would have prided itself upon it. Dick writes of a world where this detached and guiltless attitude prevails globally, a world where America clung on to its isolationist policies, where the Axis powers obtained world domination and effectively wiped Jews from the surface, forcing all resistance and culture to the underground and allowing for those in the 1960’s Nazi world to live without questioning the hate they were born into.
The Holocaust ended 70 years ago, it involved over 11 million deaths. Hitler blamed all Jews for everything wrong with Germany. The Holocaust was the mass murder of six million Jews and millions of others by the Nazis. They were taken to concentration camps where they were treated like animals. Before the concentration camps, their human rights were taken, and also making them wear gold stars to identify the Jews better and faster. The Jews were taken from camp to camp until they finally arrived to the deadliest camp of them all, Auschwitz. The Holocaust also lasted 12 years from January of 1933 to May 8 of 1945. It all started when Adolf Hitler came into power. The Holocaust should never be forgotten because first of all, there were too many deaths. Second, because they were innocent people who
Because of the length of the war and the devastation of this genocide, Germany will forever be remembered for the Holocaust and the effect it had on multiple people groups. This event sparked from the idea of absolute supremacy and would continue until the damage was complete. People’s views of the German population and the Jewish people alike will be changed, and the Holocaust forever remembered as one of the largest racist genocides in
And so many of the young people fell in battle. And, nevertheless, his image in Jewish history -- I must say it -- his image in Jewish history is flawed.” President Roosevelt ended up hurting his image and his reputation to all Jews that witnessed the holocaust and to some who weren't even born in that time. This shows that being indifferent can hurt the person doing it even if it is just their image or mentally.
...s of the Holocaust, the Allies held the Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46, which made the horrifying actions of the Nazis known all over. The Ally forces pressured Germany to create a homeland for those who suffered through the Holocaust. Over the decades that followed, ordinary Germans struggled with the Holocaust’s bitter legacy, as survivors and the families of victims tried to regain their property and wealth that was taking away during the Holocaust. In 1953, the German government made payments to individual Jews and to the Jewish people as a way of apologizing for the crimes which were committed by the German people.
During the car ride Vladek adopts the same mindset of Germany Nazis and many Polish citizens. “She lost her head…I just can’t believe it! There is a Shvartser sitting in here” (Spiegelman, 259). Vladek didn’t want to be in the presence of the black hitchhiker, the same way the Germans and some Polish didn’t want to be in the presence of Jewish people. “A Jewss [sic]...There’s a Jewess [sic] in the courtyard! Police” (Spiegelman, 139). The Germans evacuated the Jews out of their homes because Jews weren’t considered humans to Germans, and yet Vladek looks down on the black hitchhiker as if he’s less of a human. ”It’s not to even compare the Shvartser and the Jews”(Spieglman,259). Many of the Polish people sought out Jews including Vladek, very few opened their home to Vladek in his time of need. Vladek was fortunate enough to find Mrs. Motonowa to open up her home to him, but he refuses to let a hitchhiker of a different race into the same car as him during their time of
Every year or so, something happens in the media that brings us all back to the atrocities of World War II, and the German persecution of the Jews. It seems that the horrors of that time can only be digested and understood in small bites. How else can we personalize and comprehend a tragedy of that magnitude? Most of what we read and view in the media about the holocaust is a perspective from the Jewish experience. Recently, however, a question has been posed in regards to finding closure with that troubling piece of history from the German conscience. Can one German's experience reflect the tendencies of the entire country with regards to passion, denial, guilt, and finally justice?