The Scar That the World Will Never Forget - Essay Example

? English April The Scar that the World Will Never Forget Much has been said about the 9-11 attack of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Nearly 3,000 people were reported to have perished instantly. Such act has been condemned as a terroristic attack. But what more if we go back to the past and figure out how 6 million Jews were wiped out from the face of the earth just by one ruler in the person of Chancellor and Fuhrer Adolf Hitler. Prof. Noakes wrote “How did Adolf Hitler who was just a drifter and a failed artist, become one of the most destructive political leaders in the 20th century?” 1 David Sedivy also asked the same way, “How does the son of an Austrian factory worker come to European power and become responsible for the deaths of as many as 35 million people?” 2 Another mind boggling question is how can Hitler, an Austrian born, become a leader followed blindly by millions of German and Aryan raced- soldiers? The magnitude of the annihilation and the atrocities committed by Hitler’s regime are definitely mind boggling. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." 3 What is important at this point is to share and retell this saga over and over again to all generations for them to learn insights that will guide, strengthen behaviors and enable people to think within the moral framework of a human being. In short, the question here is whether this event deserves to have a moral imperative. The succeeding discussion would support the stance that the Holocaust education, in particular, deserves to be given a moral imperative. The Saga of Gerswin Kunze during the Holocaust. Present day 21st century setting… as I was doing my daily inspection of every room in our house until I reached that special room which contains our memorabilia. It houses priceless heirloom items and family bloodline photos capturing fond memories of our great family celebrations until I stopped to pause on one frame that brings back memories of being a survivor of the World War II Holocaust. Suddenly, I felt again that strange shivers and goose pimples in my arms. The deja vu feeling crept into my body which was a mixed feeling of fear, sadness and joy. It reminded me of a dark past which I really do not want to reminisce again. But people whom we loved and witnessed how they perished in the merciless executions of the Nazis kept telling us that whoever outlives this saga should tell the world about these nightmares so that this would never happen again. Suddenly flashes of events came back to my memory. This is my story. 1929 – The Germany’s Economic Depression. I am Gerzwin Kunze, from Poland born to a Jewish family in a small called Krzepicea. I was 14 years old then and still studying. My father was a businessman. One day, I did not understand what was going on. I saw my father joining angry crowds marching on the streets holding banners and shouting to air their complaints. There was one time when my father brought me along to walk on the streets with him. He brought me with him just to get a feel of what was going on. There were lots of people shouting, orations delivered. He asked me to hold tight, keep close and instructed me what to do if ever I get separated from him. Learning that I was with my father on the streets, my mother rushed to find us and immediately brought me back home for fear that any untoward incident may happen during the rally. When the right time came, I learned that Germany lost World War I and as a consequence now experienced economic downturn. “On October 29, 1929 marked the collapse of stock U.S. market triggering a worldwide economic depression.” 4 “ Germany’s economy was then highly dependent on foreign trade so it was imperative that it was inevitable for it to experience economic downfall which adversely affected people’s livelihood.” 5 Its effects sparked spontaneous protests: “As production levels fell, German workers were laid off. Along with this, banks failed throughout Germany. Savings on accounts, the result of years of hard work, were instantly wiped out. Inflation soon followed making it hard for families to purchase expensive necessities with devalued money. Overnight, the middle class standard of living which so many German families enjoyed was ruined by events outside of Germany, beyond their control. The Great Depression began and they were cast into poverty and deep misery and began looking for a solution. The crisis of the Great Depression brought disunity to the political parties in the Reichstag (similar to a parliament). Instead of forging an alliance to enact a legislation or law, they broke up into squabbling, uncompromising groups” 6 1933- The Intrusion and Beginning of the Aggression of Chancellor and Fuhrer Adolf Hitler. “Suddenly there were too many footsteps rushing, loud shouting from the courtyard. The entire apartment was filled with ear-splitting noise: scream, shouts, banging of doors everywhere and heavy running footsteps. My grandmother went to my room asked me to get ready to go down. As we went down the stairs, we met people also rushing out of the building. When we reached the quadrangle, it was already filled with people. Every male, female, adult, teens and youngsters were gathered. They were rounding up all the people in town.”7 Jews were summoned and transported to designated ghettos. “Ghettos” were city districts enclosed by Gestapos (or secret police force). Jewish population was forced to live under miserable conditions. It isolated Jewish communities from the non-Jewish population and from other Jewish communities. The first established ghetto in Poland is Piotrkow Trybunalski in October 1939”.8 I was later informed that “Weimar government had all its parties pulling for power. When they had to elect a new Chancellor of Germany, none of the parties had enough votes to win the position, so they all decided to elect Hitler, as a puppet figurehead; because he seemed harmless enough.9 “The proclamation of Hitler as elected Chancellor in January 30, 1933 started the persecution of the Jews. When Hindenburg in August 02, 1934 died Adolf Hitler took his place. He was then proclaimed also “Fuhrer” of the Third Reich.” 10 The Incarceration and Annihilation. With the sequence of events of my capture and transfer scenarios, I ended up in a Warsaw ghetto. It is here where you see how Darwin’s Theory, the Survival of the Fittest works. All Jews coming from wealthy family to the lowest income Jew family were now equal in the eyes of the Nazi. Everyone in the camp was subjected to forced hard labor. “Jews were not the only singled-out race. They included mentally and physically disabled persons, Soviet prisoners-of-war, Jehova’s Witnesses, homosexuals, social democrats, communists, partisans, trade unionists, Polish intelligentia and other undesirables” 11 Our shelter was just a plain barn. “We covered ourselves with whatever material e.g. sacks to protect us from the cold winter. We got lice, and some people scratched at the bites all night with their nails. Many got infections and died. Once it was ten degrees below zero, and we had to cut holes in the ice to wash our bodies. We took off our clothes and stood as naked as when we were born. We put our clothes on the ice, and in 5 or 10 minutes all the lice got frozen. Then we put our clothes back on. But in a couple of days the lice came back.” 12 One of the worst uncomfortable scenarios in a daily routine was going to the toilet. “When you go to the toilet, you had to drop your pants and sit over a big ditch. There was no paper. You use leaves. Be alert because a sudden distance bullet could knock you down. The Ukranian and Lithuanian guards took their guns and tried to shoot for fun. If they got you, you fall on the ditch. I had to sit and do my business. I got diarrhea from the bad food…” 13 After hard forced labor, with no food around, you might as well sleep to forget the rumbling hungry stomach. I was very thin then, weak but still stronger than the rest. The Germans really made us feel much less of a dog. I could not stomach further the scenarios of what I witnessed in addition to the prevailing worst surrounding conditions like “Gas chambers were continuously built by learned engineers. Children were poisoned by educated physicians. Infants were killed by trained nurses. Women and babies were shot and burned by high school and college graduates “.14 It also breaks my heart especially when you are unable to do anything to save a dying love one. “Everyday bodies are seen lying on the ground dying, if not dead. Children, babies, lamed people cry all night. Little Jewish toddlers went around begging. Everyday you walked out in the morning and you see somebody lying dead covered with newspapers, leaves or any type of covering. Often times you smell the stench of decaying bodies. Cadavers were carried away in little wagons by volunteers to their mass graves. Everyday thousands and thousands of people you see die from malnutrition or executed for no reason at all.” 15 If a German feels like killing you, then he will execute you anytime, any manner of the day. So we live every moment of our lives not by the day. “In several instances, possession of an unusual skill could preserve any worker for indeterminate period even in the most murderous of surroundings.” 16. I think I got lucky to have such special skill which made me live ‘till this very day. In due time, I learned that the “Jews were deprived of occupational, economic and social contact with the non-Jewish population. The discrimination of Jews started with the boycotting of all Jewish businesses.” 17 “Ghettos were built. Jews were sent to districts called ghettos” 18. On June 30, 1934, Hitler ordered his “S.S.( referring to Schutzstaffel or Guard corps) “to begin killing Nazi party leaders. 19 “They were ordered to kill anyone too weak or too strong.”20 Forms of persecutions got even worst after “the incidence known as the ‘Knight of the Long Knives’ or “Kristallnacht which involved the assassination of German diplomat by a Jewish teenager 21. “The enactment of the Nuremburg Laws in 1935” and other accompanying racist laws which makes Jews second class citizen and the pursuit for purity in the German and Aryan race start getting implemented” 22. These events perpetuated the annihilation and merciless killings of millions of Jews by the Nazis. What more horrible to see were “the gas chambers built by learned engineers? Children were poisoned by educated physicians. Infants were killed by trained nurses. Women and babies were shot and burned by high school and college graduates”. 23 So how can one say that the learned and educated are the ones who have the cognitive capacity to know what is good from the moral evil if they are the ones committing these atrocious killings? Saving Children with Irena Sendler. Wanting to save a life was part of my dream. One day, to my surprise I was called by a Nazi guard. I thought I was going to be deported to a concentration camp and be finally executed in a gas chamber. I was brought to a room and saw a woman. She introduced herself as “Irena Sendler, the Senior Administrator in the Warsaw Social Department. To be able to enter the Ghetto legally, Irena managed to be issued a pass from Warsaw Epidemic Control Department and she visited the Ghetto daily, reestablished contacts (including myself) and brought food, medicines and clothing. About 5,000 people were dying a month from starvation and disease in the Ghetto, and she decided to help the Jewish children to get out” .24 She said she saw me assisting in the camp and asked me to work for her. I accepted her offer. I was introduced clandestinely to “Zagota, the Council for Aid to Jews”. 25 They arranged my papers to give me some privileges in and out of the camp. She said that my job was simply to type all the data she needed in a nice clean sheet of paper and submit it to her. No questions asked. Of course, my job went beyond typing words. I was asked to do a lot of clandestine follow-up tasks which I did not care to ask. In time, I learned that she was carefully smuggling out babies or Jewish children out of the camp at great risk. I was somehow an accomplice to her project. “The children were given false identities and placed in homes, orphanages and convents. Irena Sendler carefully noted, in coded form, the children's original names and their new identities. She kept the only record of their true identities in jars buried beneath an apple tree in a neighbor's back yard, across the street from German barracks, hoping she could someday dig up the jars, locate the children and inform them of their past.” 26 “On October 20, 1943 she and her cohorts, including me, got arrested. Sendler was imprisoned and tortured by the Gestapo who broke her feet and legs. She ended up in the Pawiak Prison, but no one could break her spirit. Me? I ended up somewhere. Though she was the only one who knew the names and addresses of the families sheltering the Jewish children, she withstood the torture, refusing to betray either her associates or any of the Jewish children in hiding.” 27 Because of my special skills, again my life was spared but I was sent to another ghetto to endure forced hard slave labor. Just to keep me alive, I was given a relatively one medium to large potato to last me 3 days. “Sentenced to death, Irena was saved at the last minute when Zegota members bribed one of the Germans to halt the execution. She escaped from prison but for the rest of the war she was pursued by the Gestapo.” 28 The New Breadth of Life. “The Holocaust created a suffering that cannot be rectified.” 29 Reconstruction, rebuild. “Restitution for the victims was to follow. On August 13, 1997, Swiss banks agreed to pay $1,250,000,000 to Jewish groups in reparation for lost assets of Holocaust victims and their heirs”. 30 “After the Holocaust nothing can be the same again. “The holocaust presents a new platform that calls for the moral imperative so as to draw new directions and boundaries which any generation can explore and give the parameters for the true “essence of a human being.” 31 It also clearly needs an interface in its histiography between the perpetrator and the victim; Nazi document and survivor testimony, empiricism and theory”. 32 NOTES 1. Jeremy Noakes. “The Rise of Adolf Hitler.” bbc.co.uk . (Mar, 2011). Accessed 23 Apr 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_01.shtml 2. David Sedivy. “Modern European History: The History of Hitler-The Irony of It” mr_sedivy.tripod.com/ n.d. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012. http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/eur_6.html 3. “Introduction to the Holocaust”. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.org, Last modified January 06, 2011. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012 . http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143 4. “World Events Impacting Germany 1929-1949”. Media.fod.com. 2012. Accessed 24 April 2012 . http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10377 5. “The Great Depression Begins”. historyplace.com . 1996. Accessed 23 April 2012 http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/begins.htm 6. Ibid. 7. George J. Elbaum. Neither Yesterdays Nor Tomorrows: Vignettes of a Holocaust Childhood (CreateSpace.U.S., 2010.). 12. Accessed April 21, 2012. http://www.scribd.com/gelbaum/d/28882511-Neither-Yesterdays-Nor-Tomorrows 8. “Ghettos” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.org, Last Modified January 06, 2011. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012 . http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059 9. David Sedivy. “Modern European History: The History of Hitler-The Irony of It” mr_sedivy.tripod.com/ n.d. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012. http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/eur_6.html 10. “1933-1934 Holocaust Timeline”. historyplace. com. Last modified 1997. Accessed 24 Apr 2012. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html 11. “The Holocaust”. Auschwitz.dk. (2010.) Highland Ranch Colorado. Accessed 21 April 2012. http://www.auschwitz.dk/docu/faq.htm 12. “Survivor Stories”. Holocaustsurvivors.org. Holocaust survivors, 2012. Accessed 23 Apr. 2012 http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/data.show.php?di=record&da=survivors&ke=2 13. Ibid., 14. David H. Lindquist. “Meeting a Moral Imperative: A Rationale for Teaching Holocaust”. The Clearing House. 84 (2011): 26-30. EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. Downloaded as PDF file. 15. “Survivor Stories”. Holocaustsurvivors.org. Holocaust survivors, 2012. Accessed 23 Apr. 2012 http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/data.show.php?di=record&da=survivors&ke=2 16. Donald Bloxham. “A survey of Jewish Slave Labor in the Nazi System”. 10.3 The Journal of Holocaust Education. (2001): 25-59 . EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. 17. Prof. Ina S. Lorenz, Prof.“The Jewish Community in Hamburg 1860-1943”. 1.uni- hamburg.de. (n.d.) Accessed 24 Apr 2012 http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//jew_history4.html 18. “Ghettos” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.org, Last Modified January 06, 2011. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012 . http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059 19. Fischel, Jack R. “Historical Dictionary of the Holocaust”.The Scarecrow Press, Inc.135.(2010). 13 http://www.scribd.com/doc/80751157/Historical-Dictionary-of-the- Holocaust 20. David Sedivy. “Modern European History: The History of Hitler-The Irony of It” mr_sedivy.tripod.com/ n.d. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012. http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/eur_6.html 21. “ Kristallnacht: Historical Overview”. Holocaust Encyclopedia Online. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2011. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012 http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/kristallnacht/frame.htm 22. Prof. Ina S. Lorenz, Prof.“The Jewish Community in Hamburg 1860-1943”. 1.uni- hamburg.de. (n.d.) Accessed 24 Apr 2012 . http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//jew_history4.html 23. David H. Lindquist. “ Meeting a Moral Imperative: A Rationale for Teaching Holocaust”. The Clearing House. 84 (2011): 26-30. EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. 24. “Irena Sendler (1910-2008) ”. Jewish Virtual Library Org. Online. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 2012. Web. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/irenasendler.html Irena Sendler was awarded Poland's highest distinction, the Order of White Eagle inWarsaw Monday Nov. 10, 2003. She passed away on May 12, 2008, at the age of 98. I 25. ,26, 27 , 28 Ibid., 29. Patricia Chappine. “Delayed Justice: Forced and Slave Labor Restitution After The Holocaust”. Journal of Ecumenical Studies. 46: 4 (2011) 616. EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. 30. Ibid., 618 31. David H. Lindquist. “ Meeting a Moral Imperative: A Rationale for Teaching Holocaust”. The Clearing House. 84 (2011): 26-30. EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. 32. Don Stone. “ Recent Trends in Holocaust Histiography”. 10.3 The Journal of Holocaust Education. 10.3 (2001): 1-24 . EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. WORKS CITED Bloxham, Donald. “A survey of Jewish Slave Labour in the Nazi System”. The Clearing House. 84 (2011): 26. EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. Chappine, Patricia. “Delayed Justice: Forced and Slave Labor Restitution After The Holocaust. Journal of Ecumenical Studies. 46: 4 (2011) 616. EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. Elbaum, George J. Neither Yesterdays Nor Tomorrows: Vignettes of a Holocaust Childhood . (CreateSpace.U.S., 2010.) . Accessed April 21, 2012. http://www.scribd.com/gelbaum/d/28882511-Neither-Yesterdays-Nor-Tomorrows Fischel, Jack R. Historical Dictionary of the Holocaust. The Scarecrow Press, Inc.2010. Web. Accessed 22 Apr 2012. http://www.scribd.com/doc/80751157/Historical-Dictionary-of-the-Holocaust “Ghettos” Holocaust Encyclopedia Online. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2011. Web. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012 . http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059 “Irena Sendler (1910-2008) ” Jewish Virtual Library Org. Online. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2012 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/irenasendler.html “ Kristallnacht: Historical Overview”. Holocaust Encyclopedia Online. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2011. Web. Accessed 24 Apr. 2012 “http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/kristallnacht/frame.htm Lindquist, David H. “ Meeting a Moral Imperative: A Rationale for Teaching Holocaust”. The Clearing House.84 (2011): 26-30. The Clearing House. 84 (2011): 26-30. DOI: 10.1080/00098655.2010.496813. EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. Lorenz, Ina S. Prof.“The Jewish Community in Hamburg 1860-1943”. 1.uni-hamburg.de. (n.d.) Accessed. 24 Apr 2012 http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//jew_history4.html Noakes, Jeremy “The Rise of Adolf Hitler.” bbc.co.uk . (Mar, 2011). Accessed 23 Apr 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_01.shtml Sedivy, David. “The Irony of It All: Modern European History: The History of Hitler”. mr_sedivy.tripod.com. n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/eur_6.html Stone, Don. “ Recent Trends in Holocaust Histiography”. 10.3 The Journal of Holocaust Education (2001): 1-24 . PDF file. “Survivor Stories”. Holocaustsurvivors.org. Holocaust survivors, 2012. Web 24 Apr. 2012 http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/data.show.php?di=record&da=survivors&ke=2 “The Great Depression Begins”. The History Place. 1996. Web. 23 April 2012 http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/begins.htm “The Holocaust F.A.Q.” .auschwitz.dk . The Holocaust. 2010. Web 24 Apr 2012 http://www.auschwitz.dk/docu/faq.htm “World Events Impacting Germany 1929-1949”. Media.fod.com. Ford Motor Company, 2012. Web. 24 April 2012 http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10377 The Scar that the World Will Never Forget A SUMMARY The Holocaust, in all its magnitude of incarceration and annihilation of not just hundreds or thousands of people but millions of European Jews, to the majority, is a phenomenon. No other world leader has ever become a precedent or came close to what Adolf Hitler accomplished. Holocaust was selected as a topic because it carries a wide range of academic challenges and offers more opportunities to the field of research. Imagine, “the Holocaust was described as the systematic annihilation of six million Jews by the Nazi regime during World War 2. In 1933 approximately nine million Jews lived in the 21 countries of Europe that would be occupied by Germany during the war. And by 1945, two out of every three European Jews had been killed. The European Jews were the primary victims of the Holocaust. But Jews were not the only race singled out for the persecution by Hitler’s Nazi regime. As many as one-half million Gypsies, at least 250,000 mentally or physically disabled persons, and more than three million Soviet prisoners-of-war also fell victim to Nazi genocide: Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Social Democrats, Communists, partisans, trade unionists, Polish intelligentsia and other undesirables or threats to the Nazi regime. They were picked as victims of hate and aggression carried out by the Nazis.” 1 In retrospect, holocaust, while still under debate for its many issues, should be the platform for a moral imperative stance. It should also become the basis for deriving positive parameters that will establish and delineate a more acceptable future humanistic view and framework of what is “the ultimate good against the ultimate evil.”2 In this way, the true perspective on the essence of a human being from any point of view can now be, not only inculcated and defined but also be recommended for self- actualization (Maslow’s highest level of needs) in its true sense. This research was presented differently; mixed pseudo-actual self experience of a Holocaust survivor combined and juxtaposed with documentary facts or sequential events as it happened within the history time line. It distinctively differs from other researches based on its approach and presentation. The account of events and self-experience was juxtaposed with a chronological order of historical Holocaust events at the same time integrating perspectives of three different survivors. This is to bring more impact, facts and realities which make it more interesting, exciting and realistic in a way. Doing so also stirs emotional empathy and heightens curiosity build-up. In developing this research, the difficulties encountered were doing its presentation with a new approach, perspective, format and content. The easy part of it is that it comprises a rich rainbow of database information. The difficult part of it is choosing which source materials must be used and organizing the content to meet the coherence and relatedness of expected of each paragraph within the body. The best way to attain this is for you to study the time line before and after Adolf Hitler was proclaimed Fuhrer and Chancellor of Germany. It was best to take notes of the various experiences of the survivors corresponding to the line of these events. Writing this research was a good academic exercise. It poses not only as an academic challenge to exercise student’s critical thinking but also to serve as an inspiration for unbent uncompromising humanistic principles. It is for this reason why moral imperativeness must be injected to the hall of holocaust education. 1. “The Holocaust F.A.Q.” .auschwitz.dk . The Holocaust. 2010. Web 24 Apr 2012 http://www.auschwitz.dk/docu/faq.htm 2. Lindquist, David H. “ Meeting a Moral Imperative: A Rationale for Teaching Holocaust”. The Clearing House.84 (2011): 26-30. The Clearing House. 84 (2011): 26-30. DOI: 10.1080/00098655.2010.496813. EBSCO host: Academic Search Premier, http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.nicoletcollege.edu. ** A separate sheet of specific assessment criteria will be handed out later A separate sheet of specific assessment criteria will be handed out later: Assessement Criteria COHERENCE 20% CLARITY 20% IMPACT (to audience) 20% ORGANIZATION 20% RELEVANCE or RELATEDNESS 20% 100% Read More