The Comparison of Adolf Hitler and the Leader of Los Desaparecidos - Case Study Example

Holocaust Comparison Research Paper HOLOCAUST COMPARISON RESEARCH PAPER Titus Rock Manickam Order No. 282479 20 March 2009 HOLOCAUST COMPARISON RESEARCH PAPER Introduction The comparison of Adolf Hitler of Germany and the leader of Los Desaparecidos of Argentina is apt for various reasons. Although there are differences in the time, scale and magnitude there are striking similarities that forces one to think whether genocide had indeed taken a break for good. Desaparecidos is the Spanish word for “The Disappeared”. For thousands of Argentine families the word has become a symbol of long harrowing nightmare. In a coup on 24 March 1976, a military junta seized power in Argentina. Then they went on a campaign to wipe out left-wing terrorism using tactics far worse than the one they were combating (The Vanished Gallery). History rarely makes error in its judgment of despotic rulers and the extent of their crimes. Looking at the records of these leaders the conclusion is clear that they left bloody footprints. In the case of Hitler, it is clear that he was responsible for the Holocaust. However, it is difficult to name the culprit for Los Desaparecidos because there are several people involved. Politically, Leopoldo Galtieri was the last president of Argentina during 1981-82 when Los Desaparecidos was active. This was the time when he ill-advisedly annexed the Falkland Islands and resigned subsequently when the British retook Falkland Islands through military action. However, he supported the coup to overthrow Isabel Peron in 1976, and steadily rose up in the military ranks ultimately becoming the Commander-in-Chief (Leopoldo Galtieri). Adolf Hitler versus Leopoldo Galtieri Hitler was responsible for the extermination of six million Jews, an unparalleled action in history. He caused the deaths and mayhem of millions more in Germany and in the rest of the world. Los Desaparecidos may not equal Hitler in this regard. But Argentina had its share of horrors involving thousands of left-wing dissidents in the “dirty war” as the 1976-83 conflict came to be known. Hitler was repressive with his own people. Thousands disappeared in Argentina between 1976 and 1982. Some quote the figure as up to 30,000 people who disappeared. What happened to them? There are chilling accounts of young dissidents being thrown from helicopters into rivers Certainly there are glaring differences. Hitler set the stage to conquer Europe. The dictator who ruled Argentina then, Leopoldo Galtieri, tried similar tactic when he closed the borders with Chile over a dispute involving two islands below the southern tip of South America, and annexed the Falklands Islands from the British Adolf Hitler was born on April 20th 1889 in Braunau-am-Inn, Austria. Leopoldo Galtieri was born into a working class family of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires in 1926. Hitler served in the German army during the First World War. Galtieri was not born when World War I was fought. Hitler conquered Poland, Austria, Belgium, France, and Holland in quick succession. Galtieri had no such vision. He only closed the doors on Chile over two disputed islands (Isobel Hilton). Galtieri’s military was not advanced enough for conquests. The Falkland War exposed the wide chinks in the Argentine army’s armor. Hitler grew up with a poor record at school and left, before completing his tuition, with an ambition to become an artist. He continued to have troubled times as a youth and grew up hating the Jews, the Marxists, liberalism and the cosmopolitan Habsburg monarchy. Believing that fate had chosen him to avenge the humiliation of defeat by Germany in World War I, he founded the Nazi party and single-mindedly rose through its ranks using intrigue and fascinating promises to his countrymen to become the Chancellor of Germany (Adolf Hitler). Galtieri joined the Argentine military academy at 17 and graduated as an officer in 1949 from the United States School of the Americas in Panama. He drew praises from United States politicians who chose to overlook the crimes of the ruling junta against its people. Later on, the United States sided with the British in the Falkland war (Leopoldo Galtieri). Hitler served in the German army in World War I. He was found able and courageous soldier, and received the Iron Cross for bravery. He was badly wounded and was temporarily blinded when the British used gas four weeks before the war ended. He spent three months recuperating in a hospital in Pomerania. He spent the decade between 1924 and 1933 building the Nazi party, and became the Chancellor of Germany in 1934. He spent the next five years reneging on the Versailles Treaty and at the same time talking peace to the world. On 01 September 1939, the German army invaded Poland. By June 1940, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg and France fell to the conquering army of Germany (Adolf Hitler). Galtieri was linked to the deaths during the military junta’s rule during 1976-83 and was tried on several counts of abduction, torture and execution. Documents posted on the website of the Washington-based National Security Archives provide details about disappearances of dozens of people in 1979 and 1980 at the hands of the military battalion under Galtieri’s command known as Battalion 601. These documents comprise 5000 pages of cables, memoranda and reports between the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires during the days of the “dirty war,” alleging a bloody military campaign to stamp out leftists and other dissidents. They also provide clues to the fate of several of the disappeared plus detailed description by one American woman who was held and tortured for days by Argentine security forces in 1976 (Argentina Papers Detail ‘Dirty War’). The United Stated entered World War II by the end of 1941. Hitler blamed the Jews for the British-American-Russian alliance suspecting them to be responsible for the alliance. It drove him to push for ‘The Final Solution’ – a term for the annihilation of the Jews. He succeeded in exterminating six million Jews before finally killing himself in 1945. The fortunes of the war had begun to change in favor of the Allies. Conclusion The Holocaust and Los Desaparecidos continue to haunt the world. Los Desaparecidos is comparatively less known. But the magnitude of its heinous acts draws striking parallel with the Holocaust. Hitler committed suicide and the leaders of Los Desaparecidos faced trial. Leopoldo Galtieri died of heart attack in 2003. Hitler and Galtieri serve as perfect examples of how not to rule. Sources: A Biography of Adolf Hitler, http://www.secondworldwar.co.uk/ahitler.html Adolf Hitler, http://www.thirdreich.net/Hitler_Biography.html Argentina Papers Detail ‘Dirty War’, 21 August 2002, http://www.culturasdearchivo.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=185 Isobel Hilton, General Leopoldo Galtieri, The Guardian, 13 January 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/jan/13/guardianobituaries.argentina James Haines and John Rohrkemper, Las Madres de la Plaza, http://www2.etown.edu/lasmadresdelaplaza/background.htm The Jewish Experience under the Military Dictators in Chile and Argentina during 1970s and 1980s, history.binghamton.edu/resources/bjoh/The Jewish Experience under M... The Vanished Gallery, http://www.yendor.com/vanished/ Read More