Nazi Concentration Camp System - Term Paper Example

In the Dark of Night The Holocaust was a terrible event in history for Jews and others who were perceived as unclean. Many went to the gas chambers, were killed on the spot or committed suicide to escape the horror (Wood, 31; Rjchman, Beinfeld, and Wiesel 112). Nothing in our history has been so heinous a crime and yet some people actually survived the ordeal and wrote about the experience. The book Night by Elie Wiesel, is a true account of Wiesel's experience in the Nazi concentration camp system, and it is one book among many that shows the courage and faith of a people who had a strong will to survive. 1. The Climate of the State The nature of the State was brewing prior to the actual years of the Holocaust. Wiesel begins his experiences in 1941 when he was 12 years old. However, the State became volatile after the first world war. After this war, the Germans had lost face with the rest of the world. The US, Britain, France and Italy were Allies and wanted to make sure that the Germans would not go to war again (Wood 31). The Allies signed The Treaty of Versailles, which made the Germans lose part of their land and pay "crippling reparations" (Wood 31). Another important event was the Locarno Pact that was between Britain, Italy, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Poland and Belgium. This Pact was to confirm Europe's borders that had been set at the Treaty of Versailles. However, Hitler was present at that meeting and decided by 1928 that this rule did not apply to him (Wood 31). Hitler understood that the common German people were upset about their loss and feeling disillusioned. By 1936, Hitler totally ignored the Locarno Pact and moved forward with his goal of annihilating a race. Hitler made the German people believe that the cause of their trouble was the outsiders, which he named the communists and Jews (Wood 33). His rule was based on anti-Semitic over exaggerations and on creating fear about the Jews who were very different from everyone else. The challenge for most people is to understand why Hitler chose to single out the Jews for his wrath. According to Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Hitler went after the Jews because he could. Hitler systematically looked for a target that matched what he had learned about evolutions. He chose the Jews because they were the "right kind of victim", and they made sense for him to prosecute them. He weighted many options to come to this conclusion. Hitler understood that these were people who would not fight back, and he took advantage of the situation as best he could. The nature of the State at that time was one of fear, ridicule, anger and hate. 2. Relationship between Civilization and the Individual The Jews were a successful race of people because they stayed to themselves and only helped each other. Their religion did not ask them to fight back so they became an easy target. They were very devout in their religion, they loved their families, their community and they thought they were safe. Their civilization was organized and structured and as Tevye the milkman said in Fiddler on the Roof "Everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do" (Holland 2). At this time, the Jews understood who they were in their communities and they were a collaborative people who helped each other collectively. However, the Nazi Regime pushed them into thinking of themselves as individuals. Dienke Hondius, a professor at VU University in Amsterdam, compared the events of the Holocaust with what happened in slavery. She points to the themes of genocide, racism, and human rights violations (S63) that were prevalent in both situations. Also, the issue of family, community and religion were the same for both cultures. However, when the slaves came to America they were also treated as individuals. In both instances, the idea of autonomous individual did not exist for the Jews or for the slaves before the interference of outsiders to their civilization. Now, having to move away from their villages, losing their businesses, homes, valuables, and family members put them in a position where despair and fear could step in. The Jews relied on their own communities. In Weisel's account, he talks of the subtle demise of the Jewish communities. The Jewish culture could not see what was happening because it was so outside their understanding of community and life that they could not think that something like this would happen to then. When the character Moishe the Beadle, a prominent elder of the community actually escapes death and comes to warn the village, they do not believe him (Weisel 6). Moishe is a good example of the autonomous individual because he was ignored by his community and isolated by his warnings. Weisel states that after the experience, "Moishe was not the same. The joy in his eyes was gone. He no longer sang" (7). The actions of the Nazis destroyed some of Moishe's spirit but he still tried to warn his people, to no avail. Some Jews in other areas escaped to other safer places, but those who stayed were pushed into thinking only of themselves and their survival, which was foreign to the Jews. Later, after the Holocaust, Avraham Burg, an Israeli politician states that the "State of Israel was built as a safe haven for the Jews … " (15). Before the Holocaust, the Jews had already built safe havens for themselves in their villages -- or at least this is what they thought. The Jewish culture did not have room for the belief that someone they did not know would harm them. Jews were simple people who lived simply and who stayed away from non-Jews. In their minds, by keeping a low profile, they had not given outsiders a reason to hurt them. As individuals, they had no idea what they were supposed to do because they had lost the very essence of who they were which meant they were uncertain what God wanted them to do. 3. Culture as a Distinct Entity The culture of the Jews was unique to the culture that was around them. They were not directly affected by the Nazis until they came into their village. In Weigel's village of Sighet, the Nazis were like a myth or a tall tale because they were not an immediate threat to them before they came into the village. Weigel states that they would hear of news in other villages but then everything went back to normal (6-7). London radio was saying that everything was going well. The website DifferenceBetween.net, states that culture is a distinct entity and it usually consists of a government, "healthcare, education and several occupations of people" (par. 3). The Jews were a culture in and of themselves because they had all of these things. They were governed by the Talmud and Torah that was quoted by the Rabbi. They had healthcare which was often made up of a healer inside the community and every Jewish man had a profession. These were all gone one the Holocaust began. The culture that the Nazis constructed and that of the Jews clashed against each other for many reasons. Because Jews saw themselves as outside the main culture, they could not prepare for the process that the Nazis brought. They also remained optimistic though the signs were in front of them. As an example, when they were locked into their homes for three days, had all their valuables taken from them, and made to wear a yellow star (Weisel 10-11) the Jews felt that this was must something good, although it was a precursor to the crimes that would become larger and more devastating. 4. Out of the Ghetto into the Camps to Freedom Weisel's account of what happened shows the total devastation and devalue of a race and culture. He showed the bewilderment of the group and how their faith kept them alive. The Jews were taken away from the culture and their way of live and thrust into a culture they could not have prepared for. Weisel states that "fear was greater than hunger" (59). The fear was greater because they never knew what would happen to them or whether they would live to see another day. One curious question always came back to me as I was reading this book: "how and why did anyone survive this treatment?" The smells, the sounds, the executions, and the starvation seemed to never end, and yet the Jews continued to press on. In my opinion, they did this because they always kept hope alive. Another issue that was apparent was how humans will turn into animals when they are treated like animals. Starvation and the stress of not knowing, coupled with an inability to rest or sleep made them react against each other. As an example, towards the end of the book, Weisel's father is badly beaten repeatedly and his food rations are taken (109-110). His father was finally killed either through taking him to the gas chamber after he died in his sleep, but Weisel was not sure what happened (112). The State had won over his father at that point, but still, Weisel kept going. Chil Rajchman, author of the book, The Last Jew of Treblinka, recounts his experience of watching men commit suicide to get out of the misery of the camps. He also talks about a revolt that those in Treblinka staged, and many of them ran away to freedom. What was the difference between Treblinka and Buchenwald where Wiesel ended up? Perhaps there was something that happened that made the Treblinka Jews know that this was the only way to survive or thought that being killed would be better than not knowing from day to day. Both Wiesel and Rajchman stated that they felt they survived the experience to tell the story. 5. Conclusion In conclusion, the Nazi Regime destroyed a culture but because of faith and love of community and family, the Jews were able to persevere and many of them lived to tell the story. Many Jews today feel that they must remember the past so that it cannot happen to them again. Many feel stress and anxiety after so many years. Many have written about this situation and it is clear to see that it was something that no ordinary human beings could have come through. The Holocaust showed a people what they were really made of and it showed nations how courage and faith can help people move through their troubles. Works Cited Berg, Avraham. The Holocaust is Over: We Must Rise from the Ashes. New York: Palgrave McMillan. 2008. Print. Caplan, Bryan. "Why Hitler Chose the Jews." Library of Economics and Liberty. 2 April 2008. 25 April 2011. "Difference Between Culture and Society." Difference Between.net, 2011. 23 April 2011. Holland, Jeffrey R. "Who We are and what God Expects us to Do." Brigham Young University Speeches. 15 September 1987. 23 April 2011. Hondius, Dinke. "Finding common ground in education about the Holocaust and slavery". Intercultural Education; Supplement. 21 (2010): 61-69. doi: 10.1080/14675981003732266 Rajchman, Chil, Beinfeld, Solon and Wiesel, Elie. The Last Jew of Treblinka : A Memoir. California: Pegasus Books. 2011. Print. Wood, Angela Gluck, and Stone, Dan. Holocaust : the events and their impact on real people. New York: DK Publishing. 2007. Print Read More