Demolition of Man in Soviet and Nazi Regimes - Essay Example

Number: Lecturer: Utopia Visions of Soviet and Nazi Regimes The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) and the Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) experienced the worst atrocities in world history especially during the period leading up to the World War II. The two leaders were dictators in their nations overseeing excutions of citizens, mass deportions and ethnic cleansing during their time. The two regimes were totalitarian in nature and had a lot of similarities as well as differences. Nazi Germany under Hitler carried out mass extermination of the Jews even though Hitler himself was of Jewish origin. To be a Jew in this case was not considered in the eyes of religion but as a racial problem hence the Jewish race comprising the Jewish lineage had to be dealt with to purify the nation and create an ideal new man who had no rights and freedoms. This was in protest to the liberal ideals of European societies. The Soviet Union also under Stalin hoped to bring about a new man hence liberate the whole humanity. The thus sent mass populations of unwanted tribes such as Jews and minorities to concentration or internment camps where they endured a lot of suffering in terms of forced hard labor, starvation, beatings, and executions. The German Holocaust in Nazi Germany during WWII is considered the worst crime against humanity. This paper will discuss the similarities and differences between the Soviet and Nazi camps and their innmates through the works of two great writers: Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz. Solzhenitsyn wrote his personal experiences while in Gulag camp of the Soviets while Levi wrote while in Nazi camp. Even though the Nazi regime was opposed to communism, Hitler the chancellor of Germany from 1933-1945 and Fuhrer of Nazi Germany from 1934-1945 admired Stalin and Stalinism which sought to purify the communist party of Jewish influences hence the purging of the Jewish community. On the same note, Hitler sought to purify Germany of the Jewish race by deporting them to other countries and internment camps where most of them were exceuted and others starved to death or worked to death through hard labor in harsh conditions. Stalin ruled the communist party from 1924 until his death in 1953 when Nikita Khrushchev took over and began de-Stalinization. The ideological vision of both Soviet and Nazi regimes was to create an ideal new man who would be illiberal as rejection of liberalism ideals of individual rights and freedoms. The only difference is that Soviets aimed at liberating all humanity and not just the Soviets while Nazis wanted to estblish a master race. This is apparent from the experiences of Solzhenitsyn and Levi. First, the concentration camps contained prisoners who have not committed crimes but had been forced to admit their crimes of face death. According to Levi, they were in prison simply for being Jews and even though he was an “Italian citizen of Jewish race” (Levi, chap1), this did not save him from arrest. The Jews in this case were the primary victims of persecution and extermination. Jews were considered a subhuman group hence it was worth treating them just like animals with no mercy. Solzhenitsyn just like other innmates was forced to admit that he committed treason to avoid being killed. In his words “he surrendered to betray his country, and returned from POW camp in order to carry out a mission for the German Inteligence” (Solzhenitsyn, nap). The counterespionage forced him to sign the declaration; “do not sign and dig your own grave, or sign and live on a bot longer”. Another innmate Gopchik was jailed for taking milk to Ukrainian guerillas in the forest. As such, in both camps the prisoners had no fault but just served the utopia vision of the Soviet and Nazi regimes of creating a new race of men. Both regimes believed in political violence and violent societies hence the internment camps which were led by state agents. The SS led the Nazi Germany camp while the NKVD led Soviet Union camp with Tartars commanding the camps. The violence by Nazis was outright in that it was against asocial elements like Jews and minority groups like Hungarians while that of the Soviets was disguised as being against socially harmful elements in the diaspora hence contained mostly political prisoners. Primo Levi was captured in the woods as he was trying to join a resistance movement (Justice and Liberty) by fascist militaryof Italyin December 1943, taken to holding camp in Italy then shipped to Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in Poland (Chap, 1). The women and children and weak men who were shipped along with them were taken away and nobody knows their fate as the camp in line with Nazi utopia of males as single breadwinners in the family. Only healthy men entered the camp and those who became weak in the process were supposed to be selected for extermination in gas chambers although this was not always the case as according to Levi, selection depended on luck or the side of the truck you went after being offloaded. Both camps sought to dehumanize the prisoners or what Levi calls “demolition of man”. The Nazi camp (Auschwitz) or SS stripped prisoners naked then let them walk in floor covered with two inches of cold water (Chapter 2). The camp was known as Buna and mostly involved working at rubber factory called Buna. Soon after arrival they are tattoed with numbers which meant the complete destruction of their identity. According to Levi, “I learnt that I am a Haftling. My number is 174517” (Chap 2). In addition, prisoners are rid off all their possessions in promise of return when they got released but they all knew this day would never come. As such, they were denied of houses, habits, clothes, hair, shoes, name and everything else hence transformed into hollow men of suffereing and needs. They no longer had their own will nor had a sense of oneself as human beings that is why in the end even though they were left without guards, no one dared to flee. The Soviet camp was a bit better as according to Solzhenitsyn they were called by their numbers but these were not tattoed permanently as those of Nazis but painted on their clothes; that is, back of black jacket, trousers, jerkin (chest and back), and hat(Solzhenitsyn, nap). His number was Shcha 854 and had to be visible all the time or face punishment. They were also not made to strip naked during roll calls but sometimes were required to unbuttorn shirts during searches. Their civilian belongings were also taken on the day they report to the camp. The numbers for Nazi camp represented stages of destruction of European Judaism, It showed period of entry into the camp; convoy one formed part of, and nationality (Levi, Chap 2). The high numbers like that of Levi showed one was a fresh man or conscript hence a chance for other inmates to mistreat you through cunning ways. For example, by selling your spoon for three rations of bread. This was all in the Utopia of creating a new man who would not demand rights or freedom; a perfect man for Stalin and Hitler. Another similarity was forced labor under very harsh conditions with no rest unless one is sick and this for Soviets was even worse as the sick were forced to work around the hospital and not rest and only two people were allowed off duty in one day and this was does in previous night (Solzhenitsyn, nap). Levi gave account of how they had a back-breaking work schedule of hard labor in the rubber factory. They worked under Kapos. Read More