Holocaust: One of the Darkest Chapters of Human History - Essay Example

Assignment The Holocaust Introduction In this essay, the historic event of Holocaust will be explored from different angles. First, an analysis on the basis of the memoirs of holocaust survivors will be carried out. Next, significance of holocaust will be explored in the context of the Christian world and philosophy. The essay culminates at a viable conclusion, stressing the present day friendly relationships that exist between the Jews and Christians particularly in the Western democracies like UK and USA. For example, Primo Levi’s memoirs were published from USA. Primo Levi’s memoirsi describe the situation of Jews in Europe during the Holocaust. Levi was a Holocaust survivor from the Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland. His accounts are used for evidential analysis of Holocaust itself. On the other hand, works of the scholars like Muellerii provide us with a comprehensive view of the similarities between Christianity and Judaism from a much liberal but realistic viewpoint. Holocaust: One of the Darkest Chapters of Human History The Nazi German policy makers might have thought that in the case their Fuhrer Adolph Hitler would conquer the world nobody would know the actual reality of Nazi atrocities. Nazi atrocities were not completely based on anti-Semitic policies. Deep rooted self esteem existed in the minds of the Nazi officials. They considered most of their neighbors (particularly in the countries of eastern Europe) to be subhuman. The Jews were their prime target. But they meted out similar atrocities also towards the Slavic peoples of the erstwhile Yugoslavia and Soviet Union. They tortured the Poles, Gypsies, and many other nationals including their own countrymen who tried to oppose them or who were homosexuals. Detailed accounts of Nazi torture techniques have been provided by Primo Levi. Levi was an Italian Jew who survived Holocaust. Writing about the Nazi officials, he recalled that “they were particularly pitiless, vigorous and inhuman individuals” (Levi, 81). Levi also wrote that the Jews were used as experimental specimens, forced laborers, and subjects of fathomless humiliation. As per the Nazi ideologue, Jews were Untermenchen who deserved to be ultimately destroyed though a systemic process of “the demolition of man” (Levi, 26). Indeed, Mueller has explained that the term anti-Semitism “was first coined by Wilhem Marr, a nineteenth-century German atheist who hated Jews and Christians equally” (324). However, certain researchers like Norman Finkelstein have expressed skepticism over the extent of the humiliation and mass execution suffered by the Jews during Holocaust. They raise questions on the possible roles of the Catholic Church during the period of Third Reich. As a matter of fact, majority of the Nazis were either Protestant or Catholic Christians. However, Catholic Church officials like Archbishop Angelo Roncalli did not remain a passive watcher of the atrocities to which the innocent Jews were being subjected mercilessly. “As a papal diplomat to Turkey and Greece during World War II, he was personally responsible for saving tens of thousands of Jews through the issuance of false baptismal certificates.” (Mueller, 324) There are certain persons even in the present day world who hold that the Jews were responsible for the tortures done to Jesus Christ and his followers. This tendency of torturous persecution against Christians spiraled into the several parts of the ancient empires of Rome and Egypt. Particularly under the rule of Nero, hundreds and thousand Christians were enslaved and killed in Rome. Yet, scholars like Mueller hold that the atrocities meted out to the early Christians had been triggered off by the Jewish authorities and their associates. All Jews did not participate in the processes voluntarily and/or systematically. Later, in the medieval empires of Ottoman, Hapsburg, etc. the Jews and Christians lived in harmony for most of the years to come. Although prominent anti-Semitic sentiments were deeply rooted in some parts of Eastern Europe, Catholics, Lutherans, and Protestants in Central Europe remained immune to it for most of the time. Pogroms against Jews were rather rare in the major European cities like Berlin, Vienna, Prague, etc. before the conclusion of World War I and appearance of Nazism. So Nazi tortures against the Jews cannot be regarded as a part of some sort of Christian agenda; Hitler’s tolerance towards the churches across Central Europe appear to be rather political than religious. And even in that context, Hitler did not spare the Christians in East and killed millions of Russians who were mostly Orthodox Christians. The Plight of Jews and Christian World View The Christian world view is fundamentally peace loving and God fearing. Christians and Jews are both Abrahamic religions. To some extent at least, both of these religious groups share common heritage. For example, Moses is regarded as a respectable figure in both Christianity and Judaism. In this milieu, Mueller writes, “In company with the Prophets and the same Apostle, the Church awaits that day, known only to God alone, on which all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice” (326). So, in uniting the world under one God or divine power, Jews are neither enemies nor untouchables. Hence they are not the Untermenchen as stereotyped by the Third Reich. In fact, Third Reich and Holocaust had been dangerous toward both Judaism and the purest merciful form of Christian world view. Conclusion In today’s world, Christians are more or less respectful and friendly toward the Jews. This mentality is reflected through their cumulative attitude toward Holocaust. As reported by Stephen Bates of The Guardian news paperiii, Christians almost all over the world remember Holocaust as a grimly event. Quoted by Bates in his news report, disapproval of Holocaust echoes in the words of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair too: “Nothing compares to the Holocaust, not in the intensity of its evil, nor in the ghastly scope of its inhuman ambition ... acts of selfless endeavor gave us the will to work for a better life in a better world.” It is undeniable that even some meritorious Western historians like David Irving claim that “the Jewish ‘Holocaust industry’ silences its critics by a combination of intellectual terrorism” (Finkelstein, 120).iv But harmony which is witnessed across the countries like USA, UK, France, etc., where Christians and Jews live side by side, is unexplainable if their mutual respect and honor are denied outright. Read More