The Randomness of the Individuals Killed - Essay Example

Alvarez d that “…neither love, [family responsibility], nor [religious] training can stand up against extremes of starvation and fear. On the road to survival everything goes, leaving only the most primitive terrors and desires (Reviews of Night, Contemporary Literary Criticism) Alvarez is wrong. Did some individuals abandon their loved ones due to the extremes of starvation and fear? Of course, the answer is yes. However by putting all Holocaust survivors into one group Alvarez’s thinking flawed. Every survivor, victim, and even Nazi were individuals that acted based on their love and training. Rabbi Eliahou’s son left him during the death march from Auschwitz (Wiesel 86-87). Obviously the love and training the son had received were not enough to conquer starvation and fear. Elie, on the other hand, might have not defended his father from the brutality, but he stuck with his father to the end (Wiesel 103-104). When Elie felt that he had dishonored, or harmed his father he felt remorse. The fear and starvation had impacted him, but not enough to break his love and training. This is only an example of two individuals. Another example of individuality in the Holocaust is Hermann Graebe. He saved more than three hundred Jewish survivors (Rittner and Myers 45).Hermann’s mother taught him as a child that Jews had feelings and were humans too. His love and training made him take risks to save Jewish lives. Although he did not face starvation, the fear of helping Jews made many Germans turn away. Hermann did not turn away, even though he must have felt fear. There were many other Germans that did help. Each German was an individual. Another example comes from Europa Europa. In this movie, the lead character is exposed as a Jew to a German soldier and others. Still Solly was never betrayed by these individuals. Even after he had lived through the Holocaust without starving, his brother came forward and saved his life. The fear and starving did not stop Solly’s brother from saving his brother. Some individuals could not face the challenge of remembering there love and training on the road to survival, but others did. The problem with generalizing the parties of the Holocaust is each individual becomes a lumped statistic. The Holocaust happened because of each individual act coming to the conclusion. Not every German was bad, not every Jew was good. All were human. They acted differently and should not be generalized. "The Holocaust was not an accident in history--it occurred because individuals, organizations and governments made choices that not only legalized decisions but that allowed prejudice, hatred and ultimately, mass murder to occur." (U.S. Holocaust Museum Publication) The Holocaust was not an accident. In fact, the Holocaust was very well organized and planned. Individuals allowed organizations like the Nazis come to power. After the Nazis came to power, no major protest from the German people came of the Jewish question. The conference at Wannsee determined that a ‘Final Solution’ of the Jewish question was needed. The solution was the systematic destruction of the Jewish population. The Nazis were not a mob, or unorganized hate group. Nazi Germany was a well planned effort orchestrated by Hitler and his minions. Mein Kampf laid out Hitler’s plan. No one listened, or maybe they just did not care. The Holocaust was planned. An example of the Holocaust and Jim Crow laws were compared in From Swastika to Jim Crow. In this documentary, scenes from both Nazi Germany and pre Civil Rights Era South were given. The Nazis were more organized because the German government supported the effort to discriminate against the Jews. The Southern governments also support the Klan, with the Jim Crow laws. However, legal protests could take place in an effort to change these unfair laws. Americans, white, black, Jewish, Native Americans, and other races stood up to the Klan and unfair laws. The Germans looked the other way. Jacoby relates that his father was a Holocaust survivor. His father was persecuted by Lithuanians. A misconception of the Holocaust is only Germans persecuted the Jews. However whatever conquered territory from Russia to the Netherlands, the Germans found willing accomplices. Part of the reason so many people were willing to help is the concept of obedience. Milgram explains: Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to. Some system of authority is a requirement of all communal living, and it is only the person dwelling in isolation who is not forced to respond, with defiance or submission, to the commands of others. For many people, obedience is a deeply ingrained behavior tendency, indeed a potent impulse overriding training in ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct. The problem is obedience can be good or bad depending on the leader, or government. So the majority of the responsibility lay with the German leaders, but German civilians still bear a responsibility. Another reason Germans did not revolt was indifference. Wiesel explains in his speech at the white house: Of course, indifference can be tempting -- more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another persons pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction. As long as the Germans were not going to the concentration and death camps, it was easier to ignore the Jewish pain and suffering. Hitler had made the Jews look subhuman. The German citizens did not empathize with the Jews due to not seeing them as human. Thus indifference was easier for German citizens. What had the greatest impact on you from your study of the Holocaust? The greatest impact on me was the futility of resistance. The randomness of the individuals killed was frightening. A strong man might be shot or executed because he was too healthy. However, sicker individuals like the ones that stayed in the infirmary at Auschwitz during evacuation survived. There was no sure way to survive. Survivors had different tricks, but most were just lucky. The randomness created survivors without families. So even if a survivor lived, they had to go on without their loved ones. Many survivors never truly lived fulfilling lives due to the trauma and loss of the Holocaust. I think these facts bother me because I know I would not have survived under the same circumstances. The senselessness of the Holocaust is what impacted me the most. Bibliography Europa Europa. (1990). Dir. A. Holland Perf. M. Hofschneider¸ J. Delpy, and R. Hofschneider. From Swastika to Jim Crow. (2000). Dir. L. Cheatle and M. Toub. Jacoby, J. The Killers Were So Many. Milgram, S. The Perils of Obedience. Rittner, C. and S. Myers. (1989). The courage to care. New York: NYU Press. Wiesel, E. (2006). Night. New York: Hill and Wang. ---. The Perils of Indifference. Read More