Five Genocide Essay Questions

Questions

1.) In Night (originally published in 1955) by Elie Wiesel, the reader finds a tale of human tragedy on a scale rarely recounted within the annals of human history. Certainly, singular works of literature recount tales of massive destruction as found in the Old Testament of the Bible or contemporary historical accounts of the demise of the Mayan Civilization. Wiesel's account transcends these historical recollections and all similar tales for its originality in proximity to the Holocaust itself—to experience the heinous injustice of being placed in such a situation joined with the gall to tell the world about it not just in anecdotes and speeches but within a 100+ page account detailing what the chimneys looked like and how the babies died stirs the emotions. Written in the heat and aftermath of the moment—the magnanimity of understanding in detail what really happened is almost too much to bear.

In his 2006 revision of his book, Wiesel sheds light on his motives for continuing to share this story, to even update it nearly a half-century after its original conception. He acknowledges the loving assistance of his wife in correcting the English translation to more clearly bear witness to the realities of the Holocaust (Wiesel, 2006, p. 15). He recognizes in his introduction that the fate, even happenstance, of his continuing existence must bear some fruit, retaining some residual meaning for future generations (Wiesel, 2006, p. 11). Ultimately, however, Wiesel (2006) testifies to these events for future generations as a warning for, "the youth of today, for the children who will be born tomorrow" (p. 18). His writings stand as a monument to events that must not be forgotten lest history repeats itself.

Wiesel's account fits into larger themes of the Holocaust by accounting for the silence of the world as these events unfolded. Such a personal revelation of helplessness was laid manifest for millions of people as Nazi soldiers killed wantonly. In Wiesel's struggles to understand how an existing God could permit the events happening before his eyes, he is even more struck by the silence of the entire affair as the smell of burning flesh envelopes his senses, leaving him viscerally confronted by the reality of his situation and the utter lack of foreign assistance. In this war, the Allied forces knew and acted on what they did know in a way that was too late to save lives. Wiesel's account makes the silence of the world a reality impossible to ignore.

2.) In "War Against the Jews," Dawidowicz explores the evolution of anti-Semitism from the Biblical times through the foundation of the Catholic church and the formation of Martin Luther's Protestant separatism, most notably culminating in "On the Jews and Their Lies" (1543). All of these developments, Dawidowicz argues, laid a foundation for the establishment of Adolf Hitler's railing against Jews in "Mein Kampf" (1925) and his ultimate realization of the Holocaust. Dawidowicz begins her book by exploring the life and character of Hitler as described by his contemporaries, a person of unbecoming notice, nearly comic in nature. The author continues by describing some of Hitler's family background in a biographical effort to paint an early account of his upbringing. Most notably for historical purposes, Dawidowicz conducted extensive research on birth records of Jewish people in and around Germany in an effort to provide a concrete figure for determining exactly how many Jews were destroyed in the Holocaust. Here, the author's primary focus in regards to the victims lies in taking an account of the number of people that were involved in the circumstance.

Raul Hilberg's writing of "Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders," however, takes a different slant on the same issue by calling into account the people groups who watched in silence as the silence so viscerally described in Elie Wiesel's writings became manifest in grisly reality. However, Hilberg shares a commonality with Dawidowicz in describing Hitler's process of defaming the Jews. Hilberg tells of specific public policies discriminating against the Jews as in the case of relieving non-Christian judges of public services and boycotting the business establishments of Jews (Hilberg, 1992, p. 12). Both authors focus on the historical process that led to the Holocaust; perhaps Hilberg begins his account with a later focus on contemporary happenings. In doing so, he takes into account the bystanders and allies of Nazi Germany who allowed for the deportation of Jews into the various concentration camps. Allies varied in their participation from minimally cooperative policies, making exceptions in the case of mixed marriages or practical use for a professional means to fully operational assistance in the rounding up of Jews. Finland and Denmark, Hilberg (1992) highlights, remained irreprehensible (p. 78).

While the two authors share a historical focus on describing the rationale for the events that took place, they part ways in the breadth of their discussion and the implementation of their data. Notably, Hilberg makes no effort to implement the scholarly findings of Dawidowicz in his own works; the two maintain separate accounts of the same event by their shift in focus on policy (Hilberg) and details (Dawidowicz), wartime events (Hilberg) and historical happenings (Dawidowicz). As such, each deserves consideration based on its own merits.

3.) Like the Jews, the disabled and the Roma (Gypsies) (homosexuals as well) were murdered in various ways in concentration camps. The hatred for these people groups stemmed from a common denominator, a fundamental viewpoint that anything that was not Aryan in nature was less than pure and subject to removal. Such an ideology grew as a result of the eugenics movement, an anthropologic methodology that held the nature of genetic distribution as the most defining factor for determining individual destiny. Even before the Nazi party came to power, the Weimar Republic broadly supported the validity of eugenics from all sides of the political spectrum (Friedlander, 1995, p. 10). As such, the Gypsies and the disabled descended into second-class citizenship within German policies.

Gypsies, like the Jews, have their own history of mistreatment dating back centuries. Short, Supple, and Klinger (1998) describe the abuse of Gypsies as far back as 1500 where Emperor Maximillian I decreed that Gypsies may be murdered without retributive action—in the case of Gypsy women, rape was considered an acceptable method of punishment should they be found within German borders (p. 31). As time went on two centuries later, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI ordered their extermination in murdering the men and the removal of one of the ear lobes of all women and children (Short et al., 1998, p. 31). By the time the Holocaust arrived, their fate was, perhaps, already well understood. Notably, the treatment of Gypsies was not viewed in the same light as of the Jews after the Holocaust ended. In fact, not a single Gypsy was called on to bear testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, a series of military tribunals prosecuting representatives of the Axis powers for war crimes (Short et al., 1998, p. 33). Today, Gypsies continue to be marginalized in a mystifying swirl of misunderstanding and nomad-like tendencies. As their traditions rely on oral means rather than written, their history is all too often told by third parties rather than accounted for based on their own point of view.

The elimination of disabled people occurred in figures numbering in the tens of thousands. The extermination of these people employed euthanasia techniques and sterilization among the deaf and the blind (Short et al., 1998, p. 33). However, the officials in the Catholic Church and the general public made a protest against the elimination of the handicapped and mentally ill at a level that did not exist in the defense of other people groups (Short et al., 1998, p. 33). Why did this particular group receive such staunch public support, in spite of broadly implemented purification propaganda? Perhaps the ultimate "defense" of the handicapped came as a result of its inevitable effect on the German people themselves—the bitterness of eliminating their own family members, even in a weakened state, must have struck an emotional chord with the German public.

4.) Hilberg's writings describing German collaborators deserve a special focus on the soldiers who surrounded the implementation of Vichy France. Even after General Charles de Gaulle fled his country for London, the French military remained staunchly Vichy and maintained the allegiance of exterior departments (Hilberg, 1992, p. 81). The military fought in support of Axis powers in Dakar and Syria against the British in 1940 and 1941, respectively—even after the casualties mounted and the remaining French soldiers had the opportunity to rejoin the former General de Gaulle, only 5,668 of the 37,736 fighters made the decision to join their former leader (Hilberg, 1992, p. 81). The French wanted to be, above all else, on the winning side of the war.

As for the politicians surrounding the Vichy regime, Pierre Laval heads the list as one of the more opportunistic Frenchmen to join the German cause. His name was well recognized in his country even before World War II as a premier and foreign minister for the government (Hilberg, 1992, p. 82). A pragmatic man who saw no value to be gained from the killing of others, the cruel hand of history may view his contribution to Vichy France as that of an appeaser (perhaps alongside Neville Chamberlain) who sought to find the method of least resistance when dealing with increasingly aggressive German demands. During the war itself in an effort to negotiate the release of French prisoners of war, Laval actively negotiated the deportation of thousands of Jews, including children as an additional offering, declaring that "they did not interest him" (Hilberg, 1992, p. 82-83). More than others, Laval deserves remembrance as a facilitator of the Nazi agenda.

5.) The 1994 genocide of Tutsi and moderate Hutu nationals within the central African nation of Rwanda came about as the result of ethnic differences dating back over centuries, just as Dawidowicz highlights the development of anti-Semitism to its apex in the Holocaust. As in the case of Allied forces entering in on the aftermath of most of the killing UN forces only arrived after the vast majority of the killing had already taken place in Rwanda, much to the chagrin of the international community. Its implementation, however, was not realized in the same scientifically justified, cold-blooded, and logistically coordinated efforts of the Nazi regime but rather in the emotion-filled hate of the moment as documented by the Washington Post and other new sources (Adelman & Suhrke, 1999, p. 98). Nevertheless, the consequences of the actions achieved the same net result: the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

In the case of Iraq, Saddam Hussein implemented his power as a dictator in 1988 to attack the Kurds, a dissenting people group to the regime located in Northern Iraq. Like the Nazi genocide, the attack was logistically organized, although it was used as a tool for wielding political power over subjects rather than obliterating a record of their existence from the annals of history. The consequences of this genocidal atrocity, along with many others, led to the ultimate capture of Hussein by United States forces in 2003. Fifteen years late, justice was finally served in a small way via the toppling of Hussein's regime.

Today, genocides continue to occur around the world. Even in the case of Syria where a major civil war has been in process for nearly three years, armed conflicts carry complex political ramifications that make it difficult for world powers to lift their hands and intervene. Often, it seems that politics limit the terms of definitive action. Offending regimes maintain allies in positions of power who cast enough doubt on the reality of the matter that hesitant politicians stop to reconsider the cost of action. Meanwhile, tragically, the killing continues.

References

Adelman, H., & Suhrke, A. (1999). The path of a genocide: the Rwanda crisis from Uganda to Zaire. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.

Dawidowicz, L. S. (1975). The war against the Jews, 1933-1945. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Friedlander, H. (1995). The origins of Nazi genocide: from euthanasia to the final solution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Hilberg, R. (1992). Perpetrators, victims, bystanders: the Jewish catastrophe, 1933-1945. New York, NY: Aaron Asher Books.

Short, G., Supple, C., & Klinger, K. (1998). The Holocaust in the school curriculum: a European perspective. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Wiesel, E. (2006). Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.