Gommel: Comment on Ramon's post

I believe it is poignant that Ramon focused primarily on how a person’s individuality is stripped by genocide. As I look at Ramon’s posted picture, it is incomprehensible to imagine going through such injustice.

Every one of the victims is forced to be shaved, to wear the same clothes, eat the same food, be housed in the same place, sleep in the same beds, and perform the same basic manual duties. Exterior signs of individuality are nonexistent. Then the loss of dignity of being stripped in front of everyone destroys the interior individuality. Emotionally they are stripped of their joy, peace and hope. Spiritually many are stripped of their faith. Being stripped from their families, legacies were lost as Ramon reveals through the millions of legacies lost in the Ukraine.

Ramon mentioned how even the perpetrators were stripped of their identity. Solidarity with the Nazi Army is all that mattered. Even their names were not important; just as the names of the victims became unimportant and were replaced with numbers.

Human dignity must be valued by nations and by individuals.

Rogers: Indifference and the Individual in “Night” “Soviet Story” and “Conspiracy”

In “Soviet Story” there is shown briefly a newspaper story entitled “Pawns of Tragedy in Ukraine,” in which there are pictured three little girls in Ukraine muffled in dirty layers and obviously starving. For the benefit of the documentary, this picture was supposed to underscore the shameful and willful ignorance exhibited by the U.S., since we are told right after the newspaper clippings are shown, that the U.S. did nothing to help the starving Kulaks. While this picture was trying to bring home that message, what I saw were these three little children, who are ignorant of anything but their own rumbling bellies, whose parents had done nothing to incur their terrible treatment. Three individuals representing millions, whose images were shown to well-fed Americans who were unable or unwilling to believe that an Ally government could inflict such tortures on its own people. Nobody wanted to believe, because the truth was too awful, even with evidence before their eyes. Americans dealt with concentration camps filled with Jews the same way: Willful, comfortable, ignorance and indifference. The easier way.
Group behavior, blind obedience like that of the SS guards, is always thought of as irrational versus that of the individual, who can weigh the issue at hand only from his own point of view. At the beginning of Elie Weisel’s “Night”, the villagers of Sighet scorn the words of the individual, Moishe the Beadle who tries to tell them of the horrors to come. The villagers deny, deny, deny, up till the last minute when they are deported. We learn in “Night,” through Eliezer’s tortured resentment of his rapidly failing father, that it is easier to be alone in the camps. The individual has more of a chance of survival, because the individual only has himself to look after and keep whole.
In “Conspiracy” we are shown a beautiful façade, an elegant setting for the most highly systemized mass slaughter ever imagined by man. The government officials and the high ranking SS officers chat amiably, eat heartily, smoke fine cigars and calmly discuss the mass extermination of the Jewish race. It is perhaps not quite correct to say that they are all calm. Several of them do get uppity during the council, but not because they are against “Evacuation” (another façade, for evacuation, read: extermination), they are just not comfortable with being ordered around by the SS. Co-author of the Nuremberg Laws, Wilhelm Stuckart, played by Colin Firth, loses his temper, not through any misplaced sense of humanity, but because he is angry that the Nuremberg Laws are being mistreated and generally trampled upon. Friedrich Kritzenger, deputy head of the Reich Chancellory is the only guest at the conference who voices his opposition to the plan. Quickly subdued with threats, the individual once again fades back into the group.
Fear is what induces the individual to join the group. Indifference to the fate of others is what is fostered in these groups. The Nazi’s used fear to intimidate and control the countries they occupied. They no longer wanted to deal with individual Jews, but wanted to wipe them out as a group. Same goes for the Kulaks in Soviet Russia. Willful indifference and ignorance to the plight of fellow human beings is still happening and genocide is still being perpetrated by individuals clever enough to exploit the group as a whole and destroy the individual.

Ramon- Week 1; Night, Soviet Story, Conspiracy

Holocaust survivor and former Chairman of the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center in Washington, D.C., Henry Friedman, once said, "We are all different; because of that, each of us has something different and special to offer and each and every one of us can make a difference by not being indifferent." Henry Friedman walks earth as a free man, but as a boy in the holocaust, he still feels as if his individuality was stripped away from him permanently. As we view Night, Soviet Story, and Conspiracy, we can see three different ways politically fueled genocide completely erased the individuality of millions across Europe.

Beginning with Elie Wiesel’s Night, the most prominent way individuality was taken away from the Jews, as described in the book, was the uniformity of appearance between each member of the concentration camps. Nazis found no need to search within for tools possessed by the individuals, such as knowledge. Once separated in this manner, some prisoners are sent to work camps and some sent to death camps, such as Elie and his father sent to Auschwitz. Other instances along the journey involved the shaving of heads, stripping of clothes, and group showers. All of these create uniformity in the Nazi vision. Nazis went so far as to give a number to each prisoner. Elie Wiesel was given the number A-7713.

Moving to Conspiracy, we break away from the brutality the journey Wiesel went through and how his individualism was taken from him, and we move to how even German officials were also not seen as individuals. At the beginning of the docu-dramaticised Wannsee Conference, the members of the conference were asked by Reinhard Heydrich to introduce themselves to the other groups represented in the conference. Contrary to how we introduce ourselves, the majority of the members mumbled over their own name, put major emphasis on the division of Nazi Germany they belonged to, and pledged eternal allegiance to the fuehrer. It seemed as though even the highest ranking officials, besides Hitler’s closest officials, were purely seen as pawns moved by Hitler so that he would be able to follow through with the “Final Solution.”

Finally, in Soviet Story, we see how a person’s legacy defines his or her individuality. The difference between the Nazi extermination of the Jews and the Soviet extermination of the Ukrainians, was that the Nazi extermination was intricately planned and documented. All prisoners of the Nazis were tagged documented number and registered. When files turn up, we are at least able to somewhat gain a bit of knowledge of what concentration camp a relative belonged to or where the relative was picked up from on the train cars. In Soviet Story, the memory of millions of Ukrainians was erased clean. It is by the legacy our ancestors leave behind that defines them as an individual. The Ukraine lost 7,000,000 legacies in one year.

Individualism is defined in three different ways by these three films; appearance, personal agendas, and legacy.

Kerr- Week 1: Denial, Existentialism, and Purposeful Ignorance

Denial, existentialism and ignorance are three underlying themes, central to the ideology of the Holocaust. A large part of what allowed such terrific events to occur in a "modern" society is the willingness of people to deny, ignore, and overlook the truth. Elie Wiesel's horrific account of his journey through Aushwitz centered on these acts of denial. Wiesel repeatedly emphasized the widespread denial of the atrocities that were occuring throughout Europe. Wiesel recounts how in the beginning, Jews in the ghettos remained hopeful that the war would soon end and they would be able to return to their lives. People remained purposefully unaware of the horrors that were occuring in concentration camps, the mass killings and shootings, preferring to remain ignorant or "turning a blind eye." Moshe the beadle was unable to convince the world of the atrocities he had witnessed, and was branded a lunatic for trying. It is easy to look back now and question "why?" Why did no one recognize the signs? Oftentimes it is much easier to deny the truth than to face it head-on. Wiesel repeatedly emphasizes the fact that because the events of the holocaust were so horrific, many things that were happening were simply unbelievable. He describes the moment he approached the flames at Aushwitz-Birkenau and witnessed a lorry full of babies, little children, thrown directly into the furnace. He then questions the reader "is it surprising that I could not sleep after that? Sleep had fled from my eyes..." (Wiesel 30). Elie Wiesel came to accept that Aushwitz was sure death for children. I am unable to even grasp the idea of such a thing occuring; I cannot imagine accepting it as my reality. It is unblievable to think that babies and children would be burned in the 20th century. It is unbelievable to think that 30,000 Jews would be lined up and shot. It is just as unbelievable to think that Stalin could succesfully starve an entire country killing 7 million people while the entire world looked on. We need constant reminding that if we are not careful hatred can spread like poison throughout an entire continent and seemingly unbelievable atrocities can occur when the world chooses to remain ignorant.

Another important theme throughout Night is existentialism. In the beginning, Elie and his father are deeply religious, like many familes in their Transylvanian community. Towards the end of Elie's journey, God becomes an empty concept, devoid of meaning. Wiesel describes the hanging of a kind pipel (the pipel were usually cruel and unsympathetic). A man behind Elie asks the important question "Where is God now?" to which Elie answers silently, "He is hanging here on this gallows..." (62). Another turning point for Elie in his descent into existentialism is seeing the kind and noble rabbi searching desperately for his only son who had abandoned him as the old man lagged behind, favoring of his own survival. Wiesel also describes witnessing an old man being murdered for a piece of bread crying out "Meir, my boy! Don't you recognize me? I'm your father...you're killing your father!" (96) Having witnessed the unspeakable, it is no wonder that Elie loses his religion. He is simply forced into believing only in survival; anything else is just too painful.

Soviet Story compared the views, policies, and actions of Stalin and Hitler showing the ways in which the two cooperated and furthered the interests of the other. Hitler is generally labeled the villain of the Holocaust, but this movie raises the question of responsibility outside of the Nazi party. How much responsiblity should be placed on those who had the power to help and did nothing? And what about those who stood to gain from the Hitler's crimes and so cooperated in every way possible? Unfortunately, Stalin's crimes, although definitely not forgotten, are not as heavily spoken of. He starved 7 million people in the course of one year, two winters; the most effective mass murder in history. There are people that view the Holocaust as an isolated incident. I think the most important thing to take away from this film is that it is not. The movie Conspiracy illustrated the complex thought process behind Hitler's "final solution." By complex thought process I mean the concentrated effort to deny the truth of the actual events taking place. The men behind the scenes did not have to witness the actual killing of Jews and so were able to shield their sensibilities by using words like "evacuate" in place of "exterminate." One of the most striking moments in this film was when a man in charge of shooting 30,000 Jews attempts to clarify the meaning of "evacuate;" he says he believes it is "important to know what words really mean." Indeed it is.

Tregre: Week 1 Blog, The Psychology Behind Genocide

Night, The Conspiracy, Soviet Story, and the nobel prize speeches all shared a common thread at the core. The pure shock and devastation of how such inhumane treatment and mass genocides were able to be conducted without interference. The horror and terror resonates in each material. There are many aspects I would like to address. Due to me being a psychology major, I felt like the entire assignment content this week was purely psychological along with the physical aspect of death.

The truth is, the Holocaust did happen. Along with this, other mass genocides also happened. Many wonder and study to this day how such an atrocity was able to occur. One can only speculate as to why nothing was done. It took awhile for genocides to be talked about. No one wanted to own up to it, admit that it was allowed to happen, and some just did not want to accept that it happened. People do not want to speak about bad things. It makes them uncomfortable and even embarrassed. I know that I am over 50% german and it is still hard knowing that my heritage was responsible for mass killings. Everyone is born with a conscience, so it makes it harder to own up to something so terrible. Which may lead to how Neo-Nazis came to be and how some people even go as far as denying the holocaust.

In Night, Wiesel wrote about his pain and detachment with these horrors. At times, he was the one helping others to keep going when they just gave up. The worst people in the concentration camps he said, were the ones sitting and staring into space. They were already dead and did not know it. This was a learned helplessness. They gave up and succumbed to what was happening. Their fight was gone. I, personally, would not know what to do in this type of situation. For example, the Jews in the camps knew that if they showed signs of weakness or caving, they would be executed. However, some still just gave up and accepted the fact that they would be killed regardless. It is a way of coping.

The others who did have the will and were lucky enough to survive were faced with even more after they were liberated. People did not want to talk to the survivors or about what happened. This goes back to blaming the victim. When terrible things happen, it is easier to maintain faith in a just world by believing that it was the victim's fault that this terrible thing happened. People are not able to deal with traumatic events and can't, so this is a way of coping too. It does not benefit the survivor, instead it isolates them.

Wiesel stated that this is by far the most damaging situation. When it is not talked about and nothing is done when devastating events occur. He quoted, "And then I explained to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe."
In this case it is the diffusion of responsibility. I am not sure if it is a familiar term, but it can be best explained that the more people who are present, the less likely one will take charge and assume responsibility. For example, if someone breaks their leg at a mall as opposed to a parking lot with one person in it, the person who broke their leg in the parking lot will most likely have the ambulance called the fastest. People diffuse the responsibility onto another. That is what made Wiesel so appalled. No one stepped in to stop this atrocity. They threw the responsibility onto others believing that someone else would help.

Many believe that the Nazi soldiers and civilians were all horrible people too. I am in no way saying that what happened was acceptable, it was 100% wrong, however, they all just followed authorities commands. Studies were done and it had nothing to do with thinking that what they were doing was right. Their leaders told them what to do so they followed suit. Even the leaders had to agree because if they did not follow orders they would be sent to a concentration camp as well, which was evident in The Conspiracy.

What was most powerful to me was Wiesel's discussion on indifference in his speech. He said that the most damaging was when people were indifferent. It was not fueled with hate, anger, or love. It was fueled by not caring. This was the worse. He said that, ""The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference." This is very true. The lack of empathy through all of this was astonishing. He said that "we must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." It is absurd how in the movie, The Conspiracy, they figured the easiest ways to stop the Jews would not be to sterilize them, but to just go ahead and kill them like they were nothing more than mosquitos.

Through these movies and readings, the horrible genocide did happen, along with other genocides that are rarely talked about. Whether it was starvation, execution, or another method, these people experienced night. However, the people of now and the future have a choice, to stand there indifferent, or to stand up and do what is right. That way, nothing like that terror can ever happen on this Earth again.


The famed picture of the survivor, Elie.

Tran: The Final Solution

The Wannsee Conference.


Genocide is never accidental, but a premeditated and concise plan that is carried out efficiently. In the film Conspiracy, the Third Reich officials are laying down the ground works for the ‘Final Solution’ that was already underway. It is evident in this film that the Nazis didn’t care about Jewish people individually, but they just wanted to get rid of them collectively. It didn’t matter whether Jews were from the Soviet Union or Germany; they were all the same though there was discussion in this film about the differences between them. The Final Solution was already in motion and these men were only there to give their support. It is interesting how the two Polish officials wanted to expedite the extermination of their Jews because the ghettos were becoming a problem in their country. The Jews had to be exterminated as a whole in all of Europe and with the new gassing method—at an aggressive rate.

Night is account of one of the millions of stories of the suffering and traumatic experiences of victims during the war and the Holocaust. One of the most surprising revelation in Weisel’s novel is how late in the war was when his community was deported. The Wannsee Conference happened in 1942 and that plan was carried out immediately, but it wasn’t until the spring of 1944 when deportation actually reached Wiesel home of Sighet. Deportation in Hungary was happening much earlier and I suppose they were clearing out the Jews there first which took longer. It’s strange to think around the same time; France was being liberated, while this was only then coming to Romania. No one in this community could have imaged what was going on or what would happen to them, but there were warnings from Moshe. No one listened to him or the woman who screamed ‘fire!’ while on the train. As Weisel recounts his life from that time, he could have never imagined losing half his family or where they would end up. It’s sadden and astounding to read his words as he becomes more and more numb throughout the novel because he no longer has hopes or fears of anything. He mentions how he became ashamed of himself when he contemplates his father dying sooner so his survival rate would be better. He says though that there were so many others who had family with them, but in the end you could only think of yourself and your survival. He fought to keep his father alive for as long as he could, but it wasn’t enough and he barely survived the last few months himself. He writes how those months before April 1945 were all a blur to him because it didn’t even matter anymore and he lost himself in all the madness.

Regardless of the The Soviet Story’s accuracy in depicting the correlation between Stalin’s regime and Hitler’s, it does shed light on the Ukraine massacre that most don’t even know about. The clips and photos from that Ukraine are so similar to the ones that came out the concentration camps. In the article on the Ukrainian Genocide it even states, “Stalin turned Ukraine into one large concentration camp.” It’s hard to even comprehend seven million people dying in a span of a year, though about 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda in a span of 100 days. In a way, Stalin’s regime was just as brutal as Hitler if not more so. He set up concentration camp for his own people and deported people to labor camps in remote areas and relocated many to Siberia. The film’s interview with people who were affected by this shows how there has been no justice for the victims and there might never be because present day Russian won’t speak of the Soviet past in that negative way. The war ended in 1945, but Stalin’s Soviet regime continued to nearly the end of the 20th century and even more died post WWII era.

Trujillo - Dehumanization

Bunks in Auschwitz

There is a rational explanation... isn't there? The Final Solution was, well, a solution to something was it not? There definitely has to be a reason for the murder of so many people.

Or maybe, on a cold January day in 1942, The Final Solution was the answer to a madman's rantings. Total elimination. Total Annihilation. No true reason at all.

Elie Wiesel's account on what happened to him and his family during this time is incredibly moving. You can see clearly how the dehumanization process began, stripping a promising and intelligent young man of his home, his friends, his family and finally, his God.

I was surprised at Wiesel's calm voice in the beginning of the book. Questions such as 'Isn't he worried?' 'Aren't they coming for him?' and 'Why aren't they moving!?' flitted through my mind as I turned the pages. When Moishe, a bard-like character, and Wiesel's mentor, comes back to his hometown to warn his people about all he had witnessed and all he had had to endure, they scoffed at him, believing he was crazy.

Now, many years later and many history classes later, now that we know what happened in those years, we're screaming at Wiesel, thinking him and the other villagers fools, begging them to heed Moishe's advice, to listen to all that has happened to him, to believe the survivor! But, alas, aren't we all blind to bad news? Preferring not to believe it, preferring even, to remain in our versions of perfection.

Children subjected to medical experiments in Auschwitz.[from The Pictorial History of the Holocaust, ed. Yitzhak Arad. New York: Macmillan, 1990]

These were my thoughts as the story progressed, as Wiesel and his people were removed from their homes and placed in ghettos (dehumanization begins). But, life in the ghettos wasn't that bad was it? I mean, they were a midst their own with no gestapo or other foreigners around. They still handled their affairs within their communities, appointing different jobs to different people. But I was screaming at them, telling them to leave, to run, to save themselves and everything that had grown dear to them. 'You don't know! You don't know and you don't see!' and sadness grew inside of me.

And now, fear. People say that fear is the unknown, or an extreme negative sensation that comes from pain or the feeling of a threat. And we all know that that's where we're headed.

Day by day the Wiesel family saw more and more of their friends and family leave them, going towards the unknown, praying. Finally, it was their turn and they were ushered, as they had seen many people before them, into cattle compartments. Here, after days of suffering, they were greeted with the lie 'Work will set you free' and the smell of burning flesh in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Then comes the separation of family, the death of the mother and sisters, the small acts of kindness that restore at least a bit of faith in humanity and then the cruel reality which rips it away again in an instant. I can't stress it enough. Dehumanization.

That was what was looked for and needed in order to make the killing of so many human beings possible. The less someone resembles a human, the less someone is treated like a human... well, the easier it is to see them as animals.

And I can bet that is what many of the people who sat down together on January 1942 to eat, drink and plan out one of the most horrible moments in this planet's history thought.

Baudot- Conspiracy, Soviet Story, and the Nobel Peace Prize

Hitler and Stalin are pictured above. 

Genocide was a term that, prior to this week’s assignments, I would have first associated with the destruction, loss of life, and devastation that comes along with the oppression and extermination of a group. To denote the term genocide to an “individual,” and rightly so, is to force oneself to acknowledge the loss that just one person experiences. Thinking of even just one, victimized Ukrainian that was shown in the documentary, Soviet Story, one realizes the devastation that death brought to a family and their friends multiplied times the millions of other people that were affected in the same manner. The devastation is endless.

Elie Wiesel’s journey that he shares through his testimonial account of what it was like to go through holocaust brings an awareness of the damaging effects that this time of devastation has on the victims. He is captured at a young age, yet by the end of the testimony, we see that his whole life seems to have been destroyed by what he has just experienced. The text states, “I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me (Wiesel 115).” Here, the reader is shown that Wiesel sees himself as dead on the inside, yet the image of his eyes gazing at him seems to offer the hope that Wiesel’s life later becomes to be—a living testimony to what he has gone through in order to make sure the abusers and the continuations of these crimes against humanity cease to be acceptable and so widespread. When reading Wiesel’s acceptance speech, he discusses the importance of the world not remaining silent and opposing neutrality at times such as that.

Towards the end of his journey, the Nazis decide to evacuate his camp due to the advancement of the Russians. He makes a fifty-mile journey to another concentration camp with his father, and the language Elie expresses here makes it clear that he is beginning to lose hope for his situation. Early on in the film Conspiracy, the generals not only discuss the preliminary thought process to exterminating the Jews, but they also address the “problem” of Jews in occupied territories. The Wannsee Conference is conducted like any other form of normal business, accept the topic at hand is grueling. All of the generals show their approval by banging the table when the notion of having the Jews build their own death traps and gas chambers is brought up. How the Jews labor shouldn't not be used at its finest. Overall, they feel there is a great demand to get the Jews out because they are imposing of what is meant to be a great expansion and take over of Europe, and the Jews do not fall into their Marxist idea that Jews do not fall into an acceptable, salvageable category. The major states, "We do not need to surrender our prerogative to answer any Jewish questions, needs, or concerns." This brings back the idea of the “individual” in Elie Wiesel’s novel. Not only has he survived and endured the death of all of his family, but, essentially, he has “made the cut.” What must it be like to look at yourself after enduring such experiences and realize that you were, at some point, classified as completely undesirable to a nation? To realize you were deemed undesirable via Marxist ideology? 

In the documentary the Soviet Story, there is debate between the ideals of the Nazis and the Soviet Union. The Soviets claimed they were not like the Nazis, but clearly this was not the case. The term “war of classes” is brought up, which is the idea that peace could only be achieved if you killed off certain groups of people. Stalin, for example, killed off the Ukrainians in inhumane ways because there was a difference of class in his eyes. In 1933, 7,000,000 Ukrainians were starved, which is one of the biggest mass exterminations to ever take place in such a short amount of time. At this point in the documentary, several images are shown that closely represent, on a smaller but similar scale, the images in Night, when 12 of 100 Jews show up alive after the cargo ride to Buchenwald.

Images at Buchenwald 

I found Soviet Story to be the most powerful documentary. They discuss how the Germans and Soviets advertised themselves as attacking fascist, Polish individuals, yet how powerful that dynamic was because the world did not realize these two men had schemed to attack all of Europe. We see Norway, Finland, France, and other countries fight to resist the force and brutality that these powers brought to their country, and how several other countries must get involved starting World War II. This lead to the term coined as “industrial killing,” as mentioned in the film. The documentary by exposing the brutality and remnants of the Holocaust that still exist in Moscow as they mock the deaths of the targeted Ukrainians, Jews, etc. and accept this behavior as a form of “cleansing” society. This notion seems to be the key piece that unites Night, Conspiracy, and Soviet Story—the idea that multiple government powers should collaborate to work towards the ultimate, Marxist cleansing of Europe despite the millions of lives that would be lost. Each does their greatest to show how “death is the most reliable form of sterilization and extermination (quoted in Conspiracy)” and how the world could possibly let this mass execution get so carried away.


"What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs." -Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech 

Genocide its events

Hitler somehow, someway was able to control other people’s minds, thoughts and beliefs. This was one man, who had so much power over others and was able to convince them to carry out such horrific crimes. Label people just due to their looks and/or faith. I wonder every time I read something or watch something on the Holocaust, how did others not try and stop this man? Not everyone was on the same band wagon as he or could they have been? In Night, we learn and receive a much clearer and vivid picture of the Holocaust through a survivor. It is clear that the many concentration camps that Elie was moved to each shared and made an impressionable milestone in his journey. We see the SS come into his town and turn his home into a prison camp then he moves onto Birkenau, where for the first time in the horrific journey he and he family are separated. This would be the final time he is able to see his mother and sister alive. During his journey he and his father experience some monumental times together, they are forced to act a support for one another. Deep down inside Elie does not like his father too much. This is how the prisoners were able to survive forced to relive on people, who they may not otherwise had relationships. Survival was much hire in numbers, rather than trying to face this sentence alone. Many could not relive on God at this time. They were mostly all mad a God, why would he has put us through this and allow this it happen, many asked themselves. The genocide in Night was an action that took and father and teenage son and forced a positive relationship upon them. Their differences set asides, they come to realize what is truly important. This was the case, until his father began giving up. Elie could not and began once again resenting his father for not having the will and strength to make it. When these people were in such high stress environments, they looked and relied on each other for strength. As I mentioned prior survival is easier in high numbers. These prisoners never knew what was coming next, the only thing that had was the will to outlive this sentence. Not let the SS get the best of them. At the end when Elie is a survivor, it is not a nice as he imagined it would be. As mentioned in the lecture when you are a survivor of a bad event, you are seen as a reminder of what once was and happened. All the prisoners were seen by others as the horrific events that took place. This does not make for a very nice life for you to live out in the world around. In Soviet we are shown how a mass murder was carried out, but never actually account for till later. For years many believed that the deaths within the concentration camps were among the largest. Stalin who carried out the starvation plan just took a different approach to mass killing. To see again how this one man Stalin was able to get some many to work for him and towards this mass genocide is remarkable. Conspiracy was just as the title says. Men sitting around a table deciding the faith of many innocent individuals, in the largest quantity they could. “The Final Solution” in my opinion was by far the most depressing part of the Holocaust. The SS just decided that the more then can kill the better. I just do not understand how so many around knew or had an idea that they was something not right happening in Germany and did nothing to prevent or stop it. This event that took place in this film was the totally imagine of the Holocaust, mass murder of the Jews no matter what it took. The end result needed to be elimination.

Gommel: Response to Rogers post

I agree with Rogers that the historical accounts of the political action was apropos for this subject matter. More often we hear accounts of the atrocities of individuals victimized in the Jewish Holocaust. Rarely if ever have I heard of the accounts of individuals that were direct perpetrators of those vile acts. In Conspiracy we were given a glimpse of how people can be coerced into agreeing to a morally wrong act. This act at the Wansee Conference that brought forth the “Final Solution” for the Jewish people and other undesirables (according to the German hierarchy) may not have been revealed except for the fact that one of the members at that conference, Martin Luther, did not destroy his manuscript. Orders were given to for it to be burnt, but after the war his document was found and thus the remake of that meeting in Conspiracy. This can open our eyes for some of the men were not in agreement, they were not totally barbaric; yet they fell for the rhetoric and fear tactics and made a decision partly out of self preservation that brought the end for millions.

The Soviet Story spoke of much ideology, as Rogers referenced may not be totally accurate. I need to revisit that film with my limited knowledge of that circle of events in the Ukraine. Yet we see so many individuals involved in so many different capacities with so many different arguments and perspectives and propaganda. Is that why such horrendous acts are allowed to happen, because outsiders are so confused by it all? Who is right and who is wrong and where is the truth? So, we just don’t know when or even how to act.

Rogers- Night, Conspiracy, Soviet Story

I appreciate that the subject matter for the first week was so balanced. In the films, Conspiracy & Soviet Story, we see more historical accounts of the political actions being taken by both Germany & Russia at the outset of World War II.

Elie Wiesel (7th from left, 2nd bunk from bottom) at Buchenwald, in a very famous photograph from the camp

In Elie Wiesel's Night, we are able to gain a much more personal account of the Holocaust, likely the most personal and moving account I've read. I think having the background provided by the films was helpful toward getting my mind in the right political frame with which to dissect Wiesel's book.

The Wannsee Conference, as displayed in Conspiracy, was a despicable meeting of a cabinet of Hitler's that decided what became the "Final Solution" to the "Jewish Question." This Conference was the direct cause of the entire ordeal Wiesel went through. It was the blueprint to the Holocaust.

I actually have some major beef with Soviet Story, honestly. It was produced by a Latvian filmmaker, which was one of the smaller satellite nations abused by the Soviets during Stalin's reign. They certainly felt the pains of Stalin's forced-famines and systematic killings. While I don't doubt a Latvian person could be unbiased, I find the connections he makes between German fascism and Russian communism to be extremely weak, and forced. While his research pointing to some German leaders having respect for Marx's words is compelling, it is hardly enough basis to draw the parallels the filmmaker does. The filmmaker equates German fascism as being Russian communism with the enemies being "the other", non-Aryan people, instead of "the proletariat." That is weak logic, and Marxist thought was bastardized by Stalin. The "spectre that is haunting Europe" is true Communism, not Stalins' version of violence & cruelty on opponents, & to use a statue of Marx & Engels as a scary omen at the end of the film is just not scholarly.

In Night, Wiesel recounts, nearly day by day, life in Romania, then Poland, then Germany. He experiences life in the Jewish ghettos, and then when the Final Solution is enacted, he is transported with his family to Auschwitz, in Poland. His mother & baby sister are both gassed before he even is assigned a spot in the camp. He remembers being torn from them, & it is they last time he sees them. He and his father work together, trying to survive. Eventually he is left with more strength than his father, and begins to resent him. The fact that Wiesel could resent his own father in a time when they were both facing death every minute sickened him. He lost all faith in God, disbelieving any loving being could possibly allow such despair to come on his people. I don't imagine this type of sentiment was rare in the concentration camps. For an individual to cling to God I think would be far more indicative of madness. No being could claim omniscience or omnipotence, yet allow a murderous reign like that of the Nazis to occur. That is the attitude we see in Wiesel, especially when he sees the young child hanged and says, "This is God, right here, hanging." It is amazing to think back on the Wannsee Conference, from Conspiracy, and ponder Wiesel's life as a result of the laws that arose from it. These men sat coldly at a conference table, & decided that the world needed a Germany that was free of Jews and other undesirables, and Wiesel's account is as fitting an example as any of just how far Germany was willing to get it.

Gommel: Week 1 Blog

Wiesel at liberation 3rd from left in front of guy with beret

Genocide and its Affects on the Individual

The atrocities of the political policy of genocide in Germany under Hitler’s regime were horrific. Its affects on the life of Elie Wiesel led him to tell the story of “Night” as a voice for all the individuals of genocide whose voices were silenced. The warm memory of his youth unfolded into his holocaust journey into the unending night of terror.

However, Elie Wiesel’s dramatic account of his horrific experiences of the holocaust of the Jews is in direct opposition to the initial pristine, elegant, civil, yet cold environment at the Wansee Conference that gave birth to the elimination of the Jews by way of the gas chambers. This “Final Solution” culminated from a collective unanimous agreement among educated elite individuals. Despite their ambiguity the members present complied with the wishes of Germany's Heidrich and agreed with his authority to exterminate the Jews in order to bring about as the Soviet Story revealed the Marxist new man and a better pure nation. Here began what the world considered the greatest inhumanity to humanity. However the Soviet Ukraine had already mass murdered millions a decade before Hitler. Wiesel pondered how is it that the educated can kill children and the elderly, and take away a people's faith, tradition and memory? This is a question that may not have an answer, but many clues are given through the movie Conspiracy.

One of the greatest contributions to genocide at the Wansee Conference was the compliance of individuals with the group. Though members had concerns they tried to address, they were hushed and no one else came to back them up; so they just shut up. Heidrich, the leader, was reassuring as he swiftly glossed over thier concerns and kept the meeting fast paced to throw his audience off their current thought process with some newer more bizarre revelation. Of course with these political leaders, they also knew that if they didn’t go along with the group their own lives may be in jeopardy. So, though they initially thought their input was necessary, they soon realized they must comply and follow the authority of Heidrich. No matter the cost, even the loss of their own humanity.

Wiesel also found compliance to be the problem on the part of the Jews. They accepted their fate by complying with everything that the Germans told them to do. The Jews were even positive when sent to the ghettos with the belief that now we are all together and can form our own counsel away from the Germans. The same sentiment existed when transported, until it was too late with seperation at the camps.

A lesson for individuals is that neutrality only helps the oppressor. People must take a stance to avoid genocide. Wiesel as all victims of genocide felt like they were forgotten. How long can this last before someone will speak up and help us? He also felt forgotten by God. How can a loving God allow such evil? God allows people free will, so those not being victimized need to stand strong and come to the aid of victims. It was most defeating for Wiesel when he realized the world stood by and did nothing. Action must be taken. People must search for the truth and be ready to defend righteousness. In Conspiracy, leaders were stifled when they spoke out, even mocked for their belief such as when Kritzinger did not want to see the Jews killed. He inherently knew this was wrong, yet he let Heidrich convince him that he was being inhumane to let them suffer; and conceded to Heidrich’s wishes. The Soviet Story also spoke of gassing as being humane; deadly, but not cruel. Just because others are educated leaders, one should not justify mass murder or comply with injustice.

Statistics can get others to comply with irrational behavior because it takes away from the individuality of the person. To label people as a group and apply a standard to that group takes away from their humanity. This is why Wiesel wants to tell the story of the individual. Do not fall for tactics that devalue individuals.

Productivity in business can also detract from the value of the individual, which led leaders to endorse criminal behavior. In Conspiracy, Jewish individuals were seen as commodities that had to be moved. In the name of productivity, thousands were to be executed in a day to move the products. Of course, at the end of the war, the Soviets refilled the camps with their products (people); so sometimes evil abounds just because it can.

Wiesel saw that indifference to the suffering of others is what makes the human being inhuman. It allowed the Soviets to torture with no repercussions. After all they weren’t Nazis. It kept the world from helping. It kept the Germans lashing out their cruelty.

When Wiesel’s father was killed, nothing mattered to Elie anymore. He could not even weep. Now came freedom from caring. He thought of nothing but food. The American troops liberated him. When Elie was able to look in a mirror for the first time since the ghetto, what he saw was, “a corpse contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me” Elie Wiesel’s journey thereafter was to find an answer for that boy as to why such horrendous cruelty could be allowed to happen. so that the youth of the future will not have to experience his past.

Rogers- Introduction

I'm Jonathan Rogers, a senior graduating in spring with a degree in political science. I take most of my electives in English & history & should have minors in both of those when it's said & done. I've taken 2 other classes with Ms. McCay, both of a similar format, so I'm excited for this class. I've taken a bunch of classes that talk about genocide and human rights issues, it's something that really interests me as a political scientist. Studying films is always a fun way to learn, & I want to be involved in showbusiness as a writer/performer as well, so excellent practice. I'm originally from Indiana but have loved my time in Nola, hoping to get out to LA next year. I like to play basketball, read, watch tv & movies, cook, & just do dumb stuff with my friends, like any person does. I also do standup comedy in addition to my screenwriting, here is a link, which is lame & self-promotional, but I like my jokes & it's a big part of who I am.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jrogers504?feature=mhee

Looking forward to working with you all, & most thrilled that this is a shorter class, opening up my class schedule for late in the semester.

Follow me on Twitter, that's a good venue for communication & I just like it. @jrogersallday

Jonathan

Bonnin- Introduction

Hi guys! My name is Frances Bonnin, I am a junior Psychology major with a minor in criminal justice. I am from Puerto Rico and that is were I spent the majority of my summer. I am a member of the Loyola tennis team and have been healing from ankle surgery all summer. Ever since high school I have been very interested in the Holocaust and all the genocides that humanity has encountered. It is extremely interesting to me how people are capable of putting strangers into extreme agony and torture. When we think about it we all think ourselves to be incapable of doing anyone wrong on purpose, but history has shown us that humans can be extremely mean and vicious against their own.

Ellie Rogers

Hey Ya'll. My name is Ellie Rogers, I grew up here in New Orleans and I am in my fourth year/6th semester at Loyola. I am a devoted lit. major but have formerly been both a history and theater major. I spent this summer in the city working as a legal secretary's secretary. My past-times include reading the classics and writing for a Jewish-themed blog.
I will hopefully be leaving Loyola next semester to study abroad at Maynooth University in County Kildare, Ireland. Last Summer I participated in the study abroad program in Dublin that was organized by Dr. McCay. I really love film and always enjoy classes that pair digital media with literature. Apart from that, I also took the class because of my interest in the subject matter. Growing up Jewish, Holocaust literature was extremely available and abundant in our house, but I never explored the other people persecuted by the Nazis or other genocides. I've also visited both the Holocaust museum in New York and Israel and they have both had a profound effect on me.

Gommel introduction

Hi everyone, I am Donna Gommel, a non-traditional student and mother of four. Currently, I am a senior (in more ways than one) and a Humanities major. For the most part I have been an at-home mom and loved it. I'm at the start of a new journey, as my youngest has just headed off to college. I've been enjoying my education later in life; but am not too sure where this degree will lead me. My hope is that it will be to a vocation as rewarding as motherhood.

I'm taking this course to deepen my knowledge about our world and the atrocities that so many have endured. I want to understand how world leaders could stand by not realizing the evil that abounds. I want to know about the courage of those that spoke up and what it is that one simple person can do to make a positive difference. I hope to be inspired by those who have persevered and stood up for truth, as I already have through the writing and speeches of Elie Wiesel.

Ramon- Introduction

Hey everyone, my name is Jeffrey Ramon. I am a senior Religious Studies major at Loyola. At Loyola I am involved in two major activities. I am the head basketball manager for our men's basketball team, and I am the Executive Chair of the Ignacio Volunteers. The Ignacio Volunteers is am immersion program organization facilitated by the Jesuit Center. We run immersion programs to Belize and Jamaica during the summer and winter of the school year. Interested? Talk to me :) Not interested? Talk to me so I can tell you more about these amazing programs. Outside of Loyola, I am a Sr. 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo.

Why am I enrolled in this course? First, I declared my English minor rather late in my college career, so it's crunch time as far as course credits are concerned. However, my interest in World War II and the Holocaust has been quite high since reading Lois Lowry's "Number the Stars" in middle school.

That's everything about me. I look forward to the course!

Tran: Introduction

Hi everyone. My name is Tien Tran and I am an English Lit major with a minor in Sociology. I've been studying abroad in Europe last semester and have only returned home three weeks ago. I will be a Senior this Fall and I am excited to finish school soon! Besides Literature, I am really enjoy art and traveling, which I got to see and do a lot of while I was in Europe. I had the best time over there, but ready to finish school and start my life in the real world and hopefully in another country. I wanted to take this class because when I was younger, every year I would do my Social Studies project on a genocide and I feel that it is important to know and learn from them. I read a lot of Holocaust literature during my teen years and haven't done so in awhile so it makes me a bit nervous to start again because it's such a heavy subject. I've always been interested in this though so I think it will enlightening to actually take a whole class on it and learn even more besides just the Holocaust.

Tregre, Introduction

Hey Guys! My name is Sara Kay Tregre and I am a Psychology senior, and also minoring in English Literature and Women's Studies. I will go on to Grad School when I graduate in May, hopefully at my first pick school. I do not know many of you in this class so I will tell you, if you go to say hello to me on campus, it is not that I do not know you, but I do have an identical twin, so it is probably her! Now, with that cleared up, more about me I guess.I love to read and it is one of my favorite hobbies. I was also born and raised in NOLA so I am a completely die hard SAINTS fan! WHO DAT (hence the picture)! I am outgoing and love to workout. This class appealed to me because blogging can be a lot of fun and one of my favorite genres to read about is the Holocaust. Some of the movies and books on the syllabus I have not read or watched yet, so it will be interesting and I am like a sponge, I love soaking up new things. I cannot wait to get started and look forward to meeting some of you guys!

Trujillo Introduction

Hello! My name is Mar Trujillo. I was born in Caracas, Venezuela to a very large Cuban family and was raised in Miami Florida. I spent the summer teaching at a 7 week summer camp and was blessed enough to be able to go on a mission trip to Cuba (my very first time in 'La Patria' or The Homeland). I am a Music and English Writing double major with a minor in Psychology (hopefully). This fall will start my Junior year at Loyola and I'm extremely excited to start it off with this Holocaust class. I've always been disgusted, intrigued and fascinated with holocausts. With the potential that human beings have to destroy. With the need and the want to be above others. I guess, more than anything, with the psychology of it. That's what I'm most interested in studying, the 'why?', and what I'm most frustrated about is how we will never know the answer.

Blanchard Introduction

My name is Tori Blanchard. I live in Plaquemine, a small town south of Baton Rouge. I graduated from Our Lady of the Lake College in 2001 and have worked in several areas of nursing since. I am currently the charge nurse in the preoperative unit of a very busy out patient surgical hospital. We care for any where from 30 to 70 patients a day. Being that I am not from an english or history background, I think it is going to be interesting interacting with my fellow classmates. This is my fifth semester at a Loyola in pursuit of my BSN. I hope to complete the coarse requirements this spring and continue on to pursue a masters degree in nursing. I love community nursing and plan to practice as a family nurse practitioner in a community clinic. Along with a full time job and full time student status, I am also getting married in November. So, needless to say, I am going to be a very busy lady this semester. I look forward to learning and blogging with all of you. Good luck and hope you all have a great semester.

Harper Introduction

Hey, my name's Alicia Harper, I'm a Junior at Loyola. I'm majoring in English with a Concentration in Writing and minoring in Film Studies and African American Studies. I'm 20 years old and a native to New Orleans; graduating from Xavier Prep. I enrolled in this course because of my film minor. When I first read the title of the course, it sounded like an interesting class to take. I'm also taking this course because I love studying film and writing; this class is a combination of both, so I knew I would not be disapointed. Also, I've taken a course with Ms. McCay before and I really learned from it.

Baudot- Introduction to Class

Lauren Baudot 

This is my first, introductory post for the course. My name is Lauren Baudot, and I am going to be a senior at Loyola as of this coming fall semester. I am a Philosophy Pre-Law and English Literature double major, and, after graduation, I hope to attend law school in Louisiana to eventually become an immigration or patent attorney. I am a member of Sigma Tau Delta, and literature is one of my passions. I am 20 years old, a native of New Orleans, and this is my second online, English class through Loyola. This past June, I did the Loyola study abroad program in Italy. I have a great interest in studying, working hard, making time for family and friends, and staying up-to-date on politics and current news. In addition to these interests, studying history is not something that I normally gravitate towards, but the history behind the Holocaust intrigues me. (This is despite the fact that my knowledge of the period and series of events is not, by any means, the best.) Through taking the course, I hope to gain a greater knowledge of this history and major world event and to gain a greater appreciation for the magnitude and affect it had on the world and its people. I'm sure we all know the role of Adolf Hitler, the Nazis, the Allied Powers, and the Jewish victims, but, more critically, I have never spent time studying how the persecution and slaughter of the Jewish is portrayed, even in modern films regarding the Holocaust. I hope to have a greater understanding of the suffering and devastation that was brought about by this mass persecution, and hopefully this will be seen in the films we see and the texts we read. I am looking forward to this 8 week course and the interaction and discussions on this blog!

Raymond - Intro

Hello,
My name is Michelle Raymond and I a full time worker as well as a mother of two girls. They are a hand full and make school really changeling to complete. I will be graduating spring 2012 in Social Science. I really have enjoyed my time at Loyola and very anxious to finally finish my degree. This summer I took HISTORY OF THE HOLOCAUST and really enjoyed learning of the Holocaust. This part of history has always been amazing and interesting to me. I'm a very visual learner and really I’m looking forward to watching more films about the Holocaust and expanding further knowledge of it’s events.

McCay Introduction

Hello, my name is Mary McCay, and I am your professor for The Holocaust in Film and Literature. I am the Landrieu Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Director of the Walker Percy Center, as well as a Professor of English. The class will last 8 weeks, and we have a lot to accomplish, but I hope you all will enjoy the course. Please note how I have put my last name first in the blog title and my full name in the blog label. Please do not use any names like hippo32, gorgeous girl, are manly man for your blog name. Use your full name, Samantha Jones to sign up for the blog. Also note that under labels for this post, I have put my full name. Titling and labeling your blog correctly will help me immensely.
Thanks.