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.
Excellent discussion of Night. Elie Weisel's loss of faith in a transcendent god is important to your discussion of existentialism. Without god, the individual must insist on his own identity, and that is what the Nazis wished to destroy. Your discussion of the two films. Stalin certainly helped the Nazis for his own purposes. Wishing to create a Soviet Power and insisting on his five year plan to communize the lands in the Ukraine, both led to the genocide there. What is interesting is how clearly the Nazis at Wansee insisted on making genocide legal, as if it ever could be.
ReplyDeleteGudan: Comment on Kerr's Blog on Denial
ReplyDeleteThere are two aspects in your posts that I really liked that I’ve been thinking about recently, the idea of not being able to comprehend the Holocaust as reality and the idea of responsibility. First of all, you talk about how Wiesel saw children being thrown into the fires, and in general how impossible it is for us to understand and what people suffered in the Holocaust. I find this topic especially interesting – the impossibility of it all – because I’ve been asking myself recently how impossible it is, and if so, how are we supposed to deal with it? On one hand, I understand that no one can know the pain and suffering of the Holocaust as those who endured it. The concept is easy enough; if I’ve never broken my arm, I can’t understand what it is to deal with having a cast and all the inconveniences. I don’t mean to belittle the holocaust by comparing to breaking an arm. Perhaps murder would be better? If I’ve never had a family member murdered, I cannot mentally wrap my mind around how I would feel, how I would react. I just cannot know it unless I experience it. It’s not something I can feel just by hearing about other people’s circumstances and their feelings. (I know even murder doesn’t come close to the Holocaust. I guess the point is that nothing can really compare besides other genocides. I was just trying to show how simple the idea was.) However, I can still sympathize. I may not be able to feel the same pain, but it doesn’t excuse me from acknowledging it, or more importantly, trying to imagine myself in that position.
The reason I bring this up is because I was having a conversation with a friend recently, who was complaining about something ridiculous, and I said something about how people had to go through much worse – imagine if you had to survive the Holocaust. Granted, it was a stupid comment to make, but I said it in all seriousness. I could’ve used another example, like the Great Depression, or something else, but I really meant what I said. My friend replied that she wasn’t there so she wouldn’t know, and that it was really bad, but she didn’t have to live through it, so she’d continue to complain about whatever it was. I was just amazed though. I was accused of being disrespectful by trying to imagine what it was like in the Holocaust because I wasn’t there. I can see how I shouldn’t have used it as an example, but I don’t see how trying to imagine what other people went through is disrespectful, or how trying to place your own hardships in comparison with the real horrors that people had to live through is wrong. It reminds me that my own problems are menial, and that I can get over whatever it is. I found it really interesting to think about writing off the Holocaust as something that was so horrible, there’s no point imagining what happened because I can never do so. I think it’s still my responsibility to think of the things that happened, that it is worse to just say that they were just horrible than to try to put yourself in the victim’s place.