Hi guys this this Casey.
While this may be a slight side note to what we have been learning about in class lately, I thought I should make a post given its relationship to what we have been reading about in the Samantha Powers book.
In Chapters 3 and 4 of the book, Powers discusses the history behind the Holocaust and the numerous struggles Lemkin faces in trying to give it international attention. We also learn about the coining of the term "genocide" and its impact on raising awareness about the horrific killings of Jews in Auschwitz.
After reading about the Holocaust in the Powers book I came across an article in the New York Times published on September 18th that highlighted the story of a collection of photographs from and anonymous source that had been donated to The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The photos were of particular significance because they were photos taken prior to 1945, of which there are very few in existence. In the photographs, which had been found 60 years ago in Auschwitz, depicted in a scrapbook style the lives of the Auschwitz senior SS officers as maintained by one of the officers Karl Hocker. Instead of the images depicting the men performing their killings, they depicted the officers singing cheerily, lighting Christmas trees, and both the women and men relaxing on the porches of their houses. Also depicted in many of the photos is Josef Mengele, the camp doctor known for performing cruel medical experiments on the prisoners(these are among the first authenticated pictures of Mengele at Auschwitz). At the exhibit in the museum, the photos are placed next to other photos taken that same day, making the comparison of the comfortable lives of the officers and the horrific events that were occurring inside the camp at the very same time.
Here is the direct link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/arts/design/19photo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
While this article was only about photos, they made me think about how the officers at Auschwitz could live their lives in such a happy manner, knowing that they have killed thousands of individuals each and every day. With this question in mind, I began to think about it in terms of the idea of "us" versus "they". The officers at the camp were able to identify themselves as the "us" while labeling the Jews and other prisoners as the "they"; the officers were able to create such a distinction between themselves and the Jews that the act of killing them had no visible impact on their personal lives, interactions, or morals. They had become so far removed and detached from the emotional aspect of killing another individual that the act itself did not strike them as morally wrong or unjust. Some questions to ponder:
- How did the Auschwitz officers create such a detached relationship between the "us" and the "they" in the camps?
- Were the actions of the officers motivated by true evil and lack of compassion, or was there an aspect of wanting to be accepted and identify with the "us"?
- Do you think that the officers had no emotional reaction to doing the mass killings or did they feel the pressure to mask those feelings for the sake of being part of the group?
- How does this idea of "us" versus "they" and group identity apply to other genocides that have occurred or are occurring today?
4 comments:
hey this is casey...sorry i forgot a title. oops!
I think that "us" vs. "they" is a main raeson for the detachment of any moral dilemma over the killings. But I don't think that can be used to explain it all.. True, there was a lot of pressure on them to be part of the "us" but I still believe that they were acting "evily" to answer your question.
Also, iI think this relates to a lot of the interviews done in hate.com. There the people who were in charge of all these sites didn't show any remorse that someone had been killed because of their site. I think someone ven said something along the lines of they don't care about the loss of an african american life. and i think that that is what allowed that dissociation to occur. It's that nazi germany enabled people to consider jews and less than human. Propaganda was powerful.
Wow that is pretty intense. I find it weird that evidence of the Holocaust is still being found everyday. These pictures are probably not what some people expect to find however. Frankly, I had never even thought about how the perpatrators live their lives while Jews are being killed at the same time. If you watch the video that is on the link, Rebecca Erbelding, an archivist at the US Holocaust Memorial museum, explains that it is hard to believe that "these people were human beings. Men did this to other men.....these photos remind us what human beings are capable of when the succumb to anti-semitism, racism, and hatred." I complete agree with this because I can't imagine meeting someone who could go about killing other people of a different race or religion.
I think that the perpatrators ignored the emotional impact of killing. I doubt they even thought about what they were actually doing. They probably thought about this genocide as "necessary ethnic cleansing" rather then "a mass murder of all Jews". This definitely plays into the "us" vs. "them" course theme. Although it is hard to know, their actions were probably motivated by wanting to be part of a surperior group.
This makes me think of today's guest speaker, Roxanne about the Armenian Genocide...She said that one of the telegrams the leader of the genocide sent to the officers and officials said that they must ignore "conscientious scruples" and commit these crimes for the sake of Turkey. A big part of being able to commit genocide or crimes is rationalization and feeling like it is "for the security of the nation" or "God's bidding". Plus the gradual dehumanization of the victims and the legal process of excluding them from society helps to create a really powerful us vs. them complex.
Post a Comment