Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Indians and the Nazis
On p. 48-49 of Nightfather, the author's father tells a somewhat altered version of the settlement of the Western frontier. It turns out to be yet another example At the very end of the story, the 'Indians' say "You make false promises, you steal our land, you desecrate our graves, you murder our people. You are much sicker than we are." This story is apparently a metaphor for how the father sees the Nazis' conquest of the Jews. While the Nazis shouted that the Jews were degenerates who had to be exterminated lest they somehow destroy Germany, the ironic truth was that the Nazis themselves were the far "sicker" people who were in fact destroying all of Europe. The accusers stood guilty of the crime they accused the Jews of. The whole Holocaust was one big hypocritical mess.
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In many instances, victims have a more logical interpretation of their troubled past in comparison to the perpetrators. Many psychological factors influence the perpetrators preventing them from seeing the horrible reality of their actions and intentions.
ReplyDeleteI liked the title of your post: “The Indians and the Nazis.” Your choice of incorporating “Nazis” instead of saying “settlers” parallels with Friedman’s choices that distinguish the settlers and the Indians. The settlers say that they “have to have more Lebensraum” (48). Friedman incorporates a German word linking the settlers to the aggressive and expansionistic Nazis. She then states that the Indians were sent off to “ghettos where they fell sick with grief” (48). The word “ghetto” brings up images of Nazis rounding up Jews and segregating them in specific Jewish quarters. Though the story of the settlers and Indians is a clear mirror of the Nazis and the Jews during the Holocaust, Friedman inserts key words that add extra dimensions and significance to her father’s story.
Hitler actually admired the American's 'relocation' of the Indian tribes and considered the United States at first to be an Aryan power with similar goals to Nazi Germany. It is ironic that one of the nations fighting Fascism pursued Fascist policies when Native's were in the way of expansion. Richard is right about the Nazi Holocaust being the sicker of the two as they intended to eliminate all Jews for seemingly no gain, whereas the Americans just wanted more land.
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