Sunday, April 25, 2010
Antisemitism after the war
I found the antisemitism which continued after the war quite appalling and atrocious. Many people often blame the holocaust on the Nazi leadership alone, however from the stories (132) from the jewish people who returned to Poland too early were treated as if the war were not already lost for them, showing their last drops of loyalty to a party which they fought to keep out at the beginning of a war. The supposed neutralism of the population may not have been as neutral as it is portrayed. Nazi propaganda and the benefits for the non-jewish population were great enough that, at least in this particular instance, the polish baker hung the jew who came home to reclaim the property he had lost. They beat him, then hung him. This continued support of the Nazis and their absurd policies is almost as surprising as the concentration camps themselves. At least the concentration camps didn't require the support of any average citizen (in other words they could have been totally run by the government and individuals could be blameless) but this continued hatred from the general population is appalling to me. Now it's no longer just the Nazis who the jews are fighting, but the Poles as well. For me it's hard to believe that all these probably decent people continued to be manipulated by the hand of Hitler even after he lost power; the neonazi movement is just an even further continuation of this phenomenon. As the psychologist said "people haven't changed… Maybe they need a newer bigger holocaust" (45). When will it stop? When will the human race cease to hate?
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Although what happened after the Holocaust was terrible, I actually don't find it too surprising. It is impossible for the Holocaust to have happened without the support of the people. First off, the Nazis did get voted into office, even after they started spreading antisemitic propaganda. Also, if people hadn't cooperated with Hitler, he would at least have found his goal a lot less easy to achieve. Normal people formed the ranks of the soldiers and followed Hitler's orders; normal people informed on the Jews living in their community; normal people participated in events such as Kristellnacht. Also, I am a firm believer that being "neutral" actually helps the oppressor. When the people of occupied countries didn't say anything when the Jews were carted off to concentration camps, they were in effect enabling Hitler to proceed in his plan without a hitch. So, it is hard to believe that all of the rallied anti-semitism would just dissipate as soon as Hitler was killed. Unfortunately, the brutality of the gentiles in Sosnowiec after the war is not quite as surprising as it should be.
ReplyDeleteI think these comments are true of any sort of prejudice; prejudice is, after all, past down through generations. In the film "The Search For Adolf Eichmann" we watched a few weeks ago, one part that particularly stuck out for me occurred when the Israeli spies were following Eichmann's son. They found that he'd said (to his girlfriend? wife? I don't quite remember) something along the lines of "The world would be a better place if my father and the other Nazis had finished off the dirty Jews." Children often have similar political, ethical, and theological views to those of their parents. In that sense, Nazi ideology is no different from passed-down race or religion; if Christian child has Christian parents and a Russian child has Russian parents, why shouldn't a Nazi child have Nazi parents?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rachel in the sense that Hitler was voted into power, and he had the strong cooperation of his people. The Holocaust could hardly have happened had there been little to no support for Hitler's antisemitic agenda. Also, I think that the antisemitism present in Europe was not solwly Hitler's fault. Instead, I believe that he helped such feelings surface and helped implement strong racist actions based on such feelings. This postwar antisemitism is proof of these embedded emotions.
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