The Travesty of the Holocaust Essay Example for Free

The Travesty of the Holocaust Essay Since the inception of history, man has sought and ostracized that which is unfamiliar. Ignorance is the root of the beginning of evil and so it was with the Holocaust. I will say the Holocaust as atrocious as it is, is not the first genocide nor has it been the last. The world still watches on, as though human beings are but fodder, as people continue to be executed for not belonging to a particular tribe. It is of Africa, I speak genocide continues into even this our modern age. I also cannot help but think of the Native Americans, on a continent where thousands of nations once thrived. Now there are but a scant handful. Many nations passed from this earth to extinction. Holocaust, genocide terrible, monstrous evil brought into the world. The problem is crushing such evil. The Talmud teaches that, to do nothing in the face of evil, that person is as surely guilty as the assailants. The blood of many is on all of our hands. Christian Theology and Anti-Judaism Since the inception of Christianity there has been friction between Judaism and Christianity. These issues were addressed in the New Testament beginning with Acts and continuing with the letters of Paul. The basic issues were whether Jesus was the Son of God and whether Christians had to follow Judaic law. The first problem created a definite chasm between Jews and Christians. Christians accepting the deity of Christ. While Jews rejected this. The second question regarding Judaic law was ultimately rejected by the Christian church. And the two faiths parted ways. Shakespeare portrayed Jews as misers, in the Merchant of Venice. So the conflict between Jews and Christians has a long history. In some way perhaps, the Holocaust was the culmination of this hatred. But somehow, I do not think so. Humans have a tendency to turn from helping others different from themselves. I think one of the saddest parts of the Holocaust is the denial of common, ordinary Germans who knew, who had to know of the atrocities around them and did nothing. The insanity of Hitler is one thing. But for ordinary people to allow such atrocities, I cannot understand. Americans are just as guilty word of the camps was known in the beginning and America chose to do nothing. I am reminded of a quote from Elise Wiesel: It happened yesterday, eternities ago, a young Jewish boy discovered the kingdome of the night. I remembered his bewilderment. I remember his anguish. It all happened so fast. The decrees. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery alter upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed. I remember: He asked his father. Can this be true? This is the 20th century not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent? Indeed, how does the world remain silent still? Surely, this is the ultimate sin, the ultimate blasphemous act against God. People see. People hear. People know. And people stand passively by and do nothing. Shoah Of course, Shoah in Hebrew means Holocaust. Fortunately it is also the name of a project began by Steven Speilberg. The Shoah is a remarkable project to help preserve the atrocities of Nazism and the Holocaust. The Shoah project helps to preserve the memories of survivors who are aging. The Shoah Project helps to keep what the Nazis did a hateful crime and not to lessen these survivors memories to mere books. I know that part of the goal is to keep such things from happening again. But this is not the case. People are still executed for the color of their skin, their beliefs. Today, those of Arabic descent are now at the brunt of others who think themselves better or superior. The lessons learned should keep humanity from allowing genocide. Yet, over 200,000 Africans have been executed because they are of a different tribe. Millions more are in refugee camps hoping and waiting to escape the horrors of this war. Little children have been macheted and lost their limbs. The Holocaust should not fade from our memories, ever. Mans capability of terrible horror and to preserve the stories, the message of the Holocaust is preserved. There are those who would want to erase the holocaust from memory, as surely as slavery is still denied. There is no excuse for such behavior, it is left to the educated to keep the memory and to assure that the atrocities of history are not forgotten. Every generation can benefit from the Shoah project. Antisemitism is troublesome, because there are people who have the audacity to claim that the Holocaust never happened. Unfortunately, ignorance is the root of this disease and as sad as it is, ignorance will remain a part of humanity. There is also this strange need, want of humans to think themselves superior. The root of this being that people feel inferior and so must lower another to make themselves feel better. Curable, yes. Likely, no. I do not believe that there is any excuse for antisemitism or Anti-Judaism. The Jewish culture has enriched our lives, even though people often do not appreciate all that Jewish culture has to offer. Unfortunately, there is no reason to ever take another human being regardless of race, religion, or any other reason for granted. Jewish people have contributed greatly to our culture. Yet, their accomplishments are kept quiet out of fear or shame. A recent example, is the newly elected Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. His mother is Jewish and because a persons Jewishness is proven along the line of the mother (because ones mother can be denied). This man hid a great and powerful culture. The Jews are not the only ones guilty of such behavior many other immigrants have done the same, such as those of Irish or Italian descent. Anti-Judaism may well play a part in keeping the Shoah program from being successful. One problem is that the Holocaust was not wholly against the Jews. Others also suffered and died at the hands of the Nazi regime homosexuals, the mentally ill, gypsies, and other races. Russians were also exterminated in Nazi camps. It is these people that may are not recognized or remembered. In no way should the perils of the Jewish experience be downplayed. Yet the Jewish people should also play a role in helping to recall those who were not Jewish and who were also murdered. I think resentment builds when the Holocaust is treated as if those of Judaic descent were the only ones to suffer. Helen Keller once said, The world is full of suffering. If nothing else perhaps the fact that being human is to suffer, may be something that could bring people together instead of separating them. The Nazi Pogrom and Christianity It is unfortunate, but albeit true. Almost the same type of Antisemitism was displayed during the Passion of the Christ. Even the Catholic church in turning a blind eye away from the Jews during the Holocaust, agreed with the premise. Jews portrayed as the murderers of Christ. The irony being if Christ had not been martyred, then Jesus could have hardly been represented as the Son of God or Messiah. Unfortunately this was the connection Germans and many Christians made to justify the holocaust against the Jews. Intellectual theology, I do not believe can make the argument. However, in the era of the 30s and 40s portraying the Jews as Christ killers was an important piece of acceptable propaganda. This theme did crop up again in the 80s when The Temptation of Christ, Martin Scorsces depiction of Christ was brought to the theaters. The Conservative Christian right rallied and so began movements to keep people from seeing the movie. In 2004, Mel Gibsons The Passion of the Christ, would also bring a wave of antisemitism. I believe those who have a tendency toward antisemitism would use these as a further excuse to justify hatred. The Jewish people were portrayed as monstrous. Supposed medical research supported the differences between Jews and a normal human being. This seems to be a standard practice when a race or culture is demonized for extinction. The Indians were portrayed as heathen savages, incapable of living among the white men. Africans were depicted as children that needed to be taken care of and sheltered. Jews are depicted as being selfish, miserly, and somehow less than human. By making the other race or ethnicity sub-human their extermination becomes somehow easier. For if one is not fully human, but beneath humanity then isnt the world better off with the purge of these sub-humans? As Americans, we see this de-humanization process being carried against immigrants. Hispanics are described as parasites somehow taking advantage of the American people. Historically this has been the portrayal of immigrants throughout American history, at least. The Irish, the Chinese, any person considered non-native to the Americas have been portrayed as sub-human and unworthy of settlement in Northern America. Deuteronomy and Jeremiah Throughout the Old Testament God entreats, His people to remember. To remember what it is to be enslaved. What it is to be free. These are the foundations of human nature. To suffer. To remember. To tell the story, lest it be forgotten. The verses from Deuteronomy remind the Jewish people of their once slavery to Egypt and their journey out of slavery. Neither of these experiences were not pleasant, however ultimately it is Gods faithfulness and mercy that prevails through every tribulation. Jeremiah, is a bit more difficult to interpret, unless it is tied to the Kaballah. The Kaballah, entreats people to remember and live up to the best of the person who is gone from this world. In this context, the quote in Jeremiah makes a little more sense, again there is the promise of Adonai, to restore his people to their proper status. Conclusion I am reminded of the quote from Hosea 6. 1,2: Come, let us return to Adonai. He has rent us and he will heal us; he has struck us and he will bind up our wounds. I do not know exactly why this verse brings me great, personal comfort. To me, it does not say to me that Adonai has caused the suffering, but that suffering has happened and that the Lord will restore my or your or our suffering and healing will occur. In being part of this course and participating in the Shoah project I feel as though any loss to humanity is a personal one. All of us are less when people are dehumanized and caused to suffer. I do not believe that the Shoah project is not just a trip to the past. It is far more complicated and deserving of our attention. The world should continue to remember the suffering of a people merely due to belief. it would be far better if such lessons prompted us to right the wrongs in this the 21st century. Our humanity causes us to be responsible to and for one another.