A New Perspective

I've seen Schindler's List, read countless books on the topic (both fiction and non), visited the Holocaust museums in DC, Miami, Israel... and always leave with a feeling of such confusion. The acts of the Holocaust are so difficult to understand, because as a young American, I have been fortunate enough not to experience such hatred and acts. 9/11 was the first hint, for my generation, that there are people in this world who hate others SO much that they would (proudly) kill innocent people. Understanding this type of psyche was the main focus of our first class last night.

I've never read Mein Kampf (Hitler's autobiography), but perhaps I should. It would provide an indelible understanding into Hilter's view of the Jews in the early 20th century (1920's). Our speaker last night (Professor Natalia Aleksiun, Assistant Professor of Jewish History at Touro College) began her lecture by speaking about Mein Kampf, and the fact that it served as an inspirational text to the well-to-do Germans at the time. Back in the early 1930's when Hitler first came to power (mind you, he was eventually elected by the people), Jews were quite assimilated into the society. In fact, many of them were middle-class, well off lawyers, doctors, teachers, and such. However, in Hitler's view, they were 'parasites' (which Aleksiun mentioned was not a metaphor) - Hitler actually saw Jews as lesser people - not even human - due to the way they lived, 'sucking' off of the German society.

Now, this might not be news to some of you, but what I find fascinating is trying to understand how this thought-process came to be believed by a majority of the German society (and others). Afteral, as Aleksiun pointed out last night, thousands of Germans took part in the atrocities of war (many not as soldiers) - from driving trains out to concentration camps, to actual companies vying for the opportunity to build mechanisms for mass murder. But also, think about the opportunities that the disappearance to the Jews provided for the German citizens - that many fewer people to compete against for jobs, patients, clients, etc.

This is a type of though process that is usually not presented to us when we learn about Holocaust history - and I'm only touching on it here. We see Germans as bad people who did terrible things, but we usually don't try to understand (it's a difficult but important task), the though processes behind the Holocaust and how it's even possible for it to happen.

In the end, Aleksiun made the case that many other leaders felt the same way about the 'Jewish Problem,' however it was Hitler and the 3rd Reich that were presented with the means and the opportunities (namely, wartime) that allowed them to light a fire under their idealistic views, and ultimately carry out what they thought of as the 'final solution'

One more note -- Aleksiun also mentioned that in Hitler's last rites (before he committed suicide), he asked his secretary to write that the world should continue to carry out their duties (killing off the 'parasitic' Jews). In other words, he saw this problem as an issue of mankind (ie: killing a Jew was considered bettering society), and it was a fight that he looked for the Germans to lead.

All interesting stuff -- and definitely a view point I have never understood, and have a much better perspective on after my class last night.

Until next week!