Holocaust and Genocide Studies Stories of Resistance Rescue and Survival Essay

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Part 1: The Need for an Analytical FrameworkThe Holocaust was one of the most catastrophic events in human history. The purpose of this paper will be to identify and engage primary research resources in a discussion of the causes and effects of the Holocaust. The goal is to identify an analytic framework that can help readers to understand the causes and effects of this tragedy. There are many factors that contributed to the Holocaust, and its effects were felt by millions of people. By understanding the causes and effects of the Holocaust by applying an analytical framework, people can learn from this tragedy and work to prevent future genocides.Part 2: Anti-Semitism and the NazisBackground of Anti-SemitismThe term “anti-Semitism” was first coined in 1879 by German journalist Wilhelm Marr to describe the rising tide of anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe (Holocaust Encyclopedia). Truth be told, anti-Jewish sentiment had existed in different cultures throughout all history. But by the early 1930s, anti-Semitism had become a mainstream political ideology in Germany, and Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party was its most vocal proponent.In 1933, Hitler came to power after the Reichstag fire and immediately began implementing his anti-Semitic agenda (Reichstage Fire Decree). The following year, he passed the Enabling Act, which effectively gave him dictatorial powers. In 1935, he enacted the Nuremberg Laws, which formalized the Nazi regime’s biological racism and authorized discrimination against the Jews. The Nuremberg Laws served as the basis for the persecution and mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust. But there were others who fanned the flames of anti-Semitism as well.Indeed, one of the most notorious moments in Heinrich Himmler’s 1943 Posen speech came when he referred to Jews as a “bacillus” (Speech of the Reichsfuhrer-SS). This remark was significant not only because of its dehumanizing language, but also because it helped to legitimize the mass murder of Jews by portraying them as a dangerous and contagious biological threat. In the years after the Holocaust, scholars have debated the meaning of Himmler’s remark, with some interpret it as a way of justifying the genocide to his audience, and others seeing it as an expression of his own deeply-held anti-Semitic beliefs. However, what is clear is that Himmler’s use of language in this instance played a role in reinforcing the Nazi regime’s ideology of hate and making the genocide possible.Primo LeviIn his memoir Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi describes instances of dehumanization that he experienced during his time in the concentration camp. One such instance occurred when the guards divided the inmates into two groups, those who were fit to work and those who were not. The fit inmates were given extra food and better living conditions, while the others were starved and treated with contempt.

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This division created feelings of envy and resentment among the inmates, leading them to see each other as competition rather than comrades. Another instance of dehumanization occurred when the SS guards forced the inmates to undress…

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…capacity for strength and resilience in the face of adversity.ConclusionIn the aftermath of the Holocaust, scholars have sought to understand its causes and effects. One approach is to use the Holocaust as an analytic framework. This approach seeks to explain the Holocaust in terms of the broader historical context in which it took place. For example, one can look at the role of anti-Semitism in Nazi ideology, the experiences of artists and people like Primo Levi, and the impact of wartime experiences on perpetrators and victims. Or one can use the experience of the young American journalist named Varian Fry, who embarked on a dangerous mission to rescue artists and intellectuals who were fleeing the Nazis. Based in the French city of Marseille, Fry set up a network of safe houses and helped to smuggle hundreds of people out of the country with the help of funds from the Emegency Rescue Committee (established by him and friends and supported by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt). Among those he helped to save were the painter Marc Chagall, who had been labeled a degenerate artist by the Nazi party ("Entartete Kunst"); as well as the writer Lion Feuchtwanger, and the physicist Albert Einstein. In doing so, Fry showed that there was still hope in the face of tyranny and genocide. Fry himself would suffer psychologically later in life and die in the 1960s. The point of this is that understanding the Holocaust depends upon taking a big step back and….....

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