A heavy topic
In school we are studying World War II and the Holocaust. Last night I saw a movie called "The Devil's Arithmetic", the story of a sixteen-year-old girl who gets sent to a concentration camp. The movie really affected me, especially when they forced everyone to cut their hair--even the girls, and when the Nazis branded serial numbers on the prisoners' arms. I was appalled, maybe a little irrationally, that there were women Nazis working in the camps also. What is it that makes humans turn against one another like this? What did they see in the Jews that made them lower than the mud under their feet? What was it that prompted them to destroy so many innocent lives?
posted by Michelle S @ 3:57 PM
3 Comments:
These are great questions, Michelle. Hopefully as we proceed through this unit you will find some answers to these questions. For now, I will challenge you to think about who benefited from humans turning against each other - some of your answer may lie there.
PS I think that your female Nazi comment is a great one.
Human nature seems far too complicated to me. There are probably tons of different explanations floating around for just why this is, but competition stands out to me as a big one. Some people will do anything to feel like they are the top dog, and after going through the post-WW1 experience and being at the bottom of the food chain I suppose that the sudden reversal of roles that occurred might have been in a sense a grotesque rebound action.
Sheb, I kept forgetting to tell you about Oprah's Nation High School Writing Contest. The topic was "Why is the book Night by Elie Wiesel relevant today?" I think you should have done it, but unfortunately it is over as of Monday. But I wrote in, and if I am one of the winners, I get to go to Chicago! Whoo-hoo!
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