Thirdly, the Holocaust lead to the Zionist movement, which gained a lot of support from many countries. This persecution made many people realise the extent to which the Jews had suffered throughout history as a result of an accumulation of years of anti-Semitism. The creation of Israel was also partly due to the outpouring of sympathy from other countries.
The holocaust also initiated questions within the Jewish community. Firstly, why would God allow them to suffer when he promised the Jews the Holy land as part of the covenant? A place that is ‘flowing with honey.’ This was hard for many Jews as after staying faithful, they were not rewarded with the holy land, but punished.
They also wondered at the cause of the history of anti-Semitism. This linked into the development of the question that has plagued all man. How can humanity be so cruel to each other? The events of the holocaust where so horrific that many people wondered how people can justify this kind of genocide, and how the surrounding countries played no part in initially stopping Hitler, or even realising what he was doing.
In general I think that these events illustrated the dangers of trusting science without question. The holocaust demonstrated peoples ignorance, and their willingness to blindly except something on the basis if scientific ‘proof.’
Many Jews at the time of the Holocaust were faced with many difficult questions like, ‘Why would God let us suffer?’ and ‘How could other countries allow this to happen?’ Many writers took this opportunity to express their own responses to persecution. One of there writers was the Professor at the Hebrew University, Robert Wistrick.
Wistrick begins by explaining that genocide has occurred throughout history, and the holocaust was not just a one off. He thinks that the simple fact that the holocaust occurred in Europe distinguished it from other events. One reason for this could be that the 57% of Jews lived in Europe, for this reason, the events could have been less serious of it had occurred somewhere else.
Wistrick points out that many Jews, to a great extent, contributed to Germany. Examples of this include the 100’000 Jews that served in the German army in the First World War. Other individuals include the revolutionary physicist Albert Einstein, and the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. He explains that this evidence makes the ‘regime appear even more senseless.’ He begins to explain the senseless genocide by asking a question about why a civilised society should turn on its most valuable members of society.
Wistrick goes on to explain that the Holocaust is not simply a one-off event, but an accumulation of anti-Semitism. He states that other events in history, started by the Church. He believes that a sequence began in which events such as the crusades, and roomers such as the ‘blood libel,’ caused a self-perpetuating accumulation of hated, ignorance, fear and suspicion of the Jews. He goes on to refer to the development of the Protestant church and the work of Martin Luther. Wistrick believes that his views on the Jewish race, and his beliefs in Anglo-Saxon supremacy (the basis for race science) lead to many Jewish persecutions.
Wistrick thought that the social and economic problems in post war Germany amassed. This then gave Hitler the power to use the Jews as a scapegoat for the guilt the Germans felt after The Great War. Hitler’s extreme solution gave the masses a way of focusing their frustration.
Wistrick gave many lessons from the Holocaust, they can all be summarised and tackled by following just the one, which stated that in order for humanity to survive, it must grow and learn to respect one another, to acknowledge difference and use this as an experience from which we can grow.
Other Jewish writers who have tried to tackle the questions raised by the holocaust, among these, Angela Wood, a former advisor for Re at Westminster, she is now a reformed Jew.
She also believes that the holocaust was a result of an accumulation of anti-Semitism, she gave a very powerful account of her perception on the history of the Jews. She stats, ‘In the middle ages Jews were told, “you cannot live among us as Jews,” in the middle ages, “You cannot live among us,” and in the Nazi era, “you cannot live.”
Wood belied that the extent of the Holocaust has only recently been established for several reasons. Many of the surviving Jews wanted to heal on a private level. However, two events lead the to uncovering of the truths behind the horror of the concentration camps. Firstly, neo-nazis began to publicise documents that claim the Holocaust did not rely happen, and in fact the Jews were simply after sympathy. Secondly, the relatives of the survivors wanted to gain greater understanding of a period in time that obviously had a vast effect on them.
Wood continues by explaining the justification behind the Nazi mindset. She explained that the Nazis thought the Jews represented everything evil. The amalgamation of this prejudice, and the development of race science lead to the idea that the Aryan race was a pure and superior, and that the Jews were inferior. The German ideal wanted to free the world of Jews, and create an Aryan utopia.
She goes on to explore the different responses to persecution from the Jews who actually suffered the holocaust. She explains that there were many different attitudes when dealing with the holocaust. Some people felt guilty after the events for surviving. Many other people, when actually faced head on with the atrocity acted with dignity, reservation or desolation. However, she highlights the many who resisted it. Who fought and ‘behaved like humans in the face of inhumanity.’ Wood controversially, but powerfully in some measure places blame on the individuals who allowed the evil by not objecting to it.
Wood continues by explaining the responses of many Jews. She states that many Jews feel that they need to remember the deaths perhaps forever, in order to prevent anything like this ever happening again. Many Jews feel that the Holocaust has strengthened them, and given them a determination to survive.
Wood has also carefully explored why this occurred. Jews believe that their God is loving. She explains that some Jews lost faith in God. Some other Jews lost their faith in man. But she retains that lots of Jews have gained faith as a result of their suffering. She explains that ‘…in suffering there is a meaning which is waiting for people to find it.’ By this she meant that through suffering people learn, this being the meaning behind suffering. She also refers to the bible in which a man calls out to god, ‘where are you?’ In Genesis a man cries out, ‘God were are you?’ She explains that God gave man freewill; as a result, man had the ability to fall to temptation and suffer, but learn from this, and eventually return to paradise.
There are many views as to weather the holocaust could happen again. In order to explore this I will look at both perspectives of the argument.
Many people think that the holocaust could happen again; the reasons for this are varied. Some believe that the holocaust is a very precise sequence of events, and could never be replicate fully. However, some aspects could repeat itself. For example, certain prejudices have built up over time, and compared to the history of the Jews, have the ability to perpetuate into hatred, as Angela Wood pointed out; ‘You cannot live among us as Jews. You cannot live among us. You cannot live.’
Others suggest that there are certain unavoidable truths which plague humanity, but at the same time are the factors which enabled humanity to become great. These factors include hatred, greed, jealousy, power ect. These make people ‘need’ certain things, which they will go to any length to protect.
There are several recent examples of regimes that have persecuted individuals. These include the Gulf crisis in Iraq, with the dictator Sadam Hussein, the conflict in former Yugoslavia, and the bombing of the world trade centre. These examples show how conflict still exists, and supports the idea that we can’t escape our deep human desires.
The evidence supporting the idea that the holocaust will never happen again is equally compelling. From a Jewish perspective, based on Angela Wood’s observations. We can see that the ‘Shoah’ and the ‘Hurban’ (the name given to the holocaust given by the victims) are considered by Jews to be the worst form of anti-Semitism, and by others to be the only case.
Other people think that the world has learnt from the events of the holocaust, this would enable the world to react sooner, preventing it happening again, or at least on the scale it was executed. In addition, modern communication networks make it difficult for propaganda to be successful.
One perspective is that the modern world has the technology to destroy itself; it is therefore pointless for any kind of mass persecution on this scale. However, some may believe that this is appropriate for their cause.
In addition, Christians have a much greater understanding of the bible, they realise that it is open to interpretation and therefore abuse. Christians therefore have the opportunity to truly understand their faith and not be manipulated.
The lessons to be learnt from these events are more than significant. Humanity has to learn to respect each other, on apperceive differences. In affect we have to tern away from the desire to fear the unknown, we simply have to face it. On this note, my personal opinion is based on the idea that humanity has the ability to change and adapt. I do not think anything like this would happen again, before it does, I think there will be a common unity. In my opinion this has already begun with unities within Europe, with the single currency. For me, countries such as France and Germany to have a united currency after so much hatred between them less than a century ago demonstrates humanities ability to move ion and progress. To form a single nation.
