The Holocaust, part 2 – Humanity and Seperation
Again, I have to deal with the Holocaust, and again I stall. I originally meant to do a follow-up to the last post, but haven’t made time until now. I realize going into this post that it’s a touchy subject, and I’m not always in the majority of opinions on the subject, but I think it’s a subject worth thinking deeply over given its real-world implications.
How do we further examine the Holocaust, through two more works in fiction? First, the class readings has progressed through and beyond Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the graphic novel detailing the Holocaust through the eyes of his father Vladek. As the narratives progress, one following Art’s attempt to reconcile with his father, the other of Vladek’s survival in Auschwitz, we get to see a lot of development in Vladek’s character, seeing how his time spent in the camps has impacted his post-war life in the 1970′s.
For example, Vladek fits several stereotypes associated with Jews, much to the irritation (and disappointment) of Art; throughout the work, Art struggles to reconcile with his father despite his flaws. For example, Vladek is deeply troubled by money worries, to the point of being miserly. In chapter three of the second Maus book, Vladek gets into an argument with a grocery store manager over returning opened groceries, exchanging them for new groceries. As he explains to Art and his wife, Francoise,
Vladek: He helped me as soon as I explained to him my health, how Mala left me, and how it was in the camps.
In another instance in the same book, Art’s wife stops to pick up an African-American hitchhiker, and Vladek reacts with an unexpected opinion:
Vladek: A hitch-hiker? And -OY- it’s a colored guy, a shvartser! Push quick on teh gas!
[... after dropping off the hitchhiker:]
Vladek: I had the whole time to watch out that this shvartser doesn’t steal us the groceries from the back seat!
Francoise: What?! That’s outrageous! How can you, of all people, be such a racist! You talk about blacks the same way the Nazis talked about the Jews!
Vladek: Ach!… I thought really you are more smart than this, Francoise… It’s not even to compare the shvartsers and the Jews!
In terms of separation and population displacement, probably the largest in recent years has been ironically carried out by Israeli Jews. Aside from the construction of settlements in Palestinian soil, one of the major points in the news is of the Israeli defense wall. Called by some the best hope of protecting Israeli citizens from suicide bombers, called by others the “Apartheid Wall” to compare it with the South African policy of the same name, the wall has become a major sticking point in Middle-Eastern policy. As reported recently in the Washington Post after a visit by the Pope:
BETHLEHEM, West Bank | Pope Benedict XVI visited a Palestinian refugee camp Wednesday in the West Bank and condemned an Israeli wall overshadowing the facility as “a stark reminder of the stalemate that relations between Israelis and Palestinians seem to have reached.”
The visit climaxed a day in which the pontiff also urged Israel to end its embargo of the Gaza Strip.
The pope watched Palestinian children in traditional costumes performing a musical dramatizing their lives on a stage constructed in sight of the 33-foot-high concrete wall and an Israeli watchtower facing the Aida refugee camp housing about 5,000 refugees.
“Towering over us is a stark reminder of the stalemate that relations between Israelis and Palestinians seem to have reached – the wall,” Benedict said in a speech to some 1,500 refugees and Palestinian officials.
“In a world where more and more borders are being opened up – to trade, to travel, to movement of peoples, to cultural exchanges – it is tragic to see walls still being erected,” he added.
“On both sides of the wall, great courage is needed if fear and mistrust is to be overcome,” the pope said. “It takes magnanimity to seek reconciliation after years of fighting.”
So, you’re probably asking, what does this have to do with technology and humanity? Quite simply, the technology here is all designed to decrease, maybe even repress humanity. The Germans used the dirty conditions in the camps as proof that the Jews were dirty and unclean to further their racial ideology; this style of separation does nothing beneficial, and instead creates an “other,” alienating and dehumanizing another group of people to sub-human status.
If the same actions aren’t being used in the Palestinian territories today, the same result is created: a distance between two groups of humans is created. From a certain standpoint, the West Bank Wall makes no sense–what is the cost/benefit analysis for the terrorism deterred compared to the number of Palestinians who become terrorists because of such strong measures imposed upon them? Is it really a logical step to create a divide between people which can dehumanize, and therefore anger, the “other?” And to boil it down to a simple question, is this really an effective lesson in problem solving?
There are a lot of deep, politically-charged, and almost philosophical questions on the nature of humanity and separation. Honestly, I don’t think answering them is always the best course of action, usually leading to argument, but thinking about them is a good solution. I’m not going to say the Holocaust impacted the Israelis’ actions, because I’m not sure that it did, nor am I going to compare them to the Nazis or something. I do think that it makes for a fascinating, and perplexing, study in separation between two groups, and its impact on humanity and the human psyche.
“Pope decries Israeli wall”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/14/pope-decries-israeli-wall/
Thursday, May 14, 2009
