The "solutions" to the "Jewish question" that preceded the final solution were not confined to Germany or the 20th century or Europe, however.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Belfer Conference teacher workshop teaches teachers that only the death factories were original to the German government. In essence, everything else the Germans and their collaborators did to the Jews had been done before. For the same "reasons."
As "Never Again" is our creed, we must examine the causes that are not exclusive to the Germans. Bernard Malamud's, The Fixer, is a Holocaust allegory set in a Czarist Russia looking for scapegoats prior to the Revolution. Hotel Rwanda reminds us that genocide happened on our watch, not in some foggy past. More people died last month in Darfur than in any other month since U.N. peacekeepers arrived in 2008.
The causes of genocide remain.
One area of particular interest for me is the power of naming. For example, what effect did it have on this posting that I failed to modify the word "Germany" with the word "Nazi"? Or that I chose to use the word "Germans" instead of the word "Nazi"? Try replacing "German" with "Nazi" and "Germany" with "Nazi Germany." Do you perceive a difference?
I'd like to recommend a couple of articles that you can reach on the world wide web. The first is "The Power of Naming" by Rabbi Andrew Davids at myjewishlearning.com and the second is "Native Americans and the Power of Naming," by Elmhurst College President S. Alan Ray at public.elmhurst.edu.
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ReplyDeleteIt's sad how many people assume that such a "solution" would never, ever be considered by "enlightened" folk of the 21st Century. It happens today in many parts of the world...and the atrocities in Germany aren't that distant, either. These Germans weren't medieval brutes--it took place during the lifetime of many of our parents. Keep up the good work, Sid. I look forward to hearing more...
ReplyDeleteJim Holifield, Age 43
LaPorte, Indiana, USA