What is shocking is how so many people could agree
that trying to destroy an entire culture of human beings is the right thing to
do. One of the worst things that you could do to a human is to completely steal
who they are, and this is exactly what was being done to the Jews of Sighet.
Slowly, everything that made them who they were was being taken from them, such
as their religious practices, until eventually they were uprooted from their
very homes. But it is commendable, yet naïve, that the Jews of Sighet still
have such high optimism even though they should know that the worse is yet to
come.
In response to what you said about how slowly everything was being taken away from them, I noticed on page 17 that the Chief Rabbi no longer had his beard. This is extremely significant for a Jewish rabbi to not have a beard. Check out this website that talks about this significance...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/160973/jewish/The-Beard.htm
Events like the Holocaust make us question humanity sometimes. Then again, though to us observers of History the Holocaust was horrifying and inhumane, I wonder if the Germans saw their actions as justifiable at the time. If they did, I would be wary. Perhaps in the future America or even Western Culture will be caught up in an event that, from our perspective, we find justifiable and maybe even necessary, but in reality (I may be linking this with the Truth Unit) is grossly inhumane.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is astounding that so many people could just stand by while the nazi's attempted to exterminate an entire people. I guess it comes down to fear because people saw what the nazis were capable of so they blindly followed them out of fear. The nazis also used propaganda against the Jews making them a scapegoat for Germany's economic troubles.
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ReplyDeleteEric and Mrs. Schulz(--thanks for the link, btw!), your observations reenforced a precious thought I had on the Jews' cultural detachments as a result of the Holocaust.
If the beard signifies the flow of religious philosophies (such as that of the Kabbalah) to everyday life, and it has been cut, that could be seen as the cut from that kind of mentality (and the ease with it) because of the overwhelming torture from some of the Germans.
The same goes with the man who had taught Elie about the Kabbalah, which Elie's dad had said was not important at the time. Elie's dad received news faster than anyone, so he could have served as a small symbol for detachment.
Also the man who had introduced the Kabbalah to Elie ended up not being able to do so after having experienced the shootings and mistreatment before the rest. This could've reinforced cultural detachment as well because the man's views had been slightly corrupted with the traumas he helplessly endured.
In the meantime the rest attend to their cultural, optimistic philosophies. They have yet to see what's ahead and how that could eventually detract them from their original abidance by their cultural identity, and everything else that he'd kept them going...
Diana - I'm so glad you looked at the link. Your comment was very thoughtful and insightful.
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