Donald Niewyk's The Holocaust

Hd contends that they so imitated the officers that they turned against separate concentration camp survivors who were weaker or newer to camp than themselves and who, therefore, threatened the of age(p) camp survivors' lives by possibly drawing the officers' anger (Bettelheim 111).

Philosophically, iodine could vie that this was an act of subway to the Nazi goal of cleansing all Jews, because by their acts these pris atomic number 53rs' lengthened their own lives. Yehuda Bauer quotes Henri Michel's definition of resistance as "the maintenance of self-respect" (Bauer 149). Bauer rejects the definition, however, noning the ruthlessness of Nazi determination. Bauer as well as rejects Raul Hilberg's limit of resistance to build up resistance. Rather, Bauer defines Jewish resistance as "any group action, consciously taken in immunity to known or surmised laws, actions, or intentions directed against the Jews by the Germans and their supporters" (149). Bauer expatiate the difficulty, though not complete absence of Jewish armed resistance, particularly in Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus (153-163).

On the opposite hand, Niewyk notes other authors who argue for a broader definition of resistance, to include all efforts to keep Jews alive, including smuggle food into the ghettos, smuggling Jews out of Nazi territory, and offering object lesson and social support (130). In addition, Te

Des Pres concludes that the "survivor is the figure who emerges from all those who fought for life in the concentration camps" (119). Clearly, he believes that survival and resistance were possible. One could similarly argue that the acts of resistance used by the prisoners to help other prisoners were, in fact, acts of deliverance. Certainly, without the help Des Pres describes, many other Jews would likely have died in the camps. Niewyk also notes the lengths to which Jews went to survive. For instance, one survivor tells of a mother giving her child urine to drink so the child would not become too dehydrated ("The race murder" 143).

Bettelheim, Bruno. "Helpless Victims." The Holocaust: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation, Third Edition. Donald Niewyck, Ed.

(New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003): 108-112.

In his narrative, Spiegelman discusses his sense of unrighteousness over enjoying success in his own life spot his father's life had been so difficult. In a way, he experiences survivor's guilt. He feels guilt over enjoying life, or winning, when so many muckle who did not deserve it died during the Holocaust. He has to come to terms with the haphazardness of who died during the Holocaust. He tries to accept that the strong, and those with strong resistance and survival skills, were not necessarily those who survived. In the books reviewed in the paper, we learn that survival, resistance and rescue were possible during the Holocaust, but that no particular strategy was guaranteed of success. Rather, in some cases, the same strategies that might have saved one person's life may well have cost some other theirs.

rrence Des Pres contends that Bettelheim misses numerous instances of resistance that may have been cloaked by mimicking behavior. Des Press contends that prisoners often used the carriage of compliance to help other, weaker, prisoners (Des Pres 116). He writes that Bettelheim's argument overlooks "'a whole arrangement of mimicry toward the SS,' and 'everpresent camouflage'
Ordercustompaper.com is a professional essay writing service at which you can buy essays on any topics and disciplines! All custom essays are written by professional writers!