Many examinations of World War II begin with ‘what if’ as an attempt at better understanding the consequences of the events. However, if the primary source materials that are available remain unexamined, whether in part or as a whole, then the consequences of the event remain slightly out of reach. Such is the case of the German occupation of France during World War II. France fell and surrendered to German forces in June of 1940. The French and German armistice agreed to separate the nation into two zones, the northern Occupied Zone and the southern Unoccupied Zone, which was also known as the “Free Zone.” France’s fledgling Vichy government controlled the south and the German government controlled the north along the Demarcation Line. During the war, France lost roughly 567,600 lives, more than half of which were civilians. However, it was not until the mid-1990s when the French President, Jacques Chirac, confessed to the French responsibility of those lives lost, that French culpability was truly studied by scholars. Historians have argued both before and after the 1990s that the French were either collaborating with the Nazis or accommodating them as a means of preserving their identity. However, prior to the confession France had kept many documents unavailable to scholars and the general public, making a thorough examination of life in …show more content…
In 1939, Prime Minister Édouard Daladier attempted to curb growing anti-Semitism in France by endorsed the Marchandeau Law. Though the Marchandeau Law did not specifically address residents of Jewish faith, it clarified that a person could not be attacked based on religious beliefs or anything similar, particularly in the media. However, some historians find Daladier’s political platform to counter the argument that he was an advocate for the Jewish
However, it is also said that the democrat is visionless to the true effects of anti-Semitism because he illustrates on the base of the world’s privileges of people while still denying the Jewish his own identity as Jew and nothing more. While it also seems like the anti-Semite constructs the Jew to terminate him, the democrat disproves the Jew to pretend the problem of anti-Semitism in a sense as a notion of selfhood/ recognition in division of pretending to be someone that one is not. In Sartre’s analysis of the democrat, his disrespect for all things as conventional has to do with the evident rejection of the radiance as the vital savior. Sartre describes all the Jewish people as without an evolution of their own, without a history which can be saved from execution and suffering. Therefore, they are the seen as people who accommodates wherever they may find themselves in out of place as the Jew in Sartre’s view, lives only in the present, who as opposed to the anti-Semite, stays in the past. Although, the Jew Sartre contends, supports his role by the certainty that the Jewish label imposed on him by others (such as the anti-Semite) can be seen as the
The popular front led by Leon Blum, was the socialist government from 1936 which put in place the ‘Matignon Agreement’. Several developments established during the period of governing such as raising wages, and introducing the forty hour working week (James, 2003, p.124). Although they had in a sense united workers and employers, the adverse consequences resulted in a radicalised nation, with strong policing on tax evasion, and the reforms were substantially expensive (James, 2003, pp.124-125). Politically, the poor stability of the French economy didn’t allow Blum and his party to enforce their power across Europe. With the German economy recovering rapidly, and the vast military production, France simply didn’t have the resources to match up to the threat posed upon them (James, 2003, p.125).
Throughout history, anti-Semitism has been a reoccurring problem in which the Dreyfus Affair was an important event. The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal, which divided France from the 1890's to the early 1900's. It was a very important event in history. 1894 marked the start of a revolution for Jewish people, as a French-Jewish artillery officer, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was accused of treason (Isseroff). The accusations against Dreyfus were false all because he was a Jew. Following his accusation Dreyfus accumulated many followers that became known as Dreyfusards and there were also those who were against him called anti-Dreyfusards (Drefler).
While the anti-feminist will happily find a place for the woman in his world, the same cannot be said about the anti-Semite and the Jew. Unlike other forms of hatred, the anti-Semite does not cast his foe as an to be conquered, but as a devious opponent only fit for extermination. De Beauvoir herself held that anti-Semitism was distinct from anti-feminism and racism, believing that for the anti-Semite, “the Jew is more an enemy than an inferior, and no place on this earth is recognized as his own; it would be preferable to see him annihilated.” (33) The Jew is not merely an object of derision, but part of a metaphysical force that seeks to corrupt and destroy society. Every single bad thing can be traced back to the Jews in one form or another. In the early twentieth century, Jews were somehow both the financiers
To avoid a spotlight, he darts into a nearby alley hiding behind a toppled barrel. On the ground is a wet newspaper. He picks it up. “I don’t believe it.” The headlines read France Surrenders. The date on the paper reads June, but the rain has drenched the area covering the actual day of the newspaper, and it cannot be deciphered. The year is clear 1940. Premier Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, is giving Germany control of northern France and the Atlantic coast, he signed the armistice today. Freddie recalls another of the history lessons that Laura also brought to his attention. Remembering the French government signed an armistice with Nazi Germany just six weeks after the Nazis launched their invasion of Western Europe.
"It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people an the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed."-Elie Weisel. Imagine you wake up one morning and everyone around you was being beaten, killed, put in jail, all because they are Jewish, Gypsies, Handicapped, Slavic people, Homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and many others. So many people suffered during the holocaust, and it all started when the Anti-Semitism Nazi leader Adolf Hitler decided that they were an "Inferior race" and a threat to German racial purity and community. It effects today by giving us remembrance of the sinister things that happened during Hitler's reign of power.
Many have heard of the Holocaust and where it has taken place. BUT, many may have not known that once upon of time in the 1940’s the French became apart of the Holocaust. Of course the French wouldn’t be a topic because during this time the United States had acknowledged Vichy Regime as the official government, which means they signed off and left them to be their own and no longer the U.S’s problem. Furthermore, the French had issues with the Germans as far as the Vichy disputing territory that was placed under the German administration. It was said that the tendency of the Germans to exercise arbitrary power in the occupied zone, made it difficult for Vichy to assert its authority there.
Throughout history, the Jewish people have been continuously at the center of numerous persecution and hatred. In countries all over Europe the Jewish people countless acts of hate have occurred for centuries. During the time of the Holocaust, over twelve million people were exterminated and it is believed anywhere from five and a half million to six and a half million of these people were Jewish. The Jewish people were repeadelty targeted for a number of various reasons.
There is always an entity in the air, a presence that encroaches beneath the ground, or even an engrossing feeling that is within the human psyche. This invisible social force that influences everyday life is called prejudice, to which the excruciating backlash Jews have received for their cultural identity and traditions even has a term for it: anti-semitism. There are a large variety of anti-semitic myths that been associated by inaccurate stereotypes to which ignorance continues to breed. In order to properly understand how to debunk these pigeonhole categories, three particular myths will be explored to further comprehend how anti-semitism was in the past and how it currently relates to contemporary times. Jews known for contributing to well poisoning during the Black Death alongside how this group has been linked to being known as “Christ killers” and “ritual murders” provide an ugly, erroneous portrayal that harms the Jewish community and should be ended immediately.
Canada is seen as this peaceful country with an extremely polite population. Where no discrimination or conflict occurs. This usually the point of view of people out of canada who have heard stories about his country. The truth is before Canada has became this peaceful, a lot of horrible events and discrimination occurred. Such the discrimination against First Nations, the Jews, the germans and the Japanese.
There is a huge differences in the way the U.S. anti-semitism and how Europe brought approaches anti-Semitism. First The United States treat the Jewish people with more respect and understanding of their cultural differences even though the U.S. have had their share of prejudice against Jewish cultural, Europe has had more devastating results on the Jewish cultural. Example of this is when Europe, namely “Germany” brought about the holocaust, but on the same hand Americans during the pre-world war ii refused to give or political asylum to the Jewish people
When I think of America I picture the land of the free, sanctuary for all those being hurt and oppressed, but this wasn’t always the case and just like the majority of the world during the 1930-1940’s they shunned the Jewish population. Why had a country who had been built on the principles of freedom allowed so much time to pass by silently waiting while the Jewish population was being slaughtered all over Europe. What could be the reason for doing nothing for so long, could it have been the fact that they were completely unaware of what exactly was going on in Europe during this time or did they just not care enough to do anything about it. After the war finished many German People claimed that they didn’t know what exactly was happening during this time to the Jews so if this was happening over there and they were in the dark about it as well who could possibly blame America who was thousands of miles away to know.
Imagine yourself as a seven year old child, playing hide and seek in the neighborhood streets with your mischievous friends and enjoying life without a care in your mind. Where you go to school with a smile on your face excited about what the day has to bring, messing around and cracking jokes with your friends at lunch time, and later on getting picked up by your nurturing parents to go home and do homework and have some family time with your parents and siblings and finally going to bed in your warm and comfortable bed. Now imagine if all those wonderful things just disappeared and the world around you changes in one instant and turns into a fiery pit of hell, where evil men roam those streets you found refuge. All you hear is an unending sound of screaming, crying, and gunshots as mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters are forever separated not knowing where they are going. Anti-Semitism is the hatred of Jews, and it reached its pinnacle during the Holocaust. It’s known world wide as the genocide of approximately six million European Jews. Strikingly, there is a decent number of people in the world who don 't entirely believe that the Holocaust happened as it is documented by witnesses, survivors, and those tasked with rescuing those who survived, and burying those who did not. These people are known as Holocaust Revisionists; or in another term, “deniers.”
There was no one morning where the people of Germany woke up and decided to hate the Jews. Anti-semitism in Europe dates back to centuries ago, to the time period of Jesus Christ. This was the start of a chain reaction that leads to viewing Jews as the “other,” and the pent up intolerance that would eventually fuse over into mass genocide. This resentment boomed in Germany when Hitler accused the Jews of being backstabbers that caused their defeat in WWI. A powerful combination of the incredibly long lasting anti-semitism, scapegoating of the Jews, and the establishment of the Nazi Party alongside Hitler’s rise to power resulted in a rapid transformation from an emerging democracy into a genocidal, fascist dictatorship.
Critique of Anti-Semitism by Jean-Paul Sartre The 20th century was the time of various ideologies, attitudes, and opinions, which revealed many discussions among both, intellectuals and masses. The issue of anti-Semitism was one of the conceptions which was fully discovered and widely discussed during the whole 20th century. Among many famous people who were involved into the problem of anti-Semitism, Jean-Paul Sartre can be considered one of the most rational and ardent critics of the negative attitude towards Jews.