“Sometimes I would shake myself again, astonished at how easy it had been to be seduced, to be knowingly led astray and join the great general mass of liars- that mass compounded of crass ignorance, utilitarian indifference, and shameless self-interest- and exchange a single great truth for the cynical shrug of a hardened sinner.” This quote reflects the thesis of the essay; that following the masses and being ignorant of the wrongdoing occurring around oneself leads the average man into becoming a monster. This fictional account follows the aftermath of the war in 1948. It tells the tale of a man who recalls the expulsion of a small village, Khirbet Khizeh. He is conflicted with how he should be feeling when being told the true mission of Khirbet Khizeh. He understands he must appear strong and willing like his fellow soldiers, but as a human being he …show more content…
Those we were driving out-that was a totally different matter. Wait. Two thousand years of exile. The whole story. Jews being killed. Europe. We were the masters now.” The most powerful statement within this novella. The idea, what happened to the Jewish people justified what they were doing to those living in Khirbet Khizeh.. There was a logical reason to drive people out of their homes, because this was “their” land; this is what the Romans had taken from them in the year 70. They deserved this land since Europe had killed millions of their people. This was the Jewish people’s rightful land. The narrator comes to this idea because of zionism, the dream of returning to the Holy Land. Never explicitly using the term “zionism” the narrator and those around him are driven to this extreme because of the belief. When the novel finally concludes the narrator understands he followed the ignorance of the masses and the hate this movement inspired against the Arabs. He can see that he had turned into something he was
While he desperately was trying to run away from the war he did not care where he was going just as long as he got away, like as he said, “We ran for hours, deeper into the forest. The path had ended, but we kept running until the sky swallowed the sun and gave birth to the moon”(Beah 98). Desperation to flee the war is something he has common with the people he soon would killed. He did not want to become a soldier as he saw what affects the Rebel boy soldiers had. Soon after he became a soldier he was transferred to a rehabilitation center where he then would become a soldier.
Also, there are the Jews who, since 1,000s of years before the Second World War, have been mistreated a and seen as foreigners for many years. The article continues by explaining how some factors such as “war… political changes or economic collapse” can help people decided which groups belong to their nation and which don’t. As a result of such discrimination against certain groups, people try to rid their nation of those who they believe don’t belong there. Ethnic cleansing is the result.
In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel highlights the horrific crimes committed against a people just for who they were and what religion they followed. After the war, Elie dedicated his time to ensuring that this group of people is not forgotten so that history doesn’t repeat itself. In Elie’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he says “Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices”. We could not prevent their deaths the first time, but if we forget them, they will be killed a second time. And this time, it will be our responsibility,” (Wiesel).
Tiffany P. Stewart Mrs. Homan English 10 7 March 2024 Night Essay The Holocaust will forevermore be the most significant example of genocide in the world’s history. When we think of the Holocaust, we usually think of the event in its entirety. However, we often think little about the survivors. Now, in Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, we get to see the first-hand account of a Holocaust survivor.
On his writing, Browning shows how “ordinary” men can change their beliefs and their common sense because of the influence of others. In this book, soldiers of the WWII were influenced by the government of Hitler. Browning called it "atrocity by policy” because the damage caused by soldiers wasn’t spontaneous but indeed planned methodically by the government, they had calculations and plans. In addition, Browning explains how members of the police battalion (a Nazi paramilitary formation) slowly started enjoying the idea of murder and torture innocent people. “As in combat, the horrors of the initial encounter eventually became routine” (Browning 1992, p. 161).
In the memoir Night, the narrator Elie Wiesel recounts a moment when, “How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?” (Wiesel, 4). He was angry that innocent people were dying and getting killed. He was mad because of everything they were doing to the poor people. He couldn’t believe what was happening. Two significant themes related to inhumanity discussed in the book Night by Elie Wiesel are Loss of Faith and Disbelief.
The book written by Christopher R. Browning titled Ordinary Men is an interesting, engaging, anomaly in the genre of non-fiction books pertaining to the topic of World War Two and the Holocaust. Browning’s analysis of what possessed ordinary German men, who’s ideas where non pertinent in relation to Nazism is one worthy of academic study and discourse. Browning is delving into the intricacies of what specifically pushed “ordinary” men in the Reserve Police Battalions 101 of Nazi Germany to perpetrate the action of moving thousands of Polish Jewry into box cars, and sequentially taking part in perhaps the worst enormity in human history. Browning’s argument is an ever unsettling one, an argument that reveals to the reader what “normal” people
Ignored by the community, the first symbol of indifference is sparked, provoking the detrimental chain reaction of events to follow. “He [Moshe the Beadle] only spoke of what he had seen. But people not only refused to believe his tales, they refused to listen. Some said he only wanted their pity...others said that he had gone mad.” (7) Elie Wiesel delivers a writing style that mirrors that of a reporter; its simplicity becomes its complexity. In turn, it enables the flaws of human nature to become obvious to the reader, in this case the community’s need to rationalize the frightening and seemingly impossible, which are
Similar to the Native Americans, Palestinian people are experiencing comparable events happening to them. Just as the European have ‘explored’ the land of the Natives, Zionists are ‘exploring’ the land of the Palestinians. The Europeans exterminate the Natives and separate them from their families. The action of stealing the life of a man who belongs to a family in my opinion is one of the worst things that can be done. Many Palestinians including myself has experienced this and have not overcome it.
Christopher R. Browning’s book, Ordinary Men, is a microhistory of the Holocaust that focuses in on the Reserve Police Battalion 101. The books main purpose is to persuade the reader how ordinary middle-aged men could become the professional killers leading to horrible massacres. In the preface to his book, Browning makes the following comment about the men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101, “Never before had I encountered the issue of choice so dramatically framed by the course of events” (Browning, xvi.). This statement helps label some of Browning’s finding in his book. Although the men were given a choice to opt out of the killings during the Holocaust, the overwhelming majority chose to follow orders and commit crimes against
This summary paper on Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men will provide a summary and an overview of the main ideas of the text while attempting to focus on Browning's overall central argument which revolves around these seemingly “normal” and “ordinary men” and how they were transformed into murderers due to various elements. The summary paper will also be dedicated to the overall significance of the book and its significance in relation to the history of the Holocaust as a whole. Browning's novel is significant in generating a greater awareness towards the Holocaust but more specifically providing awareness towards who the perpetrators were as Browning provides an in depth examination into the ordinary men which were transformed into these mass murderers, while centering his argument on how and why did these normal and seemingly ordinary men transform into the mass murderers in which they became. The novel also takes the reader into an in depth, detailed account of the horrific actions of the German battalion towards the innocent Jewish population, as Browning details the
The entire world is so ignorant to such a massacre of horrific events that are right under their noses, so Elie Wiesel persuades and expresses his viewpoint of neutrality to an audience. To confirm his view on how neutrality only helps the oppressor, Wiesel restates a personal encounter with a young Jewish boy after the Holocaust, “‘Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?’ And now the boy is turning to me: ‘Tell me,’ he asks. ‘What have you done with my future?’” (Wiesel). The author uses this true story to make the crowd feel sympathetic toward the young Jewish boy. The fact that his personal encounter is real and true appeals to the audience and opens their minds to the harsh effects of neutrality.
Cognitive categorization, varying worldviews and self-image are important subjects that have gained unprecedented momentum in the contemporary study of holocaust. Scholars have increasingly demonstrated devotion into the understanding of the constellation that existed among the Nazis, Church, German professionals, and above all, the non-Jews communities. Most of the academic studies have focused their attention on the psychology of the perpetrator, herein referred to as the Nazis. They have analyzed what drove the Nazi regime to annihilate the Jews community. However, significant gaps still need to be filled with regard to the role played by on-lookers or bystanders in enhancing the holocaust. It was not only a case of the neighbour turning the perpetrator of senseless murder, but one in which the neighbour refused to open the door for fellow neighbours in times of need. This treatise explores the psychology of the bystander with regard to how non-Jews communities, institutions such as the church, and nations reacted to the holocaust.
He has begun to observe his own life
He said that before the Jewish occupation of Palestine he was being paid 135 qurush for a days work. He said that at that time life was not as expensive as it was at the time he was telling the story. He then said that after the war when he went back to his to his employer, the employer said that he would pay he 80 qurush for a days work. This interaction is a direct result of what had happened to the Palestinians after the war that brought a major division between the muslims and the jews. This is an example of the unfair treatment that the Israeli merchants had done to the Palestinian work force. These interactions could be directly associated with the rise of jews moving into the area described in the book. After several hearings in April of 1946 the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry recommended that 100, 000 people of the jewish descent be admitted to Palestine and that there should neither be a Arab state or a Jewish state. The influx of jews into the same areas as the arabs makes sense of the increasing competition of jobs between the two people groups which would only cause the divide between them to grow larger and