Monday, April 19, 2010
The Holocaust from the eyes of a German
When I was researching what about the Holocaust I wanted to blog about, I was thinking about my Grandma who grew up in Germany during the time. I came up with a question, should she have to take the blame for what her country did? I think that even since she lived there, she should take the blame because of what some of the people in her country did. She was not involved and did not want anything to do with it. But usually when people say they are German the first thing that comes to mind is the Holocaust. How can these people take the blame if they had nothing to do with it. However the actions that Hitler took to exterminate the Jews was to a certain extent of being endlessly cruel and not needed. When talking to my grandma about this she said that the time during the Holocaust was so sad and depressing she didn't know how to go on living normally. She said all the test they did to find out if the people were jewish or not was unnecessary and horrible. One time they measured her nose, but her blond hair and blue eyes meant she was a dominate German(I think they checked her records too). To this day she has the horrible image of the Jews being taken away to camps and then hearing about what they did. However she still is proud of the fact that she is German but wished the Holocaust never occurred.
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First of all, you made comments agreeing and disagreeing with the fact that your grandma should be held responsible for actions by the Germans during her life, what do you actually think? Personally, i believe that if a person wasn't actually involved and didn't have the opportunity to put an end to some of the slaughter, without putting themselves in harm's way, they should not be blamed for what happened in the Holocaust. However, the people who did put their life on the line to stop all of the killing can often be seen as heroes for their valiant effort(s).
ReplyDeleteOnce again, you need to proof read.
Kaitlin, not all Germans were in favor of the Holocaust, as is shown with your grandmother. Natzi Germany was a totalitarian government that controlled everything that its citizens said and believed in. It was a hell that very few of us today know the experience of. Unfortunately many people had no say in what occurred, and if they spoke out they would be executed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Dylan said about people not being responsible. It really is not very important to assign blame to X Y and Z individuals/groups. If someone holds a gun to your head and tells you to exterminate Jews or die, would you do it? Some people would, because self preservation may be more important to them than the lives of people who they don't know personally. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to be able to take the guns out of the Nazis hands, and protect the innocent, vulnerable Jewish victims.
ReplyDeleteKaitlin, I as i read your blog, you seem to be arguing that your grandma is innocent and guilty at the same time. It wasnt very clear what you actually thought about the situation. Is she responsible for the actions of her fellow Germans? I personally feel that if she was truly against is she shouldnt be blamed. Sometimes it is unfair how people are declared guilty by association. But did she ever make an effort to stop what was happening?
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