You've just watched, "The Road to Treblinka" from the documentary, NAZIS: A WARNING FROM HISTORY. It is said, “The reality of the history of the Nazis is far harder to explain than the popular conception of a nation led astray by Hitler. That the Nazi philosophy of obedience, seizure and struggle had appeal in the thirties and can still appeal to millions today.” Do you agree with that statement? In addition - please answer the question, "What did you learn that you did not know before watching the film?"
29 comments:
The thing that surprised me the most was the interview with the Ukranian man. I thought that maybe after 50 years he would regret killing all those people but it turns out that the mind set of the Nazis will never go away.
I was surprised about this video is that when the Ukranian man was interviewed, he would get that feeling of guilt but he doesn's have that feeling for killing the people. Later on the minds would be turned out is that the Nazis will not go away.
In some ways I do agree with that statement, but in a different way and not to the extent Hitler portrays the philosophy. Obedience, seizure, and struggle still exist, although I believe obedience is the only one we strive for today. I was unaware that the Jewish people would throw their clothing at the Germans watching, and it surprised me to see that they were even allowed to watch. The Nazis wanted to cover up the concentration camps, although so many people already knew what was going on.
Before watching the film, I knew about the gas chambers but I did not know about the logistics surrounding them. Regarding the statement, I disagree. Everytime I hear the word "Nazi" I cringe. I don't associate it with a positive way of learning obedience and order. Instead, I associate it with mechanized killing.
I am in agreement with Erin. I was troubled by the Lithuanian police officer. Some hatred will still be there due to a lack of education. I also was somewhat relieved though by the negative reactions that our class had to his statement. It shows that there is hope. But I was also reading the steps to genocide handout and it scares me to know how easily bullying can turn into a tragedy such as the genocide.
I do agree with this statement. The Nazi’s crimes against humanity were the result of their philosophy of obedience, seizure and struggle, yet today the world still does follows those principles, many of which go unnoticed; although many of these events obviously occur on a much smaller scale than in the 30’s. Bullying is an example of this; it is a group targeting an individual and making them miserable. Members of the group go along with the teasing and beating because they are afraid to step out of line. Although acts such as these serve on a smaller scale than the war crimes committed, it does parallel to the Nazis philosophy of obedience, seizure, and struggle.
I never thought I’d hear a member of the Nazi party actually admit what they had done and say they didn’t regret doing so. The Ukrainian man admitting this really surprised me, because I figured that someone who would do such things would never openly say it, especially in a movie. What he did was the same thing Resi Kraus by ending someone’s life. But the difference between the two is that she denied what she had done and he didn’t. It was just so shocking how a person who had committed crimes against humanity wouldn’t deny doing so.
I agree with Erin. I can't believe after all this time he didn't regret killing those people, but that goes along with how every soldier was brainwashed into thinking the Jews were evil. It's hard to imagine that even though the Nazi party ended, that he still held onto that terrible view of the Jews based on the propaganda.
What really surprised and shocked me was that the Ukrainian man admitted that himself and other men would willingly volunteer to shoot innocent people in return for vodka. It horrified me that someone would murder young children for a reason like that and not even say that they felt guilty after.
I agree with what Catie said about the statement. When I hear the word nazi I don't think about anything positive, instead it makes me think about the killing of innocent people. I think that it's very disturbing that anyone would find the word nazi appealing in any way.
I agree with Erin, I was also really surprised with the interview with the Ukranian man. It was surprising that even after so long he didn't even feel bad or have any guilt for killing so many innocent people.
Before watching this film I didn't know that the Nazis would get volunteers to kill people. I was also very surprised by the Ukranian man's interview and that he admitted to volunteering to kill so many innocent people. I also was very surprised that years later and after serving time in jail he still doesn't feel guilty about.
With regard to the statement, I am with many other students in that I agree, but only to a certain extent. I feel that since the holocaust, no genocide has reached the colossal degree that the Nazis reached through the use of their philosophy of obedience, seizure and struggle. And although I feel that specifically the Nazi philosophy is largely dead today, the principles of obedience, seizure and struggle remain relevant. They remain relevant in that bodies of power strive to make those who live under them obedient, and those who do not obey struggle as a result. The aspect of seizure remains relevant today in that those who disobey and struggle against power are seized and forced to assimilate.
In watching this film, I learned more about the specifics of how the work camps functioned, and how the Nazis were able to manipulate the Jews into playing right into the Nazi hand. That kind of manipulation is not only despicable, but it also points to the disrespect that the Nazis held for the Jews. Even as the Jews were being marched to their deaths, the Nazis continued to lie and take advantage of their weaknesses. I also learned that the Nazis were able to make people who were non-nazis and non-Jews mindlessly obey them, like the Lithuanian police officer. Not a nazi, not a Jew, and yet he obeyed Nazi orders in senselessly and remorselessly killing Jews.
It's difficult to imagine it happening in an ostensibly developed nation with such extensive communications networks as we have today (the Internet), but it's still a remote possibility; it's definitely very much a problem in less developed nations, and disconcertingly easy to fall into that mindset. Starve a nation, choose a scapegoat, and get a charismatic leader to rile the people up and there you have it. Hell, considering that there was a warlord aptly known as General Butt-Naked--and highly successful to boot--perhaps the charisma part isn't even necessary. Such a brutal takeover of the United States isn't much of a feasible event...but I'd still be wary of any one group proclaiming themselves to be freedom fighters, especially the ultra right-wing types. Those are the most dangerous ones, especially if you consider what the Nazi Party started out as: a bunch of extremist conservative loons griping about how the Jews were ruining the nation. It's eerie how similar sentiments echo amongst the aforementioned groups, and scarier still when some of their representatives have made it into Congress (Todd Akin, I'm looking at you). The problem is that, while the Cold War has largely demolished any chance of an extremist leftist group taking over the United States--public opinion being strongly hostile to the extreme left--we as a society haven't quite grasped that the Nazis were essentially the logical conclusion of the other end of the spectrum. Left unchecked, we may have to face down a group of paranoid "patriots" who are only so in name only.
There were many new eye opening things that I saw after watching the film on Treblinka. I knew of the gas chambers and I knew that it had done some damage to the Jewish people. There was more than one location setting for the gas chambers in Germany. I was not aware that the gas chambers in Treblinka killed 750,000 innocent Jewish people. This means that in the five to six other gas chamber locations there were probably near 750,000 killed as well.
I agree with what Kelsey had to say towards the end of her comment. Her statement about the Nazis trying to cover up the concentration makes a lot of sense to me. I want to know why the Nazis would bother covering up the evidence when everyone knew or would eventually find out about what was happening in the concentration camps.
I do not know if I agree with this statement or not. the second part of it seems valid because there are still some people today who do not believe that the Holocaust occurred and that Hitler was correct in his ways. I do not want to believe that people could think this way, but it is a reality. During this film, I was surprised to find that Hitler and his allies were trying so hard to cover up the fact that they were exterminating the Jewish people. First, it was obvious to the people in these countries at that time that this was what was going to the Jews and second, i had assumed that they were so proud of what they were doing that they would not hide it. I can't fathom why people would destroy other people, especially in this way. I wish more people had stepped up when they saw the Jews being killed, like at the massacre on the way to Treblinka. They needed protection and almost no one was willing to risk their lives for them.
Before viewing this film, I knew the extent to which the Nazis were killing the Jews, and how many Jews they were actually killing. However, I feel that watching this film reiterated that value of how many Jews were killed, and by watching footage of the Nazis and the Jews, that number means so much more to me. Now I know more of the logistics of the killing camps, and the word Holocaust means so much more than just a terrible genocide. I do not agree with this statement, and do not associate anything positive with the Nazi's ways of ruling Germany and its surrounding countries. They may have been good at what they were doing, but what they were doing was unspeakable, and therefore I feel they should not be given any praise or recognition, only recognition of shame.
I agree with what Catie stated. I too cringe at the words "Nazi" and Holocaust". It is hard for me to understand how so many Nazi soldiers could kill people by the hundreds each day. It was inhumane.
I agree with Michayla that these Nazi principles exist today on a smaller scale without notice. I feel like many parents treat their children in this way and this is also how a hostage situation could occur.
I learned what the mindset of the Nazi's were, there were some willing to admit what they've done and there are some who will deny it. I believe that they know what they did was socially wrong but they can make sense of it because they were told to do it and probably would have been punished if they didn't follow orders. So they were brainwashed, as Kristen said, into believing that this was morally an okay thing to do and that the jews were not human. Before watching this film, I didn't realize exactly how many people were killed, I knew that they were often lined up infront of that pit of bodies and shot but I had no idea the pit was that large and with that many bodies. It blows my mind thinking about how many innocent people were killed.
On some level, I believe this statement is true. What the Nazis had the ability to accomplish in the past is something that cannot be explained. However, the Nazis and supporters of the Nazis who are still alive today that look back and see the tragedy that they've caused without having any sense of shame is baffling. When I take this into account, it proves for myself to be one of the most unfathomable things I could hardly endure. The Nazis had instilled fear and terror in the lives of innocent Jews by going into their homes and stripping them of everything they owned, people they loved, and their own sense of pride and dignity. What the Nazis had done then and their views on it now that haven't changed probably seems to be one of the most difficult concepts to try and understand. Thus, I agree with Erin's statement that the mindset of jews will never change, because that is what they lived by back then.
I do agree with the statement that the Nazi philosophy of obedience, seizure, and struggle would have appeal to people today. I feel that as long as the status quo is uninterrupted and there is order in people's every day lives, it would be easy to do the types of things that the Nazis did.
I agree with what Julie said about how there must be some people that understand what they did was wrong and regret it.
I never fully understood why the Allies did not intervene earlier with the death camps and gas chambers that the Germans used to exterminate the Jews. The Nazis hid the gas chambers and camps in secluded areas, surrounded by trees and a tall wall. Nazi officials never mentioned the death camps in message and used a secret code word that referred to the camps, allowing the Allies to never know what they were doing to the Jewish people. Some Jews did not even believe that there were death camps or gas chambers and did not realize that they were about to die when they were going to "take a shower."
I agree with Zoe when she said that no genocide since the Holocaust has been as big and successful as the Nazis did with using seizure and struggle and the philosophy of obedience. These ways that the Nazi used to have people obey them are still used today but to a less extent than the Nazis did.
I agree completely with the premise that it is necessary to destroy fascism and not simply Hitler, and that this need has not been eliminated. In fact, it cannot be eliminated without the abolition of class society, as fascism is an outgrowth of capitalist reaction during periods of its decline.
This phenomenon is being shown again around the world today - in
Greece, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party is polling at 10-12% of the vote, and received half of the votes of the Greek police in the last election. Furthermore, Golden Dawn fascist gangs are attacking and killing immigrants, LGBT people, communists and anarchists, and others on the streets.
I did not know that Berlin was involved in the Holocaust. I also didn't know the exact details of the process that went on at Treblinka, but I knew briefly what it was about. I feel badly for the Jews here because they keep getting their hopes up because they are being tricked into these situations, and for this, they will not come out alive.
I agree with Emily, that killing innocent people voluntarily in return for vodka is disgusting. Being intoxicated is not an excuse for thinking that it's okay to do such a thing. This was really surprising because you would think maybe that now because it is the 21st century and we now know that nothing about the Holocaust is accepted.
I agree with the statement that seizure and obediance still apply to people today because today people in everyday sitiuations will obey to authority to avoid consequences. Before watching this film i didn't know that the nazi's had no regrets. this just shows that they have been so brainwashed to rid the jews that they don't ebem think what they did was morally bad.
I agree with Erin, the interview with the Ukranian man was astonishing. Going back to what i said about how some of the nazi's didn't regret doing what they did, he was a primary source of admitting that he didnt think what he did was wrong, which makes me wonder if humans back then were psychologically messed up more than they are today. How can so many people not feel bad about killing innocent people?
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