Even then, however, multiple explanations arise, and none of them is entirely or exclusively convincing. On the one hand some researchers argue that the primary social cause of the Nazis party's success was precisely its "irrationalist appeal," because "the irrational, anti-intellectual, and visceral nature of the Nazi appeal to the masses" seems necessary to explain "what was it that impelled apparently sane, rational individuals to support an organization advocated the destruction of a people" (Brustein 1996, p
Somewhat interestingly, the particular flavor of racist ideology espoused by the Nazis was an example of an ideology born out of nurture making an argument in favor of the primacy of nature. During the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, pseudo-scientific theories of eugenics, based (somewhat tangentially) on the work of Charles Darwin began to emerge, promoting an ideology of "racial domination" like that discussed above, except with the addition of an explicit argument in favor of the notion that genetic inheritance determined practically all aspects of a person's personality, physical health, and social worth (Cullen 2005, p
396). Eventually, the party reached a kind of critical mass and its spread was almost inevitable, even to those regions where its economic message was less well-received (Flint 2000, p
Instead, one must recognize that any individual actor, even one as influential and dominant as Hitler, can only be considered as one point in a larger system, with a degree of autonomy but only within the bounds allowed by that system. This is where the commonalities between the different key dualisms of social theory become clear, because the tension between nature and nurture is in many ways reflected in the tension between "social structure and human agency, of conscious will and objective limits to its realization" (Laibman 2007, p
Instead, one must examine the explanations provided by each of these theoretical schema and then attempt to formulate a broader, more eclectic explanation of the Holocaust than is provided by any individual theory. Doing so reveals that the Holocaust was "a socially constructed problem whose 'solution' involved the active participation and passive compliance of ordinary human beings, the thousands of Germans who, consciously as well as inadvertently, and for purposes that have historical antecedents as well as structural causes, contributed to the Jewish genocide" (Iverson 2003, p
395). The importance of the Nazis' economic message cannot be unstated, particularly because the Nazis were able to effect a kind of economic recovery during the 1930s that was almost unprecedented for a country still recovering from both World War I and the Great Depression (Preparata 2004, p
57). This difficulty in determining an appropriate point of entry is part of why "Holocaust studies is difficult to define," and frequently "includes a variety of perspectives: philosophical, historical, sociological, literary critical, psychological" (Reitter 2000, p
The lasting impact of the Holocaust and its eternal threat to overwhelm is felt immediately upon beginning its examination, because one is forced to decide where to start, and in doing so attempt to encapsulate the entirety of the event. Furthermore, one must be careful when examining the Holocaust not to fall into the tempting trap of "turning to the Holocaust in search of universal moral lessons -- 'lessons' that merely confirm what we already believe," because this "risks serious distortion of the past" and does not contribute to the understanding of the phenomena, understanding that might prove crucial in preventing a repeat of this same kind of atrocities in the future (Salmons 2010, p
110). The rise of the Nazis and their subsequent actions included such a total dominance over every aspect of society, history, and identity that researchers attempting to understand this rise have been forced to develop eclectic approaches to the topic, but even then this runs the risk of explaining a variety of independent phenomena in German history and culture without ever being able to link them up into the "burnt whole" of the Holocaust itself (Suedfeld 2000, p
319). In this context, the important element of racism is not its evolutionary origin, but rather the social dimension that has arisen as a result of conditioning and ideological development, because it is this element that results in a notable power differential and institutionalization of racist policies (Sullivan 2005, p
I tried to explain to him that her shoes were falling off. He shoved the girl into a ditch and shot her" (Berkowitz 101)
We approached a gate house with a tall double gate made of steel. One of these bore the legend: arbeit macht frei, Work Makes Free" (Blum 50)
It was smuggled in tiny little pieces of cloth, tied up with a string. Inside our dresses we had what we called a little boit'l (small sack), a pocket, and the boit'l was where everybody hid their little treasures, wrapped in pieces of cloth" (Rittner and Roth 132)
They burned the bodies in pits. And this went on twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for years" (Weinberger 61)
Berger came to America seeking freedom, after fighting for freedom when he lived in Europe. Forced to hide his Jewish identity during World War II, he took on many personas, including a "Polish partisan fighter and a Russian lieutenant" (Abdollah 2009: 1)
For those people, freedom of speech may be an incredibly important issue, not necessarily because the stakeholders believe in the spreading of hate speech in any way, but because they are concerned about the slippery slope that might occur if internet providers restrict their communication. The concern of these stakeholders, who were very worried about the French court's initial decision is, "How can one jurisdiction decide what can or cannot be displayed on the World Wide Web" (Guernsey, 2001)
The book is set up almost like a journal, with nearly a day-by-day description of the brutalities and horrors heaped on Jews all over Europe. Gilbert states his thesis early in the Preface: "This book is an attempt to draw on the nearest of the witnesses, those closest to the destruction, and through their testimony to tell something of the suffering of those who perished, and are forever silent" (Gilbert 18)
The stories are horrible, and they begin to blend together into one vast horrific event that reduces the effectiveness of the book, and of the survivor's stories. As one reviewer notes, "From hundreds of contemporary sources and documents Gilbert quotes thousands of passages describing incidents of brutality, degradation, and murder of individuals and masses of humanity (Street 80)
. bacteriological pollutants allied with unnamed sinister forces in a campaign to dominate the world" (Ages, 1981, p
The Nazis targeted the Jews not because they were eternal outsiders, but because these outsiders were simultaneously the ultimate insiders. From the Bible (both testaments) to the Enlightenment and forward to modernity, Jewish culture was associated with the Western values against which the Nazis were in revolt" (Cary, 2002, p