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The Diary Of Anne Frank

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Anne Frank and Hannah Arendt are two prominent female names that arise when one thinks of the Holocaust. Each of these Jewish woman had a very unique experience during this grim time, one a bright-eyed, young girl who was forced to go into hiding, the other a philosopher that managed to escape. However each pondered the workings of the brutality going on around her, and put it into words. Frank and Arendt each discuss their views on human nature in the face of the Holocaust in their works. In this paper, I intend to discuss each woman’s view, and then discuss how such a similar viewpoint can be supported in two very different ways.
The Diary of Anne Frank is a personal work written by the young Anne Frank herself. The book is not a work of …show more content…

Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart (278).”
Frank’s reasoning for her point of view does not come with any sort of logical rationalization or in-depth analysis. Her explanation is as follows, “I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death…. I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again. In the meantime, I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out (279).” Frank’s beliefs simply stem from her wholehearted faith in the goodness of humanity, hopefulness for the future, and confidence in her God. There is no deeper thinking to her viewpoint, it is purely based off of a blind hope.
While philosopher and author of the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt would agree with Frank that human nature is not evil, she would certainly criticize for her lack of reasoning to back up her beliefs. In fact, Arendt’s book revolves around careful explanation of her views about Adolph Eichmann, a man who was significantly involved in the deportation process of the Jewish people to the concentration camps during the Holocaust. After attending his trial in

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