In public discourse surrounding an event like the Holocaust, it is not uncommon for one to want to summarize the event in some abstract concept, be it positive or negative. This type of thinking is especially prevalent in the conclusions drawn by those reading literary works relating to the Holocaust, in which the stories are so entrenched with stereotypes of suffering and the equivocal life-lessons that they lead to a rather shallow understanding of an emotive and difficult subject. This is not
Night and Dawn. The end and the beginning of a day. Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, noted author and recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, writes of both the darkness of the Holocaust and of the dawn of its ending. While Night is Wiesel’s autobiographical tale of his experiences during the Holocaust, both in his hometown and in the concentration camps, Dawn is a fictional tale of Elisha, an eighteen-year-old Holocaust survivor, who has joined the Jewish Resistance movement in Palestine. Both are stories
Denial of atrocities is no new thing. For thousands of years, people have been consumed by the denial of terrible acts that they just cannot fathom. Instead of doing something to stop such events, it feels safer to just ignore the problem and hope that it goes away. Everyone, governments and common people alike, are at fault for this way of life. It has led to destruction in countries that need help, genocide against innocent people, and creates long-term suffering that could, had somebody intervened
Analysis of Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman Maus, by Art Spiegelman, shows the trials and tribulations that the main character, Vladek, and his companions suffered during the Holocaust. No matter the situation, Vladek rises up to the challenge, and does the only thing he can do: live. For the Jewish people during that time surviving was a challenge and for those that actually survived was pure luck. Throughout Maus we find this survival in the portrayal of Vladek Spiegelman; father of the author
transported to the deleterious Auschwitz concentration camp, she told her sister in an unfacetious voice, “We have to tell the people” . . . The answer from Beril Sinnreich is that “‘it shouldn’t happen again’”, and this is a vehement ideal that many Holocaust survivors share (Shaver)1.Elie Wiesel, author of Night, also shares this ambition and has an immense passion for the pursuit of peace. September 30th, 1928 was a happy day for Shlomo and Sarah Wiesel, for it was the day that their newborn son
problems like these and told the tale because they persevered. Through Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, Wiesel’s Night, and Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, perseverance is emphasized the readers by writing about characters, whether they are survivors of the Holocaust, a prisoner of war, or family, that have to suffer obstacles that can potentially kill them if they don’t overcome it. Even though each author has a different way to show perseverance, they all agree on what perseverance can do. Persevering through
As an ordinary Jewish girl who was one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, Anne Frank was an incredibly memorable girl due to the publication of her diary. Anne Frank was a liberal Jew; as for she did not follow all the traditions of Judaism. On the fourteenth of August 1944, a group of German uniformed police arrested the Frank family and was sent into The House of Detention, transitioned into the Westerbork Transit Camp and then to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In July 1945
April 7, 1994 marked the beginning of one hundred days of massacre that left over 800,000 thousand dead and Rwanda divided by a scare that to this day they are trying to heal. The source of this internal struggle can be traced back to the segregation and favoritism established by Belgium when they received Rwanda after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1918. At the time the Rwandan population was 14% Tutsi, 1%Twa, and 85% Hutus; the Belgian’s showed preferential treatment to the Tutsi, who
xxiii). While she was in the attic, she wrote her diary, which would eventually become a famous historical document. She recorded her grumblings about her attic mates’ behaviors and her feelings about herself and the Van Pelses’ boy. Through the two year period she was in the attic, she wrote surprisingly philosophical observations of the world, and she also learned a vast amount of information about herself. After her death, her father published the diary, and “Anne Frank” quickly became a name that
xxiii). While she was in the attic, she wrote her diary, which would eventually become a famous historical document. She recorded her grumblings about her attic mates’ behaviors and her feelings about herself and the Van Pelses’ boy. Through the two year period she was in the attic, she wrote surprisingly philosophical observations of the world, and she also learned a vast amount of information about herself. After her death, her father published the diary, and “Anne Frank” quickly became a name that