The Morality Of Bystanders In The Holocaust

Fearing abuse, bystanders did not want to stop and try to help the victims of the atrocity.

In the world during the time of the Holocaust, there was indifference towards the suffering of millions of Jews. When individuals reflect about the Holocaust, the majority of the time the responsibility of the terrible events is placed upon the perpetrators. However, bystanders and witnesses indirectly affected the victims of the Holocaust as well. The silence of these people played one of the largest roles in the Holocaust, they influenced it by avoiding any type of involvement and by becoming blinded towards the suffering of others. In his Academy Award acceptance speech, Elie Wiesel says, “the opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference”. This exert from his speech reveals the importance of the role that bystanders played in the

When many think of the Holocaust as a solely negative experience, and while it may seem easy to write the event off as a dark time in history that seems remote and unlikely to affect us today, there are some positive results, including the lessons that it brings for current and future humanity. The lessons that the Holocaust brings are applicable to every person in the world. While many of these lessons do focus on the negative aspects of the Holocaust, like what circumstances permit such a vast genocide and how many people can die because of widespread racial hatred, there are also those that focus on how some people, in all parts of Europe and throughout the world, retained their good human nature during the Holocaust. For example, what made some gentiles in Europe during that time willing and able to help Jews. Currently, Yad Vashem has recognized 26,513 rescuers throughout the world (Names), and the actual number of rescuers could likely be close to twice that amount (Baron,1). It is important that we analyze the reasons behind these rescuers’ choices to be upstanders instead of bystanders because we can learn about our own motivations when we face decisions between helping others and protecting ourselves, and possibly those we love, from harm. Fulfilling one’s self-interest was a potential motivation for helping Jews that will only be briefly addressed. This type of rescue potentially benefitted both the Jews and the Gentile rescuers; these Gentiles only helped Jews survive because they found personal gain, likely social or economic, in the action (Baron). However, in the situation that existed while rescuing the Jews, most efforts included the high possibility that both the rescuer and the rescued would end up worse off than they had begun with no potential for personal gain on either side. So those rescuers’ motivations are less easily explainable.

Holocaust. A word of Greek origin that means sacrifice by fire. The Holocaust is a terrible event in our world’s history. During the course of the Holocaust six million men, women and children of the Jewish faith were murdered by Aolf Hitler and his Nazis in concentration and death camps across Europe. “Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.” Elie Wiesel----cite correctly with Ms. G. By remembering the victims of the Holocaust we are breaking the silence and honoring the lives that were taken too soon.

People can only imagine the terrors that the Jews and other ethnic groups had to go through during the Holocaust in World War II. With Anne Frank’s diary, people can finally put themselves into the scene and captivate all the feelings and sentiments that Anne Frank has poured onto the pages. Anne Frank, her family, and their friends were known for hiding from the German Nazis in the Secret Annex for two years from 1942-1944. Innocent and naive,

A common misconception about the Holocaust is that the world was naïve of the atrocities happening under the Nazi’s rule. The horrors of the Holocaust were not left undocumented. Unfortunately, many saw these malicious acts as insignificant to the global population; people only start sympathizing when the hindrance affects them. Hitler, with the help of his many allies, achieved to murder millions of innocent men, women, and children. After spending this semester studying the Holocaust, I have realized that the Nazis’ greatest ally was neither an individual nor a country; Hitler’s greatest ally was indifference.

The infamous Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once said, “Being a neutral bystander helps those who are evil; that remaining silent encourages even more evil to happen.” Wiesel was part of the millions of Jews and protesters who Nazis shipped off to numerous concentration camps during the Holocaust. The apprehended and inaccurately claimed convicts had to go through many terrors to survive. Wiesel was one of the few Jews who survived the time Hitler ruled. I agree with Wiesel’s significant quote for many various reasons. To begin, I agree with Wiesel’s statement because victims that could have helped others during the Holocaust ignored that there were evil actions occurring around them during the time Hitler ruled. The victims also ignored

Being a bystander does not help for for the good, but it only helps the bad. In the Elie Wiesel Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, he said, “Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?” The United States waited about twelve years to stop the holocaust. We need to learn about this because we cannot just watch and do nothing if people are in danger. Many people died in those twelve years, if they never stop the holocaust it could lead to more deaths even could conquering the world. Let everyone be equal so help others who are in

My goal with my research is to look into the resistance of both the Jewish people and the others in European society who assisted in Jewish escapes. The perceived image of the Jews during the Holocaust is of “lambs to the slaughter.” The pictured painted of the rest of European society is one of either knowing accomplices or silent spectators. The Jewish people had many forms of resistance, some small and some large. While many of their neighbors were silent spectators, but many people were actively resisting the tyrannical Nazi government by assisting Jewish escapes. Each of these individuals risked their lives and the lives of their families and friends to aid these hunted individuals. They all deserve to have their stories heard and honored. In a time of complete chaos and destruction many people would not have the ability or fortitude to save the life of another person. The people that I will discuss in this paper were not only able to take that step, but put themselves and their families in real and eminent danger for the life, at times, of a complete stranger.

I.The bystanders were those people alliance, agency stood by and watched as a results of the atrocities mounted throughout the globe.

A quote from Albert Einstein states “the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything”. As difficult as it is to describe the terrible deeds of those who were part of the Holocaust, it is true that those who did nothing are at fault just as much as those who carried out the actions. When one thinks of the Holocaust today it is difficult to picture that such events were done by human beings. Societies have advanced but it is important to acknowledge the reason as to why many bystanders refused to help or why they were so indifferent to the pain felt by the Jews. “The psychological mechanisms used to come to terms with the suffering of another appear to be very similar, whether the person is standing right before us or is 2,000 miles away. (Barnet:118) Barnett explains that ideological and moral principles also come into play, as do self-interest and the weighing of the possible consequences of our actions. We try to establish what is or is not possible. In the end, our decision will be determined not so much by whether we actually have the power to change a situation, but whether we have the will to do so. (Barnett, 118). In the case of many of the individuals who chose to become bystanders rather than change the situation they were not willing to get involved. Although not every German was a bystander, those who

The holocaust is regarded as one of the most horrific genocides in recent history. It is not only terrifying because of the sheer number of deaths, but also because of the logistical and efficient manner they used. The systematic process they used defied a person’s ability to live a dignified life. A dignified life is the ability to live your life with the opportunity to become the person that you want to be. My perception of a dignified life was only strengthened by witnessing the Germans systematic process for dehumanizing women. They did this by completely disregarding their opportunity to be their own person which was evident by the removal of hair, being treated like a slave, and being tested on by scientists.

It is a challenge to reconcile human beliefs in compassion and morality with the actions, or inactions, of bystanders in the Holocaust. How is it possible that hundreds of thousands of people stood by while millions faced pain and suffering? Before exonerating or condemning all of them, it is necessary to consider the differences in bystanders. For the context of the Holocaust, a bystander is someone who was neither a target of the Nazis or a Nazi themselves. Putting all of these people in the same group is an oversimplification, because it ignores the power system in place during the Holocaust and the various positions of bystanders in that system. The wealthy business owner is not the same as the working-class mother of four. In this situation, one has considerable power and ability, and the other does not. Applying a blanket statement, and calling the latter unjust when they are ordinary people in a time of horrific war is contrary to reason. It is also necessary to consider the extent of bystander’s actions. Have their actions merely helped to ensure their own survival, or do they directly hurt Holocaust victims? The magnitude of each situation is varied. In conclusion, to gauge the morality of a bystander’s actions, they need to be judged on an individual basis, with two qualities in mind: that person’s ability to act and the effect of their actions.

The holocaust is one of the most horrific and catastrophic moments in history, we will never forget the leader of the Nazi party, Adolf Hitler, and his gruesome crimes he influenced. Adolf Hitler, despite having a good childhood, has turned into one of the most evil people to ever live. He caused a genocide of over 6 million people. This shows that he has no ethical reasoning, or morality. The lack of morality caused by a disconnect the orbital cortex, where emotions are regulated, shows Hitler is born evil because of Nazi medical experiments, and extermination camps, forced labor (university of Wisconsin-Madison.)

In this paper I will be going over the ethical views of the Holocaust. I have taken information from the accounts of surviving Jews of the Holocaust. I have also looked at information from those who believe the Holocaust was not a big deal and deny that many of the events even happened. I will bring up some viewpoints that may change people's perception of the Holocaust. Some of these facts were a shock to me and changed my view a little but some are so profound they make you think twice. The biggest impact from all my research was the real life accounts of those who survived through it. Many of this information are hard to read, but I felt that is was a subject that I would like to learn more about. Doing