American Jewish writer, and political activist Elie Wiesel, in his sympathetic speech “The Perils of Indifference” to send a strong message to the audience. As a survivor of the Holocaust, he supports his claim through his speech explaining the dangers of indifference from first hand experience. Specifically in his speech he refers to himself, “A young Jewish boy [..] woke up in a place of eternal infamy called Buchenwald”(par 1).. In addition, Wiesel use of rhetorical questions is for the audience to question or to think about indifference. Wiesel’s purpose is to warn people about indifference in order to “save” our future.
What can a person do if their language is tainted with malevolent intentions towards others, how about after sixty millions of their own people are inhumanly slaughtered with little to no respect? Nothing can ease a person’s trauma and torment, attempting to explain an event of such horrific context is extremely for a survivor of said event. However, another problem arises, how one thoroughly explains an event that they desperately do not want to relive. Many Holocaust survivors, who are literary geniuses, use a variety of methods in order to express their opinions and experiences to the reader. Elie Wiesel’s use of repetition, Art Spiegelman’s use of a bizarre genre to create symbolism while explaining euphemisms, and many survivors opening up to the younger generation at Holocaust themed museums.
The Event that Nobody Wants to Remember Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, wrote about his horrifying experience in the concentration camps during World War II and titled it Night. Wiesel explained a little about his life before the notorious event and the asperities he encountered as a Jewish teenager. In this memoir, there are clarified explanations about the infamous event, the Holocaust. Wiesel’s first-hand account of the struggles he encountered as a Jewish prisoner is a primary resource for those whom wish to know about the hardships the Jewish inmates went through. In Night, there are examples of Aristotle’s appeals ethos, pathos, logos, and mood in which he uses successfully to relate his personal experiences
He uses people’s personal stories and moral choices as a lens to tell the story of World War II. From these stories, he draws common themes and traces their impact on the war, and the impact on society postwar. On page 13 he talks about using two different hats in which to use in our historical observance while reading his book. The first is, “the stance of celebration: the imperative one feels to recapture vividly the drama, sacrifice, and extraordinary achievement that culminated in allied victory.” This stance is how we tend to usually view the war.
This audience is addressed by citing historical evidence of the Holocaust. It is hard to argue with history, especially with an event as appalling as the Holocaust. By doing so the author is forcing this hostile audience to take a hard look at the similarities between that time period and present day. It is important to study history so that we can learn from mistakes and prevent that situation from happening again, which is the point the author tried to make by drawing this conclusion. The comparison to this atrocious time period also subliminally hints to the ethics of allowing refugees into the country because it is morally correct and would be the best way to show that we have learned enough from the Holocaust to attempt preventing another
Wiesel and Bryks illustrated their memories to ensure the lessons of the Holocaust were never forgotten. Both authors use bread as a motif to illuminate the change in lifestyle throughout the Holocaust. In addition, their narration shows a shift in moral values that portrays underlying symbolism. The motif of bread in Night and “Bread” serves as a powerful symbol that effectively portrays the Jews’ shift in moral value during the Holocaust through the use of imagery and dialogue.
One would never know how profound reading original documents for a class that was taking for mere boredom can be. America Views the Holocaust 1933-1945: A Brief Documentary History, by historian Robert Abzug, did indeed change my thoughts and possibly altered my degree selection. I came to be fascinated by the historical presentation of Abzug and the essays, which focus on whether or not history is true and the denial of one of the most horrific events in the world. Being exposed to their essays while reading Taking Sides: America Views the Holocaust 1933-1945:
This book shows how the Holocaust should be taught and not be forgotten, due to it being a prime example of human impureness. Humans learn off trial and error, how the Jewish population was affected, decrease in moral, and the unsettled tension are prime examples of such mistakes. The Jewish population was in jeopardy, therefore other races in the world are at risk of genocide as well and must take this event as a warning of what could happen. In the Auschwitz concentration camp, there was a room filled with shoes.
Books have been around us our whole lives, but do they hurt or help us? Take all books off the shelves. They're too dangerous to be a snob." by Alexandra Petri, is an opinion piece exploring banning books and how books affect society. In this article, Petri uses language to convey a sarcastic tone and contrasting opinions about the harm books can cause people.
When destruction strikes many newspapers and try their best to cover it. This paper looks at how local newspapers will cover a story that happening in it’s area compared to how a newspaper with more national coverage will cover the same story. Thus, newspapers with different target audiences will cover the same event in different ways. On March 11, 2011 there was an earthquake just off the coast of Japan that spawned a tsunami that hit many coastal communities in California and beyond.
Tim Snyder’s “Bloodlands” gives a detailed history of Europe during the reigns of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. In “Bloodlands” Snyder’s main point is to describe that although Hitler and Stalin had conflicting goals and viewpoints, their actions directly affected one another and resulted in one of the most horrific time periods in European history. Timothy Snyder is an American author and historian who specializes in the Holocaust and Central and Western Europe. After graduating high school, Snyder received his Bachelor’s degree from Brown University and his Doctorate from Oxford University; Snyder also has held fellowships Paris, Vienna, and Warsaw (Timothy Snyder, 2018).
Perils of Indifference delivers his message effectively, but not to the same degree of his memoir, for it isn’t able to explore these the horrors of the Holocaust, and use the same extent of literary terms because of its length
Choices play a critical role not only in people’s daily lives, but in shaping history as well. The stronger those choices are, the greater impact they have on society. During the Holocaust, when the Germans considered themselves racially superior to the Jews and caused millions of innocent deaths, ordinary European citizens and perpetrators shaped history through their actions and inaction. While some stayed quiet, many brave individuals, called upstanders, decided to rescue Jews and other victims of persecution, based on their past experiences and from the goodness of their heart. These upstanders chose to rescue and assist a race marked for death, while knowing full well the harsh penalties for doing so.
Life as a Jew during the Holocaust can be very harsh and hostile, especially in the early 1940’s, which was in the time of the Holocaust. “Sometimes we can only just wait and see, wait for all the things that are bad to just...fade out.” (Pg.89) It supports my thesis because it explains how much the Jewish community as
The stories of the World War Two air raids on Hamburg, Germany in the summer of 1943 has forever changed how the world views the Jewish race. The impacts they have had on the modern society’s recognition, views and beliefs of the horrific events have established a better understanding of what a Jewish Hamburger in the 1940’s had to go through during those times and how they had the will to survive. Marione Ingram’s ‘Operation Gomorrah’, relives an adult Jewish Hamburg looking back at their key childhood memories and constructs this survivalist identity through her use of textual form, figurative language, idiom/register and tone in her piece.
