Prompt:
When human catastrophes occur, especially a catastrophe the magnitude of the Holocaust, how is responsibility determined? Are there “levels” of blame or is everyone - perpetrator, collaborator, and bystander - ultimately equally responsible and, therefore, equally guilty?
I feel like catastrophes, at the same severity as the Holocaust, never have just one person deemed as “responsible” because it wasn’t just one person, just one person could not have done this to 6 million Jews. However, I also feel like if anyone had caused pain or distress to any one victim in the Holocaust, they should be held responsible for what they did to that one person and or multiple people. They should have been punished with all the terrible, petrifying, unforgivable, things they (Nazis, Kapos, Kommandos, etc.) did to those poor people, all of them. The perpetrators should have endured everything that those victims had. Everyone should not be held equally responsible for what happened. Bystanders were who they were because they were afraid to stand up and say something, afraid to be “punished”, for trying to do something. Collaborators are the people that tried to help the Nazis the people that thought that what Hitler, and the Nazis were doing what was the right thing to do. Those people respected Hitler and the Nazis’ decisions. These people deserve to be looked down upon, to be punished as well as anyone else that thought that the Holocaust was even remotely a good idea, should be punished just as much as anyone else involved with the Holocaust, but that’s just my opinion.
I really like this post! I couldn't agree more! I like how you said that the perpetrators should have endured everything that those victims had. I totally agree with this, they deserve every last punishment they ordered. Nice job Keep on posting, I'll make sure I come back and view!
ReplyDeleteI think the perpetrators and the collaborators aren't the only ones to get blamed. They should get the most blame for these crimes, but bystanders should also be blamed because they could have stopped the Holocaust. The United States and England could have stepped in and stopped it. The Soviet Union also persecuted Jews, so they were a collaborator. The United States and England were allies with the Soviet Union, but they didn't tell them to stop it even though they could. So I believe bystanders should also get blamed because they have the ability to stop or reduce the persecutions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on certain aspects, the bystanders should get blamed because they did indeed have to ability to stop persecutions, however, they had a good reason to stand down. I know it sounds bad, making excuses for bystanders but the bystanders like the fellow people in the camps had good reasons to not try to stop this from happening, they were afraid for their lives. Sure, people who knew about it and never did a thing, who probably would've not been punished for saying something, should have said something, and since they did not, they should be blamed. I'm not exactly sure if we knew what was going on in Germany, the camps etc.,because I would think it weird if the U.S. knew and did nothing, do you know if the U.S. knew about the Holocaust taking place?
DeleteI do believe that one person shouldn't be blamed for all that has happened. People have to also keep in mind that Hitler and the Nazi party were a group. But, just like you said I think many of the bystanders turned into collaborators just because they didn't want to be punished. Everyone in the world could have took a stand and done something. So everyone was a bystander at some point. I also think, bystanders should be blamed and should not at the same time because of this. Like if someone could have hid a Jewish family from the Nazis but declined and never gave it a second thought, should be blamed more than the bystanders across the ocean. The perpetrators and collaborators should be more harshly blamed though. They actually were physically doing things to the Jews and others being held captive under the Nazi forces. It really has to with your own opinion. After reading this post it made me realize if I could punish certain people for doing this, would I punish the all the bystanders or only some?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you, people who could have helped hide Jews and did not, should be blamed more than the bystanders across the ocean, and yes, I feel like the perpetrators and the collaborators should be more harshly blamed, like the people that hurt the Jews and made it their business to make sure the Jews' lives would be,for lack of better words 'hell', every single day, those people should get blamed more as well.
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