Tommy Dick Getting Out Alive Analysis

In sharp contrast to the relatively impersonal nature of the Crimes Against Humanity course material, Tommy Dick’s Getting Out Alive depicts, with a bone-chilling clarity, the emotions spawned by genocide; the humiliation brought on by being publically classified as inferior, the anguish borne out of being persecuted for another’s gain and the eventual transcendence of emotion, barring the fear of death. Through the analyzation of Dick’s critically acclaimed memoir, it is revealed that, not only was the Holocaust the height of discriminatory classification, but also that surviving any genocide occurs either out of extraordinary luck and bravery. The ten months spent on studying the mere statistics and ramifications of famous genocides throughout …show more content…
The entirety of Dick’s memoir credits his own survival to blind luck - “[turning his] head”, (Dick 17) at the last second, causing the bullet to shatter his jaw rather than his skull - and the bravery of his loved ones, his doctors and ultimately, himself. “The personal accounts of those who survived against all odds are as different as the people who wrote them, but all demonstrate the courage, strength, wit and luck that it took to face and outlive terrible adversity”, (Dick i). Dick’s own survival was not accidental; he had been identified as a “non-Aryan” due to his long-converted Jewish grandparents and even after he survived his first assassination attempt he was captured again with the intention of being worked to death. But “thanks to (his friends) Erika, Ocsi, Andris and Popovic and God knows who else, (he) missed that atrocity”, (Dick 22). The Nazi regime’s ultimate goal was always the seventh (or ninth, depending on personal philosophies) stage of genocide: extermination. The Wannsee Protocol, dubbed “The Final Solution of the Jewish question”, (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which will hereafter be referred to as USHMM, 1) states that “The aim of all this (the persecution of the Jews) was to cleanse German living space of Jews in a legal manner”. …show more content…
However the course itself is not to blame; there is no textbook, documentary or field trip that could faithfully depict the emotions brought on by a genocide. The second stage of genocide, preparation, is taught as death lists being drawn up and victims being forced to wear identifying badges, but “the sad sight of … [parents] (and) friends… wearing the humiliating yellow star on their coats”, (Dick 7), knowing that those badges are what brand them for slaughter, is left out of the curriculum. The Nuremberg Laws are outlined and taught in generalized, comprehensible pieces but the anguish brought on by seeing the home of your deported Jewish neighbour looted like a corpse by a vulture is unfortunately left out. Perhaps the most striking difference between the course material and the memoir itself is the depiction of polarization; in a classroom, it is defined as extremists driving the victim and perpetrator groups apart, with no mention of “intense, unforgiving hatred towards [one’s] fellow countrymen”, (Dick 40) that is borne out of it. A classroom setting is perfect for teaching the facts and figures of an event but unfortunately cannot fully convey the more personal effects of each event, leaving the course bereft of, what is arguably one of the most