During a time of political dissension, World War II, and the Great Depression, “the average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” However, safety is a freedom, and the Holocaust took this freedom, along with other inalienable liberties, away from ordinary, Jewish citizens. With the outcome of World War I and the creation of the Treaty of Versailles, the German people witnessed the degradation of their own culture and nationalism. The Treaty of Versailles placed sole responsibility for the war on Germany and ultimately demanded too many resources that the country could not afford to provide. With the collapse of empires, like Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman, came the growth of individualism. Conversely, Germany, directed
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When the Nazi SS officers in Budapest, Hungary began liquidating the ghettos, a Swedish diplomat, named Raoul Wallenberg, started handing out Schultz passes, which provided political immunity, to as many people as possible. Although the new, violent ideologies of Nazism and Fascism incubated heinous tragedies like the Holocaust, Raoul Wallenberg reflects the 20th century by using juxtaposing ideals of individualism to act upon his social responsibility as a bystander. Ultimately, his actions saved thousands of Hungarian Jewish people from the lifeless bounds of Nazi death camps and ghettos and still impact society today. Wallenberg’s acts of heroism and dauntless altruism collectively illustrate the time he lived by defending human rights, fighting racism and anti-Semitism, and upholding democracy from …show more content…
In 1941, Hungary joined Germany in the fight against the Soviet Union. However, soon after Hungary tried to withdraw from the alliance, Adolf Hitler invaded the country and soon began to deport many of the 700,000 Hungarian Jewish people to Polish concentration camps. When the War Refugee Board along with President Roosevelt enlisted Wallenberg as a humanitarian to defend the Jewish population of Hungary, he began using his diplomacy to save people. These actions illustrate that ““together, [humanity] cooperated to protect and promote human rights at home and abroad.” Wallenberg acknowledged that all people have the human, universal right of life, and he felt that he could play a role in defending those rights. Despite the political risks and jeopardization of his own safety, he did not succumb to the fears and intimidation of the Nazis. He told Herschel Johnson, who was an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, that ““...one evening, when an armed patrol entered this area to remove some of the inhabitants to labor camps, [he] met the patrol and, after advising him that he was trespassing on Swedish territory, informed the group that it could not trespass further without first shooting him…” This demonstrates his disregard for his own safety
When the Nazi SS officers in Budapest, Hungary began liquidating the ghettos, a Swedish diplomat, named Raoul Wallenberg, started handing out Schultz passes, which provided political immunity, to as many people as possible. Although the new, violent ideologies of Nazism and Fascism incubated heinous tragedies like the Holocaust, Raoul Wallenberg reflects the 20th century by using juxtaposing ideals of individualism to act upon his social responsibility as a bystander. Ultimately, his actions saved thousands of Hungarian Jewish people from the lifeless bounds of Nazi death camps and ghettos and still impact society today. Wallenberg’s acts of heroism and dauntless altruism collectively illustrate the time he lived by defending human rights, fighting racism and anti-Semitism, and upholding democracy from …show more content…
In 1941, Hungary joined Germany in the fight against the Soviet Union. However, soon after Hungary tried to withdraw from the alliance, Adolf Hitler invaded the country and soon began to deport many of the 700,000 Hungarian Jewish people to Polish concentration camps. When the War Refugee Board along with President Roosevelt enlisted Wallenberg as a humanitarian to defend the Jewish population of Hungary, he began using his diplomacy to save people. These actions illustrate that ““together, [humanity] cooperated to protect and promote human rights at home and abroad.” Wallenberg acknowledged that all people have the human, universal right of life, and he felt that he could play a role in defending those rights. Despite the political risks and jeopardization of his own safety, he did not succumb to the fears and intimidation of the Nazis. He told Herschel Johnson, who was an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, that ““...one evening, when an armed patrol entered this area to remove some of the inhabitants to labor camps, [he] met the patrol and, after advising him that he was trespassing on Swedish territory, informed the group that it could not trespass further without first shooting him…” This demonstrates his disregard for his own safety