The Nazis, a totalitarian regime formed under Hitler’s leadership, had forced six million Jews to struggle in their businesses and ultimately be murdered (“Introduction to the Holocaust”). Many people overlook the vast amount of bystanders who were major contributors to the severity of these dark times. A depiction of these atrocities is in Markus Zusak’s historical fiction novel, The Book Thief. This novel follows the life of a young orphan girl named Liesel Meminger, her adoptive German parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann, and their struggles during the Holocaust. The Hubermanns secretly take in a struggling Jew named Max Vandenburg and risk their lives for his safety.…
Ellie Wiesel is considered to be one of the most prominent Jewish authors during the World War II era. Wiesel, through-out his life, has written many books portraying the vast accounts of social injustice the Jews experienced during the War. Wiesel’s critically acclaimed “Night” tells of these atrocities first hand and what he witness at a very young age. Ellie Wiesel is known for his striking imagery and colorful use of words to display the brutally of the Nazi regime in 1940s Europe. Across his many books, the underlining theme is straight and to the point; the Jews were systemically hunted down and their linage almost destroyed just for their beliefs and way of life.…
Suzy Zail’s historical fiction, ‘The Wrong Boy’, explores how the hellish environment of Auschwitz has compelled victim's of Hitler ’s Holocaust to be stripped of their identity. The novel portrays how barbaric conditions allowed for dehumanisation, removal of personal attributes and any remnants of human dignity. Zail presents how the labelling, isolation and inferiority have caused the characters to lose their cultural identity, charisma and self-respect.…
Child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim was a survivor of the concentration who asserts his audience which is victims of persecutors during times of war. Bettelheim observes stereotypes of the persecutor and the Victim. He allows the reader to see this by using the experience of a prisoner in a German concentration camp during World War II. Bettelheim’s purpose is to reveal the truth of human beings ways and actions in other areas of life, rather than just victims and persecutors, also proving at the same time that stereotyping is not always right. Sometimes the persecutor and the persecuted both suffer from stereotype and must rise above it this shows that people project their stereotypes on to people without actually knowing them.…
Imagine being in a cold, dark, and heartless place that is full of cruel people. It is nearly impossible to get out of this misery, like being trapped and beaten in a cage. A fifteen year old named Lina is faced with the Holocaust accompanied by her family. How could a teenager possibly survive this terror? In the riveting novel, “Between the Shades of Gray”, by Ruta Sepetys describes the experiences of going through the Holocaust as a teenager.…
Dehumanization is one huge theme throughout this book. The concentration camp can turn you from being the old you to making you do things you would have never done. After seeing someone die right in front of you, you go off to go eat and you enjoy it how disturbing is that. “I remember that I found the soup excellent that evening” (60).…
By giving his characters human traits except for their heads, Spiegelman succeeds in conveying the theme of racism that was evident in Nazi Germany. This reveals Spiegelman’s second thoughts on whether to assign animal characteristics to certain races, but he continues with his initial strategy of using animal traits to convey the social interactions between the different races (Berger 40). By placing his characters in animal masks, Spiegelman conveys the message that nationality and race are just superficial characterizations created by the mind just to alienate others. The central message is that despite the different physical characteristics, we are all humans inside. Through this, the readers can relate to the pain and suffering experienced by the Jews under Nazi rule because they…
This paper will analyze the portrayal of the female Nazi in “The Reader” by Bernard Schlink that was written in 1995 in Germany. Due to the aspect of the Nazi trials involved, the time of this story is determined to be around the 1960s (Bazyler 8). This story follows the life of Michael Berg, the protagonist of the story who cannot rid himself of the memories he has with Hanna, the female Nazi. Michael and Hanna develops a sexual relationship when Michael is a young boy. After a while, Hanna disappears and Michael meets her again at the Nazi trials that his college class requires him to go to.…
This allows the readers to developing a deeper understanding of Schindler’s of trust and kind ways as Jews and Nazis were forbidden friendships. Although both novels represent friendship in different ways the authors are able to break down the significance friendships had during the holocaust demonstrating one of the key themes both novels tried to…
In mainstream culture, children tend to focus on school and recreation, while politics has often been a subject that is present in the conversations of adults. In Nazi Germany, however, the social and political ideologies of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) was entrenched in the lives of millions of German youth, evidently by design. In his autobiographical book, “Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany”, Hans J. Massaquoi provides a unique perspective to the typical prototype of a German youth. As a mixed-race, German boy growing up in one of the most politically-instilled cultures in modern history, he was neither accepted by the Nazi regime, nor persecuted to Nazi Germany’s fullest extent.…
Hunter Depalma ECON 221 Butler February 13, 2015 Racism & Income Disparity: Income Effect Income disparity is an ongoing complication within the United States not only between men and women, but between races. Many people in our country are poor, and the improvement in their lives that the ending of income inequality can bring them is great. For the most part this shifts demand curves from the incomes increasing and decreasing, negatively and positively. Some argue that our society here in America is set up to where the lower working class cannot escape poverty. We have provisions and burdens in our economy that will keep regressing the lower class.…
Fight For Survive American is a mixed state, classified as a result of ethnic reasons, of their skin color, immigration, and wealth gap. This is a real problem, which cannot be avoided. Even the liberation movement in the sixties and seventies had arisen in the last century; no idea has ever been substantive solution. Confrontation continued, war continues, halt the only survival rights. In the movie "Freedom Writers", the students at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, live in such a violent atmosphere.…
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN TODAY’S SOCIETY Racial discrimination is one the provocative problems we have in our society today. Significant amount of people in our society today focus on all different racial groups of people and discuss their fairness, discrimination, and prejudice. The United States of America that is known to be one of the most diverse and freest racist countries in the world.…
Discrimination has been existent in America since the dawn of time. In some form or another, people have compared themselves to their peers based on looks or intellect. Those who belonged to a particular group or had a particular characteristic, whether good or not, were cast aside, a pariah, to society. Direct and indirect forms of discrimination can be seen in everyday life. In my opinion, I believe it is morally wrong to discriminate anyone.…
The Effects of Prejudice, Stereotype & Discrimination Sherry H. Priester Psy 301: Social Psychology Dr. Nekita Fuller June 22, 2015 Prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination has existed in our world for a long time. These types of practices are used to prove what group is more superior among over another group or an individual (Feenstra, 2013). Today we live in a very cultural and ethnically world that embraces our differences. Because of the different beliefs and social practices that are not considered socially acceptable, people are sometimes discriminated against (Feenstra, 2013). Stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination are similar, but yet very different (Fiske, 2010).…