In the Dark of Night Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

In the Dark of Night - Essay Example Nothing in our history has been so heinous a crime and yet some people actually survived the ordeal and wrote about the experience. The book Night by Elie Wiesel, is a true account of Wiesel's experience in the Nazi concentration camp system, and it is one book among many that shows the courage and faith of a people who had a strong will to survive. 1. The Climate of the State The nature of the State was brewing prior to the actual years of the Holocaust. Wiesel begins his experiences in 1941 when he was 12 years old. However, the State became volatile after the first world war. After this war, the Germans had lost face with the rest of the world. The US, Britain, France and Italy were Allies and wanted to make sure that the Germans would not go to war again (Wood 31). The Allies signed The Treaty of Versailles, which made the Germans lose part of their land and pay "crippling reparations" (Wood 31). Another important event was the Locarno Pact that was between Britain, Italy, Czecho slovakia, France, Germany, Poland and Belgium. This Pact was to confirm Europe's borders that had been set at the Treaty of Versailles. However, Hitler was present at that meeting and decided by 1928 that this rule did not apply to him (Wood 31). Hitler understood that the common German people were upset about their loss and feeling disillusioned. By 1936, Hitler totally ignored the Locarno Pact and moved forward with his goal of annihilating a race. Hitler made the German people believe that the cause of their trouble was the outsiders, which he named the communists and Jews (Wood 33). His rule was based on anti-Semitic over exaggerations and on creating fear about the Jews who were very different from everyone else. The challenge for most people is to understand why Hitler chose to single out the Jews for his wrath. According to Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Hitler went after the Jews because he could. Hitler systematically looked for a target th at matched what he had learned about evolutions. He chose the Jews because they were the "right kind of victim", and they made sense for him to prosecute them. He weighted many options to come to this conclusion. Hitler understood that these were people who would not fight back, and he took advantage of the situation as best he could. The nature of the State at that time was one of fear, ridicule, anger and hate. 2. Relationship between Civilization and the Individual The Jews were a successful race of people because they stayed to themselves and only helped each other. Their religion did not ask them to fight back so they became an easy target. They were very devout in their religion, they loved their families, their community and they thought they were safe. Their civilization was organized and structured and as Tevye the milkman said in Fiddler on the Roof "Everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do" (Holland 2). At this time, the Jews understood who they were in the ir communities and they were a collaborative people who helped each other collectively. However, the Nazi Regime pushed them into thinking of themselves as individuals. Dienke Hondius, a professor at VU University in Amsterdam, compared the events of the Holocaust with what happened in slavery. She points to the themes of genocide, racism, and human rights violations (S63) that were prevalent in both situations. Also, the issue of family, community and religion were the same for both cultures. However, when the slaves came to America they were also treated as individuals. In both instances, the idea of autonomous individual did not exist for the Jews or for the slaves before the interference of outsiders to their civilization. Now, having to move away