Holocaust Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Holocaust - Essay Example Much of this was caused by the fact that stakeholders within early European society believed that people of Jewish decent still bore a direct level of responsibility for the crucifixion and death of Christ. Such a level of innate and cultural distrust and even hatred ultimately coalesced with the economic and political pressures that Germany faced after the First World War and gave rise to the Nazi Party; a harbinger to the holocaust. 2. For the most part the film appeared to be rather unbiased. However, it must be stated that no attempt was made to understand the situation from the perspective of the German citizen or the German soldier. Naturally, the film-maker probably glossed over this due to the fact that seeking to understand the issue from such a perspective was deemed as merely trying to understand evil; something that they did not want to waste valuable time on. Yet, even though this may be true, it would have provided a further level of credibility to the film if the film- maker(s) had allowed for an alternative approach and a view of the situation through the eyes of those who were responsible for carrying it out. Even if such a view might have been unpleasant, it was necessary in order to understand the dynamics for why such inhumanity can persist and why a broad based public outcry for it to stop was never realized or witnessed. Moreover, even though the film is useful in understanding the plight of the individual caught up in the horrors of the holocaust, too much of an emotional appeal also detracts from the merit of objectivity that could otherwise be represented. Naturally, it is not fair to disregard the horrors that the individual faced during the ethnic cleansing of Jews within Europe; however, too much of a focus upon the individual loses sight of the mechanisms, causation, and realities for why this was being carried out and what forces encouraged it. 3. How does this film contribute to our knowledge of the Nazi Holocaust? Ultimately, the film contributes to an understanding of the Holocaust in the sense that it allows the viewer to come to a more informed understanding of the way in which the Holocaust not only Germany’s Jews but Jewish populations throughout the remainder of occupied Europe. This is an important understanding to gain due to the fact that a misconception with regards to the overall scope of the Holocaust is one of the most common misconceptions that exists. Whereas it is true that the Germans were responsible for murdering unknown tens of thousands of Jews within Germany itself, the bulk of the Holocaust victims were derived not within Germany’s borders; rather, these were derived from areas of heavy Jewish concentration within Eastern Europe – specifically Poland and Ukraine (Cowen 167). In helping the viewer to come to a further understanding of the scope of the Holocaust and the personal ramifications that it had upon the lives, experience, and future of the individuals that were fortunate enough to survive it, the viewer is led to a more informed understanding with respect to the many different ways in which this particular occurrence impacted upon the future of not only Europe but the rest of the world. 4. Ultimately, Suedfeld posits a litany of different reasons for why the Holocaust actually took place. The first of these theories he