Holocaust is one historic incident of brutalism in the history that was taken place right after the II world war. As a matter of fact, a great deal of literature has been published by different historians in order to demonstrate holocaust.
Several historians claimed that it was unfair as it was an act of barbarism and it promoted wicked behavior with the innocent people of Jewish community while on the other hand, it was said that the holocaust was a good source of the extermination of Jews for the sack of race and nationalism. It can be said that holocaust has rather been challenged by scholars. In this paper we shall discuss that how holocaust has been projected by the different historians over the years. Moreover, we shall discuss its modern elaboration as well.
In order to identify the various interpretations about the subject we shall first discuss what is a holocaust exactly? Holocaust is considered as the ultimate extermination or systematic killing of a racial or cultural group. In history we have studied that after the World War II extermination of European Jews happened by the Nazi Germany to demolish and abolish the community to an extent.
History says that six million Jews were slaughtered and one-third of the nine million Jews in Europe were subjected to the slings and arrows of misfortune. Before the World War II various actions and legislations were made to remove the Jews from the civil society in the Nazi Germany like the most common Nuremberg Law. The Jews were being opposed by every possible opponent.
Like the Third Reich which was a Nazi Dictatorship under Hitler (1933-1945) became fanatic and acted in accordance with their beloved Fuhrerâs agenda of murder and destruction. They conquered the Eastern Europe territory and the specialized units which were called as Einsatzgruppen killed Jews mercilessly. After the war numerous Jews were killed on the name of religion and nationalism. Different historians have different approaches regarding this which we are going to discuss (Rose 2008).
As in the beginning we have mentioned that some historians have appreciated the holocaust and they have clarified it by their different statements on the issue that the holocaust appears to be fair as they presented the thought of Nazi Germany that Germans are superior to Jews racially and Jews are unworthy of living and should be given capital punishment.
Basically they were unable to accept any other nation at their place and they only wanted to spread their generation, their race and their creed. Also they did this for the purpose of revenge as many of the Russian Christians in the USSR also got killed by the Jews. So, under this thought the Jews were supposed to be killed and expelled from the German society (Engel 2009).
In the same manner, some said that the holocaust was unfair by raising the question that why the extermination was done so brutally?? No community is supposed to impose its rules and its regulations over the other community and do any act of brutalism and barbarism for the sake of its motives. This thought is presented by the Jews of course but most of the neural classes also reject the idea of holocaust for the sake of humanity that brutal slaughter of six million Jews is too much for revenge (Bankier and Mikhman 2008).
Another thought, which seems to be quiet weird and controversial as well is that some people deny the reality of holocaust that nothing happened like the holocaust. They are actually called as the deniers of holocaust or revisionists. Denial in the holocaust arises by the rightwing extremism which basically supports the amalgamation of states and people to promote unity. The reasons behind the denial proposed by the revisionists are various.
Firstly they say that there is an exaggeration that six million Jews were killed during the holocaust. Most of them were killed during the World War II. Secondly, the stories like they were killed in the gas chambers is totally devoid of any sensible thought as it is experimentally proven that gas cannot be used for killing but for disinfection. Third is that Hitlerâs had got no intentions of killing the Jews and the Jews only have to be deported to the east not to be killed (Taylor 2008).
So, these were the various interpretations made by different historians about the holocaust. Still it cannot be concluded that who is right as everyone has given their opinions about the issue in accordance with their perspectives. But it is not the ending. The Jews as well as the Germans both survived the difficulties awfully. The Jews continued their struggle. They were wandering at every nook and corner for shelter.
The quantity of the survivors of holocaust was about 1,200,000 including the non-Jews. So, their resettlement was not that easy. When International Refugee Organization (IRO) took over in 1947 many Jews and non-Jews were homeless. They were resettled after a long period of four years. Many of the Jews were killed when they tried to return Poland which made others afraid of getting back. So, the Jews created a big problem for the IRO.
It was difficult because many of the states refused the Jews to enter their territories. So, Jews at a large quantity wanted to go Palestine at that time; the British were of the view that they cannot allow such immigration and allowed fewer than 100,000 Jews to enter before the establishment of Israel in 1948 (Dinnerstein 1982).
Other issue which increased the problems for the remaining Jew community was the United States also presented the refusal to not allow the refugees to enter in the country despite of the permission policy of the government to allow them finding homes in United States. Earl G. Harrison was appointed by President Truman for reporting the need and desires of refugees giving priority to Jews which resulted in the reorganization of United Nation Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and in the establishment of IRO.
Truman proposed the idea that the United States should allow the refugee immigrants to enter in the state as they deserve to have their shelter. As a result of this the United States granted the permission to the refugees that they can live in their country and they can practice freely their lives too (Dinnerstein 1982).
Approximately, 137,000 Jews entered the United States among 400,000 refugees. Other countries where the Jews went were Canada, France, Great Britain and Israel. But Unites States and Israel were the two of them which had got the high population of Jews (Dinnerstein 1982).
On the other hand, as a reactionary action the Germans also subjected to the miseries after the holocaust. The Nazi were called for trial at the courts.
Many, who were responsible and who served as active participant in the holocaust sentenced to capital punishment. Most of the higher authorities like the government officials, business men who used forced labor etc were treated leniently. Germans who started the industrialization got so many restrictions. They were opposed strictly for the brutal crime. Trade embargo and many other restrictions on Jews were made (Cesarani 2004).
Jewish community has suffered a lot of anger after the holocaust. They feel pity for their people who survived after the holocaust or who experienced the holocaust. The historians have changed their views over time. Most of the Jew historians say that the present generation should not further study the matters related to holocaust as they portray the tragic endings of Jewish history and devaluation of the historic tale (Bankier and Mikhman 2008).
Most of the scholars, who supported the idea of holocaust, have also changed their views with time. They now consider it as a shameful act by the Nazi Germany. They are of the view that it was free barbarism and brutality. They should not have done that as it is something which is beyond the ethics. Germans ruined a nation for their personal motives. They were the supporters of wrong thoughts and approaches (Taylor 2008).
But on the other hand, many events related to this organized butchery are still going on in different parts of the world. For instance, the most prominent example of holocaust in the present world is the Palestinian and Israeli holocaust. On daily basis the Palestinians are subjected to many miseries and power enforcement by the Israelis.
Their homes are bulldozed, their agricultural fields are being destroyed, the poor families are thrown on streets by the police forces and like this hundreds of women and children are being killed (Shah 2009).
Another example related to the holocaust is the Nigerian armed forces acts of holocaust on Niger Delta. They are involved in the holocaust activities ruining the people and property of the Niger Delta dwellers just because of the oil running beneath their feet. The Nigerian government is continuously trying to take actions against attacks and oil theft (Nossiter 2010).
Like this, various acts of barbarism and extermination is going on in different parts of our world. Some are doing this for the sack of religion, some for their personal motives and some are doing so that they will have a dominant position. Various historians have interpreted the holocaust in different manners and have tried to draw a conclusion by their views. Most of them have also changed the views with the passage of time.
The ideas and perceptions which were immensely supported got distorted. They finally realized that killing people ruthlessly is not the only solution. By the present situation of the world, we can observe the miseries and humiliation faced by different innocent people. Similarly, the post war holocaust after the year of 1945 was no doubt considered as a tragic story of the Jewish history and German brutality and it has left an ever lasting impression on the minds of people.
References
Bankier, D., & Mikhman, D. (2008). Holocaust historiography in context: emergence, challenges, polemics and achievements. New York, London: Berghahn Books.
Cesarani, D. (2004). Holocaust: The end of the final solution and its aftermaths. New York: Routledge.
Dinnerstein, L. (1982). America and the Survivals of the Holocaust. New York: Colombia University Press.
Engel, D. (2009). Historians of the Jews and the Holocaust. Chicago: Stanford University Press.
Nossiter, A. (2010). Far From Gulf, a Spill Scourge 5 Decades Old. Web.
Rose, J. (2008). The Holocaust and the Book: Destruction and Preservation. Massachusetts: Univ of Massachusetts Press.
Shah, A. (2009). Palestine and Israel. Web.
Taylor, T. (2008). Denial: history betrayed. Melbourne: Melbourne Univ. Publishing.