Term Paper on "Holocaust Literature"

Term Paper 5 pages (1641 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Holocaust

World War II ushered in conflict, murder, and suffering of a manner and magnitude never before seen in human history. It became apparent to many very early in the war that the Germans and Japanese, in particular, has abandoned all reasonable pretence at abiding by international laws of war; however, fewer were aware of the immensity or brutality of the Nazis' plan for the Jews -- and millions who were aware never survived to tell their tale. Chaim A. Kaplan and Elie Wiesel were two of the few Jewish victims of the Holocaust whose words survived through the war. Their stories are analogous in many ways and possess many of the same themes; yet, there are very significant differences as well. Wiesel tells his tale as a man looking back on the horrors of his adolescence at the hands of the Nazis; whereas Kapan's story is told with an immediacy indicative of the conditions under which it was written. Kapan's diary was written while in the Warsaw ghetto, when he was constantly unsure how much longer he might have to live, or if his diary itself would precipitate his own end. Nevertheless, both stories are rife with a sense of historical significance: Kaplan and Wiesel want their accounts to survive for what little good that documenting such human atrocities might somehow accomplish.

The horror of the "Great War," left an entire generation of humans searching for something to which they could assign their faith, their trust, and their allegiance. Many saw the ancient forms of religion and philosophy as antiquated in the face of such absolute destruction and torturous death. The forced imposition of Democracy upon Germany and the devastating economic effects that resulted bred a population who saw nothing but their complete fall from grace, and wallowing in a moral void. From within this setting, a movement began upon the premise of restoring dignity and offering an entirely new social dogma. The Holocaust's executioners felt these pressures and became accustomed to the way of thinking the Nazis advertised. After all, it was an attractive idea to know that their difficulties were the fault of enemy groups, and that they possessed a glorious destiny. The ethical system that was methodically molded by the Nazis during the Second World War stood as the dominant rationalization for the individual soldiers who carried out Hitler's "final solution" with ruthless efficiency.

Kaplan and Wiesel found themselves at the opposite end of this final solution: they were members of one of Hitler's centrally hated racial groups. Both men were Jewish at the time of Nazi occupation, but one of the main contrasts between their two accounts is the significance of faith within the context of their suffering. On the one hand, "Kaplan's Judaism seems to have been based more on national and historic allegiance than on traditional observances." (Katsh, 13). Meanwhile, Wiesel's struggle to reconcile his notion of a caring and benevolent God with the horrors his character -- Eliezer -- witnesses comprises the central conflict within his story.

Wiesel's upbringing seems to be steeped in religious faith and practice; consequently, the recurring question throughout his novel is "where is God." So when one of Wiesel's characters,

Moshe the Beadle, is asked why it is that he prays, he responds, "I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions." (Wiesel, 55). This underlines one of Wiesel's motivating reasons for writing his semi-autobiographical account of the Holocaust: human evil does not erase God or faith, but makes questioning Him the only path to salvation. For Eliezer, critically thinking about the nature of good and evil in the world is the only thing that preserves any sort of good in any of us.

Kaplan's faith, alternatively, seems to be less in the divine aspects of humanity, and more in an abstract duty to the preservation of history. He writes, "Some of my friends and acquaintances who know the secret of my diary urge me, in their despair, to stop writing.... And yet in spite of it all I refuse to listen to them. I feel that continuing this diary to the very end of my physical and spiritual strength is a historic mission which cannot be abandoned." (Katsh, 11). Accordingly, Kaplan's diary stands as a record of the events and experiences of the Warsaw ghetto. Its purpose, as Kaplan would argue, is more significant than the mere continuance of the author's life -- this is why he writes it, though the threat of death looms over every word he records.

This historic perspective is apparent from the very beginning of Kaplan's entries. He writes on September 1, 1939, "This war will indeed bring destruction upon human civilization. But this is a civilization which merits annihilation and destruction. There is no doubt that Hitlerian Nazism will ultimately be defeated, for in the end the civilized nations will rise up to defend the liberty which the German barbarians seek to steal from mankind. However, I doubt that we will live through this carnage." (Katsh, 19). On some conceptual level, Kaplan seems to be aware that the invading Germans have something terrible in store for the Jews; additionally, he indicates that he is not likely to survive the effects. This sets the tone for the remaining entries into his diary. It is clear that his writing is not meant for himself, but for mankind:

In our scroll of agony, not one small detail can be omitted. Even though we are now undergoing terrible tribulations and the sun has grown dark for us at noon, we have not lost our hope that the era of light will surely come. Our existence as a people will not be destroyed, but the Jewish community will live on. Therefore, every entry is more precious than gold, so long as it is written down as it happens, without exaggerations and distortions." (Katsh, 57-8).

Still, it is difficult to deny that this grand purpose that Kaplan envisioned for his diary is a large part of what kept him going and gave him the strength to endure: "Having come this far I must make the effort to go on to the end of the spectacle. It is hard to foretell who will live and who will die, and it is especially hard to depart from this earth without knowing the final outcome." (Katsh, 292).

Kaplan seems ready to place blame upon virtually every group within and without Europe, for the historical and political forces he deemed responsible for his experiences. At times he condemns the ancient prophets for bringing down the wrath of heaven; he also expresses anger towards the Jewish police in the Ghettos; he also identifies what he calls the "conspiracy of silence" among Western leaders who allow Jewish persecution to continue. Similarly, Wiesel is not content to merely blame the Germans for what he was forced to endure. Wiesel takes great care, within the pages of Night, to illustrate the notion that the evil he felt and witness was not merely limited to the soldiers who inflicted the various forms of torture and death upon those in the Holocaust; instead, he sees the historical circumstances as having brought out the evil in everyone. He documents the terrible selfishness that conditions within Auschwitz awakened within the prisoners: "Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else.... Here, there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone." (Wiesel, 70-1).

Notably, Wiesel's understanding of the Holocaust is much more personal than Kaplan's. Perhaps this is because he was merely a teenager when it occurred, and Kaplan was an aging Hebrew intellectual. Certainly, this afforded Kaplan the ability to put the events of the war… READ MORE

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