Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Holocaust Bystanders/Upstanders Reflection
I think people stood by when Germany was making its way swiftly through Europe without any trouble because these bystanders didn't want to get involved and they felt like it didn't concern them. Just like in the poem written by Pastor Martin Niemoller in Berlin, 1939, he was describing the bystanders as people who just felt that since the Nazi's weren't harassing and hurting them, they might as well stay out and not say anything to not make the fire spread. But as I see it, the fire was already spreading and Karma came around and got them from behind the back. I say this for one reason because since they stood by and didn't say anything, it made the Nazi Party and Hitler more and more powerful by the bystanders just leaning on a wall. If these bystanders and the rest of the Jewish/Non-Jewish community would have said something, it probably could have changed the course of the war from then on. It was all worth a shot. The upstanders who actually stood up and did something like Oskar Schindler, made a difference. Before he was Superman and saved hundreds of Jews, Oskar was using Jews as labor in a factory to make BIG money. Until one day, he just happened to see a Ghetto being taken down by the Nazis in Cracow, Oskar realized how horrifying and terrible it must be to feel the sorrow and emptiness feeling by becoming owned by another human being. Honest to God, I probably would have been a bystander because at the time there weren’t many upstanders. And regardless if I was an upstander or not, there was a very vacant amount of people who actually wanted to stand up to the dilemma. I would’ve felt broken to see every Jew get owned as their own “product” in Germany. I probably wouldn’t even know what to think besides if I am going to live tomorrow, or when is it my time to be taken.
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Great connections and comments, Daniel. I can tell you really learned a lot, and used this knowledge to shape your response.
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