Humanity’s Crucible World War II, which ended in September of 1945, left Europe in physical, spiritual, and diplomatic chaos and ruin. Due to new military technologies and the evolution of combat strategies, The Second World War, which was spawned by the bitter legacy of the First World War and its Treaty of Versailles, was a brutal conflict regarded by the Allied victors as a complete atrocity. Yet, despite that the major Allies—America, Britain, France, and Russia—agreed that the main perpetrators of the war—Germany—should be punished, each country disagreed heavily on how to accomplish that monumental and solemn task. After compiling evidence through individual prosecution teams and examining historical precedents, the Allied nations set …show more content…
In the words of one Allied prosecutor, “the Nazi leaders committed a major offense against the conscience which mankind has today evolved from his status as a human being” (Menthon, 191). Crimes against humanity addressed the most egregious and immoral actions of the Nazi party, actions that surpassed the material violation of laws. The Allies felt these acts deserved separate examination and punishment as they insulted and degraded the evolution of humanity and modern society. To demonstrate the seriousness of the offenses, the prosecution called multiple witnesses to narrate the atrocities they experienced. One witness described the invasion of a Jewish hospital, detailing that “the hospital had already received the order that Jewish women must not give birth; and they had hidden the baby…my wife…saw one German holding the baby and smearing something under its nose. Afterwards he threw it on the bed and laughed” (Suzkever, 200-201). The powerful and emotional testimony against the German treatment of the Jews—of men, women, and children—made the charge of crimes against humanity inexcusable, and ultimately,
Introduction Throughout World War 2 Germany was living and thriving in a sea of repression. Hitler and his followers blamed the Jewish for many things that had gone wrong during World War 1 and the germans believed that the Jewish needed to be punished for that. Nazi’ started forcing the Jewish out of their houses, stealing their valuables, transporting them in overpacked transport cars, relocating them to concentration camps, and it is at those concentration camps where they were starved, beaten, and destroyed. Before all of these actions were able to happened Hitler’s SS officers had to be trained to repress the Jewish and it is from that point of view that you should “read” my documents. In Elie Wiesel’s book “Night” we were told that the reason that the Jewish did not fight back was because they could not believe that human beings could do such things and that is why I chose to write my documents from the view of a SS officer who is completing his training and learning how to treat the Jewish.
After millions of deaths occurred during World War I, a peace treaty known as the Treaty of Versailles was created to maintain peace as well as prevent war; however, coincedently, the same treaty that was made to sustain peace helped prompt the start of yet another bloody war known as World War II. During the end of World War I, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles as punishment for Germany and her allies being the aggressors of the war. Reparations, the War Guilt Clause, territorial loss, and restricted military were all factors as to how the Treaty of Versailles helped trigger World War II. War reparations were payments that Germany were required to pay as punishment to World War 1. Document C displays how Germany was set
The Investigation is a dramatic documentary of the Frankfurt War Crimes trials during the 1960s based on actual evidence from the trial. Weiss strips the trial down to its most essential features and converts it into a powerful play. It consists of extracted testimonies from numerous witnesses and defendants, including moments of examinations and cross-examinations conducted by the prosecutors and defense counsel. The nine unnamed witnesses represent the millions of individuals affected by the Holocaust. They were brought forth to testify to the barbarity of Auschwitz.
Christopher Browning documents everyday experiences and tribulations of Germany men, who were involved in the tragic events of the Holocaust. Browning tries illustrate the reasoning of all the massacres caused by the Reserve Police Battalion 101, so that people could get a clear understanding of what really was going on with these men, physically and mentally. Looking past all the opposing claims of German men, Browning explains how these men were just regular “middle aged family men” who were taking basic orders from higher authorities (1). Throughout the book Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning explains his reasoning of calling these murders ordinary men, the reasoning behind all the massacres, and how these men later on became killers.
The first dehumanizing act the Nazis perpetrate on the Jews is removing the normality from their everyday life. In Spring 1941, “German Army vehicles made their appearance” (Wiesel 9) on the streets of Sighet, yet the Jews showed no anguish. However, the harmony is short-lived; “the race toward death had begun” (Wiesel 10). The Nazis enforce rules that strip the Jews of their humanity: “jews were prohibited from
When learning about and analyzing acts of mass atrocity during World War II, hundreds if not thousands of questions can be asked trying to gain a deeper understanding for their actions. Probably one of the most intriguing thoughts to ponder is what leads individuals and societies as a whole to descend to such a level of cruelty. According to the author of Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand, one reason may be, “Few societies treasured dignity, and feared humiliation, as did the Japanese, for whom a loss of honor could merit suicide. This is likely one of the reasons why Japanese soldiers in World War II debased their prisoners with such zeal, seeking to take from them that which was most painful and destructive to lose” (189). To elaborate, the Japanese
Zeke Vanguardia Mrs. O’Hagan ELA 2 27 February 2023 Night Essay The Holocaust was an indescribable time in history, affecting millions of those innocent who were deemed unworthy by Nazi-German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, and his supposed perfect, Aryan race. Those considered unfit by the standards of the Aryan race, especially those of the Jewish race/religion, would undergo cruel, inhumane conditions and labor in concentration camps throughout Europe. In the novel, Night by Elie Wiesel, the author tells his personal account of his time spent throughout these concentration camps with his father.
He also wants the reader to better understand and contemplate how these moral decisions impacted the course of the war and postwar era. He asks the difficult moral questions that challenge the moral clarity and high ground that we tend to view the World War II with. Richard Overy begins Why the Allies
As the well-known 20th century Indian peacemaker Mahatma Gandhi had once said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Although, Gandhi was probably rebuking his fellow Indians as they longed for revenge against the oppressive British, this civil rights leader could have been scolding the Germans under Hitler’s dictatorship during the 2nd World War in Night, an autobiography by Eliezer Wiesel. During the teenage lives of young Eliezer, he experiences numerous inhuman horrors. In addition, his entire family is deported from Sighet, Hungary to the Auschwitz concentration camp with thousands of other Jews. Many more of these deportations happened at about the same time, changing the entire Jewish culture and history for years to come.
When one is being forced to endure the abysmal conditions of those who were imprisoned by Nazi soldiers, one becomes desperate. In times of desperation, the morality of individuals is questioned, to others as well as themselves - whether they realize it or not. Prisoners of
The destinies of several nazi individuals all throughout the last of World War II are spread wherever the guide regarding what transpired. Many took a sign from their devoted pioneer, Adolf Hitler, and submitted suicide to evade catch and discipline. These war hoodlums could never need to confront their violations. Others fled the nation and went up against expected characters in an attempt to escape experts. While a large portion of the individuals who fled were caught, there is entirely a main 10 most needed rundown of Holocaust war lawbreakers today.
In Night one of the ways that the Jews were dehumanized was by abuse. There were beatings, “I never felt anything except the lashes of the whip... Only the first really hurt.” (Wiesel, 57) “They were forced to dig huge trenches. When they had finished their work, the men from the Gestapo began theirs.
Many Germans, during WWII had started to take on the ideology of Hitler – that Jewish citizens in Germany were the cause of their poverty and misfortune. Of course, many knew that this was merely a form of scapegoating, and although they disagreed with the majority of Germany’s citizens, many would not speak up for fear of isolation (Boone,
In the book Night by Ellie Wiesel there are many words that can describe the horrible events that went on during the Holocaust. There was a tremendous amount of evil that the Germans displayed during this time period. One of the most soul opening quotes from Ellie was, “Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes … children thrown into the flames" (Wiesel 51). The people in this book that committed these crimes were always so corrupt. It is extremely wrong to kill any person, but it is especially wrong to kill babies that still have so much more of their life to live.
When the atrocities of world war two are brought up, many people think of the biggest travesties the war caused, like the holocaust and Pearl Harbor. They think of the Jews and Americans slaughtered with almost ungodly techniques, and the countries that committed these war crimes. But one such case never comes to the mind of the average Joe, Unit 731 and its founder, Shiro Ishii. Ishii was born into a rich family on June 25th, 1892 in the Kamo district, Chibe prefecture, and southeast of Tokyo (Byrd 15). Shiro joined the military as soon as possible due to his great love for Japan and the emperor (Ammentorp).