The Tragedy Of The Scottsboro Boys By Elie Wiesel

According to the National Holocaust Encyclopedia titled “Nazi Camps,” from 1933 to 1945, more than 44,000 concentration and incarceration camps were established, causing 11 million people to lose their lives, and 6 million of those were Jewish. Only a small handful of people survived. Among those who survived, Ellie Wiesel was imprisoned in camps while neutral countries only watched. Because of his experience, Wiesel believes “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” In other words, taking sides is a responsibility, as remaining neutral benefits the oppressor. Some agree with Wiesel that neutrality is negative because it only harms the victim, but others argue that taking sides further fuels oppression.

To begin, Wiesel is correct that taking sides is necessary because tranquility and justice cannot proceed when neutral bystanders remain. During their trials in the 1930s, the Scottsboro Boys received harsh sentences because no one took action with the knowledge that the evidence was incorrect. According to an article written by the American Civil Liberties Union titled “The Tragedy of the Scottsboro Boys,” the author states, “despite ample evidence that they were innocent, eight of the nine were found guilty . . . and sentenced to death in the electric chair.” When neutrality and bystanders took no action, the trials became unfair and displayed injustice to the nine boys. Each of them were given harsh punishments for a crime they did not commit. The boys' fate relied on the idea that people took no action to help them, even when the accusers admitted their claims were false. Because the system was skewed due to no intervention from neutral people, justice was not able to be given correctly. Therefore, the Scottsboro Boys prove Wiesel's idea correct; neutrality allows

Taking sides and losing neutrality allows for other sides to justify attacks, and places people in danger, harming the victims. During World War 2, Yugoslavia, a country originally neutral during the conflict, chose a side and was invaded by the Axis powers, launching one of the most brutal Holocaust campaigns during the war. According to an article titled “Axis Invasion of Yugoslavia” in the US Holocaust Encyclopedia, the Axis