Final exam

Bergen-Belson DP camp

largest DP, run by the British. Located close to the bergen belson concentration camp that the British has burned down. British did not want to name this camp Bergen Belson but the DPs did to remind the world what they went through. People suffered from illness, malnutrition, PTSD and anxiety. They required medical supplies following the war. The JOINT sent clothes, food, and supplies to help the DPs. Survivors organized democratic elections to make people discuss policies with British officials. Created organizations to find families, schools, synagogues, vocational training for when people left camp. Had newspapers and sports teams, etc. There were a record number of marriages because many spouses had died in the Holocaust. There were 20 weddings a day. Also a very high birth rate to create families and a new future for jews. 2000 births at Bergen- Belson

Genocide

word used to refer to the extermination of an entire nation of ethnic group

Proxmire act

In 1988 the senate finally passed the act to ratify that genocide was an international crime. William proxmire was a main senator that felt the US should have been the first country to ratify this law

Exhibit mirroring evil

The exhibit used real artifacts from the holocaust and slapped designer logos on them. Asked the audience to identify with the mentality of the nazis

Holocaust documentaries from the 1950s

Tv and radio stations focused on the survivors and were intrigued by their stories. They told stories to the American public on local and national news stories. All of these programs had similar messages to their audiences: The nightmare for survivors was over and these people were able to overcome the struggles in their past life and their future in America would be freedom, triumph, and success. Tv was the most efficient way to reach the public. It was a brand new medium, mid 1950s. Early tv works have a rawness about them because they don't quite know what they are doing. Looking back at the way the holocaust was presented on tv strikes us as absurd because now there are many ways of presenting the holocaust and different ways of conveying it.

Crimes against peace

Undermining self determination of sovereign nations or violated international treaties for example, when Germany took over Poland

Limits of obedience and conformity experiments

contemporary experts criticized that these experiments had nothing to do with race. The lesson teach us about conformity and obedience but nothing about race. Today the educators think that there is no way to learn about the holocaust without the main focus of race. In the 80s the main lesson that people were learning about the holocaust was the problem with conformity and obedience when the real lesson deals with the hatred of race. Another limit to these experiments is that it does not provide a solution to these issues.

Displaced persons

10 million people flooding the streets of europe because they had been forced out of their homes. These people were released from concentration camps. Most wanted to return home and did within 6 months. For Jewish DPs the situation was uncertain. Most of them were unintegrated. Found out their families had been killed in the camps. Many refused to return back to their country of origin.

Raphael Lemkin

A polish Jew that was a scholar in linguistics and international law. Fled to Sweden and then emigrated to the US in 1941. After the war he discovered his entire family was murdered by Nazis. In 1944 he published a book that analyzed the crimes committed and coined the term genocide. He attempted to get the tribunal to accept genocide as a crime but they did not. Devoted the rest of his life to make genocide an international crime. Attempted to go through the UN to make this happen

The institute for historical review

A website that seems to have a reputable name although it is devoted to denying the holocaust. Takes evidence and twists it to claim that it was exaggerated and not true

Displaced persons act of 1948 and 1950

Allowed non-soviet survivors to enter the US. Truman was devastated and kept fighting to amend the law. In 1950 all jews were allowed to enter and in 1952 the DP camps finally shut down.

Otto Frank

Anne Frank's father. After surviving the camps he went back and found the diary. He took the pre-edited version and combined it with the edited and used the most important parts. First the book was published in dutch and then in german and french. In 1950 it still had not found an English publisher

Repatriation agreement

Any WW2 refugees elsewhere in europe could return to their country of origin. After the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, soviet jews were deported east to slave camps. After they returned to Poland but generally did not stay so they traveled to DP camps in Germany. 200,000 Jews living in DP camps in Germany. Most of these Jews were the soviet Jews that survived the Holocaust through soviet slave labor. USA still did not change immigration laws and Britain was not giving VISAs to palestine.

Jewish themes in superman

Born on the planet krypton and moved to earth and a refugee. The story parallels what was happening to european jews at the time. Many of the plots include defeating hitler and the nazis. This revenge fantasy was developed because they felt helpless to their fellow jews overseas. In 1998 there was a tribute to the original superman that depicted him saving jews from the warsaw ghetto.

Attacking anne frank

Claim that the diary is a hoax. Historians do not pay much attention when something small has been falsified because they know there is still so much other evidence but deniers will try to exploit that falsified evidence to discredit all evidence. Deniers attack the diary because it is a symbol of the holocaust and to many people it is the only source of information that they have about the holocaust. Deniers point to the multiple copies of the diary as an inconsistency. They also claim that the entire book was written by meyer levin and the settlement from suing otto frank was to keep him quiet about it. Deniers cannot cast doubt on all the mountains of evidence on the holocaust so they focus on a few symbolic pieces that everyone knows and try to twist them.

War Crimes

Crimes against prisoners of war and against enemy citizens or civilians. Also destruction of property not necessary for military goals

Claude Lanzmann's Shoah (1985)

Critics consider it one of the best documentaries of all time. This film set a new standard for holocaust documentaries. In 1985 conventions had changed about how to portray the holocaust. Age of survivors-Survivors were older and harder to portray to the audience No narrative voiceover- there was only textual narrative to give the audience a background. The stories were of the survivors themselves. Length- The testimonies are fragile and important and every aspect of the story us crucial to understanding the history. There is no single holocaust experience, every story is unique. Even after watching the 10 hours there is still an incomplete feeling because there were millions that will never get to tell their story. The movie is translated from the original language of the survivor with subtitles. The setting is in the exact place of where they experienced it or places that remind them of the experience.

preservation vs accessibility

Curators must treat the site as a crime scene with the goal of preserving material evidence and presenting it to the public. In majdanek the barracks each tell a different story. In 2010 one of these barracks burned down. In 2014 someone stole 8 pairs of shoes. As these sights remain accessible to the public they run the risk of having artifacts stolen or destroyed. We want artifacts to be accessible but also need to preserve them. There must be a balance between the two.

Israeli Independence 1948

DPs started moving almost immediately. Conditions were still not ideal. There was a lack of food and lack of housing. Many of the survivors were still looking for a more secure life because Israel was still a war zone. Some DPs joined the Israeli army.

Historical commissions

DPs went to work documenting what they had been through. Collected eye witness testimonies, songs stories, lists of people killed. Wanted to convince the world that they needed their own place to live. It was 1947 and there was still no idea of where they were going to go. UN voted to separate palestine into 2 regions, one for Jews and one for palestinians

UN resolution 260

Declared genocide to be an international crime. Media found Lemkin crying in a dark room because he saw this as memorial and intervention. 20 nations still needed to ratify this law though.

David duke

Denier of the holocaust, leader of the KKK, he was elected to the house of representatives he is a white supremacist that believes jews are taking over the white race. For the most part holocaust deniers have no credibility but there are a few exceptions.

Hanna Bloch Kohner "this is your life"

Did not present her as a traumatized person, want to show her as the American dream. "you look like a young girl out of college, not someone who has survived the holocaust". American patriotism- is emphasized in the documentary because they portray America as the rescuer. In reality her husband struggled to get her a visa. If she has received the visa she may not have experienced the holocaust. The patriotic messages were portrayed to show that the united states was the savior in all of this. Product placement- advertising within the show so they don't have to cut away from the story or material. Companies sponsoring the content to make sure there are no commercials. Advertise that the brother was flown in by an American airline TWA. Received a special lipstick and a charm bracelet as advertising. The main point was to show how well and normal she was doing in America. Portray her as the typical american woman by giving her commercial beatification products. Narration- Documentaries now always allow the survivor to tell their own story. In this documentary the narrator, Ralph Edwards becomes the real expert on her life. He told the story although the show was less about her life as a holocaust victim and more about how she had started a new life in america.

Modes of holocaust representation in film/TV

Documentary- Using real evidence and testimonies and acts as a secondary source that is interpretive Historical fiction- Fictionalized stories based on real historical events Biopic- Hybrid of previous two versions, the characters are real but some of the events are highly fictionalized to dramatize

Facing history and ourselves

Education curriculum that became popular in the 90s. Specific responses to the miligram and third wave experiments. The education was aimed at middle school and high school students. It uses holocaust and injustice to teach about every day world issues. Starts by teaching about democracy and the ideals that oppose it. Going against bystanders and teaching people to be upstanders. Students learn about historical cases of injustices. This is the gold standard to holocaust education because it teaches about race and injustice and how to act against it. The criticism of this is the universalization of suffering of the holocaust.

Why think about denial?

Engagement- We must think about if we want to engage it and if it is worth acknowledging deniers Internet- has recently become more of a problem because of the internet. Most libraries did not carry hate group books or articles but now the internet allows everything to be seen, sometimes holocaust denial websites have come up in the search along with reputable sources. History- As historians, we base work on primary source evidence. Deniers are undermining the entire process in which we learn about history and gather information. The holocaust is the most studied case in history because it is the most documented. There are mountains of evidence but deniers decided to think about history in an emotional way rather than relying on evidence

Meyer Levin

Found Anne Franks diary in french and thought it was a great way to tell people the story. He contacted otto frank and in 1952 he had it published in english. A glowing review was written about it in the NY times and it became a best seller. He wanted to turn it into a play. Famous producers also approached Otto to write the play. He read levin's version and showed it to the famous producers. They criticized that it was too depressing and too Jewish. Otto agreed so they universalized the story to apply to all types of suffering people.

Hannah Arendt, Eichman in Jerusalem (1963)

German Jewish philosopher. Wanted to help the public understand that these nazis were normal people that were convinced to do horrible things. She wrote the book eichman in jerusalem which talks about a main theme of banality of evil.

Annelies Frank

Her diary was another attempt at memorialization. In 1944 holland was occupied by nazis. The dutch government met in London and announced to the dutch people encouraging them to keep diaries and records about what was happening. Anne Frank was already keeping a diary before the announcement but decided to polish and edit it to memorialize her experience. She was born in Germany in 1929 into the middle class. In 1933 her family left Germany to move to Holland through her fathers business connections. The nazis took over holland in 1940. They were denied visas to enter the United States so they decided to go into hiding above one of Ottos businesses. In 1942 Margot received a letter to be deported so they made the move into hiding for 2 years. In 1944 an unidentified informer notified the police where they were hiding and she was sent to Bergen Belson where she died of typhoid.

Protocols of the elders of zion

Hoax that stated there was a secret meeting between jews to plan on taking over the world through the media

United states holocaust memorial museum (1993)

Holds a great deal of symbolic meaning. The site establishes memory of the holocaust and to show that our nations views are in direct opposition to the views that produced the holocaust. The interior is intentionally industrial looking. Mechanisms of systematic murder were made possible through industry. Progress can enable atrocity. It uses natural light

Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett and the broadway play

Hollywood script writers that were not jewish nor had they done any jewish content before. Their version universalized and Americanized her. It can be seen represented in the hanukkah scene. The book does not make a big deal about it but in the play they made it a celebration. Also does not discuss her jewish identity because they wanted to represent all suffering people and not just jews. The main message of the play was "in spite of everything, people are still good at heart" this was not a main theme of her book. The play became hugely successful, the movie won oscars. Most Jews did not mind the universal message of the human suffering.

Kielce Pogrom

In 1946, 150 Polish jews were living in shelters. Rumor was that these Jews were kidnapping children. 42 people were murdered and news spread quickly around the world.

Auschwitz- Birkenau state museum and memorial

In 1947 the polish government made this a museum and a memorial. Germans managed to destroy some of the camp but could not destroy "canada". This exhibit is the most disturbing because it shows the belonging of all the people sent to auschwitz.

Deborah lipstadt v. David Irving

In 1993 Lipstadt wrote a book on holocaust denial to uncover the tactics of more sophisticated deniers. David Irving upset her the most because he was a real historian so his information was taken somewhat seriously. He began his career as a WW2 historian but then his work began to shift toward holocaust denial. He does not disagree that there were Jewish deaths, he says that they were mostly from epidemics or allied bombing. In lipstadts books she called him a holocaust denier and that he misrepresented evidence. Irving sued Lipstadt for libel in Britain. In the United states he would have to prove that she had lied but in Britain she has to prove that her claims were correct about irving. The case took millions of dollars and 5 years. She was able to prove in british courts that Irving was a denier and that he was a racist anti-semite.

MAUS

Inspired by a full length graphic novel that someone came out with. Spiegelman was intrigued. In 1986 the first 6 chapters were published and then in 1991 the rest of the book. It was groundbreaking as a holocaust memorial and also one of the finest examples of a graphic novel. It was a non-fiction story but fiction in a way because of the animals used.

Presidents commission on the Holocaust (1979)

It wasnt until the 70s when talks began to make the memorial. Awareness was growing in the united states. Television played a large role in publishing awareness. The trial of adolf eichman was televised and made people more aware. There was a hit mini series called holocaust that also made people more aware. Jimmy carter made a commitee with elie weisel.

Jerry Siegel and Joe schuster

Jewish american high school boys who loved comics and bonded over it. Schuster was the artist. After graduation they published their work. They created superman

Jack Kirby and Stan lee

Jewish comic book writers in the 1960s. Created spiderman, hulk, black panther etc. Created the X-men, human beings that mutated and were discriminated against for being different.

Stanley miligrams obedience experiments

Jewish psychologist that wanted to know how ordinary people were convinced to perform these crimes and under what conditions. He hired two actors. One was the scientist (authority figure) and the other was the learner. There was also the subject of the study. The scientist brought in the learner and explained to the subject that they would be asking questions to the learner and if the learner got questions wrong the subject would be told to shock the learner. The more questions wrong, the more shock was administered. Most subjects asked the scientist if it was okay to continue with the experiment and the scientist told the subject they would not be responsible for their actions. 65% of subjects completed the experiment and administered the final shock. Subjects that finished the experiment did not check to see if the learner was okay and they did not report the experiment to authorities. The idea that was learned from this experiment was that it was normal behavior to respond to authority.

Ethical considerations

Lanzmann's aim was to record the pain of the survivors and not just the words of their story. He wanted to show the physical pain in their facial expressions and voices. Showing the pain was more important than showing their comfortability in the present and their recovery. The ethical question we ask is about whether it is okay to put these survivors back in the setting where they experienced this horrible tragedy.

Dr. Emanuel Ringlelum

Led a secret group of scholars to collect documents and testimonies from people imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto.

The producers

Movie about broadway producers that wanted the broadway show to fail after one showing so they could pocket the money of investors and flee to another country. The play was called Springtime for Hitler and turned out to be a huge hit because the audience misinterprets it as a comedy.

Polin: The museum of the history of polish Jews (2013)

Not aimed at preservation of holocaust material. Presents a narrative of Jewish life throughout history. Counterbalances the memorials at sites of atrocities. Poland felt that people were coming to poland to only learn about how jews died and not learning how they lived. This museum celebrates the long arch of polish jewish history. One exhibit is a recreation of a wooden synagog built in the 17th century. Most of these synagogs had been burned down.

Magneto (1963)

One of the first comic book characters that was a villain. We can sympathize with him. He was a survivor of the holocaust and decided to discriminate against non-mutants and wanted to destroy them.

Holocaust denial

People that deny the holocaust are not concerned with ethically dealing with the holocaust. There are two types of deniers 1. reports that the evidence has been exaggerated 2. deny completely that it ever happened

Ideological approach of USHMM

Permanent exhibit does not let in natural light and then ends up in the hall of remembrance. The windows face the washington and jefferson memorial which represent our democratic ideals are opposed to the views of nazis

Ideological approach of Polin

Polish Jews had a vibrant community in Poland before the Holocaust. There is a holocaust exhibit that is dark and black and white to represent the darkness of the holocaust.

Memorializing Jews at Majdanek/Auschwitz

Polish jews at these memorials were not recognized as jews they were only recognized as poles. This was misleading. After the fall of communism there was a change in signage that specifically mentions Jewish victims. Focus of these museums is to commemorate the victims of the polish nation and not the victims of the holocaust

Holocaust revisionists

Publish in fake journals that aren't real. Attempt to skew small pieces of evidence in an attempt to discredit the whole source e

Max Gaines

Published the first ever comic book. He took comics from the newspapers and put them in a book. It was a way to organize comics. Hitler was just coming to power and early comics reflected tensions going on during this time. Huge success among adolescent and young people.

The third wave experiment 1967

Ron Jones wanted to teach his students how so many German citizens lost their moral compass. Created a 5 day fascist environment that focused on discipline and reinforcement. He was frightened by how excited his students were to be a part of it and how quickly they responded. He did not face much criticism for this experiment because it was not published. These students though also faced inflicted insight. This movie was a standard for holocaust education but today the film is less popular among holocaust educators

Earliest holocaust documentaries

Similar to the first holocaust museums. They were just meant to preserve forensic evidence to present. Allied troops taking videos of liberating the camps were the first forms of this. They wanted to prove that this was not propaganda and that it was real and something that was real. The first footage was shown in news reels as previews in movie theaters. A compilation of allied footage was made into a stand alone film called nazi concentration camps. This film was used as evidence in the nuremberg trials

Chutz-pow!

Sponsored by the Pittsburgh holocaust center. Volume 1 includes survivors from pittsburgh. Volume 2 includes an international group of survivors. Volume 3 includes stories from child survivors. The goal of the project is to teach people that do not know much about the holocaust. It is a way to show that the medium of comics has the potential to portray a meaningful story. The controversy is saying that surviving jews were superheros because this implies that jews that died were not brave or superheroes.

DP camps

The UN built camps in Germany after the war for these DPs. Most hoped to eventually get into the US or Palestine. People generally stayed in the camps until they were allowed to leave. Partisan groups and hiders also made their way to these camps.

Allan schechner: its the real thing: self portrait at Buchenwald

The artist superimposed a picture of himself holding a diet coke can in the barracks of a concentration camp. He is poking fun at the fact that our culture is obsessed with image and dieting and being thin. It is controversial that he used holocaust suffering to make a point about our dieting culture

Criticism of obedience experiments

The critique questions the ethics of the experiment on two different levels. The first was that the experiment causes too much anxiety or stress to the subject from administering the shocks. The second is that it leads to inflicted insight. Now experiments must make sure that there is no psychological damage to their subjects.

Superman (1938)

The first example of a superhero. A superhero is a fictional character with superhuman powers. This comic was an extreme success.

Marie claude vaillant-couturier

The first testimony at the nuremberg trials. Member of the French resistance, she was caught and sent to auschwitz. Told the world horrifying things about what she witnessed

Universalizing Anne Frank

The goal was to universalize by not discussing her Jewish identity. This represents universal human suffering and not just the suffering of the Jews during the holocaust. Meyer levin was furious and accused Otto Frank of erasing her Jewish identity. He sued the producers and otto frank for plagiarism. But ended up taking a settlement to give up the rights of the book. The book consumed him and he was obsessed with it.

Life is beautiful

The humor in the movie is that Guido is using humor to get through these tough times. He pokes fun at the idea of an aryan race in front of a class and he jokes about the vandalized horse. There is criticism about if a child could really think of the holocaust as a game. The movie was effective in showing the audience the humanity of survivors. it was effective in the way it used humor to portray the holocaust. The movie came out in 1997 and most people were familiar with the holocaust and had seen many movies about the holocaust. Most american had never seen the holocaust and its concentration camps combined with humor. The movie was an attempt to defamiliarize audiences to what they were used to seeing when they watched holocaust films. The movie never made fun of the Jewish victims their suffering but it showed the coping mechanism of humor.

Banality of evil

The idea that normal human beings are capable of monstrous evil. Social psychologists became interested in studying how it was possible for normal people to commit such crimes

Inflicted insight

The idea that people had to face the fact that they were capable of inflicting pain on another person. The experimenters did not receive consent of the subjects to learn something about themselves that could horrify them.

Yad Vashem

The premier holocaust memorial museum. in 1942 the palestine jews wanted to make a memorial for the jews that had died so far. Yad vashem means a monument and a name. Victims would never have sons and daughters but their names would live forever. 1953 was the opening of the museum. It was not only to commemorate victims of the holocaust but also to show the world that jews needed a place of their own referring to israel.

idealogical approach to yad vashem

Theodor Herzl was the head of the zionist movement. His ideology was important to the museum. They planted trees for the righteous among nations exhibit. It was a historical museum, art museum, and a museum for children. The political agenda was to use the holocaust as justification for Israel. The walk through of the museum includes mostly dimly lit hallways with no windows that slowly goes underground as exhibit becomes more gruesome. Eventually the exit to a large window that overlooks the city of Jerusalem. Shows that the memories are dark but the future is bright.

Adolf Eichman trial (1961)

There was not much psychological social study on the holocaust before 1961. The trial sparked a new engagement with the Holocaust. The trial was held in jerusalem and was televised. He was the leader of the SS who organized killing centers and deportation. After the war he fled to argentina. The israeli government led a campaign to find him. Eichman sat in a bulletproof glass case during the trial to prevent anyone from taking action against him. He was found guilty and received the death penalty. This was the first death penalty issued by Israel. Television was a primary way in which people received their information at the time. There was a large audience for this trial. It was fascinating and horrifying because of the way he acted during the trial. He seemed like a normal guy despite the fact that he felt no remorse for what he had done. He had been cleared by psychologists as mentally stable. It was unsettling to the public to realize that maybe normal people could accomplish such horrific acts

Majdanek state museum

This site was created before the Holocaust had ended. Soviet army liberated this camp in 1944. The retreating germans did not have time to destroy the camp. The polish government decided to turn the remains into a memorial and a museum

Criticism of MAUS

This was one of the best known holocaust memorials and it was not written by a holocaust survivor. In one panel he is asking himself if he should be profiting off the deaths of millions of people. Wearing a mouse mask in this scene because he is asking himself if he is a true mouse like all the other survivors. This brings up the point, who has the right to tell the story of holocaust survivors? Some critics did not like the use of mice and cats. Was this metaphor ethical because nazis described jews as vermin. His response is the scene where he talks to his therapist and they are mice but there is a picture of a pet dog on the desk. Also controversy to portray his wife as a frog or a mouse and why he brought this up in the book. He did this to explain the mess of his metaphor and how it varies.

Oyneg Shabbes (liti joy of the sabbath) archive

This was the collection made in 1941 of the warsaw ghetto. The group dedicated the sabbath to the memorial of the horrors they were experiencing. Wanted to provide these primary sources for a future book.Once deportations began they knew that they would not survive. They began to hide the documents that had been collected into milk jugs and other items. Also documents were buried in the ghetto for later scholars to find. They created a memorial for the future. Nearly all the members of the group were killed. Survivors that knew about the project came back to unearth these documents. thousands of documents were discovered in 1946 and even more were found later in the 50s. Scholars still think there are more documents still hidden.

Humor and the holocaust

Three unofficial rules about the holocaust accepted by scholars. 1. holocaust needs to be unique 2. representations needed to be accurate 3. people had to approach it with seriousness. Comedic takes on the holocaust were controversial but not condemned. How is it possible to use it in an ethical way? Scholars uncovered that humor was a major coping mechanism during the holocaust by making fun of nazis or the impossible conditions they were in. It is possible to do it ethically without crossing lines. Not everything goes though. It is not okay to poke fun at Jewish suffering

Ratification of resolution 260

US was not one of the countries to ratify because southern democrats supported segregation still and feared it would make persecution of blacks an international crime.

Nuremberg war crimes trials, 1945-1946

US, Britain, France, Soviet Union were in charge of trials. Held in Nuremberg, Nazi headquarters. Process of planning the trials was difficult because there were limited international laws at the time. These nations had very different legal systems as well. In US and Britain guilt must be established first and then sentencing. In Soviet Union under Stallin, trials were a formality and they were already found guilty it was just a matter of establishing punishment appropriate to crime. France was in a weakened position after the war and did not play a major part in these trials. 21 members of the Nazi party were indicted. 8 Judges, 2 from each country. Each defendant had a lawyer. Many reporters and translators attended. One of the most media covered cases. The goal of the trial was to make the world aware of these atrocities. The beginning of the trial included footage from allied soldiers. First witnesses interviewed were non-jew P.O.Ws. All of the defendants reacted differently to the trials. Some were horrified and tried to justify their own role. Military blamed the SS. SS blamed their superiors. Many blamed Hitler. Some argued they were unaware of what was happening. Some say they protested Hitler. Funk was a leader of the national banks and his task was to deposit the gold from jewish teeth. Claimed he did everything in his power to help the Jews. 12 were sentenced to death only 3 were acquitted.

Tom Sachs giftgas giftset

Used canisters of xiclone b and branded them with designer labels. Commented on the history of corportations. During the Holocaust certain german companies used Jewish slave labor to produce their products. Showing people that certain products can mask the abuses that go into creating them. Showing that this weapon of mass murder could be overlooked because of the brand name

VE day: May 8, 1945

Victory in Europe day. Before the war ended allied leaders got together to discuss how to deal with the Nazi war criminals. Soviets wanted trials, British felt they lost rights to fair trials, Roosevelt did not commit to either but died before war ended, Truman favored international trial.

Art Spiegelman

Wanted to break away from superhero comics and geared his work towards adults. Born in sweden in 1948 and moved to the united states three years later. in 1972 he published a three page comic using mice as jews and cats as nazis

Concentration camp Lego system

Why are people okay with watching documentaries on Auschwitz but not okay with seeing this model of a concentration camp made of legos? Asks the question why some forms of representing the Holocaust is okay and others are not? Is it ethical to use this imagery to represent the Holocaust? This Lego set was not sold to the public nor did it have any affiliation with Lego.

What motivates deniers?

Zero sum suffering- denying jewish suffering of the holocaust because they feel that non jew europeans should be acknowledged. They feel that the suffering of jews may be exaggerated. There may be some truth in saying that there was some suffering of non jewish eastern europeans but this suffering should not undermine the suffering of european jews. Just because one group suffered does not mean another group did not Scapegoating- People feeling powerless and unhappy in their own lives and they feel that following conspiracy theories will change things in their own life. Instead of looking at their own problems they complain that jews control banks and the government. They claim that the holocaust was a hoax made up by jews in order to gain world sympathy. It is easy to blame your own problems on jews instead of trying to fix them White supremacy- claim that Jews are using the holocaust to take power away from whites and also to make white people feel guilty. They blame the successfulness of minority groups on jews because they think jews paved the way for these groups to be successful

Truman directive

allowed some people into the US. 22,000 entered after this initiative. Still was not a lot of people in the grand scheme. Truman wanted to accept more but congress went against him. This was the start of the cold war and congress was afraid these Jews would bring communist ideas to US. This was silly because why would Jews like communism. Jews in the soviet union could have stayed there if they liked communism.

Memorial

anything meant to remind people of a certain event. Usually we think of something large and permanent. We can think more broadly though and it does not have to be large or permanent. A memorial could be an archive, a book, a dedication, song, film, art, website. Memorials were being established even before the Holocaust was over.

Crimes against humanity

crimes against any civilians, enemies or citizens as well as persecution based on race, religion, or political stance. The crime of genocide was not listed under this criteria. First time anyone had every been charged with this crime. It was wondered whether crimes against ones own citizens was internationally illegal. Jews and communists fought for this category to represent crimes that occurred before and after the war

Criticisms of trial

defendants were given light sentences. People felt that the allied troops should have also stood trial from their war crimes. No reason that only the losing powers should face trial.