The Nuremberg Trials And Oskar Schindler: A Comparative Analysis

1344 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on oskar schindler

With a historic event such as World War Two, it creates a rift between the perception and views of people. The Nuremberg trials, Eichmann trials, and Oskar Schindler’s story all had a large impact on todays society showing the difficult psychological and physiological effects war has on people. In the case of Adolf Eichmann, he was considered a “law-abiding citizen” a person who was just following the rules for the sake of the country. Yet with the surrender of Nazi Germany, he and many other German’s were suddenly considered the “bad guys”. On the other hand there were a handful of people such as Oskar Schindler who decided to follow their morals to save the lives of Jewish people. In either case, World War Two Nazi Germany reveals one challenge facing veterans and survivors; what the difference is between a good and bad person. The Nuremberg trials was a series of trials that was carried out from 1945 - 1949 in which former Nazi leaders were indicted and tried as war criminals. Although the Nuremberg trial is now considered a milestone, at the time, the procedure used for the first international trial of war was seen questionable. With the Allies organizing the trial, they established the laws for the Nuremberg trials with the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT). The charter defined three …show more content…

Using the word law-abiding citizen, she believed that the people of Germany were just following the law as any good civilian would. She too believed that the flaws that were precedented by the Nuremberg Trial and used in the Eichmann Trial created an unjust trial. In the book Eichmann in Jerusalem, she recounts Eichmanns action and words, revealing that he truly was a simple minded man. A man who had willingly participated in the extermination of millions of Jews and was more disappointed that his career did not advance rather than show any remorse of his

Show More
Related

  • Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    During this dark time in history, people like Miss. Breed from Dear Miss Breed took initial action on what she thought was right, and gave hope to Japanese Internment Camp children by supplying books and writing letters. What these heroes of the past have in common is that they took action for what they truly believe is right. The best way to respond to conflict is based on a person’s general judgment on what they think is right or wrong, this will show how they take action during conflict. In the story, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow, the thoughts of independence and judgement were shown by German student, Sophie Scholl.

    Read More

  • What Are Browning's Arguments On 'Ordinary Germans' By Robert Browning

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    The atrocities of war can take an “ordinary man” and turn him into a ruthless killer under the right circumstances. This is exactly what Browning argues happened to the “ordinary Germans” of Reserve Police Battalion 101 during the mass murders and deportations during the Final Solution in Poland. Browning argues that a superiority complex was instilled in the German soldiers because of the mass publications of Nazi propaganda and the ideological education provided to German soldiers, both of which were rooted in hatred, racism, and anti-Semitism. Browning provides proof of Nazi propaganda and first-hand witness accounts of commanders disobeying orders and excusing reservists from duties to convince the reader that many of the men contributing to the mass

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Nuremberg Trials

    2518 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Nuremberg Trials was unethically run and violated the rights of the Nazi leaders who were convicted of committing crimes against humanity. Primarily because the Allies sought to use the trials as a way to remind the Germans, who won the war ‘again’. Thus making it similar to the Treaty of Versailles in (19- ), through implying this notion of “Victors’ Justice”. Nevertheless, the Allies did to an extent ‘try’ to make the tribunal as ethical as possible,

    Read More

  • Hans Frank, the Killer of Many Polish Jews Without Pulling the Trigger

    2094 Words  | 5 Pages

    When Frank was interrogated the trial had touched its one hundredth and eleventh day. The media was getting tired of all of this talk about concentration camps and war crimes; the bench it also seemed was also fed up. On numerous occasions the Tribunal judges pressed the prosecution to simplify the specifics on concentration camps as they believed the particulars were already adequately known: “(…) It is not in the interest of the Trial, which the Charter directs should be an expeditious one, that further evidence should be presented at this stage on the question of concentration camps.” The Prosecution at least were not supported by the bench to present another story of what would have seemed to be just another concentration camp.

    Read More

  • Dehumanization in the Holocaust

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Murders inflicted upon the Jewish population during the Holocaust are often considered the largest mass murders of innocent people, that some have yet to accept as true. The mentality of the Jewish prisoners as well as the officers during the early 1940’s transformed from an ordinary way of thinking to an abnormal twisted headache. In the books Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi and Ordinary men by Christopher R. Browning we will examine the alterations that the Jewish prisoners as well as the police officers behaviors and qualities changed.

    Read More

  • Totalitarian Government: Hitler and Stalin

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    Following the beginning of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union would start what would become two of the worst genocides in world history. These totalitarian governments would “welcome” people all across Europe into a new domain. A domain in which they would learn, in the utmost tragic manner, the astonishing capabilities that mankind possesses. Nazis and Soviets gradually acquired the ability to wipe millions of people from the face of the Earth. Throughout the war they would continue to kill millions of people, from both their home country and Europe. This was an effort to rid the Earth of people seen as unfit to live in their ideal society. These atrocities often went unacknowledged and forgotten by the rest of the world, leaving little hope for those who suffered. Yet optimism was not completely dead in the hearts of the few and the strong. Reading Man is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Gulag by Janusz Bardach and Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi help one capture this vivid sense of resistance toward the brutality of the German concentration and Soviet work camps. Both Bardach and Levi provide a commendable account of their long nightmarish experience including the impact it had on their lives and the lives of others. The willingness to survive was what drove these two men to achieve their goals and prevent their oppressors from achieving theirs. Even after surviving the camps, their mission continued on in hopes of spreading their story and preventing any future occurrence of such tragic events. “To have endurance to survive what left millions dead and millions more shattered in spirit is heroic enough. To gather the strength from that experience for a life devoted to caring for oth...

    Read More

  • Compare the way Goldhagen and Browning present the perpetrators of the Holocaust

    2071 Words  | 5 Pages

    The events which have become to be known as The Holocaust have caused much debate and dispute among historians. Central to this varied dispute is the intentions and motives of the perpetrators, with a wide range of theories as to why such horrific events took place. The publication of Jonah Goldhagen’s controversial but bestselling book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust” in many ways saw the reigniting of the debate and a flurry of scholarly and public interest. Central to Goldhagen’s disputed argument is the presentation of the perpetrators of the Holocaust as ordinary Germans who largely, willingly took part in the atrocities because of deeply held and violently strong anti-Semitic beliefs. This in many ways challenged earlier works like Christopher Browning’s “Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland” which arguably gives a more complex explanation for the motives of the perpetrators placing the emphasis on circumstance and pressure to conform. These differing opinions on why the perpetrators did what they did during the Holocaust have led to them being presented in very different ways by each historian. To contrast this I have chosen to focus on the portrayal of one event both books focus on in detail; the mass shooting of around 1,500 Jews that took place in Jozefow, Poland on July 13th 1942 (Browning:2001:225). This example clearly highlights the way each historian presents the perpetrators in different ways through; the use of language, imagery, stylistic devices and quotations, as a way of backing up their own argument. To do this I will focus on how various aspects of the massacre are portrayed and the way in which this affects the presentation of the per...

    Read More

  • Schindlers List

    1739 Words  | 4 Pages

    The movie “Schindler’s list” is a compelling, real-life depiction of the events that occurred during the 1940’s. It illustrates the persecution and horrific killings of the Jewish people. It also exemplifies the hope and will of the Jewish people, which undoubtedly is a factor in the survival of their race. The most important factor however is because of the willingness of one man, Oskar Schindler, to stand out and make a difference.

    Read More

  • Miles Lehrman's Witness to the Holocaust Argues Whether Bystanders Affirm Perpetrators

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    soldiers during the Jewish Holocaust, knew that the Nazi’s actions were inhumane and cruel; hence, he commanded his soldiers to not confiscate property from the Jews. Although the Nazi soldiers did not take valuables away from the Jews, they still dehumanized and exterminated the Jews, rega...

    Read More

  • Banality of Evil and Adolf Eichmann

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    The capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann, which evoked legal and moral controversy across all nations, ended in his hanging over four decades ago. The verdict dealing with Eichmann's involvement with the Final Solution has never been in question; this aspect was an open-and-shut case which was put to death with Eichmann in 1962. The deliberation surrounding the issues of Eichmann's motives, however, are still in question, bringing forth in-depth analyses of the aspects of evil.

    Read More

  • Judgment at Nuremberg

    477 Words  | 1 Pages

    == == Werner Lammpe was accused of sending numerous citizens to concentration camps where they were later killed. I feel that he was innocent because he did not have the mens rea to commit these crimes.

    Read More

  • The Holocaust

    2615 Words  | 6 Pages

    Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. New York: Vintage, 1997. Print.

    Read More

  • Belgian Congo vs. Holocaust

    1555 Words  | 4 Pages

    The atrocities of the Belgian Congo and the Holocaust are two of the main events in history that have been responsible for the mass murdering of millions of people. Although these events significantly changed the course of humanity, and the story behind each one is very different, there are significant factors that make them alike as well as different. Many would agree that comparing two atrocities that affected the lives of so many people and gave a 180-degree turn to each of their countries would be something very difficult to achieve. However, by comparing the behavior of both the perpetrators and the victims of both cases, we might be able to further understand the lack of morality and the inspiration that led to these awful events. The perpetrators in both atrocities tended to have a similar pattern of behavior when it came to the way they saw their victims.

    Read More

  • A Bystander’s Role in the Holocaust

    1680 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Cracking The Code Of Genocide: The Moral Psychology Of Rescuers, Bystanders, And Nazis During The Holocaust." Political Psychology 29.5 (2008): 699-736. Business Source Premier. Web. The Web.

    Read More

  • If This Is a Man, by Primo Levi

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    If This Is a Man or Survival in Auschwitz), stops to exist; the meanings and applications of words such as “good,” “evil,” “just,” and “unjust” begin to merge and the differences between these opposites turn vague. Continued existence in Auschwitz demanded abolition of one’s self-respect and human dignity. Vulnerability to unending dehumanization certainly directs one to be dehumanized, thrusting one to resort to mental, physical, and social adaptation to be able to preserve one’s life and personality. It is in this adaptation that the line distinguishing right and wrong starts to deform. Primo Levi, a survivor, gives account of his incarceration in the Monowitz- Buna concentration camp.

    Read More

More about The Nuremberg Trials And Oskar Schindler: A Comparative Analysis

Open Document