holocaust studies

MANDATORY QUESTION:

1. Simon Wiesenthal’s book The Sunflower is subtitled is Forgiveness Possible? Analyze responses to this question by Berger, Cargas, Ozick, Heschel, The Dali Lama, and Wu. What is your position on the issue? Suppose the incident described by Wiesenthal never actually happened. Would this change anything? Why? Why not?

CHOOSE:

2. Tadeusz Borowski, a non-Jewish Polish prisoner in Auschwitz, shares his experiences in his memoir This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen. Discuss his memoir in terms of the following; The Holocaust was “the bloodiest battle of the war,” “Between two throw-ins in a soccer game, right behind my back, three thousand people had been put to death,” “The Death of Schillinger,” and the young mother who sought to flee from her small child who runs after her and, … stretches out his little arms and cries: ‘Mama! ‘Mama!’

3. Elie Wiesel’s searing memoir Night is a farewell to his traditional belief in God. Years later he told an interviewer that “Ever since Auschwitz I have been trying to find an occupation for God.” When several years later I asked him if he’d found an occupation for God, Wiesel responded “Yes, but He doesn’t listen.” Compare Wiesel’s image(s) of God in Night to the author’s human rights activities.