Christopher Browning’s “Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101” and Daniel Goldhagen’s “Hitler’s Willing Executioners
[ send me this essay ]
Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust: This 6 page report discusses these two books and compares their differing premises regarding the actions taken (or not taken) by “ordinary” German citizens during the Holocaust. Browning’s premise was that circumstances such as peer pressure, career promotion, and the mindless conformity of society led large numbers of common, everyday people to participate in murdering the Jews of Europe. On the other hand, Goldhagen claims that the well-established German tradition of an “eliminationist ideal” resulted in a type of anti-Semitism that was, in his opinion, a solely “German pathology.” No other sources.
Filename: BWordmen.wps

Cognitive Dissonance / Applied To Those Who Saved The Jews
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In 6 pages the author discusses the concept of cognitive dissonance as it applies to those who saved the Jews from the Holocaust. It is posited that cognitive dissonance makes a person want to right a wrong in order to change a distasteful situation. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Filename: Cogdiss.wps

Comparison of Heinrich Heine and Gunter Grass
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A 5 page paper discussing classic works by these German authors. Both Heine and Grass portray a dark and nearly hopeless Germany in their works. Heine's Deutschland, a Winter's Tale is older than Grass' The Tin Drum by more than 100 years, a century in which Germany rose to command world attention twice. Grass portrays a Germany with much similarity to that of Heine's time. Heine was threatening and ominous in much of his epic-length verse. He was able to see ahead on Germany's then-current path; Grass looked back along that path in the other direction. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Filename: KSGermBks.wps

Conflicted Paths/Making the Right Choice
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A 5 page essay that compares and contrasts Mark Harris' Bang the Drum Slowly and Art Spiegelman's Maus, A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began. The writer argues how very different situations are connected when they each touch – as these authors do – on factors that are intrinsically human. No additional sources cited.
Filename: khharspi.wps

Cynthia Ozick's "The Shawl" / Past, Present, & Symbolism
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A 4 page essay on the symbolism of the shawl itself in Cynthia Ozick's novella. Special attention is paid to the way the symbolism changes over the course of the story. The writer presents a chilling account of life during the Holocaust. The primary source is cited.
Filename: Shawl.wps