Holocaust

[Zachary Haberer]

> 
> Richard Romeo comments:
> "In your discussion of WWII and corporate sector vs. private sector et al,
> how would you explain the holocaust?  With all the talk of Their subtle
> manipulations of men, how does such an indescribable event (its planning,
> its drain on resources-human and otherwise) fit into these plans,
> double-crosses and such?"
> 

I'd say that the holocaust, like the rest of the war, was very
much an example of government and commercial interests working
together. The event is not so much "indescribable" but
unencompassable. The depths of (banal, depressing) detail one
can go to in the attempt are perhaps without limit.  Maybe
that's why Pynchon stayed away from it as much as he did.

Anyone doubting the holocaust's mix of commercial/goverment or
its describabilty is invited to watch _Shoah_ (1985, dir. Claude
Lanzmann). It's just about all contemporary interview, with no
historical or documentary footage I can recall.  For example,
in one scene Lanzmann is interviewing historian Raul Hilberg on
the agencies responsible for transporting Jews to the camps:

CL "It was the same bureau that dealt with any kind of normal 
passenger?"

RH "Absolutely.  Just the official travel bureau.  Mittel 
Europaisch Reiseburo would ship people to the gas chambers or 
they would ship vacationers to their favorite resort, and that 
was basically the same office and the same operation, the same 
procedure, the same billing...  With children under ten going at 
half-fare and children under four going free."

CL "Excuse me, the children under four who were shipped to the 
extermination camps, the children under four..."

RH "Went free."

How much time does it take to describe the holocaust?  Claude
stuck with it for like nine hours before relenting.  How long 
did _Schindler's List_ go?  Three-four hours?  A. Renais (sp?) 
got his version in under a half-hour (don't remember the title). 
Pynchon probably figured he couldn't thoroughly do the job and 
still keep GR in it's convenient, bite-sized form.

--Zack  


 

Zachary Haberer                                         
Ian Freed Consulting/Russia                              
tel. +7 095 956 1120