Holocaust and History

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Jean comments:
"There are kids in this country who think that the holocaust is a myth, for
god's sake.  The methods given above, are, absolutely, no question, crass.
Yes, someone, somewhere is making a buck on the holocaust.  Capitalism is
not pretty.  BUT, if someone, somewhere, gains just a tiny amount of
enlightment, is it all in vain?  And do you claim to know ABSOLUTELY that
Spielberg was not sincere in his reasons for making this film?  Or in
setting up the interactive computer games and what have you?  Don't confuse
method with motive.
 
I suppose the bigger issue would be why it is necessary to stoop to such
methods to get your average kid to learn something about history.  At least
we haven't made a water ballet out of it yet."

Even when people *do* learn about the Holocaust, it doesn't mean they'll
*learn*.  A former editor and now columnist for our local paper reported
that he was moved or shaken (I don't recall his exact verb) by SCHINDLER'S
LIST, but went on with the usual, "Gee, we just didn't know . . . " business
(in a city just downstream from Minneapolis--once labled the "anti-Semitic
capital of the U.S."  And we went on to wonder why the film only showed
Germans and Poles exploiting Jews and didn't show Jews exploiting Jews in
the Ghetto! (which ignores the facts that a) the film *did* show some
opportunists in the ghetto, and b) maybe there wasn't all that much to
exploit!)

(In a similar vein, I know someone who was a young adult during WWII and
was offended at any suggestion that the U.S. had camps for the Japanese.
When confronted with the historical fact, she responded, "Well, we had
gas rationing then and couldn't go anywhere either!)


As to that last remark about water ballet, it's close, it's close!

According to a news clipping I saw recently, one of the synchronized
swim teams for the Olympics was forced to scrap plans for a routine with
a death camp motif!  If this item was true, it just proves that black
comedy is never funny because--sooner or later--it's always true!
Springtime for Hitler, indeed!


In sum, anything that helps to teach about the Holocaust can be worthwhile,
but I do think (like Adorno) that the very idea of "art" becomes obscene
in that context.  That's one of the reasons that Spiegelman's MAUS books
are so good.


Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)