Question by fou09sty: Women and the holocaust. Judaism essay. Editing, ideas, anything will help!?
Here is my paper. Tell me what you think, what can be changed?
Women and the Holocaust
Consider if this is a man
Who works in the mud
Who does not know peace
Who fights for a scrap of bread
Who dies because of a yes or a no.
Consider if this is a woman,
Without hair and without name
With no more strength to remember,
Her eyes empty and her womb cold
Like a frog in winter.
– P. Levi, If This is a Man (London, 2000), 25.
When you think of the Holocaust what gender do you picture? The Holocaust was the organized persecution and murder of about six million Jews by the Nazis. Hitler considered Jews to be inferior, and attempted to exterminate them, leaving only the German as the “master race.” Before today’s great film makers such as Steven Spielberg and writers such as Viktor Frankl, society has been presented with this idea that the Holocaust is a masculine subject. In modern times society has broke down there gender walls, and now the Holocaust is being presented as a universally equal subject. Using a post-structural feminist critique of women, gender construction, Judaism, and the holocaust the gap between the recognized few: Hitler and Mengle, and the unrecognized few: Mary Lindell and Violette Szabo are being bridged.
In Gender and Holocaust Victims: A Reappraisal,” by Lisa Pine the term gender refers to the social and cultural construction of the roles of men and women in society. “The article analyzes the differing experiences of women and men as Jewish victims of National Socialism in relation to gender and constructions of gendered identity, using selective evidence drawn from memoir accounts. Through the course of the Holocaust as an academic class within secondary education and colleges, it has become known that women are rarely mentioned in its context. Joan Ringelheim argues that women have been ignored in the literature on the Holocaust, which she termed “gender neutral.” Ringalheim further states, “Women have been either erased or obscured in the “universal framework” of Holocaust experiences. “ Many scholars have responded to her challenge, to state that the problem is not whether or not women are being represented, but merely the idea of who holds power.
In the movie, Schindler’s List for example, we see key components of the Holocaust that are accurately portrayed in relation to gender construction and power. The construction of men and women with different attitudes and qualities toward whatever general party is viewing it. These parties can be within the school: teachers, students, administers. Or, the general body outside the limits of American society. Oskar believes that men live in a hierarchical world, where communication maintains independence and status. As stereotypes suggest, men fulfill active roles and are seen as ambitious; they cannot tolerate being useless. He shows that men are more interested in ‘objects’ and ‘achieving goals’ rather than people and feelings. While women daydream about romance, men fantasize about powerful cars, faster computers, gadgets, gizmos, new technology, and anything that can help them express power by creating results and achieving their goals. Achieving goals independently is very important to men, as it allows them to prove their efficiency and skill. This shows a big contrast from women, who underrate strength, focusing rather on sharing problems, sympathizing, understanding, and giving thoughtful advice. A very distressing scene shows an SS man playing the piano in the living room of a Jewish home during the liquidation of a Jewish Ghetto. Two other SS men try to guess which German classical composer’s work the pianist is playing. This scene shows even that in one of the world’s most scientifically, technologically, culturally and artistically advanced nations, such as Germany, a group like the Nazis can come to power and perpetrate genocide. The SS men themselves are culturally aware, yet at the same time are rounding people up to be gassed or worked and starved to death. We also get a look into other lives of World War II, such as Amon Goeth and Itzhak Stern. Goeth is a mean and hypocritical villain. He chooses a Jew to be his slave and do things for him. Soon, he finds himself in love with her. In a shocking scene, Goeth goes out on a balcony and just shoots people at random. His lover/slave, Helen Hirsch, watches in disgust. He doesn’t care either. He is an evil man and for a moment in the film, when he lets a kid go for not being able to clean a bathtub, we see a compassionate man. Ten seconds later, he shoots and kills the kid. He isn’t going to change and we know it.
Although, the movie has historical merit to a reasonable extent, the power of men supports Ringelheim’s claim that women are not the focus when you state the term Holocaust. Nevertheless, despite these huge gaps in the portrayal of the Holocaust in the visual landscape, the relevance of a gendered analy
I am not asking whether or not you
Don – I will restate what I said. “I don’t agree with this fully, I am of ‘2’ minds about the topic.” My assignment says to make an agrument, either agree, disagree or remain neutral. And no it is not due tomorrow, it is due on Thursday. You are good at stereotyping!
Don – Steretype: a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group. EXAMPLE: College students procrastinate with the majority of their work.
According to Joan Ringelheim and Lisa Pine, it is a genederd topic. I highly feel that you didn’t read my essay, becasue I state that they are the ones I am refering to. I did not come up with the topic on my on. Maybe you should put your ego aside and take the argument for what it is. It is a post structual feminist ((critque)) that is open to ((many)) interputations.
Also I did not ‘thumb down’ ur reply. I guess I’m not the only one who thought your reply was one sided.
Sorry, student. College or not!
Andrea Dworkin: just like Don you fail to read!
Best answer:
Answer by Don F
First off, applying gender to a calamity is a disgusting concept. There is and never was anything “masculine” about the portrayal of the holocaust.
Second, you need more paragraphs and spacing if you want to keep the reader interested.
Third, it’s “their” not “there” if you wish to not lose points for grammar. I rarely correct grammar, but this is your “paper.”
Edit- I did help you, but you gave me a thumbs down anyway because I disagree with you. And let me guess, this is due on monday and you decided to procrastinate until sunday night.
Edit- hence the phrase, “let me guess.” If you were truly of two minds on the issue, you wouldn’t have selected the argument towards a gender issue of a non-gender issue. And just how am I stereotyping you? You have access to the internet, look up stereotype.
Where did I even mention that you were a college student? I never said college students procrastinate, YOU said that.
What do you think? Answer below!