Your putting out some great topics to write about, for I will play Devil’s advocate as well. I say this because of my love of writing and how historical issues, especially issues of money are, have been, and shall be at the crux of all evil. Here is the absolute truth, that Hitler was an evil person, and so was the inner circle of the Nazi party, and everyone knows that now. The students who wrote this essay would have learned so much about, “Herd,” mentality, just like herd mentality and some over reactionary person got this on the evening news and probably cost this poor teacher her job.  An overwhelming number of my friends are Jewish people, but it is a different culture, and to survive as a tribe for nearly 6000 years is no easy task, so to people who do not know anything about Jewish people, then one would learn that survival of the culture certainly depends on a tight bond and supporting the members of the people who, as are as many of us who seek this Monotheistic God have maintained a lineage from the beginning of Biblical times.

This requires separation, striving to keep the bloodline pure, though in reform Judaica inner marriage is becoming extremely normal, but that a woman of Jewish faith has the responsibility of seeing the children are brought up with the faith and background of her mothers and fathers. This is very rare and confusing in most societies where men, by tradition until the latter part of the 20th century — even in enlightened America — So this would have been a lesson for the essay writers, that the Jewish faith does have to work hard to remain together, and when my friend was in The University Medical School here, she became aware of a very strong mother’s club of Jewish women who arranged parties and gatherings as such the Jewish boys could meet the Jewish girls who were Medical Students, and she was somewhat offended, for she was in love with a Jewish man at the time; and Worse, it was one of her Jewish professors who became a serious lover to her. His words to her were that he could never marry her, for his brother in law was a Rabbi and the family was of mainly conservative Jewish people, and he explained that he would be fully ostracized, for the faith certainly came before any romantic ideals.

The tribal nature of the Jewish people which must close the world out much of the time to maintain a pureness of faith is just a fact, and on the University campus, I can reassure you there were student’s groups for every faith imaginable, but no active mother’s clubs where the mom’s were calling the shots as to watching over their children to endeavor to do as much as possible to see their child and their relationship to the faith would endure.  Tribal behaviors are nothing knew to Americans, for we destroyed countless tribes ourselves in moving America from the landing of The Mayflower to removing or killing off tribes from the East to the Western most outposts of the United States. I believe that Europeans coming to America probably removed or killed so many millions of human beings to take what is not ours — Tribe to tribe, for this entire country was a group of nations. Six million Jews is horror from the Evil Third Reich.

Students might have learned that maintaining a tribe is not only complex, but it is very dangerous. Let us put it in other words, that this was the first Holocaust which was actually documented by film and the soldiers who went in to liberate Auschwitz and Buchenwald. We have visual evidence which is so strong of man’s in humanity to man that we are cloaked in Horror. Killing off entire populations of peoples is as old as history can unfurl, but in the 20th century, the sin of man could be shown at it’s worst and in its fullest pathos, that human beings can adapt and become something no less than animals.  Through these essays, I would have hoped the students would have come away seeing that there is always danger of another Holocaust if we are not reminded of this and often, and count on Stephen Spielberg to have the most vivid and documented cases of the evils against his own people, for he has done such a good job in showing what happened in the death camps.

Again, though, he could have done a little better job in bringing out the others who were sent to the gas chambers or outright murdered first, the Gypsies, and no Catholic Priest, non Arian Catholics; Just not looking the same got people sent to the death camps. There are a lot of studies about how people are attracted to people who look like them, so there is a nature vs. nurture component to this assignment. People try to reassure us our, “Looks,” do not matter; God have mercy this study would show looks meant everything.

Germans are still taking the hit for being the most inhumane people who ever has drawn breath. A 92 year old man whom I know well was going back to Germany a couple of years ago, having escaped the Holocaust by getting, literally, the last boat to Australia, for his father made it to the docks in time, and all German ports were going to be closed for vessels on which Jewish people and the other souls apt to die for not being of pure Arian race, but his father pushed and practically hurled his family on to that boat to safety, for the Nazis were coming down hard; Crystal Naught had occurred, so those who knew Jews were being singled out got that voice of God warning, “Get Out!,” but when he was going to the family reunion in Germany, many older Jewish friends asked, “How can you do this, go to that miserable people who killed ours?” He had to remind him that some of his family survived, that he, at 92, wanted to see them again, for Germany was home. Again a lesson for the students, that German Jews had survived, that there was a resistance and merciful people in Germany, and the war is over.

New generations of Germans still have to deal with the shame of what happened in their country, and as one German girl who lived with us told me, “I did not know Hitler,” but we are taught of how our people did these horrible deeds, but it has nothing to do with me, or us, the citizens of today’s Germany. The researchers of the assigned topic would learn that the propaganda of treating Jews well was spread among the ordinary people, and their soldiers were sent to war, for the country was in financial ruin, and a madman decided he could take over the world. Kid yourself not, for each of us could be trapped by evil people, for if you are cold and hungry — You are looking for a reason why. Students would have to ask themselves the question of why Germany had caused so much blood shed and loss in the 20th century.

Money and the use of money was a weapon Hitler hit everyday Germans in the belly with, for it was true that the money lenders, the jewel merchants, and a wealthy upper segment of German population at that time was Jewish. Banking, hard work, brilliance, helping one another; all of this would begin, because of the role of propaganda to put a face on Jews as being who had the money. The Jewish people’s role in banking and wealth by trades such as the jewelers was visual, and the fine houses were visible. The average German was poverty stricken, so with just his ability to organize and storm the citizens with propaganda, he made it look as if the Jewish people had taken from the average citizen, and using people’s poverty and convincing them the Jewish people had caused it, then here again — A student could have taken this and could have learned something about the German citizens.

They were lied to. The propaganda was worse than what North Korea is going through at this moment, so looking where the wealth was most apparent among the shop keepers and the people who had money for loans, students would have learned a lot about the economics of war. War is evil to me, because it is always over taking land, properties other than land, going after sub-groups as the answer to all problems, and Germany had not recovered from the last war, so to even dream there were people of any faith who had the money and the national treasures of art, the gold, the silver, the precious jewels — What a lesson one could have learned about property and the economics of war. This teacher was endeavoring, I believe, to see how the Jewish people became such a target all over Europe as the tide moved on to tracing the money. Needless to say, they would learn if they studied well that Nazis inner circle were living like kings while even their followers were starving. This assignment was a treasured way to seek out the concept of Scapegoating, the oldest trick in the book, and I am going to say this, that I believe the German people, the largest number of them, would have revolted had they access to truth.

I am going to doubly note here that my last name of Heintz came from a group of people who were Alsatian, for one thinks it is German, and the answer is know; but Alsace was like a ping pong ball being either French or German, and my husband would later in life, as a Catholic learn there was Jewish heritage on his Father’s side, but here we have another example of how the gene pool keeps getting watered down, for by the 19th century, most of his family had accepted Catholicism, but the family lineage is out, and though Alsatian, some cousins were still following the Jewish traditions. Also he would find out through his family tree that his family had been more on the French part of Alsace. A student writing a report on this teacher’s subject matter could have learned how lineage is easier to follow if you stay within the tribe, and I have not met a Jewish person yet who was not proud of their heritage — Thus we again see the strong will it has taken to maintain a distinct culture and not to offend the world by closing others out. There is danger in being a tribal people, a wandering people who would go from villages so familiar to us from the Old and New Testaments, but Jewish people have managed what most of the rest of the world cannot imagine — To maintain some semblance of being apart from the world. The culture is that strong.

I think this assignment could have been a great lerning tool, and I fail to see that it was a caustic assignment, for I believe an instructor was endeavoring to use a clever way for students to come back and have done some amazing research. As a person of the southern Appalachian heritage, I wish someone or everyone would have to do an assignment about the Scot, Irish, British ,and if the instructor would state — I want you to tell me why White Trash and Holy Rollers, along with Hillbillies and Rednecks has come about as acceptable to label people, especially of the southern Appalachians, and she asked the students to explain, “White Trash,” then I would be very proud. For, at last, someone was going to learn some history and the truth that America feeds on weaker populations as well.  I saw so much good that could come out of the teacher’s assignment, and had it not used the words – Evil – and Jews in the same sentence, no one would have heard about it..

I do not see hate or vitriolic behavior in this assignment; Instead, I see the greatest of opportunity to come to understand our Jewish brothers and sisters.

God Bless Everyone,  And Hear Our Prayers for mercy and understanding across the face of the earth.

Barb

Barbara Everett Heintz, “Pinkhoneysuckle,” the book on Amazon, Kindle, and Create Space, and The Xanga Pinkhoneysuckle Blogger