After reading The Assault by Harry Mulishch, about Anton Steenwijk’s experience in 1945 during World War II and coping with the memories of the traedy for the rest of his life, I am left somewhat shocked. Due to the assignation of Fake Ploeg, a Nazi Collaborator, and the body being planted in front of Anton’s house, the Nazis took revenge by killing Anton’s mother, father, and brother and torching their home. The emotional chaos happening at the young age of twelve during this incident follows Anton the rest of his life. Throughout reading the book you notice that in all the episodes a new piece for puzzle is revealed for further reason into the actions of the night in 1945, and more and more we see Anton slowly grow a little unstable as he tries to rationalize every last detail. To me this makes him seem irrational, the way he takes to the information, never getting to upset or letting it effect his life as it is now.…
In chapter two of Donald McKale’s Hitler’s Shadow War, titled “The Nazi Revolution and German Jews, 1933”, McHale goes into detail the steps Hitler and his supporters had to take establish control of the government and their persecution of Jews within Germany. Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January of 1933, within a month of him in power he met in February with the nation’s military leaders in attempt to persuade them to give their support towards his political interests.…
First, Germany had many ways of keeping its people under control. Propaganda was an important factor of keeping Germans under control. Using pictures or teaching students at school he did anything and everything to get people to be against the Jews. In Document 3, it is stated that Hitler promised to end the Treaty of Versailles. Also he sent battalions into the Rhineland’s demilitarized zone to “cast off the last shackles fastened upon Germany by the Treaty of Versailles” (Doc.3). Some of Hitler’s ideas are explained in Document 1. Hitler believed Germany would never “have the moral right to enter into colonial politics until, at least, it includes its own sons within a single state” (Doc.1). This means that Hitler thought that Germany would never be able to enter colonial politics until Germany had colonies of its own. He also states that oppressed territories are not reduced back to the common Reich or empire by protests, but by other territories or countries with higher military power. In the Munich Conference, Germany was allowed territory in Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, though many…
Naomi Klein’s article, “Torture’s Dirty Secret: It Works” from the May 30, 2005 asserts that torture is a tool that has been used for a long time by investigative personnel to extract important information from detainees. Naomi Klein describes the effects of torture on its victims by including a victim’s ordeal in her article. One of the victims of torture that Naomi Klein includes in her argument is a Syrian-born Canadian known as Maher Arar. Maher Arar is the world’s most famous victim of rendition by US officials. He was detained by US investigators at an airport in New York and then rendered to Syria. Arar was held in a tiny cell in Syria for ten months. While in detention, he was periodically taken out for beatings. The evidence that was…
In the story “The Man Killed” By Tim O’Brien, the narrator stares in silence at the man he has just murdered. He imagines all sorts of things and describes every part of him, from the blood running out of his wounds to his dainty long fingers. He, then starts telling us about his life and visualizes his past, present and future. The narrator envisions this man of My Khe as a scholar, not a fighter; he believes he is someone who went to war only to fulfill his patriotic duty. During this whole time, O’Brien never really speaks, and the silent is broken by two of O’Brien’s fellow soldiers. First Azar speaks, his apathetic ways are much too cruel, since he compares the soldier to shredded cereal, this also shows he feels pleasure from the man’s death. The second voice is from Kiowa, who in fact sympathizes wit O’Brien but still urges him to move on and tries to make him see that the young soldier’s death was necessary, because if he hadn’t killed him, O’Brien would have been the one…
In his novel The Assault, Harry Mulisch illustrates a clear example at how human memory can aid us in pursuing a better future ahead of us. As Anton watched the motor boats on the first page of the novel he was amazed at how fast the motor boats moved and the wake they left behind. Each time he saw them zoom by he would try to follow their wake however its pattern became so distorted he could not follow it. Along side the motor boats were the gondolas where they were propelled by the captain pushing a stick back thus moving his boat forward. He then takes this approach on life and lives while constantly bringing up his past. Every time he attempted to look at what the…
In Refractions of Violence, Martin Jay asserts that violence has become "a constitutive function of today's world, structuring and sustaining our way of existence and of socio-political and transnational intelligibility"(3). Michael Hardt and Antonio Nergi argue that contemporary warfare and violence have become "a permanent condition", "the primary organizing principle of society" and "the general matrix for all relations of power and techniques of domination" (12-13). In On Violence, political theorist Hannah Arendt states that war is the most severe form of violence. Scarry defines war as "a form of human brutality where the main activity is injuring and the ultimate goal is to out-injure the opponent"…
On April 20, 1989, one of the world’s most profound leaders, public speakers and war generals was born in Braunau, Austria (Scholtz 417). Hitler rose to become the highest-ranking official of the Nazi Party that was erected in 1920 (Carney 305). His fellow party members knew him a very well spoken man as well as having innate leadership skills (Scholtz 420). At the end of the 1920’s the German people suffered from unemployment, poverty, starvation, and most of all, hope (Robinson 856). Along with the economical and social collapse of the 1920’s, Germany’s politicians were caught up in petty squabbles and the whole republic was falling apart. Hitler used this opportunity to take power. He would not try and cease power at first; he would use his gift of persuasion (Carney 308). He made promises to restore the republic by stabilizing the economy and giving people back their jobs. This was all he needed for people to vote him in as President of Germany. As president, he did just as he promised, he brought the republic up out of the ashes of the 1920’s and 30’s and rebuilt (Scholtz 423). Little did the people know, Hitler had other plans up his sleeves. Shortly following the elections in 1933, Hitler ordered his secret police to commence their systematic takeover of the Government (Carney 311). He would stop it nothing until the entire country was his. Once Hitler ceased complete control, he would begin to set in motion, one of the worst tragedies to ever befall the earth. It started with simple boycott of Jewish stores and shops (Scholtz 424). He wanted to make it known that Jews were not welcome in his new régime, and they would pay the price if they stayed. Hitler soon passed the Nuremburg laws, which forbade Jews from owning things pets, cars, nice furniture, expensive clothing, etc (Robinson 867). In 1935, Hitler revealed his plans to begin war against the free world (Scholtz 426). This started a chain of horrifying and deadly events…
Time and place matter in this work because the author uses time and place to show how life continues and things have changed; yet, the impact of the night of the assault continues to haunt Anton. I believe that there are three key points that support my position. These points are; how Anton matured over time, how his surrounding places changed after the war, and how Anton held onto the events that took place in Haarlem, even though he as well as the places around him changed.…
Looking back at the events that occurred during our history, particularly during World War II, many of the people often reflect back and ask the question, ‘Who let a man like Hitler come into power or what made the German people decide to follow him? The seeds of Hitler's rise to power were planted following the outcome of the First World War. Hitler’s rise to power was not inevitable. It depended heavily on a range of factors, events and circumstances.…
have said only to use in situations where the lives of others are in imminent danger. As media…
In the article Police Violence: American Epidemic, American Consent, published in The New York Times, Sept 26 2016, Charles M Blow states that it is a mistake to focus on the actions of a single officer, since this is a problem right across society.…
During the World War Two, Adolf Hitler was the dictator of Germany. Hitler and the Axis powers, such as Italy and Japan, were the aggressors. Nazi Germany was a dictatorship that invaded and took over most of the Europe during World War Two. The invasions were part of Hitler’s vision for Germany. At first, Germany wanted to unite all German people who included Austria and a few neighbors. However, Nazi Germany invaded them and later they wanted to dominate Europe. The Nazis and Hitler wanted more territory and also believed in the superiority of the German people. The Nazis believed that they were supposed to rule. As part of this policy, the Nazis and Hitler were very prejudiced racially and wanted a ‘pure’ German state.…
Hitler seize upon the fears of the German population. The people were afraid of the growing influence of communism and the inability of their government in addressing the growing economic demands of the treaty of Versailles as dictated by the western powers. Hence, he provided a viable and strong option to the people.…
In the past 20 years society has fallen victim to mass murders perpetrated by children, even though overall crime is down. In order to better understand this; social scientists are conducting studies on whether violent video games contribute to this cycle of violence or are they just a tragic coincidence. In “violent Video Games: Dogma, Fear, and Pseudoscience” Christopher Ferguson argues that there is no significant contribution to video game violence and the up-tick in youth violence seen today. However, David Grossmann in “Trained to kill (children who kill)” argues that video game violence not only contributes, but also trains children how to…