The Motivation for the Holocaust

Rolf had avoided any events that reminded him of his past, but when he heard Selig Baar was speaking he had to go. Rolf saw it as an opportunity to let go of his past; the guilt he had been hiding for six decades. Selig Baar was speaking at a local museum after screening of the documentary The Motivation for the Holocaust. Rolf did not want to watch documentary. He was not keen on living his past again. He only wanted to ask a question to Selig.

Rolf went to the museum at 6. When he entered the small auditorium, an old man wearing rectangle glasses was walking lethargically to the front. Rolf recognized Selig walking to the front. Before Selig turned around, Rolf quickly slipped into a seat in the last row. The auditorium was small. Scanning the atmosphere, Rolf saw around 70 people in 100 seats. All the members of audience were in awe and unable to move. Holocaust had been mesmerizing people for years. It had the same effect on that day.

Between two rows of seats, a microphone was getting the most attention. Before Selig settled into his chair and took charge of his microphone, three people lined up to ask question. 

“Thank you all for joining us today and once again please welcome Selig Baar.” A female voice filled the auditorium. Rolf could not see her from his seat. He did not make any effort also, as Rolf was avoiding eye contact with Selig. “The word holocaust in the context of World War 2 was synonymous with gas chambers. However, as we saw today, there was much more to it. It started years before the world war. It was more than gas chambers, unethical taxation, segregation, racism, eviction, mass graves, murders, loot and many more words can be used to describe them. Selig Baar is here with us: one of the survivors of those terrible times. Please ask your questions.”

Rolf adjusted in his seat to have a look at Selig’s face. After six decades, the man was distant resemblance to his younger self. Selig’s saggy face, big bones, thin hairs were evident of the time passed. Selig was no longer the skinny blond boy Rolf remembered. 

“Do you hate Germans?” The first question was fired at Selig.

Selig laughed loudly. “This is one question I prepared answer for. I didn’t expect it to be the first one though. I am German. Can I hate myself?” Many members of the audience chuckled with Selig. “I understand your question. Holocaust was not a showdown between German and Jews. I believe except for Denmark and Finland, local authorities and structure participated in holocaust. France, Lithuania, Yugoslavia, you name it. Neighbors, friends, classmates, colleagues, employers, they all participated. On the other hand, Romas, some ethnic Polish leaders were also killed. I have never been anything else than German. How can I hate Germans?” Even though Rolf avoided the movie, he could not avoid the memories. He was shifting in his chair. He was uncomfortable. The discussion was already unbearable.

“Mr. Baar. Thank you for being here today. That was an inspiring movie. I loved the stories of survivors, because we all have heard horrible stories of deaths and killings. First time I saw so many stories of triumph over evil. Can you shed some light on your thoughts on this movie?” Second question was asked to Selig.

Selig coughed. “My thoughts. The movie you saw was the life we lived. This movie is about human interactions in the wake of the tragedy. Every person is driven by something. Greed, Compassion, Love, Hate, Jealousy. When greed, jealousy, hate took over a person they reported us to the authorities, participated in killings, robbed our belongings. When compassion, love, care won, they helped us. In the end, all those people survived because someone on the other side helped them at great risk. I remember one instance when a Nazi officer called an old Jew friend advising him to leave the city. This movie is beyond the holocaust itself. It speaks of human interaction in those difficult times. It highlights the complexity of those interactions.”

“What, in your opinion, did drive betrayal of friends? How could a neighbor turn a blind eye and commit such a horrific act?” Third question was asked. The microphone was solitary again as all three questioners took their seats. 

“One thing Nazis did right was segregation. They identified us and segregated us. After that, negative emotions were enough to drive the rest of the horror. How many of you can positively say that you have never been jealous of any of your neighbors? None.” Selig counted raised hands in the audience. Rolf was at the peak of uneasiness by then. He knew if he did not get up at that moment, he would lose his courage. Rolf got up to move towards the solitary microphone, but he kept a low profile and looked sideways. He did not want Selig’s attention. Selig continued, “But I realize you don’t kill them. The reason: They are integrated and part of the society. Similarly, many Jews were integrated into the society. They attended the same school, lived within the same community, played together. When Nazis segregated them, the integration was gone. The barrier vanished. There was no inhibition. People believed that Jews were non-significant. And if you discriminate or harm Jews, you had no repercussions. In fact, peer pressure ensured, in many cases, that you do not stand with the Jews. If you were jealous of a Jew, you had a reason and no inhibition. If you hate, you had a reason and no inhibition. If you were greedy, you had a reason and no inhibition. Many officers were simply doing their duty. If you teach a soldier in army to kill an enemy, he is not making any judgment as to who the enemy is or what are the crimes. He is simply following orders and doing his duties.” Selig stopped for a while. Rolf was between two rows of seats slowly walking towards the microphone. He had his hand on his forehead to avoid seeing eye to eye with Selig. After deep breath Selig continue, “In absence of an inhibition, every human fights a battle between negative and positive motivation. Many times whichever side wins, decided his action. However, all of us at times are simply incapable of fighting the battle and go with the flow. Nazis created a flow and many just followed. Nonetheless, not all was bad. You saw the movie. Many Jews survived. They survived through good fortune and kind and love of non-Jews.”

Rolf was at the microphone. He said, “What is your story?” Selig looked up. Rolf and Selig were looking into each other’s eyes after six decades. A light in Selig’s eyes assured Rolf that they both recognized each other.

Selig said, “You ask my story. I was betrayed, by a friend. My best friend for ten years told Nazis about us. They came after my family and me. We had to run. And then.” Selig paused for a moment. Rolf was not blinking. Selig continued looking at the blank face of Rolf, “My father had a shop in the village. His neighbor was a wealthy man. He had the biggest shop in the village. He took us and kept us in his basement for eight years. We hardly saw the daylight for eight years. But finally, we were able to start the new life. We were lucky than the most. We did not have to leave our village, though we lost everything we had, including our hope. How can I hate Germans? I was betrayed by one, I was saved by one and I am one.” Selig and Rolf were staring at each other by the time.

Gathering courage, Rolf followed up, “Do you hate your friend?”

Selig removed his glasses and wiped his face with his hands. He looked into Rolf’s eyes and said, “No Rolf. I do not hate you. How did you hate me?” Audience gasped.

“I did not,” Rolf cried. “I did not hate you. I was eleven years old. As you said, I had no inhibitions and negative feeling called fear won. You were always top of the class. You were always ahead of me in studies. I feared lagging behind. I saw it as an opportunity. I thought by complaining about you, you will be thrown out of school and I would be the best student. I never meant any harm to you. It was childish. I had been carrying this guilt for years. This is my chance to apologize. I could not change the history, but I could acknowledge my mistake.”

Selig stood up. “The reason my story was not part of that movie, because I could not muster the words, my friend betrayed me. I could only say it today because I was looking at you. It took us 6 decades, but we met.” Selig and Rolf walked towards each other and hugged. The audience applauded. They witnessed one more story of win from holocaust. 

P.S.: Above story is fictional, but it is inspired from a real exhibition at the National Holocaust museum in Washington, DC. The Holocaust has been symbolized by all the atroctities and brutalities, but “Some were neighbors” exhibition highlights human connections and dynamics during the holocaust. If you get a chance, please go and see it. Here is the website for the reference: http://somewereneighbors.ushmm.org/

Rohwer Japanese Relocation camp: Racism, Fear or Protection?

The easiest explanation to any social injustice is racism. 

During the world war 2, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese were about to attack on the west coast of US. The Japanese never attacked, but the fear was high. Meanwhile, the US government rounded up all Japanese Americans living in cities, towns, villages on the west coast and put them into detention. Yes, shocking as it was, it happened. The Japanese Americans, mainly in California and Oregon, were given short notices to vacate and report. Most of them were not able to sell anything and were put into concentration camps for few days. After few weeks to few days, they were transported on trains going to one of the twelve intermittent camps in undisclosed locations in US. These detainees were then released after three years.

Incidentally, the detainees were US citizens. Many of them born in US and some of them had never been to Japan. The question arose, why a country would treat its own citizens in such an atrocious way. Detainees were not exactly the prisoners, as they were provided with basic necessities. They had a normal life within the boundaries of their camps and occasionally some detainees were even allowed to visit nearby villages. After a few months in the camp, many detainees enrolled into US military and fought in the world war for US in Europe, but not before they cleared a ‘loyalty test’.

One site of such intermittent camp was near the village of Rohwer in Mississippi delta region of south east Arkansas. Famous Hollywood actor George Takei was one of the detainees in that camp. Arkansas state university as a part of revival of entire delta region and its heritage invested in preserving the history in Arkansas. A museum was established in McGehee, Arkansas around 13 miles from the actual site of the intermittent camp. 

According to their visitors’ book, I was the first Indian to visit the museum, quite obvious as I had no relation to that history or it wasn’t a popular place. Most of the Arkansans I talked to didn’t even know about this part of history or its connection to the natural state. The first part of the museum had a movie depicting the history and experiences of the inmates. The second part had an exhibit of quotes of the detainees, photographs, artwork and other things used by them. The life was not easy. Each family had a small room to live their life. They had limited rations, heavily guarded camp and no social life except for within the camps. For detainees, that time period was like two immigrations, one when the camps started as they had to leave everything behind and another when the camps ended as they had to restart their life again. 

One of the detainees, Eiichi Kamiya, wrote about the Rohwer camp:

“Far enough south to catch Gulf Coast hurricanes, far enough north to catch the Midwestern tornadoes, close enough to the river to be inundated by the Mississippi valley floods, and lush enough to be heaven for every creepy, crawly creature and pesky insects in the world.”

And that was the best part of the camps.

Today, the only parts left of the camps are a guard tower and a cemetery. I was completely unaware of this history. After visiting the history in the museum, I drove to the actual fields of the camps, the corn fields. Gorgeous weather, cool breeze and sun shine welcomed me. I felt chilly not because of breeze, but I was visualizing the camp life in there; heavily guarded fence, guard towers, armed sentries, small barracks, lines for rations and yet peaceful Japanese Americans going about their life. The questions flooded my mind. I talked to many people about it and the answer I received from the most was racism. Was it just racism? Debatable. In fact, during the Clinton administration, US government, in a special white house program, invited and apologized to survivors of intermittent camps.

I have been in the US for last five years and I have seen many sectarian divides and movements. Racism is being blamed for more time than anything else. By blaming it on racism, every other underlying causes gets undermined. Same was the case during the world war 2. Yes, there could have been racism, but surely the US government was not driven by the racism. The senate had representative from African American community since 1870, some 70 years before Japanese intermittent camp.

The bipartisan political system is the weakest of all democratic political system I’ve seen. That could be the reason. Most of the problems do not need political support or escalation, as election issues are easy to find in a bipartisan system. Most of the time, just saying you hate the other party has been enough to get you votes, as no third front exists to challenge. During the decision of putting Japanese intermittent camp, politically, stakes were very low. Forget about opposing, even educating about the event was not considered important. Thus, many of the Americans are till day unaware about Japanese intermittent camp. 

On the other hand, it could have been a smart decision by the Government. Japanese were about to attack on west coast or as was believed by the people there. Being a paranoid society, the enmity was bound to increase among Japanese Americans and other Americans. Japanese Americans would have incurred heavy loss, as they were minority, if the riots were broken out. By moving them to intermittent camps, the Government at lease ensured safety of their lives. While fighting a world war, stability at home was of the utmost importance. By moving Japanese Americans out of the west coast and away from other Americans, the US government not only ensured their safety but also the stability at home to focus on the war. Smart!

The last part, German Americans were not treated the same way. True, because the real perceived fear was from Japan and racially Japanese were easy to discriminate. Racism in the society played part in the discrimination, but I do not believe the US government was driven by the racism. The Japs, as they were called, from the camps were allowed to visit nearby villages. A group of youths visited a nearby town, probably Rohwer, but I’m not sure. They boarded a bus. Segregation was a reality at that time, and so white people travelled in the front of the bus, while black people occupied the rear. Being wary of the white people, the Japanese youth instinctively walked to rear to sit with blacks. The driver instructed them to sit in the middle creating a third sect. Yes, that was racism, but no different than anywhere else in the universe. More so, that was a lack of education and awareness. They had never seen a Japanese person and did not know how to react. They were not beaten up. The Japanese were just discriminated out of unawareness and lack of education more than racism.

All being said, most of the Americans who know about Japanese American camps, today believe that was a bad fruit of their glorious history. I am taking the blame away from Racism, because I believe blaming the racism is an easy way out and undermine other issues. In addition, I have travelled to the interiors of the US. I have travelled to the places notoriously perceived as racist. Nevertheless, I have never been racially discriminated. 

In the end, a quote from Ray Johnston, the project director of the Rohwer camps, glorifies the response of Japanese Americans and how civilized they were. Yes, they were Americans and they loved their country, US:

“I was very agreeably surprised throughout the life of the Center at the excellent conduct of practically all evacuees. I do not believe that any other similar-sized segment of our population would have behaved themselves as well under similar circumstances. I feel that a group of average Americans, under similar conditions, would have been continually causing turmoil, strikes, and so on, and that administering such a Center would have been unbearable."

Thank you Arkansas State University for preserving the history. (http://rohwer.astate.edu)

Visit the place and build your own opinion.