English 398X: Literature and the Holocaust

Assignment 1: Thought Piece- Question 1

Due Date: January 28, 2010

One aspect of the events leading up to and surrounding the Holocaust that really shocked me,

and of which I was unaware prior to reading the works of Zweig’s autobiography, Sakowicz’s diary, and

Ringelblum’s notes, was the manner in which the Nazi’s conducted their plans with such an

impenetrable shroud of secrecy. The strategy formed by the Nazi Party, to me seems to have worked so

seamlessly, mainly due to the absolute isolation through which the Jewish population, as well as much

of the rest of the population, was forced into, resulting in a lack of information on the surrounding

turmoil and utter chaos within the Jewish communities.

The Jewish people were cut off from the outside world by being forced into ghettos and

concentration camps, but also by the stripping of rights by the Nazi party, the criminalization of

ownership of such things as radio transmitters, and the creation of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment

and Propaganda, headed by Joseph Goebbels. This was a deliberate decision made by the Nazi Party in

order to brainwash public opinion, but also to confuse the Jewish community. It was an effort that

proved to be incredibly successful. I believe that the isolation was the reason for the lack of response

from within the Jewish population, as well as the outside general public, until it was much, much too

late.

Stefan Zweig tells us in The World of Yesterday: An Autobiography, that he was continuously

met with obstructions in terms of the happenings surrounding him, although he was quick to realize

there was more than what he was being told and was reading in newspapers. A Christian friend turns his

back on Zweig, for fear of punishment, his apartment is searched under false pretenses. He takes leave

of his home only to find himself in the midst of another conflict. When met with questions from his
peers of the goings-on in the city in which he was staying, Vienna, and the revolution to which he was an

eye-witness, he replies, “Don’t ask me. Better buy a foreign newspaper” (Zweig, 164). This shows how

the propaganda was written, in a way that covered up much of the real story with “nebulous” reports in

the politically-controlled newspapers.

Unfortunately, many of the Jewish people were slow to realize what was actually happening

around them, partly because of their faith and hope, partly because Germans had begun the isolation

tactics using propaganda, and by spreading rumors and lies. For example, in the Ponary Diary, an

eyewitness sees a protest in the square by the wives of “working” husbands three weeks after their

disappearance (Sakowicz, 47). At this point, none of the Jewish community in Wilno knew that people

were being murdered in Ponary, due to the round-up being of men of working age, reinforcing the belief

that they had gone to work for the Germans. These types of lies and rumors spread far and wide. In

Ringelblum’s notes, a rumor spread that the closing of the Ghetto would be postponed until the

following April, and a wave of relief spread across Warsaw. A week later, the Ghetto was closed

(Ringelblum, 86).

The Jewish community’s efforts of resistance came through years later in the form of these

writings mentioned above and more. Their response to the horrific events of the Holocaust was also

shrouded in secrecy. These writers knew the repercussions if their diaries were to be found. Sakowicz’s

diary was separated into different bottles and buried underground, Ringelblum’s notes were also hidden

underground. Both men were murdered. Luckily, their writings were not found by the Nazis. These

writings pay homage to the suffering of the Jews at that time, leaving a record of the horrendous

occurrences, exposing the criminal acts of the Nazi party, preserving the culture, and resisting the Nazis

in their own way. Had these documents been found, they would have been destroyed, along with the
writers, and along with it, much of the proof of the existence of the Holocaust itself, of which we now

know the Nazis tried to cover up completely.

Through reading these documents, I have learned much more about the efforts from both sides

of the Holocaust in terms of journalism, from those who tried to expose the events, to those who tried

to suppress information. I also have realized the effects of propaganda on the population, and that the

Nazi Party used isolation as a tactic in their master plan to further confuse, humiliate, and belittle the

Jewish community in an elaborate mind game that is truly sickening. It also becomes clear, through the

readings, that there is a high probability that there is even more documented evidence of criminal

activity that has been lost, destroyed or has yet to be found.

Bibliography

Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto: The Journal of Emanuel Ringelblum. Emmanuel Ringelblum, Edited and
translated by Jacob Stern. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1958.

Ponary Diary 1941-1943 A Bystander’s Account of Mass Murder. Kazimierz Sakowicz, ed. Y. Arad. New
Haven Yale UP, 2005. vii-xii, 1-27

The World of Yesterday: An Autobiography by Stefan Zweig. Lincoln: U of Newbraska P. 358-89.