Evyn Ringena Mr. Baker English 1 5 May 2023 Speak up In his acceptance speech, Elie Wiesel indicates how neutrality only favors the oppressor. An example of his central idea, neutrality only favors the oppressor, comes from his book Night. In the book Night when Elie and his dad arrive at Auschwitz, there are people who want to revolt against the armed guards. One of the men's sons says “Let the world learn about the existence of Auschwitz. Let everybody find out about it while they still have a chance to escape.”-(Page 31) After he says this the older men beg their sons not to be foolish, and to have hope. This shows how neutrality stopped the sons from revolting, and how the oppressors were favored in the end, because they weren't revolted against. When the men decided to tell their sons not to revolt, they were choosing to stay quiet. If they would have tried to do something from the beginning things may have turned out a lot differently, and the oppressors wouldn't be favored, by being able to get away with this happening. Because of …show more content…
I tried to ask them questions but the only thing they said was, “Line up, line up. Be quiet, don’t say anything.” This piece of evidence shows us how neutrality only favors the oppressor because the guy was telling the people to be quiet and follow the rules. Yes, it is good to follow instructions, but in this situation, if they would not have obeyed the rules, they could have done something about what was happening before it was too far gone. There were a lot of people throughout the holocaust that choose to stay silent about what was happening to them. In Felix Opatowk's circumstance, the neutrality was the men telling him to be quiet, and him listening to them. The neutrality favors the oppressor in this situation because the people followed the rules of the nazis, and the nazis got what they
The Holocaust was a very deadly and tragic time that will be remembered forever throughout human history. The Jews and the non-Jews had to make various difficult decisions. The hardest choice would be to resist, going against the Nazi’s, or being a bystander, which would be to ignore what the Nazi’s are doing to others and/or stand on the side. The tones of the authors differ in each piece of writing due to the fact that, “First They Came” by Martin Niemöller, shows a very regretful tone that makes the author seem sorry for himself and those around him. And, the author in the article, “Obstacles To Resistance '' shows their tone of anger towards the Nazi’s.
In Elie Wiesel’s Nobel peace prize acceptance speech, he exemplifies how seeing people in need and not helping them is a crime against humanity and as someone ignoress them more and more people become bitter and truly evil. This is shown in his acceptance speech when Elie states “The world did know and remain silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
“And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never its victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten” (Elie Wiesel, The Perils of Indifference). As stated in Elie Wiesel’s The Perils of Indifference, the act of standing by and watching the world burn is just as bad as the bystander burning the world themselves, and the Jewish partisans were, truly, the example of anti-indifference, with their compounding small actions combining to create a massive movement of rebellion against their common
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” It explains this reason ideally because the disinterest (hatred) empowers (the Nazis and Germans in this case) to express cruel treatment. That the silence
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” Wiesel meant that when one does not choose sides, it is beneficial for the tyrant, and not the sufferer. On one hand, some claim that Wiesel is wrong, since picking sides can endanger one’s life. On the other
These German citizens had the opportunity to protest, or question the Nazi officials before the war got too bad. But now, all they could do was watch these injustices. In conclusion, people must interfere against those in control to stop injustices from
Stand Up For Injustice: Elie Wiesel and The Perils of Indifference The Holocaust was a time that will forever be marked in history as a tragedy for mankind. Whether someone was a prisoner, a Nazi, or a bystander, every person was affected in some way. Because the Holocaust took place so long ago, many people forget how it could have destroyed an entire race of people. They forget that millions of innocent lives were taken because of hate.
Now they think that they are better than them and will not talk to Jewish people anymore. Another example from Schindler's List of how behavior of people when a group of individuals thinks only one way is right is in another scene, a group of Nazi troops open fire on a crowd of Jewish individuals who are gathered in a concentration camp. When they fire, the nazis are smiling and enjoying their power over the Jewish people. This just shows how much power a group of people had over another group of people.
It is impossible for one single person to try to take on all the injustices that take place in today's modern society. Yet, each person has their own way of dealing with their indifferences. Elie Wiesel, In 1999, once made a great speech in Washington D.C. and he names it “The Perils of Indifference. In this speech he makes the argument on how being indifferent can cause the same problems as being violent.
Elie Wiesel was truly a courageous figure during the torturous years of the Holocaust. In his best selling novel titled Night, Elie portrays many events that completely shatter most human rights laws established by modern day activists such as the United Nations. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there are thirty different articles established to protect us from people violating our treasured human rights. Within the declaration, two articles really stand out for Elie’s situation such as article five and eighteen. Both of these articles accurately despic great human rights violations that were performed throughout Elie’s experience during the mournful Holocaust.
Night Critical Abdoul Bikienga Johann Schiller once said “It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us fathers and sons”. But what happens when the night darkens our hearts our hearts? The Holocaust memoir Night does a phenomenal job of portraying possibly the most horrifying outcomes in such a situation. Through subtle and effective language, Wiesel is able to put into words the fearsome experiences he and his father went through in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. In his holocaust memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel utilizes imagery to show the effect that self-preservation can have on father son relationships.
In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, Elie Wiesel asserts the following: "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.". What Wiesel is saying, is that if we do not help the ones who are being killed, hurt, or mistreated. They will continue to cause pain too those people and will not stop. Unless us as people come to stand up against the evil.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. The majority of people when reading this quote would say, "Well, duh that's obvious" nevertheless how many people would actually stand up and fight. I for one would find it hard to rebel when my life is on the line. Even though this quote is simple and uncomplicated to explain it has some deep and inspirational meaning.
For example, in “The Diary of Anne Frank”, “Violins of Hope”, we see different ways of actively and passively resisting Nazi oppression. People can best respond to conflict by passively resisting because it helps to maintain hope to ensure survival, preserve tradition
In different manners, conformity was crucial to World War II. During this time, there was an abundance of pressure to uphold national values and beliefs, which affected how individuals, governments, and society in its entirety made choices. Many acts of historic violence retained the involvement of many bystanders and assailants due to their community’s normalization of violence and discrimination. Within Newman and Erber’s journal on understanding the social psychology of the Holocaust, they state that “this allows perpetrators to see their destructive actions as acceptable and even right. As a result of their passivity in the face of others’ suffering, bystanders change: They come to accept the persecution and suffering of vic¬tims, and some even join the perpetrators” (Newman & Erber, 2002).