Schindler's List (1993)

Schindler's List is a movie about humanity in the midst of a disaster so horrendous that the line that separates humans and monsters does not seem so clear-cut anymore. Even though Schindler's original intentions are money-driven, he eventually found his conscience's calling and was willing to sacrifice his fortune in exchange for the safety of the lives of the innocent. Schindler was not the only person who had conducted such noble deeds, as they were also stories about Germans who risked their safety to help those in need during the Holocaust. These altruistic behaviors provide a stark contrast with those of the German soldiers, who killed and slaughtered like heartless machines, and this had also created wild fascination towards finding an answer for their inhumane behaviors.

There was a particularly interesting article that explains German Nazi's behaviors using a perspective which is different from others. Reicher et al. (2008) made a point to suggest that collective hostility towards others is a conscious and deliberate process, contrary to previous beliefs of thoughtless obedience and conformity built on the modern understanding of Milgram and Zimbardo’s experiments on human behavior under extreme circumstances. Instead of mindless followers who commit wrongdoings due to a lack of choice and understanding, Reicher et al. (2008) suggest a 5-step process which utilizes social identity theory for people to reach a consensus and believe their inhumane behaviors are morally justified. The five steps include identification, exclusion, threat, virtue, and celebration, and involve a gradual process of self-categorization as well as exclusion and demonization of an out-group, to the extent that the out-group represents the very essence of evil and has to be eliminated.

A message which Reicher et al. (2008) emphasized repeatedly throughout the article was that the perception of an out-group is very much shaped by how the in-group is defined. It is especially evident in instances of prejudice, where collective hostility towards an out-group usually stems from a sense of insecurity over a threatened group identity. The Jews were an extremely wealthy bunch due to their intelligence as well as excellent work ethic, making them an easy target of hate. Thus, Reicher et al. (2008) proposed a stance concerning the devastating effects celebrating in-group virtue has when combined with the notion that an out-group is depicted as evil and against them. In other words, Reicher et al. (2008) suggest that groups celebrate their cruelty while standing on moral high grounds, in this case using "ethnic cleansing" as a form of reasoning to justify their actions.

On the other hand, the victims of such violence also deserve considerable attention. Research have found several common traits in Holocaust survivors including "ready adaptation to changing circumstances, readiness to take initiative, a stubborn tenacity and "street smarts."" (Goleman, 1992) Their ability to think quickly and analyze a situation to make life-saving decisions provided great aid in their survival. These people would go to great lengths to maintain their lives and ensure that they walk out of the camps alive. For instance, the child who hid inside a stall filled with horse manure demonstrated a tenacious spirit to survive while the others were hauled onto a truck to be sent to concentration camps.

Personally, it is extremely hard to imagine what life would be like as a Jew during the Holocaust. It is easy to lose hope in such despair, when one could possibly be killed at any moment, and have had everything taken away from them in the blink of an eye. In camps, families were separated, dignity were stripped off, identities taken away, and they practically lived like toys under the command of people who treated them as objects. The one scene that striked me was when the soldiers asked their prisoners to run naked and picked out the unhealthy ones to be sent to Auschwitz. That alone was a degrading in dehumanizing the Jews and creating an unconscious power difference that puts Nazis on top of them. However, this is when the power of the mind comes in, whereby people develop resilience and hold on to a hope which is extremely powerful in helping them overcome even the harshest of circumstances. Not to mention the heroes who defied authorities and chose to do what was right instead of what was easy. These altruistic acts also provided hope that in spite of horrible circumstances, humanity still stands, and that in my opinion is the most important thing we have to hold on to no matter what, as we are humans and we need to always remind ourselves to not stoop to a standard lower than that.

References

Goleman, D. (1992). Holocaust survivors had skills to prosper. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/06/science/holocaust-survivors-had-skills-to-prosper.html?pagewanted=all

Hall, T. H., & Ross, A. A. G. (2015). Affective politics after 9/11. International Organization, ,69(4), 84-879. doi: 10.1017/S0020818315000144

Reicher, S., Haslam, S. A., & Rath, R. (2008). Making a virtue of evil: A five-step social identity model of the development of collective hate. Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2(3), 1313-1344. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00113.x