Humanity's Historical Memory Is Multi-Faceted

It is important to take testimony of witnesses from all perspectives living through the Holocaust in order to understand its impact then and now more thoroughly. Direct victims of Nazi persecution based on ethnicity and religion are not the only people who were against terroristic Nazi policies. The Nazi regime forced political opponents into the underground and to assume superficial political ideology in order to survive. Political opposition was sent into the camps as well. The power of the Nazi regime and its entrenchment in government was clearly visible to Germans, and stemming mainly from Hitler 's status as a cult of personality. People saw in him the road to German redemption and were very fond of him. He was a master propogandist. That is why it is necessary to interview Germans on the subject of the Holocaust and Hitler. Were they just spellbound by his presence and propoganda machine? Did they have qualms about his policies? Did they even know what was actually happening around them?

The fatal mistake of history is to look at events from a single angle. How do we expect to ever answer the burning question of "how could this have happened in the 20th century?" when testimony gathering is focused around Jewish survivors? More research should be aimed at uncovering the true feelings of Germans under Hitler. Some supporters may have joined the party under fear or ignorance. But, unlike the victims of Nazi violence who should feel no shame or guilt and feel compelled to make their story heard, members of the Nazi party feeling guilt would probably not confess to their support of Hitler's genocidal policies. Simply put, German Nazi's testimonies are less accessible and forthcoming than victims' testimonies. The main function of survivors' testimonies seems to be self-reconstitution for the survivor and reassurance their particular story does not die with them--it is put into a repository of digitized memory for infinite future generations to access.

The reason I bring this to light is the fact that there was only one testimony from a German witness, Christa M in the links provided. Her father was a Nazi military strategist. She was horrified by the sight of prisoners--whose location of imprisonment was unknown to her; yet her friend called her a "stupid ass" for recalling the story and crying about it and not knowing the SS was emptying Dachau. Her existence throughout the war was extremely sheltered. Her father moved the family to remote locations to avoid the war. She was punished by her own father for "asking the wrong [political] questions" and feeding the cheese she was sent to go get for the family to the starving prisoners. The terror of her encounter is so great that to this day she still has no words for it. The corpse-like condition of the emaciated prisoners is what haunts her memory.

To create the most complete snapshot of the Holocaust for digestion by humanity, all facets of perception need to be recorded in humanity's collective memory. If the goal of the gathering of survivors' testimonials is to ensure this never happens again, it is incomplete because it only tells one side of the story. Obviously the victims of Nazi terror did not know how to combat a genocidal regime or they would have done so. Also, Nazi genocide machinery may not function they same way as other regimes'. It also has failed in genocide prevention as there are genocides occurring still today.

Christa M.'s Testimony: http://www.library.yale.edu/testimonies/excerpts/christam.html