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Learning the Lessons of the Holocaust: A Case Study of the USA Coast Guard Academy
Abstract
Holocaust education is a responsibility of all academic institutions; we are obligated to teach students about the reality of crimes perpetrated during WW2, to commemorate the victims, and to sustain a meaningful dialogue between history and memory. The Holocaust was not the first or the last genocide in the history of humanity, but it was unprecedented in many ways and is still the most radical attempt to destroy every member of a group without exception. This paper presents the Holocaust education strategies of the USA Coast Guard Academy. The paper argues that Holocaust education must provide future political and military leaders with an understanding not only of the human rights violations that happened under the Nazis, but also with modern examples of prejudice, discrimination and persecution that motivate genocide, and that this is best accomplished through active learning methods that include discussions with survivors and with peers who have visited historic Holocaust sites.
... The content of the message varies and extends beyond historical references to issues of contemporary relevance such as diversity and respect of all religions. Learners can consider the specific historical-social context in which the examined case occurred and compare it with familiar modern phenomena that tend to contain common features in their form and manifestation (Zapalska and Wingrove-Haugland 2016). ...
This chapter examines the process of medicalization as it relates to both social policies implemented during the Nazi regime and contemporary social policies. Medicalization is the process of framing a social problem as a medical condition, thereby identifying the source of the problem as one of individual accountability and emphasizes the need to treat or cure the individual. When applied to social policies, this framework perpetuates dividing practices that create categories of social health and social sickness and allow for the control of individuals and groups of individuals. Nazi social policies were grounded in their racial hygiene agenda, which meant medicalizing individuals who participated in so-called deviant behavior, who contributed, or failed to contribute, to the nation’s welfare, and who were considered a threat to the citizenry and the health of the nation. This same medicalization of social policies is evident today in countries’ approaches to regulating sexual and criminal behavior, limiting government assistance, and restricting borders.
... The content of the message varies and extends beyond historical references to issues of contemporary relevance such as diversity and respect of all religions. Learners can consider the specific historical-social context in which the examined case occurred and compare it with familiar modern phenomena that tend to contain common features in their form and manifestation (Zapalska and Wingrove-Haugland 2016). ...
When examining bioethics and the Holocaust, the role of physicians is often shocking. As a society, we expect more of physicians. Learning about physician participation in the atrocities of the Holocaust prompts many questions: How did caregivers and healers become killers? How did physicians end up so intimately involved in war time atrocities? But the involvement of physicians in war atrocities is not unique to the Holocaust. Throughout history, medical professionals operating together with and in the name of the governing power and particularly the military, have played key roles in genocides, wars, and human rights violations. This chapter will explore the ethics of physician participation in war. We focus on the foundational and recurring issue known as “the problem of dual- loyaltythe problem of dual- loyalty”—the ethical tension of a single moral agent with two competing interests or sets of moral obligations. The underlying assumptions of this debate will be explored to examine how both the professions of medicine and the military involve a set of professional moral obligations that sometimes conflicts.
... The content of the message varies and extends beyond historical references to issues of contemporary relevance such as diversity and respect of all religions. Learners can consider the specific historical-social context in which the examined case occurred and compare it with familiar modern phenomena that tend to contain common features in their form and manifestation (Zapalska and Wingrove-Haugland 2016). ...
In discussions on Nazi medicine, it is often presumed that the Nazi physicians abandoned or ignored all forms of medical ethics. This notion is far from the truth even though it is very difficult to come to terms with. It would be more comfortable to believe that Nazi physicians were a marginal group of madmen and what transpired in medicine during that period was unique and irrelevant to modern medicine. However, today we know that the Nazi physicians not only had a very detailed ethical code in place, but also that they were the first in the world to teach medical ethics at medical schools. These ethics courses were compulsory at every medical school in Nazi Germany and were based on the use of a specially published textbook, called Medical Jurisprudence and Rules of the Medical Profession . The textbook provides a unique insight into the values and beliefs systems of the Nazi physicians, many of which were greatly influenced by the political and social culture of the time, and some that resonate with the current practice of medicine. Discourse on medical ethics during the Nazi period, as demonstrated by this manual, serves to remind physicians that we are all vulnerable to ethical transgressions and could do well by learning the lessons from this past.
... The content of the message varies and extends beyond historical references to issues of contemporary relevance such as diversity and respect of all religions. Learners can consider the specific historical-social context in which the examined case occurred and compare it with familiar modern phenomena that tend to contain common features in their form and manifestation (Zapalska and Wingrove-Haugland 2016). ...
This chapter will examine the direct and systematic involvement of psychiatry in the labeling, persecution and eventual mass murder of millions of those deemed “unfit.” While the entire medical profession can and should be held accountable for the abrogation of ethics that took place during the Holocaust, the role of psychiatrists, specifically, must be explored because of their ability to conflate clinical diagnoses with the worth of an individual. The theory of eugenics allowed psychiatry to provide the scientific justification and the practical mechanisms for the “mercy killing” of “life unworthy of life.” The leadership and expertise of psychiatrists paved the way for a powerful merger of medicine and politics that ultimately led to the mass murder of millions under the guise of scientific and societal progress.
... The content of the message varies and extends beyond historical references to issues of contemporary relevance such as diversity and respect of all religions. Learners can consider the specific historical-social context in which the examined case occurred and compare it with familiar modern phenomena that tend to contain common features in their form and manifestation (Zapalska and Wingrove-Haugland 2016). ...
There is always a tension between Public healthpublic health and individual medical care. The former seeks, by one ethical optic, a fundamentally consequentialist goal: the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals. The latter has, at its moral base, an encounter between a medical provider and a patient, and its ethical goal is to optimize the outcome that the patient desires. While this dichotomy of intent and effort must be nuanced, setting it out in these terms helps us understand the tensions that we see between Public healthpublic health initiatives and individual medical care. This chapter will suggest that by examining two movements that attempted to insert larger community concerns into the individual patient encounter, we might gain insight into what happens in the moral space of the patient encounter when the provider is compelled to consider these larger concerns. The Eugenicseugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the population health movement of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries will be considered as two examples of attempts to alter the individual patient encounter through the lens of larger societal concerns.
... The content of the message varies and extends beyond historical references to issues of contemporary relevance such as diversity and respect of all religions. Learners can consider the specific historical-social context in which the examined case occurred and compare it with familiar modern phenomena that tend to contain common features in their form and manifestation (Zapalska and Wingrove-Haugland 2016). ...
This chapter explores the importance of diversitydiversity and interfaithinterfaith initiatives in human rightshuman rights and bioethicsbioethicseducationeducation, by showing its relevance in the study of the HolocaustHolocaust. In the first section, a concise reference is made to those political and religious events that created the basic state and theological groundwork, respectively, which in turn led to the early formation of human rightshuman rights and the confessional dialogue. The second section emphasizes contemporary actions and writings that contributed to the denial of freedom and of self-determination, including anti-Judaic sermons and their perversion into anti-Semitic ones. The third section discusses the creation after the HolocaustHolocaust of global organizations and institutions, their international impact and modern developments in interfaithinterfaithinteractioninteraction focusing on human rightshuman rights and bioethicsbioethics. The fourth section presents educational, multicultural, and inter-religious initiatives that contribute decisively to the increase of awareness and awakening of learners, so that the field of educationeducation is transformed into a multidimensional place that generates world citizens.
... The content of the message varies and extends beyond historical references to issues of contemporary relevance such as diversity and respect of all religions. Learners can consider the specific historical-social context in which the examined case occurred and compare it with familiar modern phenomena that tend to contain common features in their form and manifestation (Zapalska and Wingrove-Haugland 2016). ...
Between 1933 and 1945, almost 300,000 people were murdered and 360,000 sterilized by the National Socialist (Nazi) regime under a group of crimes now collectively known as the Krankenmorde, the murder of the sick and disabled. Founded in narrow-minded and inconsistent accounts of a good and valuable life, the Nazi eugenic and “euthanasia” crimes were brutal and violent acts organized and executed by doctors, nurses and other professionals. Acknowledgement of this group of victims was delayed and obscured due to historical events as well as prevailing political and social attitudes toward mental illness and disability. As a result, the breadth of the Krankemorde crimes and its victims, its relationship to the Holocaust and its contemporary significance–to bioethics and society more broadly–is less recognized or understood than that of other Nazi medical crimes, such as the infamous experiments on prisoners. First presenting a history of the Krankenmorde and its aftermath in Germany and Nazi occupied territories, this chapter goes on to examine the value of bioethics having better knowledge of this part of its history and, in particular, engaging with its own epistemic constraints in relation to disability and ableism. These ideas are explored further in the context of contemporary bioethical issues related to the rights and treatment of people with disabilities, specifically the allocation of health resources. Throughout the chapter we seek to highlight the lives of Krankenmorde victims–those who survived and those who did not–all of whom have been historically overlooked and marginalized.
... The content of the message varies and extends beyond historical references to issues of contemporary relevance such as diversity and respect of all religions. Learners can consider the specific historical-social context in which the examined case occurred and compare it with familiar modern phenomena that tend to contain common features in their form and manifestation (Zapalska and Wingrove-Haugland 2016). ...
... The content of the message varies and extends beyond historical references to issues of contemporary relevance such as diversity and respect of all religions. Learners can consider the specific historical-social context in which the examined case occurred and compare it with familiar modern phenomena that tend to contain common features in their form and manifestation (Zapalska and Wingrove-Haugland 2016). ...
The development of bioethics in the late Twentieth Century parallels the development of human rights discourses. Both intellectual movements have ideological roots in a reckoning with the tragedy of the Holocaust and both invoke conceptions of human dignity that have sometimes been accused of being vague or empty and therefore useless. However, despite its ambiguity, human dignity plays an important role in both discourses. In particular, we argue that bioethics scholars can learn from how advocates of human rights have balanced their idealized and abstract conceptions of dignity (and other values) with a focus on how real-world personal and institutional moral failures can inform efforts to promote human rights. We argue that a reengagement with the horrors of the Holocaust can supplement and motivate a critical, real-world bioethics, one that is responsive to the personal and institutional failures of our time and which provides practical guidance under non-ideal conditions.
This work, in the theoretical light of the History of Present Time, proposed to construct an analysis of the History Teaching of the Shoah, more specifically from the audiovisual materials of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, expanding the Brazilian academic research in the field of studies called “Teaching Pedagogy of Collective Traumas”. We will try to discuss the set of materials chosen, which include testimonies of survivors of the Shoah, appropriating a content analysis. It was established what these materials elucidate on the teaching of this subject, problematizing its methods and objectives, as well as about the proper role of the teacher as a tool of this teaching. From this perspective, Shoah's History Teaching establishes itself as a possible tool in the fight against fascism, in the negation of revisionist theories, and in the understanding of a new worldview about the moral, ethical and juridical values of society in the post-war.
Este trabalho, sob a luz teórica da História do Tempo Presente, se propôs a construir uma análise do ensino de história da Shoah, mais especificamente a partir dos materiais didáticos audiovisuais da USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, expandindo a pesquisa acadêmica brasileira no campo de estudos denominado “pedagogia de ensino dos traumas coletivos”. Buscaremos discutir o conjunto de materiais escolhidos, que incluem testemunhos de sobreviventes da Shoah, apropriando-se de uma análise de conteúdo. Foi estabelecido o que esses materiais elucidam sobre o ensino desta temática, problematizando seus métodos e objetivos, bem como sobre o próprio papel do professor enquanto ferramenta desse ensino. Partindo desta perspectiva, o Ensino de História da Shoah estabelece-se como uma ferramenta possível no combate ao fascismo, na negação de teorias revisionistas e, ainda, no entendimento de uma nova cosmo visão acerca dos valores morais, éticos e jurídicos da sociedade no pós-guerra.
Autocratization is expected to worsen human rights conditions; democratization is frequently heralded as a means for improving them. Unfortunately, neither relationship has been subjected to empirical investigation. The causal linkage between regime change and state repression is examined in the current study with a pooled cross-sectional time-series analysis of 137 countries from 1950 to 1982 (N=4,521). Four aspects of change are considered: (1) direction, (2) magnitude, (3) “smoothness” of the transition, and (4) duration of time at particular regime types. The results support the anticipated escalatory effect of autocratization for the magnitude variable, revealing influences that persist for 4 years. Additionally, there is support for the pacifying effect of democratization with regard to magnitude for the same 4-year time period. Direction, smoothness, and duration are found to be unimportant, but regime change does matter.
Human Rights Quarterly 24.1 (2002) 237-263
In the post-World War II era, international human rights standards have evolved, establishing in law a set of basic rights designed to guarantee an acceptable level of personal dignity for all people. A long list of human rights is presented in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and later covenants and conventions. Increasingly, the degree to which these human rights are realized is considered an important standard of a regime's performance.
In this paper we will examine the relationship between cultural diversity (which we also will call ethnic heterogeneity or fractionalization) and the respect for several human rights outlined in these documents. The rights we will examine empirically include the right to physical (or personal) integrity, the right to subsistence, and political and civil rights including the right to equal treatment regardless of gender.
Toward this end, we will first argue that internationally recognized human rights are increasingly being used as standards to measure the performance of regimes and we will discuss the "core" human rights we will deal with here. Second, we will review the long history of theoretical discussions that tie diversity to effective governance. Third, drawing upon these theoretical treatments we will pose alternative hypotheses regarding the possible linkages. Finally we will conduct some simple, bivariate analyses designed to ascertain whether a multicultural society is conducive or detrimental to the human rights performance of regimes. In a concluding section we will summarize our findings and discuss our ideas for future research on the linkage between cultural diversity and human rights.
As a reaction to the Nazi holocaust and other horrors of World War II, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set human rights standards that were intended to outline the conditions necessary to guarantee dignity to all humans. Several subsequent developments indicate that in a comparatively short time, human rights have become a measuring stick on which the performance and legitimacy of regimes are increasingly being judged. These include:
Choosing which human rights to examine is our first challenge. The phrase "human rights" assert that all persons, regardless of race, gender, sexual preference, culture, or society should be provided certain entitlements, simply as a result of these persons' humanity.
Because the human rights stated in international law are extremely wide-ranging, empirically examining a comprehensive set of human rights would be quite difficult. However, as a point of departure we can investigate a core group of these rights. In this paper we choose to investigate the performance of governments on a relatively uncontroversial set of human rights standards drawn from the Universal Declaration and closely related to those that Shue concludes are "basic" human rights: the right to physical security, the right to subsistence, and political and civil liberties.
Arguments regarding the viability and the political performance of multicultural states have been taking place for well over a century, and probably longer. Indeed, some analysts have concluded that such multicultural states are predestined to find that it is either extremely difficult or impossible to achieve and maintain free institutions. One of the best-documented early exchanges on this question was the nineteenth century debate in Britain between John Stuart Mill and Lord Acton. Mill, the great utilitarian philosopher, was convinced that a common ethnicity, and particularly a single language, was necessary for a functioning democracy that would guarantee citizens' freedoms: "Free...
The author argues that openings in the political opportunity structure, rather than the levels of concentration of power, best predict the onset of genocides or politicides and which states will engage in the most severe state-sponsored mass murder. These and other hypotheses are tested. Analysis of logit models reveals that civil war involvement is the most consistent predictor of the onset of genocides or politicides, and other political opportunity structure variables have some effects, especially when in combination with at least one of the other political opportunity structure variables. Analysis of negative binomial event-count models also reveals that political opportunity structure variables best account for the degree of severity of a given genocide or politicide. In sum, openings in the political opportunity structure are more important in understanding what affects the onset and degree of severity of genocides and politicides than other more static variables.
Drawing on the many resources published for young people about the Civil War, this book selects the best books and other resources for teachers to use in the classroom and suggests how to use them effectively. Beginning with a chapter about using literature to study the Civil War, the book moves on to a series of thematic chapters on six broad topics: (1) the United States just before the war; (2) the struggle for freedom; (3) people who made a difference; (4) war experiences; (5) the home front; and (6) rebuilding the nation. Each chapter in the book begins with an introduction to the subject, followed by discussions of fiction and nonfiction "focus books" and shorter descriptions of other books on the topic; each focus book discussion includes an excerpt from the text, an overview of the resource, a summary of its strengths, considerations for teachers, and suggestions for classroom activities. The following chapter titles are included: (1) "Using Literature to Learn About the Civil War"; (2) "A Troubled Land"; (3) "Struggling to be Free"; (4) "Those Who Made a Difference"; (5) "War Experiences"; (6) "On the Homefront"; (7) "Rebuilding the Nation"; and (8) "Resources." The book includes suggested recordings, videotapes, software, Web sites, museums, historical sites, and teaching aids. The appendix contains the National Standards for United States History Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861) and Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877). (BT)
This article reports a test of a structural model of the antecedents of genocide and politicide (political mass murder). A case-control research design is used to test alternative specifications of a multivariate model that identifies preconditions of geno-/politicide. The universe of analysis consists of 126 instances of internal war and regime collapse that began between 1955 and 1997, as identified by the State Failure project. Geno-/politicides began during 35 of these episodes of state failure. The analytic question is which factors distinguish the 35 episodes that led to geno-/politicides from those that did not. The case-control method is used to estimate the effects of theoretically specified domestic and international risk factors measured one year prior to the onset of geno-/politicide. The optimal model includes six factors that jointly make it possible to distinguish with 74% accuracy between internal wars and regime collapses that do and those that do not lead to geno-/politicide. The conclusion uses the model to assess the risks of future episodes in 25 countries.
Thesis (D.M.A.)--Boston University School for the Arts, 1999. Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-165). Photocopy.
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