get the Jewish population, blaming them for the economic collapse in Germany. Many banks and small businesses were owned by Jewish people, so it made for an easy target. Also, Germany was largely Christian at the time, and officials were quick to remind the population that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ, which only bolstered the propaganda about the untrustworthiness of Jewish people. Not only were they plotting the economic collapse of Germany, they also were responsible for the death of their God; it was not a huge leap after some time for Hitler to convince the Germans that the Jews were planning a hostile takeover of the world( United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Combining all of these lies over the course of years, the German people, led by Hitler, were twisted through politics and propaganda into thinking that eradicating the Jewish population was the only long term solution to solving their frustration, thus leading to their actions of anger( Blair, R. J.)
The concentration camps were the means by which the Nazis executed their plan: they would round up thousands of Jews and cart them off. The healthy individuals were put to work until death, while the unhealthy or otherwise unfit for work were killed upon arrival. This is the scene of Komski’ s painting. Komski was a Polish Roman Catholic who, after being captured by the Germans, was jumped around from camp to camp until his liberation in 1945 by the Americans. His painting depicts one of his memories in Auschwitz, where men chosen for execution would line up facing a brick wall, and the chief officer would massacre all of them every morning. In order to have reached a point where the human person was capable of such cruel atrocities, the German people must have felt an overwhelming amount of undirected frustration, which led to a misdirected anger towards the Jewish people and others who did not fit their models. All of the prisoners suffering in this camp had to view these acts of pure anger each and every day, and they could not act on the outrage, which led to a slow, festering hatred. Komski, himself, did try to act on his frustrations in his repeated attempts to escape, but after failed attempt upon failed attempt, he eventually succumbed to the fact that he was to be a prisoner until he was freed or he died. This realization led to a hopelessness that eventually culminated into hatred( Simply Responsive). It was not until years later that he was able to channel these feelings through paintings.
Each aspect of Komski’ s paintings is intended to bring about a specific meaning, and each detail is crucial to understanding the full message of the paintings. The paintings are purposefully blurry and dull, illustrating what a difficult time it was in his life. The blurriness leads one to believe he either was trying to forget about these awful memories, or he was trying to emphasize the fact that society is slowly forgetting about the atrocities that were committed. The faces of the individuals, in particular, are blurred to the point of unrecognition. This could be due to the fact that these murders were such a common occurrence that all the faces eventually blended together in his memory. The dull colors are used to depict that it was a harsh and lifeless time for him, and each day was a struggle to survive. The victims in the painting are portrayed naked and emaciated, which is both historically accurate and intended to emphasize to the audience the inhumane treatment they received. He also chose winter for the season of his painting, which painfully illustrates how even the temperature was an enemy for these poor sufferers of the camps; standing naked, alone, and freezing, they turned around to face a wall and die. Komski left no detail unrepresented. He painfully and emotionally portrays the horrors he survived through and also illustrates that many were not so fortunate as to come out with their lives( Simply Responsive). All of these feelings and more resulted in a harbored hatred for the Nazis, and it was a scar that many of the survivors would never recover from.
This painting and lessons in history are also applicable today. It seems there is some form of anger, frustration, or hatred at every turn. Whether it is interracial, political, religious, or international, there seems to be something lacking in American society, especially, that is culminating into a much larger issue. The old adage,“ History repeats itself,” must not be allowed to reign true today. We now know the steps it takes to reach the point of another genocide: it starts of small, by pointing fingers, and it grows and festers and amplifies until it reaches a point where most citizens are content to sit back and watch another group take the blame and the punishment for issues they have no control over. America has already exceeded the beyond blaming others for their problems, particularly on the political stage. No one takes accountability for their actions and mistakes; instead, the Liberals blame the Conservatives and the Conservatives blame the Liberals. This amount of frustration toward other people must stop before it reaches a critical tipping point. No one wishes to see that awful blood shed again, but it must be
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