Interdisciplinary Book Reviews

A Story of Violence, Denial, and the Fragility of Democracy From time to time, Americans have been against immigration. Polling data revealed that close to two-thirds of respondents favored keeping refugees out of the country. The president had publicly identified as an Evangelical Christian. Yet, the administration, described as an arrogant regime  that only respected strength, continued to oppress minorities. The plans included stripping them of their citizenship.  The administration’s tough stance is reflected by the head of one of the detention camps who said, “Tolerance is weakness.” Not surprisingly, people were killed by government agents. These murders were justified as “the emergency defense of the state.” *** Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts is a compelling and accessible account of two Americans who witnessed Hitler’s ascent to the head of the powerful Nazi regime—a regime that would soon plunge the world into its last global catastrophe of mass destruction. T...

Ravensbrück : Life and Death  in Hitler’s Concentration Camp      by Sarah Helm Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton, Ph.D. Ravensbrück  offers an organized collection of women’s voices documenting the diverse ways individuals and tribal groups of European women responded to Nazi enslavement, violence, and murder. The collection of stories is organized chronologically. But themes emerge because policies and war events change.   Changes in policy sometimes mean changes in leaders. But changes in policy also reflect changes in the war, which in turn, result in changes in the size and character of the camp’s victims. We have heard stories of the brutality of Nazi leaders in the death camps focused on the extermination of Jews. But at   Ravensbrück  we learn that Nazis, governed by superiority myths and emboldened by conquest, systematically destroyed the lives of European women after extracting every ounce of strength as t...

Inheritance A Legacy of Hatred and the Journey to Change It By James Moll, Director This 2006 documentary tells the story of two women with very different “inheritances” from Amon Goeth, the Nazi commandant of the Plaszow Concentration Camp in Poland. Goeth was known for his brutal murders of thousands of Jews. Monika Hertwig is the daughter of Amon Goeth and Ruth Kalder. She gradually learned bits and pieces about her father’s horrific treatment of the Jews. It would be a mistake to overlook the role of her mother who had an affair with Goeth and a troubled relationship with Monika. The Spielberg film, Schindler’s List (1993), appears at a pivotal moment in Monika’s efforts to come to grips with her family history and her own identity. Monika learns of a Jew, Helen Jonas-Rosenweig, who was a kitchen slave in her father’s manor house. Helen survived the holocaust with assistance from Oskar Schindler, whom she describes as a different kind of Nazi. Helen is in...