http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/holocaust Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sat, 25 Apr 2026 05:57:01 -0400 Sat, 25 Apr 2026 05:57:01 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1847/genocide-memorialization-in-the-modern-era-communal-mourning-through-institutions-and-culture By Emily Bennett - Genocide Memorialization focuses on the community after a genocide in what they choose to remember and how they achieve that goal of memorialization. Memorialization efforts are museums, institutions, policy, law, education, documentaries and first person accounts and testimonies. By examining the precedent set by the aftermath of the Holocaust and the Genocide Convention of 1948, future survivors of genocide are able to expand the precedent or potentially ignore the precedent by no longer recognizing a genocide. After introducing the Holocaust I examine three modern genocides: The Indonesian... Mon, 07 Dec 2020 01:23 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1847/genocide-memorialization-in-the-modern-era-communal-mourning-through-institutions-and-culture http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1298/on-obedience-as-identity-milgram-and-the-banality-of-evil By Lukas Holschuh - Milgram's studies have been widely replicated (Burger, 2009; Dambrun & Vatiné, 2010; Mantell, 1971; Zeigler-Hill, Southard, Archer, & Donohoe, 2013) and results show similarly high completion rates, suggesting that Milgram's design is high on internal validity. Indeed, Milgram himself conducted over 20 pilot studies with a range of variations. This is also one of the main critiques of Milgram's 'baseline study.' It was carefully calibrated to achieve the highest possible completion rate. Milgram aimed for eye-catching findings that were “great drama as well as great science... Thu, 05 Nov 2015 04:57 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1298/on-obedience-as-identity-milgram-and-the-banality-of-evil http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1005/murakamis-hard-boiled-wonderland-as-a-commentary-on-the-holocaust By Molly E. Meadows - One of the clearest indicators of this work’s allegorical representation of the Holocaust is Murakami’s careful use of vagueness. Holocaust literature is both a delicate and powerful subject for many to read, but the confines of writing such literature are perhaps even more uncomfortable. As some observers note, writers of Holocaust literature can be torn between the desire to create deep characters out of the perpetrators and the fear that in so doing, readers might find unintended shreds of sympathy for true villains. Jeremy Metz suggests that the pressure of this ethical dilemma... Thu, 05 Mar 2015 08:38 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1005/murakamis-hard-boiled-wonderland-as-a-commentary-on-the-holocaust http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/947/the-holocaust-in-romania-the-extermination-and-protection-of-the-jews-under-antonescus-regime By Christopher J. Kshyk - As such, Antonescu’s policies of ethnic cleansing were carried out independently, though with the approval, of Hitler’s Third Reich, making Romania’s persecution of Jews a distinct chapter in the history of the Holocaust. Yet, these atrocities were largely confined to the areas of present day South-West Ukraine, namely Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and Transnistria, which Romania conquered from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941. These massacres were largely an outgrowth of an ingrained suspicion of ethnic minorities, a tradition of anti-Semitism among ethnic Romanians,... Mon, 15 Dec 2014 03:23 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/947/the-holocaust-in-romania-the-extermination-and-protection-of-the-jews-under-antonescus-regime http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/517/representing-history-in-art-spiegelmans-maus-ii By Derek D. Miller - When representing an idea, it is important to realize that a representation is much different from the original idea and can never fully grasp its complexities. It is also important to remember that it is impossible to not represent the concept one is portraying. To portray something is to represent it. The trouble in conveying a historical event is that, as an author, one has the obligation of showing the reader that the author’s representation is just that, a representation and not the original concept or the entirety of the event; nor told with absolute accuracy. Therefore, it is impossible... Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:39 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/517/representing-history-in-art-spiegelmans-maus-ii http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/379/primo-levis-use-of-poetic-language-to-promote-cross-cultural-understanding-in-survival-in-auschwitz By Kristina S. Ten - Though the Holocaust ended nearly a lifetime ago, the systematic extermination of two- thirds of Europe’s Jewish population has left immutable memories that continue to manifest themselves within each new generation of citizens worldwide. The subject itself remains taboo in many circles, surpassing lines of faith and race alike in both its inability to be justified and the terrifying likelihood of its reoccurrence. In Caren S. Neile’s “Poetry after Auschwitz,” the author asks: “Again and again the expression ‘unspeakable horror’ appears in discussions... Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:18 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/379/primo-levis-use-of-poetic-language-to-promote-cross-cultural-understanding-in-survival-in-auschwitz http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/358/retelling-the-stories-of-the-holocaust-in-shoah-and-maus-distorted-images-of-a-monstrous-past By Jeremy S. Page - An artist, especially one who works with the visual media, is bound to come across obstacles in his creation of a work that represents or recollects images of the Shoah (i.e., the Holocaust). Precisely how does one represent an almost industrial genocide on such an enormous scale? Shoah and Maus take two very different approaches in their attempt to represent the experience of the death camps, and Maus in particular is a deliberate distortion of the image, but in retelling the stories, the testimonies, experienced by survivors of the camps using such deliberate artifice, both texts are capable... Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:46 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/358/retelling-the-stories-of-the-holocaust-in-shoah-and-maus-distorted-images-of-a-monstrous-past http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/289/logotherapy-and-the-holocaust-uniting-human-experience-in-extremity-and-normality By Ryan A. Piccirillo - During the Holocaust, Dr. Frankl witnessed extremes of human suffering. He watched men tackle fear, fear destroy men, and prisoners develop tricks to retain their humanity and hold onto hope. His psychological background compelled him to psychoanalyze not only his fellow prisoners, but himself as well. Of his most important observations, his assertion that “an abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior” (Frankl 38), is instrumental in helping the outsider understand concentration camp behavior. He explains that, “it is very difficult for an outsider to grasp... Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/289/logotherapy-and-the-holocaust-uniting-human-experience-in-extremity-and-normality http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/285/the-sobibor-revolt-death-to-the-fascists By Ryan A. Piccirillo - “We knew our fate […] we were in an extermination camp and death was our destiny. […] Only desperate actions could shorten our suffering and maybe afford us a chance of escape. […] the will to resist had grown and ripened” (Blatt 139).The prisoners at Sobibor knew that escape was the only hope for survival. Past escape attempts were met with bloody Nazi retaliation, a deterrent which successfully frightened prisoners into submission. However, an underground movement, led by a Polish Jew named Leon Feldhendler, began plotting a final revolt and escape despite the... Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/285/the-sobibor-revolt-death-to-the-fascists http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1671/the-white-rose-movement-conscience-in-silent-nazi-germany By Ryan A. Piccirillo - The morality of every person dictates the innate wrongness of genocide, and yet the world stood by as the Nazis sent millions to the gas chambers during the Holocaust. Historians and social scientists often attribute this moral failure to the blissfully feigned ignorance of the German people, enveloped in a blanket of fear propagated by the Nazi regime, and the indifference and prejudice of other nations. Total inaction was a remarkable failure of the human conscience, but a few brave college students in Munich proved to the world that conscientiousness still existed in the Fatherland. It is for... Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1671/the-white-rose-movement-conscience-in-silent-nazi-germany http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/204/moral-adaptation-in-primo-levis-survival-in-auschwitz By Ryan A. Piccirillo - The holocaust proved that morality is adaptable in extreme circumstances.  Traditional morality ceased to be so within the barbed wire of the concentration camps. Within the camps, prisoners were not treated like humans and therefore adapted animalistic behavior necessary to survive. The “ordinary moral world” (86) Primo Levi cites in Survival in Auschwitz, ceases to exist; the meanings and applications of words like “good,” “evil,” “just,” and “unjust” begin to fuse and the differences between these polar opposites become... Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/204/moral-adaptation-in-primo-levis-survival-in-auschwitz http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/145/the-ugly-truth-an-exploration-of-postwar-representations-of-the-holocaust-through-the-obscene By Brian Richards - It is safe to presume Bartov’s segment title is a clever throwback to Sigmund Freud’s famous work Civilization and Its Discontents, but it nonetheless serves as a fitting introduction to his subsequent analysis. Bartov writes of the intellectual post-war struggle to see whether or not one can even represent the Holocaust. It is undoubtedly a huge challenge for a variety of reasons Bartov explores throughout his entire essay, and this challenge therefore inspires a great deal of discontent from intellectuals and survivors alike (though no one should realistically equate their perspectives... Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:14 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/145/the-ugly-truth-an-exploration-of-postwar-representations-of-the-holocaust-through-the-obscene http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/102/an-argument-for-outlawing-genocide-denial By Marissa B. Goldfaden - More than half a century ago, famed philosopher George Santayana observed, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In the 20th century alone, the world bore witness to the Holocaust in Europe, as well as genocide in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and most recently, Darfur. In terms of history, these events occurred within a relatively short span of time, leading one to believe that remembrance alone is not the problem; when looking at the root causes that led to such mass atrocities, it is clear how powerful words and rhetoric truly can be. As such, it would... Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:47 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/102/an-argument-for-outlawing-genocide-denial