Key point: Do not rely on just one reading or film for your essay. Combine your understanding of at least two and perhaps more of our resources this week. Look for ways to make connections between our resources. Tell us what resources you are using in your essay.
Choose ONE of the following topics for your main discussion posting for the week. Remember not to copy and paste from any sources; summarize and analyze in your own words.
1. Describe what you view as three major motivations for anti-Semitism. Explain how these motivations are inaccurate, unfair, and/or dangerous. Offer examples of how these motivations became actions.
2. The introduction to Holocaust: A History is titled “Death’s Great Carnival.” This seems like a very odd title. What was the author’s intention in choosing that title? The author says in the introduction, “These conundrums are marked by paradox.” What conundrums? What paradox? How do our readings and films this week begin to explain these conundrums and this paradox?
3. How should Christians today interpret anti-Jewish passages from Christian historical leaders, events, and sacred scriptures in order to accept responsibility for the Holocaust and prevent a resurgence of anti-Semitism today?
4. Contrast Nazi-era anti-Semitism with earlier iterations of anti-Semitism. What political, cultural, religious, and/or racist attitudes changed, and what stayed the same? What were the most dangerous Nazi innovations to anti-Semitism?
5. Write a personal letter to the director of Night and Fog. What do you think of his film? Has it changed you? Would you change anything about the film?
6. Write a song which captures a moment in a particular era of history covered by our readings and films this week. Provide lyrics, as well as notes on the music (for example, what’s the tempo, is it a major or minor key, what instruments will you use, what’s the arrangement). Who would you choose to sing/perform this song and why?
