HUM 100 Eichmann in Jerusalum Twilight Zone Connection PDF

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HUM!100! Eichmann(in(Jerusalem( April(26,(2021( ! Reading(Assignment:(( Eichmann(in(Jerusalem,(pages(82-181( à (Twilight(Zone(Episode—He’s%Alive—posted(on(Blackboard(under(content.( ( Writing(Assignment:( None!this!week! ( I!am!asking!you,!in!addition!to!this!week’s!reading!assignment,!to!watch!the!episode!of!The( Twilight(Zone(that!I!have!posted!on!Blackboard.!I!know!this!is!additional!work!but!I!am! adding!this!in!lieu!of!any!discussion!forum!writing!assignment!this!week!so!please!watch! the!episode!in!full!before!continuing!with!this!lesson.! ( Introductory(Comments(on(the(Twilight%Zone%( During!the!late!1950s!and!the!1960s!there!were!a!lot!of!“alternative”!histories!popping!up,! that!told!the!story!of!a!Nazi!triumph!instead!of!a!defeat.!They!were,!what!we!can!call,!“What! If”!stories.! ! For!example,!in!1962,!just!a!year!after!the!Adolf!Eichmann!trial,!Philip!K.!Dick!published! The(Man(in(the(High(Castle,!an!alternate!history!in!which!Nazi!Germany!and!Imperial!Japan! won!World!War!II.!This!book!also!contained!an!example!of!"alternate-alternate"!history,!in! that!one!of!its!characters!is!the!author!of!a!book!in!which!the!Allies!won!the!war.!(In!fact,! this!book!has!been!adapted!into!a!very!popular!Amazon!television!series!of!the!same!name,! which!I!highly!recommend.)! ! A!more!recent!example!is!Making(History!by!Stephen!Fry,!in!which!a!time!machine!is!used! to!alter!history!so!that!Adolf!Hitler!was!never!born.!Despite!this!however,!a!different!leader! resulted!in!Nazi!Germany!being!more!successful!than!it!was!under!Hitler,!with!the!Germans! winning!World!War!II!and!now!in!a!Cold!War!with!the!United!States.! ! Another!novel,!The(Plot(Against(America!(2004)!by!Philip!Roth!looks!at!an!America!where! Franklin!D.!Roosevelt!is!defeated!in!1940!in!his!bid!for!a!third!term!as!President!of!the! United!States,!and!Charles!Lindbergh!is!elected,!leading!to!increasing!fascism!and!antiSemitism!in!the!U.S.! ! During!the!height!of!the!cold!war,!there!were!not!many!of!these!texts;!but!the!ones!that!did! emerge!dealt!with!the!Nazis!winning,!Hitler!surviving!and!going!into!hiding!(like! Eichmann),!or!there!were!many!“what!if!Hitler!were!never!born”!stories,!or!what!if!the! Holocaust!occurred!in!a!different!fashion.! ! So!there!are!different!ways,!different!injunctions!to!remember!the!past.!Different!ways!of! dealing!with!the!memory!of!the!Holocaust!and!the!Second!World!War.! ! !

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One!reason!why!there!was!so!much!attention!on!these!alternative!histories!in!the!early!60s! was!the!worldwide!attention!that!was!given!to!Germany’s!Nazi!past!in!the!years!1960-1962! caused!by!the!capture!and!trial!of!Adolf!Eichmann.! ! These!were!also!years!in!which!many!Americans!were!still!not!convinced!of!Germany’s! dedication!to!democracy!and!there!were!real!fears!of!a!neo-Nazi!revival!(so!in!addition!to! all!that!was!going!on!in!terms!of!the!Cold!War!there!was!also!this).!So!there!were!a!lot!of! dystopian!tales,!dystopian!scenarios!set!up!that!reminded!Americans!of!the!Third!Reich’s! historical!crimes.!! ! There!was!this!intensified!commitment!to!memory!that!was!illustrated,!for!instance!by!this! Twilight(Zone!episode!that!I!have!asked!you!to!watch.!So!please!watch!this!carefully!and! pay!close!attention!to!how!they!aim!to!underscore!the!enduring!threat!of!the!Nazis!in!the! present.!! ! I!think!one!thing!that!is!fascinating!about!this!episode!is!the!way!in!which!it!builds!a! psychological!profile!–!which!is!part!supernatural!–!of!this!American!neo-Nazi!Frank! Vollmer.!! ! For!one,!the!elderly!Jew!in!Vollmer’s!life!offers!him!compassion!even!as!Vollmer!advocates! driving!Jews,!Communists,!Catholics,!and!foreigners!out!of!the!country.! ! Initially!weak,!Vollmer’s!rhetoric!gains!an!audience!when!he!makes!a!Faustian!pact!with! this!stranger!in!the!shadows.!Vollmer!demonstrates!that!the!shadow!of!Hitler!still!looms! even!years!after!the!end!of!the!war.!Ans!at!the!end!we!hear!the!narrator!speak!off!camera:! ! Where!will!he!go!next,!this!phantom!from!another!time,!persecuted!ghost!of!a!! previous!nightmare?!.!.!.!Anyplace—every!place—where!there’s!hate,!where! there’s!prejudice,!where!there’s!bigotry.!He’s!alive!.!.!.!so!long!as!these!evils! exist.!Remember!that!when!he!comes!to!your!town.!Remember!it!when!you! hear!his!voice!speaking!out!through!others.!Remember!it!when!you!hear!a! name!called,!a!minority!attacked—any!blind,!unreasoning!assault!on!a!people! or!any!human!being.!He’s!alive!because,!through!these!things,!we!keep!him! alive.!! ! ! ! What!we!see!in!this!sense,!to!use!Arendt’s!phrase,!the!“banality!of!evil”!–!he!see!how!evil! inspires!those!ignorant!enough!to!believe!in!the!supposed!superiority!of!the!white!race.! And!like!Eichmann!paid,!Serling,!the!twilight!zone!creator,!makes!the!evil!Nazis!pay!for! their!atrocities.!!

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