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Throughout history the human race has witnessed many humans committing inhuman acts. Concentration and extermination camps are just one of the many awful inhuman acts. The essay Behavior in Extermination camps by Bruno Bettelheim reports on the actions and reactions of humans in these merciless camps. The movie Schindler's List focuses on Nazi treatment of Jews and shows the conditions and treatment of other humans in extermination camps. By comparing Behavior in Extermination camps and Schindler's List the behaviors that Bruno Bettelheim wrote about can be witnessed in the characters viewed in Schindler's List.
The characters in Schindler's List responded to their ruthless treatment with behaviors that were all written about by Bruno such as denial, defeat, primitive childishness, and heroism. The Most predominant response written about in the essay Behavior in Extermination camps to the sickening treatment of the Jews was denial. The Jewish women in their bunks, no matter how evident, straight out denied the fact that gas chambers in Auschwitz existed even though a fellow Jew reports it to them. Bruno reported this behavior in his essay, it states They can no longer accept reality for what it is; having grown infantile, they see it only in the infantile perspective of a wishful belief in their personal immortality. I also make reference to the female supervisor of construction. Although she was facing certain death, she was concerned that the construction of the building should be redone or it would collapse.
In the essay Bruno Bettelheim makes it clear that this is a denial of the situation and follows his business as usual observations. To further clarify, Dr. Mengele although also facing certain death preformed his surgery's with all medical safety measures even though the mother and child would be murdered shortly after. So both Dr. Mengele and The Female construction supervisor both had, after all, to delude themselves at times to be able to live with themselves and their experience. The response of denial to certain death is one of the many responses that Bruno spoke about that could be viewed in the characters of Schindler's List.
Another behavior that Bruno Bettelheim spoke of, and the characters of Schindler's List both shared is the feeling of defeat. At the beginning of the movie A crowd of Jewish people was getting yelled at by one little German girl. It is for certain that the Jews would have took pleasure in teaching this young child a lesson, but they just absorbed the insults. But within the oppressed person who did not resist lay accumulating hostilities he was unable to discharge in action. Not even the mild relief of verbal aggression was open to him, because even that, he was afraid, would bring destruction by the SS. was written by Bruno to demonstrate how feelings of defeat and fear had the Jews scared to even speak out against small actions such a verbal abuse, leaving them with greater feelings of defeat.
As seen in Schindler's List the people felt so defeated that they literally walked themselves into their own fiery graves. This defeat was also reinforced by the extremely dangerous character of the aggressor. The behavior of feeling defeated by the enemy is one of the behaviors that was found in both the characters in Schindler's List and as described by Bruno Bettelheim in Behavior in Extermination camps. In the extermination camps one behavior written about by Bruno Bettelheim is that of childish behavior. This behavior in the camps was more so expressed by the Nazi SS soldiers.
For example Gout was a Nazi, he expressed many of the childish tendencies that Bettelheim wrote about in his essay. In the movie Gout was in the cellar acting kind to Helen Hirsch and then in an instant he would snap and start hitting her repeatedly. He was acting as Bettelheim describes immature The more immature the person, the more these tendencies are apt to push the total personality, at one moment in one direction, at the next moment in the other. Bettelheim calls this childlike friendliness primitive behavior. Gout expressed this primitive behavior when dealing the young boy whom couldnt get the stains out of his bathtub. He was kind and pardoned him but then turned and shot him in thoughtless cruelty.
Bettelheim also describes another characteristic of this behavior is engaging in infantile thought processes such as wishful thinking. Gout also reveals this characteristic when Schindler was offering to buy Helen Hirsch. Gout argued that he would not sell her because he would take her back home with her. This thought was very wishful and could not happen. Childish behavior was a behavior written about in the essay Behavior in Extermination camps that not only effected the Jews but also the Nazi SS soldiers. A behavior in Behavior in Extermination camps that was also viewed in Schindler's List is heroism.
This is a rare behavior showed but it was there. The two people that best showed this behavior were Stern and Schindler. Bruno writes that those who did not deny validity death, who neither denied nor repressed its possibility, who embraced no childish belief in their indestructibility, were those who prepared for it in time as a real possibility. It meant risking ones life for a self chosen purpose and in doing so, saving ones own life or that of others, or both.
Stern had a little more power then other Jews because of the job he was assigned. Stern risked his life and saved the lives of many by giving them jobs in Schindler's factory. He risked his life by stepping out and asking Schindler if he could hire those people. Stern saved the lives of many including a man with only one arm and several elderly people. Stern showed this behavior of heroism and succeeded in his chosen purpose to be proven a hero.
Schindler also showed the behavior of heroism written about in Bruno Bettlheim's essay. He risked his life by saving the lives of and freeing countless Jews. Schindler also risked his life by making 45 mm shells that would not fire. Schindler went after is self chosen purpose and because of this he fulfilled the heroism that Bruno Bettelheim wrote about in his essay Behavior in Extermination camps. The characters in Schindler's List responded with the behaviors that are written about in Behavior in Extermination camps. It is true that in concentration camps people act differently then they normally would, they respond with abnormal behaviors including denial, defeat, primitive childishness, and the only positive behavior heroism.
Bruno Bethlehem's essay Behavior in Extermination camps portrays the true behaviors and actions of the characters that were condemned to extermination camps in Schindler's List.
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