well, hasn't this blog been crickets for a while now? I guess I could just keep writing here like i never stopped. Sorry yall! I've been "busy" i guess. Or i've just left this behind... But, oh well, I'm back! A lot has changed, but everything is the same. Voici, the song recommendations!
I'll talk about a haunting movie related to the Holocaust called "The Zone of Interest" and share a poem that will make you uncomfortable, but in a good way.
A song recommendation, though unrelated to what we'll talk about:
I also recommend the song "Casual" by the queen Chappel Roan.
Get your popcorns ready because this will be a loooong entry, which might take you at least 10 minutes to read, 7 minutes for watching the videos (if you feel like watching them) and as much time as needed to reflect. This post discusses genocide and dehumanization.
Content Warning:
Consider reading at another time if you're reading this after 8pm or want to avoid being emotionally impacted for a bit.
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The Zone of Interest
So, I recommend y’all to watch that movie because it will make you rethink what you do and what others do, while also showing you how the people who allowed the Holocaust to happen weren’t… screaming slurs all the time and stuff. They were normal people, like us. Btw, it was directed by Jonathan Glazer and released in 2023.
the poster of the movie
The movie revolves around Rudolph Höss, the commander of Auschwitz, and around his family. They live comfortably in a luxurious house, with a garden that is well taken care and a nice pool. The only thing separating the house from the atrocities in the concentration camp is a somewhat tall gray wall. While the kids are having fun in the backyard, or just getting ready to sleep, shots and screams can be heard from the other side of the all, though they are always ignored, just like the smoke coming out from the gas chambers (actually, not always ignored, we'll see how very soon).
Höss planned the deportation of around 700,000 Hungarian Jews, like it's something normal to do, while his family too enjoyed a comfortable daily life marked by a worrying disconnection with the atrocities comitted on the other side of the wall. No one bothered to reflect on what happened on the concentration camp, since it was considered normal, and life was amazing, so why complain? There was only one time where it seemed like someone cared about it, but they didn't care about the atrocities. That time was when Höss's mother in law was staying at the family's house, and, at night, she saw smoke coming out of the gas chambers, from her window. Feeling uncomfortable, she leaves a note and leaves the house in the middle of the night. Höss's wife, Hedwig, reads it in the morning and throws it away botherlessly.
Throughout the movie, we can sometimes get a glimpse into the life of a Jewish Polish girl. Those shots are mainly seen in black and white, but the girl is glowing white and anything else is black or gray. In one instance, with her piano, she plays a song of hope in those times of pain. Though the lyrics aren't sang, they are displayed on screen:
"Sunbeams, radiant and warm. Human bodies, young and old. And who are imprisoned here, Our hearts are yet not cold. Souls ardent like the scorching sun. They tear, they break through their pain. Well soon we will see that flag flying. The flag of freedom is yet to come."
The song is here:
In the end of the movie, we can see Höss throwing up. This does not symbolize his regret sadly, as came to regret what he did. I can't really grasp its meaning, but it really shows something was wrong in Höss. I see it as his thoughts affecting his physical health. He clearly wasn't mentally well: though seen as normal many times, we can see him smoking sometimes, which, for me, symbolizes he is trying to ignore a problem or he is bothered by something. Anyways, here's the ending scene:
The movie shows us how certain people live in comfort at the expense of others suffering, and the normalization of that suffering: dehumanization. This is something that still happens nowadays, mostly in genocides, like the one in Gaza. By making people think Palestinians are filth and terrorists, the IDF is more likely to not be judged when they commit the atrocities they commit in Gaza. This dehumanisation, which makes thousands suffer, has allowed at least 40,000 Palestinians to be killed, and, of them, more than 10,000 kids. This tool didn't only allow this genocide to happen, it allowed countless other genocides and wars to happen, like the war in Ukraine, in Lebanon, the colonialism Europe did in the past, and the post-9/11 Middle East wars. If you know nothing about the Gaza genocide, check out this entry I wrote, which has a resume about it: https://www.bluepuffin.net/2024/06/blogdebut.html. To get a bit more insight, not only about dehumanisation but also about the glowing girl, let's read a speech made by the movie director himself:
Thank you so much. I’m gonna read. Thank you to the Academy for this honor and to our partners A24, Film4, Access, and Polish Film Institute; to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for their trust and guidance; to my producers, actors, collaborators. All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present — not to say, “Look what they did then,” rather, “Look what we do now.” Our film shows where dehumanization leads, at its worst. It shaped all of our past and present. Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October the — [Applause.] Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist? [Applause.] Aleksandra Bystroń-Kołodziejczyk, the girl who glows in the film, as she did in life, chose to. I dedicate this to her memory and her resistance. Thank you." - Jonathan Glazer, Oscars 2024
Let's move away from Israel and confront ourselves instead now. The wall that separates the family from seeing the suffering they allow to happen can be reinterpreted as a metaphor for something that does not allow us to see something we do normally allows someone to suffer. Notice how most people eat meat not thinking if the animal they ate was treated with dignity during its life. Notice how many people often order clothes on SHEIN without thinking about the suffering of those who made them. And those people, doing those stuff... likely are us. Us, who wanting or not, normalise the suffering of others. If I said 93 people died in an Israeli attack in North Gaza, it wouldn't affect you as much as to know 93 people died in an attack in New York. Just like the Germans living under the Nazi rule normalised the suffering of the Jews, we normalize the suffering of those in Gaza, and even of people we know. Tell me, have you ever heard people making fun of someone for no reason, but you stayed quiet, therefore allowing it to continue happening as if you don't care? I'm guilty. So, the movie not only shows how antisemitism was normalized in Nazi Germany, but how we normalize things we shouldn't.
Something fairly similar that also allowed the Holocaust to happen (and enables the Gaza Genocide) is the complicit silence. With that, I mean not speaking up and being silent, hence being complicit in the wrongdoings. During the movie, no one shows empathy towards the Jews or speaks against the atrocities being done. Maybe at least one person found it to be "not okay", but would it be worth it? Speaking up just to lose their job and whole career? Well... probably not.
The film reveals us all the evil without recurring to graphic images, instead making use of background noises very often. Even during the most normal moments, they can be heard, just like a reminder that something goes on behind the wall; something is... wrong. Though the family might ignore, we can hear the evil very well.
I recommend the movie to those who have an ounce of empathy, who are interested in the Gaza Genocide or/and the Holocaust, and those who are ready to question themselves about the reality they live in. It's a very still movie, so those who prefer some action wouldn't enjoy. Anyways, it's a great reminder that we MUST speak up, and maybe even an eye opener.
the silence.
the silence is the tool
that is useful for the fool
who just wants to keep their cool
and that's okay, "that's cool"
and amidst the bomb rain
all over the world plain
all i hear is the silence
enabling the violence
all i hear is two hundred violins
and i know no one wins
the comfort is so comfortable
that everything is enactable
"it isn't me being hurt,
so why would i made them heard?"
all i hear is two hundred violins
like silence this it seems
an endless war of dreams
non-ending lava streams
my tea is running cold
drink will i now, like i told
my pajama is so cozy
won't u look at me?
my bed is yet to be made
i'll allow it to be delayed
who cares children are being shot?
who cares human rights are being dropped?
who cares, since it's uncomfortable to?
who cares to help someone like you?
the ones who would've helped you are buried below thee,
all that because you ignored them, living your fantasy.
This poem was a poem meant to make you uncomfortable and to question your own reality, specially if you don't really speak up about any cause or when people around you do unfair things to others. That guilt you might feel? Use it as a tool for good, but acknowledge that, as long as you do something to change the unacceptable, as small as it may be, the unacceptable won't be something you can blame yourself for, and you actually did something good.
Written throughout November 19th to 22th.
Bye!
Thank you for reading. How are you feeling? I know it wasn't easy to digest, but I hope you learned something or feel empowered. Don't put too much weight on yourself, and please rest as much as you need to.
I love you. May love and empathy fill you on this Friday <3
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