Update on the Genocide seen in The Complete Maus
Recently, new light has been shed on the legacy of the Holocaust, specifically regarding the concentration camps (which were featured in The Complete Maus).
The world changed as a result of the Holocaust, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website lists several of the major lasting impacts:
Recently, new light has been shed on the legacy of the Holocaust, specifically regarding the concentration camps (which were featured in The Complete Maus).
- As of March 2013, a shocking 42,500 Nazi camps and ghettos have been cataloged by researchers who have been working to uncover these places for the past thirteen years. Not even Holocaust scholars expected to find a number this high.
- These camps have been found all over what were once Nazi-controlled areas in Germany, Russia, Poland, and France.
- Though most people think of the death camps, this research has led to the further awareness of labor camps and “care” centers, where many women were raped and many others had their babies forcibly aborted or killed soon after birth.
- The killing camps such as Auschwitz, that are famous and known to most people are only a very small portion of the true number of camps and ghettos where victims were abused and killed.
- These new findings mean that Holocaust survivors whose stories were discounted because they were not at one of the well-known camps can now be heard and taken seriously. These victims’ claims are often rejected by insurance agencies, but now these people have the chance to gain financial compensation for lost property and personal belongings.
- Also, the claim that most people had no idea that these camps existed and what was taking place inside them is weakened, since there were camps all over Europe. It is unlikely that the majority of people who lived in these areas would have been able to go very far without encountering one and having at least a vague idea of the atrocities being committed inside of them.
- Germany is home to many Holocaust memorials and museums. New efforts have been made to include Holocaust education in schools, but anti-Semitism and conservative views are a barrier that Holocaust educators are still working to overcome in Germany.
The world changed as a result of the Holocaust, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website lists several of the major lasting impacts:
- Genocide has become a crime that is punishable in nations all around the globe.
- The Nuremberg Trials resulted in the decision that government officials could be held accountable for crimes related to genocide by international tribunals.
- The international commitment to protecting human rights became a more pressing and prioritized issue, and it has led to the development of many international peacekeeping organizations.
- Medical experiments performed on victims of the Holocaust led to the idea of informed consent regarding medical procedures and experiments done on any patient.
- There has been increase in resources and protections for refugees in various countries around the world.
- A more defined idea of and push for a Jewish homeland has developed.
- A push for peace between Jews and Christians has developed.