During our seminar this week, I was
shocked to see so many people defending the Polish and their bystander mindset
during the war. Many of my peers simply stated that there was nothing they
could really do to help the Jewish people, but I disagree with that statement.
Many of my classmates argued that Poland’s army was too small, but they
could’ve easily become allies with a bigger, more powerful country. Although it
is in their nature to be gluttonous- the Poles are represented as pigs in
Spiegelman’s MAUS- I am not necessarily surprised by their lack of effort. It
can be argued that this lack of Polish effort lead to the deaths of thousands
of people that could’ve been saved.
The bystander mindset was more harmful to
the Jewish people than if the Polish were physically harming them. This is true
because again, the Poles could’ve easily saved thousands of lives, but instead
they watched from afar as millions of Jewish people were tortured and killed by
the Nazis. Some of these Jews were even
Polish citizens- which makes it even more horrifying that the Poles stood by
and didn’t contribute as much as they could’ve. To watch your fellow citizens
get beaten and tortured while you simply sit and watch is something a country
should never view as being acceptable. But unfortunately, like the comic above,
there are many things that are simply too complex to fully understand. This is
the reason I continue to ask myself- why?
