Nazi Germany Totalitarian State

THE AFTERMATH OF NAZI RULE Report from Germany HANNAH ARENDT waste the moral structure of Western society, committing crimes that nobody would have believed possible, while her conquerors buried in rubble the visible marks of more than a thousand years of German history.Then into this devastated land, truncated by the Oder-Neisse borderline and hardly able to sustain its demoralized and exhausted population, streamed millions of people from the Eastern provinces, from the Balkans and from Eastern Europe, adding to the general picture of catastrophe the peculiarly modem touches of physical homelessness, social rootlessness, and political rightlessness. The wisdom of Allied policy in expelling all German-speaking minorities from non-German countries-as though there was not enough homelessness in the world alreadymay be doubted.But the fact is that European peoples who had experienced the murderous demographic politics of Germany during the war were seized with horror, even more than wi th wrath, at the very idea of having to live together with Germans in the same territory. The sight of Germany's destroyed cities and the knowledge of German concentration and extermination camps have covered Europe with a cloud of melancholy. Together, they have made the memory of the last war more poignant and more persistent, the fear of future wars more actual.Not the â€Å"German problem,† insofar as it is a national one within the comity of European nations, but HANNAH ARENDT is author of a just completed IN LESS than six years Germany laid the nightmare of Germany in its physical, moral, and political ruin has become almost as decisive an element in the general atmosphere of European life as the Communist movements. But nowhere is this nightmare of destruction and horror less felt and less talked about than in Germany itself.A lack of response is evident everywhere, and it is difficult to say whether this signifies a half-conscious refusal to yield to grief or a genuin e inability to feel. Amid the ruins, Germans mail each other picture postcards still showing the cathedrals and market places, the public buildings and bridges that no longer exist. And the indifference with which they walk through the rubble has its exact counterpart in the absence of mourning for the dead, or in the apathy with which they react, or rather fail to react, to the fate of the refugees in their midst.This general lack of emotion, at any rate this apparent heartlessness, sometimes covered over with cheap sentimentality, is only the most conspicuous outward symptom of a deep-rooted, stubborn, and at times vicious refusal to face and come to terms with what really happened. INDIvERENE, and the irritation that comes when indifference is challenged, can be tested on many intellectual levels. The most obvious experiment is to state expressis verbis what the other fellow has noticed from the beginning of the conversation, namely, that you are a Jew.This is usually followed by a little embarrassed pause; and then comesnot a personal question, such as ‘Where did you go after you left Germany? â€Å"; no sign of sympathy, such as ‘What happened to your family? â€Å"-but a deluge of stories about how Germans have suffered (true enough, of course, but beside the point); and if the object of this little experiment happens to be educated and intelligent, he will proceed to draw up a balance between German suffering and the suffering of others, the implication being that one side cancels the other and ork on totalitarianism, The Origins of Totalitarianism, soon to be published by Harcourt, Brace. Her writings on history, philosophy, and political theory in COMMENTARY and other periodicals have won her a wide reputation. This report on Germany was written after a recent stay of several months in that country. Dr. Arendt was born in Germany, studied under Karl Jaspers in Heidelberg, and earned her doctorate at that university. She came to this coun try in 1941. 342 THE AFTERMATH OF NAZI RULE e may as well proceed to a more promising topic of conversation. Similarly evasive is the standard reaction to the ruins. When there is any overt reaction at all, it consists of a sigh followed by the half-rhetorical, halfwistful question, â€Å"Why must mankind always wage wars? † The average German looks for the causes of the last war not in the acts of the Nazi regime, but in the events that led to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. 343 BUT, whether faced or evaded, the realities f Nazi crimes, of war and defeat, still visibly dominate the whole fabric of German life, and the Germans have developed various devices for dodging their shocking impact. The reality of the death-factories is transformed into a mere potentiality: Germans did only what others are capable of doing (with many illustrative examples, of course) or what others will do in the near future; therefore, anybody who brings up this topic is ipso facto susp ected of self-righteousness.In this context, Allied policy in Germany is frequently explained as a campaign of successful revenge, even though it later turns out that the German who offers this interpretation is quite aware that most of the things he complains of were either the immediate consequence of the lost war or happened outside the will and control of the Western powers. But the insistence that there must be a careful scheme of revenge serves as a consoling argument, demonstrating the equal sinfulness of all men.The reality of the destruction that surrounds every German is dissolved into a reflective but not very deep-rooted self-pity, easily dissipated when ugly little one-story structures that might have been imported from some Main Street in America spring up on some of the great avenues to conceal fragmentarily the grimness of the landscape, and to offer an abundance of provincial elegance in super-modern display windows. In France and Great Britain, people feel a greate r sadness about the relatively few landmarks destroyed in the war than the Germans do for all their lost treasures together.The boastful hope is expressed in Germany that the country will become the â€Å"most modern† in Europe; yet it is mere talk, and some person who has just voiced that hope will insist a few minutes later, at another turn in the conversation, that the next war will do to all European cities what this one did to Germany's-which of course is possible, but signifies again only the transformation of reality into potentiality. The undertone of satisfaction that one often detects in the Germans' talk about the next war expresses no sinister renewal of German lans of conquest, as sq many observers have maintained, but is only another device for escaping reality: in an eventual equality of destruction, the German situation would lose its acuteness. S course, an escape fromalone; all the peoresponsibility. In this the Germans are not ples of Western Europe have de veloped the habit of blaming their misfortunes on some force out of their reach: it may be America and the Atlantic Pact today, the legacy of Nazi occupation tomorrow, and history in general every day of the week.But this attitude is more pronounced in Germany, where the temptation to blame everything under the sun on the occupying powers is difficult to resist: in the British zone everything is blamed on British fear of German competition; in the French zone on French nationalism; and in the American zone, where things are better in every respect, on American ignorance of the European mentality. The complaints are only natural, and they all contain a kernel of truth; but behind them is a stubborn unwillingness to make use of the many possibilities left to German initiative.This is perhaps most clearly revealed in the German newspapers, which express all their convictions in a carefully cultivated style of Schadenfreude, malicious joy in ruination. It is as though the Germans, denie d the power to rule the world, had fallen in love with impotence as such, and now find a positive pleasure in contemplating international tensions and the unavoidable mistakes that occur in the business of governing, regardless of the possible consequences for themselves.Fear of Russian aggression does not necessarily result in an unequivocal pro-American attitude, but often leads to a determined neutrality, as though it were as absurd to take sides in the conflict as it would be to take sides in an earthquake. The awareness that neutrality will not change one's fate makes it in turn impossible to translate this mood into a rational policy, and the mood itself, by its very irrationality, becomes even more bitter. CUCH an escape from reality is also, of 344 BUT COMMENTARY count of what actually happened, and to eliminate the teachers who have become incapable of doing so.The danger to German academic life is not only from those who hold that freedom of speech should be exchanged for a dictatorship in which a single unfounded, irresponsible opinion would acquire a monopoly over all others, but equally from those who ignore facts and reality and establish their private opinions, not necessarily as the only right ones, but as opinions that are as justified as others. The unreality and irrelevance of most of these opinions, as compared with the grim relevance of the experience of those who hold them, is sharply underlined by their having been formed before 1933.There is an almost instinctive urge to take refuge in the thoughts and ideas one held before anything compromising had happened. The result is that while Germany has changed beyond recognition-physically and psychologically-people talk and behave superficially as though absolutely nothing had happened since 1932. The authors of the few really important books written in Germany since 1933 or published since 1945 were already famous twenty and twenty-five years ago. The younger generation seems to be petrified , inarticulate, incapable of consistent thought.A young German art historian, guiding his audience among the masterpieces of the Berlin Museum, which had been sent on tour through several American cities, pointed to the Ancient Egyptian statue of Nefertiti as the sculpture â€Å"for which the whole world envies us,† and then proceeded to say (a) that even the Americans had not â€Å"dared† to carry this â€Å"symbol of the Berlin collections† to the United States, and (b) that because of the â€Å"intervention of the Americans,† the British did not â€Å"dare† to carry the Nefretete to the British Museum.The two contradictory attitudes to the Americans were separated by only a single sentence: the speaker, devoid of convictions, was merely groping automatically among the cliches with which his mind was furnished to find the one that might fit the occasion. The cliches have more often an old-fashioned nationalistic than an outspoken Nazi tone, but i n any case one seeks in vain to discover behind them a consistent point of view, be it even a bad one. With the downfall of Nazism, the Germans found themselves again exposed to he B perhapshabit most striking andasfrightening aspect of the German flight from of treating facts though reality is the they were mere opinions. For example, the question of who started the last war, by no means a hotly debated issue, is answered by a surprising variety of opinions. An otherwise quite normally intelligent woman in Southern Germany told me that the Russians had begun the war with an attack on Danzig; this is only the crudest of many examples.Nor is this transformation of facts into opinions restricted to the war question; in all fields there is a kind of gentlemen's agreement by which everyone has a right to his ignorance under the pretext that everyone has a right to his opinion-and behind this is the tacit assumption that opinions really do riot matter. This is a very serious thing, not o nly because it often makes discussion so hopeless (one does not ordinarily carry a reference library along everywhere), but primarily because the average German honestly believes this free-for-all, this nihilistic relativity about facts, to be the essence of democracy.In fact, of course, it is a legacy of the Nazi regime. The lies of totalitarian propaganda are distinguished from the normal lying of nontotalitarian regimes in times of emergency by their consistent denial of the importance of facts in general: all facts can be changed and all lies can be made true. The Nazi impress on the German mind consists primarily in a conditioning whereby reality has ceased to be the sum total of hard inescapable facts and has become a conglomeration of everchanging events and slogans in which a thing can be true today and false tomorrow.This conditioning may be precisely one of the reasons for the surprisingly few traces of any lasting Nazi indoctrination, as well as for an equally surprising lack of interest in the refuting of Nazi doctrines. What one is up against is not indoctrination but the incapacity or unwillingness to distinguish altogether between fact and opinion. A discussion about the events of the Spanish Civil War will be conducted on the same level as a discussion of the theoretical merits and shortcomings of democracy.Thus the problem at the German universities is not so much to reintroduce freedom to teach as to reestablish honest research, to confront the student with an unbiased ac- THE AFTERMATH OF NAZI RULE facts and reality. But the experience of totalitarianism has robbed them of all spontaneous speech and comprehension, so that now, having no official line to guide them, they are, as it were, speechless, incapable of articulating thoughts and adequately expressing their feelings.The intellectual atmosphere is clouded with vague pointless generalities, with opinions formed long before the events they are supposed to fit actually happened; one is op pressed by a kind of pervasive public stupidity which cannot be trusted to judge correctly the most elementary events, and which, for example, makes it possible for a newspaper to complain, â€Å"The world at large once again deserted us†-a statement comparable for blind self-centeredness to the remark Ernst Juenger in his war diaries (Strahlungen, 949) tells of having overheard in a conversation about Russian prisoners assigned to work near Hannover: â€Å"It seems there are scoundrels among them. They steal food from the dogs. As Juenger observes, â€Å"One often has the impression that the German middle classes are possessed by the devil. † rHE 345 economic and industrial conditions, and very little is done for the welfare of the masses of the people. Yet none of these facts can explain the atmosphere of feverish busyness on the one hand and the comparatively mediocre production on the other. Beneath the surface, the German attitude to work has undergone a deep cha nge. The old virtue of seeking excellence in the finished product, no matter what the working conditions, has yielded to a mere blind need to keep busy, a greedy craving for something to do every moment of the day.Watching the Germans busily stumble through the ruins of a thousand years of their own history, shrugging their shoulders at the destroyed landmarks or resentful when reminded of the deeds of horror that haunt the whole surrounding world, one comes to realize that busyness has become their chief defense against reality. And one wants to cry out: But this is not real-real are the ruins, real are the past horrors, real are the dead whom you have forgotten. But they are living ghosts, whom speech and argument, the glance of human eyes and the mourning of human hearts, no longer touch. THERE are, of course, many Germans whom this description does not fit. Above all, there is Berlin, whose people, in the midst of the most horrible physical destruction, have remained intact. I d o not know why this hould be so, but customs, manners, speech, approaches to people, are in the smallest details so absolutely different from everything one sees and has to face in the rest of Germany, that Berlin is almost like another country. There is hardly any resentment in Berlin' against the victors and apparently never was; while the first saturation bombings from England were pulverizing the city, Berliners are reported to have crawled out of their cellars and, seeing one block after another gone, remarked: â€Å"Well, if the Tommies mean to keep this up, they'll soon have to bring their own houses with them. † There is no embarrassment and no guilt-feeling, but frank and detailed recital of what happened to Berlin's Jews at the beginning of the war.Most important of all, in Berlin the people still actively hate Hitler, and even though they have more reason than other Germans to feel themselves pawns in international politics, they do not feel impotent but are con- r apidity with which, after the currency I reform, everyday life in Germany returned to normal and reconstruction began in all fields, has become the talk of Europe. Without a doubt, people nowhere work so hard and long as in Germany. It is a well-known fact that Germans have for generations been overfond of working; and their present industriousness seems at first glance to give substance to the opinion that Germany is still potentially the most dangerous European nation. There are, moreover, many strong incentives for work.Unemployment is rampant and the position of the trade unions is so weak that compensation for overtime is not even demanded by the workers, who frequently refuse to report it to the unions; the housing situation is worse than the many new buildings would seem to indicate: business and office buildings for the great industrial and insurance companies have an unquestioned priority over dwelling units, and the result is that people prefer going to work on Saturdays a nd even Sundays to staying at home in overcrowded apartments. In rebuilding, as in almost all areas of German life, everything is done (often in a most spectacular way) to restore a facsimile of pre-war 346 COMMENTARY olidarity all the more consoling because it could express itself only in such intangible gestures of emotion as a glance or a handclasp, which assumed a significance out of all proportion. The emergence from this overheated intimacy of danger into the crude egotism and spreading shallowness of postwar life has been a truly heartbreaking experience for many people. (It may be remarked that today in the Eastern zone, with its police regime, this time almost universally detested by the population, an even stronger atmosphere of comradeship, intimacy, and halfspoken sign language prevails than under the Nazis, so that it is often precisely the best elements in the Eastern zone who find it difficult to make up their minds to move to the West. ) inced that their attitudes co unt for something; given half a chance, they will at least sell their lives dear. The Berliners work just as hard as other people in Germany, but they are less busy, they will take time to show one around the ruins and will somewhat solemnly recite the names of the streets that are gone. It is hard to believe, but it seems there is something in the Berliners' claim that Hitler never entirely succeeded in conquering them. They are remarkably well-informed and have kept their sense of humor and their characteristically ironical friendliness. The only change in the people-apart from their having become somewhat sadder and less ready for laughter-is that â€Å"Red Berlin† is now violently anti-Communist.But here again there is an important difference between Berlin and the rest of Germany: only Berliners take the trouble to point out clearly the similarities between Hitler and Stalin, and only Berliners bother to tell you that they are of course not against the Russian people-a s entiment all the more remarkable if one remembers what happened to the Berliners, many of whom had welcomed the Red Army as the true liberator, during the first months of occupation, and what is still happening to them in the Eastern sector. Berlin is an exception, but unfortunately not a very important one. For the city is hermetically sealed off and has little intercourse with the rest of the country, except that one meets people everywhere who because of the uncertainty there left Berlin for the Western zones and now complain bitterly of their loneliness and disgust. Indeed, there are quite a number of Germans who are â€Å"different†; but they use up their energy in efforts to penetrate the stifling atmosphere that surrounds them, and remain completely isolated.In a way these people are today worse off psychologically than in the worst years of Hitler's terror. In the last years of the war, there did exist a vague comradeship of opposition among all who for one reason or another were against the regime. Together they hoped for the day of defeat, and since -apart from the few well-known exceptions -they had no real intention of doing anything to hasten that day, they could enjoy the charm of a half-imaginary rebellion. The very danger involved in even the mere thought of opposition created a sentiment of II r the failure of the three devices used by nERHAms the saddest part of a sad story is the Western Allies to solve the moral, economic, and political problem of Germany.Denazification, revival of free enterprise, and federalization are certainly not the cause of present conditions in Germany, but they have helped to conceal and thus to perpetuate moral confusion, economic chaos, social injustice, and political impotence. Denazification rested on the assumption that there were objective criteria not only for clear-cut distinction between Nazis and nonNazis, but for the whole Nazi hierarchy ranging from little sympathizer to war criminal. From the be ginning, the whole system, based upon length of party membership, ranks and offices held, date of first entrance, etc. , was very complicated, and involved almost everyone.The very few who had been able to keep alive outside the stream of life in Hitler Germany were exempt, and of course rightly so; but they were joined by a number of very different characters who had been lucky or cautious or influential enough to avoid the many annoyances of party membership: men who had actually been prominent in Nazi Germany but now were not required to go through the denazification process. Some of these gentlemen, mostly of the upper middle classes, have by now established open contact with their less fortunate colleagues, jailed for some war crime. This they do partly to seek advice in economic and industrial matters, but also because they have THE AFTERMATH OF NAZI RULE at last become bored with hypocrisy.The injustices of the denazification system were simple and monotonous: the city-employ ed garbage collector, who under Hider had to become a party member or look for another job, was caught in the denazification net, while his superiors either went scot-free because they knew how to manage these matters, or else suffered the same penalty as he: to them, of course, a much less serious matter. Worse than these daily injustices was the fact that the system, devised to draw clear moral and political distinctions in the chaos of a completely disorganized people, actually tended to blur even the few genuine distinctions that had survived the Nazi regime.Active opponents to the regime naturally had to enter a Nazi organization in order to camouflage their illegal activities, and these members of such resistance movement as had existed in Germany were caught in the same net as their enemies, to the great pleasure of the latter. In theory, it was possible to present proofs of anti-Nazi activity; but not only was it difficult to convince occupation officers without the slightes t experience of the intricacies of a terror regime; there was also the danger that the applicant might compromise himself in the eyes of the authorities, who were, after all, primarily interested in peace and order, by showing too convincingly that he had been capable of independent thought and rebellious action.It is doubtful, however, that the denazification program has stifled new political formations in Germany that might conceivably have grown out of the resistance to Nazism, since the resistance movement itself had so very little vitality in the first place. But there is no doubt that denazification has created an unwholesome new community of interest among the more-or-less compromised, those who for opportunistic reasons had become more-or-less convinced Nazis. This powerful group of slightly dubious characters excludes both those who kept their integrity and those who participated in any resounding way in the Nazi movement. It would be inaccurate in either case to think of e xclusion as based on specific political convictions: the elimination of confirmed anti-Nazis does not prove the others to be confirmed Nazis, and the elimination of â€Å"famous† Nazis does not mean that the others hate Nazism.It is simply that the denazification program has been a direct 347 threat to livelihood and existence, and the majority have tried to relieve the pressure by a system of mutual assurance that the whole thing need not be taken too seriously. Such assurance can be gained only from those who are as much and as little compromised as oneself. Those who became Nazis out of conviction as well as those who kept their integrity are felt to constitute an alien and threatening element, partly because they cannot be frightened by their past, but also because their very existence is living testimony that something really serious happened, that some decisive act was committed.Thus it has come about that not only the active Nazis but the convinced anti-Nazis are exclu ded from positions of power and influence in Germany today; this is the most significant symptom of the German intelligentsia's unwillingness to take its own past seriously or to shoulder the burden of responsibility bequeathed to it by the Hitler regime. The community of interest that exists among the more-or-less compromised is further strengthened by the general Germanbut not only German! -attitude to official questionnaires. In contrast to Anglo-Saxon and American habits, Europeans do not always believe in telling the absolute truth when an official body asks embarrassing questions.In countries whose legal system does not allow one to give testimony in one's own cause, lying is considered no great sin if the truth happens to prejudice one's chances. Thus for many Germans there is a discrepancy between their answers to military government questionnaires and the truth as known to their neighbors; and so the bonds of duplicity are strengthened. Yet it was not even conscious dishone sty that defeated the denazification program. A great number of Germans, especially among the more educated, apparently are no longer capable of telling the truth even if they want to. All those who became Nazis after 933 yielded to some kind of pressure, which ranged from the crude threat to life and livelihood, to various considerations of career, to reflections about the â€Å"irresistible stream of history. In the cases of physical or economic pressure, there should have been the possibility of mental reservation, of acquiring with cynicism that absolutely necessary membership card. But, curiously, it seems that very few Germans were capable of such healthy COMMENTARY cynicism; what bothered them was not the fess their own guilt are in many cases altomembership card but the mental reservation, gether innocent in the ordinary, down-toso that they often ended by adding to their earth sense, whereas those who are guilty of enforced enrollment the necessary convicsomething real hav e the calmest consciences tions, in order to shed the burden of duplicin the world. The recently published postity.Today, they have a certain inclination war diary of Knut Hamsun, which has found to remember only the initial pressure, which a large and enthusiastic audience in Gerwas real enough; from their belated inner admany, gives testimony on the highest level justment to Nazi doctrines, dictated by conto this horrible innocence that transforms itscience, they have drawn the half-conscious self into a persecution complex when conconclusion that it was their conscience itself fronted with the judgment of a morally inthat betrayed them-an experience that does tact world. not exactly promote moral improvement. Ernst Juenger's war diaries offer perhaps Certainly the impact of an everyday life the best and most honest evidence of the wholly permeated by Nazi doctrines and tremendous difficulties the individual enpractices was not easy to resist. The position counters in keeping hims elf and his standof an anti-Nazi resembled that of a normal ards of truth and morality intact in a world person who happens to be thrown into an where truth and morality have lost all visible insane asylum where all the inmates have expression.Despite the undeniable influence exactly the same delusion: it becomes difficult of Juenger's earlier writings on certain memunder such circumstances to trust one's own bers of the Nazi intelligentsia, he was an acsenses. And there was the continual added tive anti-Nazi from the first to the last day of strain of behaving according to the rules of the regime, proving that the somewhat oldthe insane environment, which after all was fashioned notion of honor, once current in the only tangible reality, in which a man the Prussian officer corps, was quite sufficient could never afford to lose his sense of direcfor individual resistance. Yet even this untion. This demanded an ever-present awarequestionable integrity has a ollow ring; it ness of one 's whole existence, an attention is as though morality had ceased to work and that could never relax into the automatic rehad become an empty shell into which the actions we all use to cope with the many person who has to live, function, and survive daily situations. The absence of such autoall day long, retires for the night and solitude matic reactions is the chief element in the only. Day and night become nightmares of anxiety of maladjustment; and although, obeach other. The moral judgment, reserved jectively speaking, maladjustment in Nazi for the night, is a nightmare of fear of being society signified mental normality, the strain discovered by day; and the life of the day is of maladjustment on the individual was just a nightmare of horror in the betrayal of the as great as in a normal society. intact conscience that functions only by The deep moral confusion in Germany tonight. ay, which has grown out of this Nazi-fabricated confusion of truth with reality, is more than amor ality and has deeper causes than mere wickedness. The so-called â€Å"good Germans† are often as misled in their moral judgments of themselves and others as those who simply refuse to recognize that anything wrong or out of the ordinary was done by Germany at all. Quite a number of Germans who are even somewhat over-emphatic about German guilt in general and their own guilt in particular become curiously confused if they are forced to articulate their opinions; they may make a mountain out of some irrelevant molehill, while some real enormity escapes their notice altogether. One variation. f this confusion is that Germans who conIN VnEW of the very complicated moral situa- 348 1 tion of the country at the close of the war, it is not surprising that the gravest single error in the American denazification policy occurred in its initial effort to arouse the conscience of the German people to the enormity of the crimes committed in their name and under conditions of organized com plicity. In the early days of occupation, posters appeared everywhere showing the photographed horrors of Buchenwald with a finger pointing at the spectator, and the text: â€Å"You are guilty. † For a majority of the population these pictures were the first authentic knowledge of what had een done in their name. How could they feel guilty if they had not even THE AFTERMATH OF NAZI RULE known? All they saw was the pointed finger, clearly indicating the wrong person. From this error they concluded that the whole poster was a propaganda lie. Thus, at least, runs the story one hears time and again in Germany. The story is true enough so far as it goes; yet it does not explain the very violent reaction to these posters, which even today has not died down, and it does not explain the affronting neglect of the content of the photographs. Both the violence and the neglect are called forth by the hidden truth of the poster rather than by its obvious error.For while the German people were not informed of all Nazi crimes and were even deliberately kept ignorant of their exact nature, the Nazis had seen to it that every German knew some horrible story to be true, and he did not need a detailed knowledge of all the horrors committed in his name to realize that he had been made accomplice to unspeakable crimes. This is a sad story which is not made less sad by the realization that, under the circumstances, the Allied powers had very little choice. The only conceivable alternative to the denazification program would have been a revolution-the outbreak of the German people's spontaneous wrath against all those they knew to be prominent members of the Nazi regime.Uncontrolled and bloody as such an uprising might have been, it certainly would have followed better standards of justice than a paper procedure. But the revolution did not come to pass, and not primarily because it was difficult to organize under the eyes of four foreign armies. It is only too likely that not a single soldier, German or foreign, would have been needed to shield the real culprits from the wrath of the people. This wrath does not exist today, and apparently it has never existed. the denazification program inadequate to the moral and political situation at the end of the war; it quickly came into conflict with American plans for the reconstruction and re-education of Germany.To rebuild the German economy along lines of free enterprise seemed a plausible enough anti-Nazi measure, since the Nazi economy had been a clearly planned economy, although it had not-or perhaps not yet -touched property conditions in the country. But the factory owners as a class had 349 NOTwas only been good Nazis, or at least strong supporters of a regime that had offered, in exchange for some relinquishment of private control, to bring the whole European trade and industrial system into German hands. In this, German businessmen behaved no differently from businessmen in other countries in the impe rialist era: the imperialist-minded businessman is no believer in free enterprise-on the contrary, he sees state intervention as the only guarantee of safe returns from his farflung enterprises.It is true enough that the German businessmen, unlike the old-style imperialists, did not control the state but were used by the party for party interests. But this difference, decisive as it might have become in the long run, had not yet appeared in its full force. In exchange for state-guaranteed expansion, the German business class had been ready enough to liquidate some of its more conspicuous positions of power, especially over the working class. A controlled economic system, with greater safeguards for workers' interests, had therefore come to be the strongest single attraction of the Nazi regime for both working class and upper middle class.Here again, the development did not run its course, and state-owned, or rather party-owned, slavery as we know it in Russia had not yet become a th reat to German workers (though of course it had been the chief threat to the working classes of all other European countries during the war). The result has been that planned economy in Germany, with no Communist connotations, is remembered as the only safeguard against unemployment and over-exploitation. The reintroduction of truly free enterprise meant handing over the factories and the control of economic life to those who, even if a little wrong about the ultimate consequences of Nazism, had been staunch supporters of the regime for all practical purposes. If they had not had much real power under the Nazis, they had enjoyed all the pleasures of status, and this regardless of actual membership in the party.And since the end of the war, together with almost unlimited power over economic life, they have regained their old power over the working class-that is, the only class in Germany which, though it had welcomed state intervention as insurance against unemployment, had never bee n wholeheartedly Nazi. In 350 COMMENTARY were former members of the SS, the expellees have a clear-cut political program and can rely upon a certain group solidarity, two elements conspicuously absent in all other strata of the population. Their program is the reestablishment of a powerful Germany which would make it possible for them to return to their former homes in the East and take their revenge on the populations that expelled them. In the meantime, they are busy hating and despising the native German population, which received them with something less than fraternal sentiments.As distinguished from the problem posed by the remnants of the Nazi movement, the refugee problem could be solved by energetic and intelligent economic measures. That, failing such measures, the refugees have been driven into a position where they had virtually no choice but to establish a party of their own if they wanted their interests to be represented at all, is in no small part the fault of the pr esent regime, and more specifically of the influence of the free-enterprise slogan as it has been understood or misunderstood by Germans. Public funds are used for credit to big enterprises; encouragement of small enterprises (many of the refugees are skilled workers and craftsmen), especially in the form of cooperatives, has been almost completely neglected.The amount of money spent for the benefit of the refugees varies from one Land to the other, but the amounts are nearly always hopelessly inadequate, not only in terms of absolute help but also in proportion to the general state budget. Recent proposals by the Bonn government to reduce business taxes-a clear index to the government's economic policy-would have decreased the available funds for refugees even more sharply. The fact that the occupation authorities vetoed this measure may offer some hope that the American authorities are coming to understand that the free-enterprise slogan has different connotations in Germany, and in Europe in general, from those that surround it in the United States. T IS indeed one of the chief handicaps of I American policy in Europe that this difference is not clearly understood.The American system, where the power of industrial management is strongly counterbalanced by the power of organized labor, would hardly seem acceptable to the European believer in free other words, at the time when denazification was the official watchword of Allied policy in Germany, power was returned to people whose Nazi sympathies were a matter of record, and power was taken away from those whose untrustworthiness with regard to the Nazis had been the only somewhat established fact in an otherwise fluctuating situation. To make things worse, the power returned to the industrialists was freed even of the feeble controls that had existed under the Weimar Republic.The trade unions which the Nazis had wiped out were not reinstated to their former position-partly because they lacked competent perso nnel and partly because they were suspected of anti-capitalist convictions-and the efforts of the unions to regain their former influence over the workers failed badly, with the result that by now they have lost the little confidence they may have inherited from memories of former times. The socialists' stubborn attack on the Schuman plan may look foolish to the outside world. This attack, however, can be properly understood (though hardly excused) only if one bears in mind that, under present circumstances, the combination of the Rhine-Ruhr industry with French industry might very well mean an even more concerted and better supported assault on the workers' standard of living. The mere fact that the Bonn government, frequently considered a mere facade for the interests of the industrialists, has supported the plan so heartily, seems reason enough for suspicion.For, unfortunately, the German upper middle classes have neither learned nor forgotten from the past; they still believe, d espite a wealth of experience to the contrary, that a large â€Å"labor reserve†-that is, considerable unemployment-is a healthy economic sign, and they are satisfied if they can keep wages down in this way. THE economic issue is considerably sharpened by the problem of the refugees, which is the greatest economic and social problem of present-day Germany. So long as these people are not resettled, they will constitute a grave political danger, precisely because they have been driven into a political vacuum. In common with the comparatively few convinced Nazis who are still left in Germany and who almost without exceptionTHE AFTERMATH OF NAZI RULE enterprise; in Europe, the trade unions even in their best days were never among the established powers, but always led the uncertain existence of a mildly rebellious force operating with varying success in an everlasting battle against the employers. In America, moreover, there is a certain reluctance, shared by employers and worke rs, to resort to state intervention; sometimes the mere threat of state arbitration may bring the disputing parties back to bilateral negotiations. In Germany, both workers and employers have only one idea in their heads: that the state must throw its full weight on the side of their interests.With the possible exception of the Scandinavians, no European citizenry has the political maturity of Americans, for whom a certain amount of responsibility, i. e. , of moderation in the pursuit of self-interest, is almost a matter of course. Furthermore, this is still a country of abundance and of opportunity, so that the talk of free initiative has not yet become meaningless; and the very dimensions of the American economy tend to defeat over-all planning. But in European countries, where national territories have continually shrunk in proportion to industrial capacity, most people are firmly convinced that even the present standard of living can be guaranteed only if there is some measure o f planning to assure everyone a just share in the national income.Behind the loose and wholly unjustified talk of American â€Å"imperialism† in Europe, looms the not so unjustified fear that the introduction of the American economic system into Europe, or rather American support of the economic status quo, can only result in a miserably low standard of living for the masses. The social and political stability of the Scandinavian countries results partly from strong trade unions, partly from the role of cooperatives in economic life, and partly from a wisely exerted state intervention. These factors indicate at least the general direction that the solution of European economic and social problems might take if unsolved political problems did not interfere and if the general world situation allowed enough time.In Germany, at any rate, the system of free enterprise has led quickly to cut-throat practices, monopolization, and trustification, regardless of all efforts of the Amer ican authorities to prevent these developments. 351 I0OLITICALLY, the most serious aspect of the I situation is not, as might be expected, the rising dissatisfaction of the working classes. The tragic history of the German socialist parties seems to have exhausted their vitality; never before has the German working class been in a less revolutionary mood. There is a certain embittered resignation to a system that is â€Å"sold† to them under the trade name of democracy, but this resentment will hardly cause any trouble; on the contrary, it is almost a guarantee that any regime, however good or bad, will be acceptable, as a matter of indifference.An altogether different and really dangerous side of the matter is that since the situation of the workers has become more hopeless, more insecure, and more miserable than before, the old fear of â€Å"proletarianization† has received new and powerful motivation. This fear especially grips the middle classes, who once again los t their money through the currency reform, in contrast to the industrialists whose fortunes were secure in real properties. The financial status of the middleclass Germans, especially if they lost their belongings in the bombings or are refugees, differs in no way from that of the ordinary worker's family. But the idea of having to share the worker's lot for a lifetime is forbidding indeed. To avoid this, the younger people therefore try desperately to scrape together a few marks to enter one of the many universitiesall of them overcrowded.It is their only chance to keep their middle-class status and to escape the misery of a proletarianized life. Everywhere in Germany one is told that in a few years there will be enough lawyers, physicians, teachers, art historians, philosophers, and theologians to form a breadline stretching over all the highways. And most of these potentially unemployed academicians will have earned their degrees at the price of appalling sacrifices; many student s live on a monthly income of sixty or seventy marks, which means chronic undernourishment and complete abstention from even the most modest pleasures, such as a glass of wine or an evening at the movies.Academic requiremeans in general are not much lower than they used to be, so that the fanatic devotion of these young people to their studies, prompted as it may be by quite non-intellectual motives, is interrupted only by re- 352 COMMENTARY might counteract the Nazi megalomania which had taught Germans to think in continents and plan in centuries. But the failure of the Laender governments is already almost a matter of record. It is a failure in the only political field where the Germans have been left alone almost from the beginning of the occupation, and where success or failure was independent of Germany's status on the international scene.To some extent, of course, the failure of the local governments can be blamed upon the general climate of German life created by denazificati on and the social consequences of a ruthless economic policy; but this explanation sounds valid only if one wilfully ignores the great degree of freedom that was granted to the Germans in the Laender governments. The truth is that centralization, as it was accomplished by nation-states and as it was established in Germany, not by Hitler but by Bismarck, succeeded in destroying all authentic desire for local autonomy and in undermining the political vitality of all provincial or municipal bodies. Whatever is left of such traditions has assumed a hopelessly reactionary character and has petrified into the cheapest kind of folklore. Local government in most instances has liberated the most vicious local conflicts, creating chaos everywhere because there is no power great enough to overawe conflicting factions.The element of public responsibility and even of national interest being conspicuously absent, local politics tends to deteriorate quickly into the lowest possible form of plain c orruption. The dubious political past of everybody who is experienced (and the â€Å"inexperienced† elements have by now been rather ruthlessly eliminated), and the low salaries paid to the civil servants, together open the door to all kinds of mismanagement: many public officials can easily be blackmailed, and many more find it very difficult to resist the temptation to augment their salaries by accepting bribes. The Bonn government has little direct connection with the Laender governments: it is neither controlled by them nor does it exercise any noticeable control over them.The only functioning links between Bonn and the Laender governments are the party machines, which rule supreme in all questions of personnel and administration, and which, in sharp contrast to the â€Å"small state† structure curring spells of hard manual labor to earn a little extra money. Nobody in Germany seems to doubt that the tremendous sacrifices of the student generation can only end in s evere disappointment, and nobody seems to give this problem much serious thought. The only solution would be the closing of a number of German universities, combined with a pitiless screening of the high school graduates, perhaps even the introduction of the otherwise questionable French system of competitive examinations in which the number of successful candidates is determined beforehand by the number of available places.Instead of a discussion along these or other lines, the Bavarian government only recently opened one more (the fourth) university in Bavaria, and the French occupation authorities, in some ill-advised urge to improve German culture, have actually opened a brand new university in Mainz-which means that six thousand students have come to aggravate the already quite hopeless housing situation in a city almost completely destroyed. And indeed a rather desperate courage would be required under present conditions to take measures that would forcibly empty the universit ies; it would be like depriving a despairing man of his last chance, even though this chance had become a gambler's chance. What course political development will take in Germany when a whole class of frustrated and starving intellectuals is let loose on an indifferent and sullen population, is anybody's guess. hose observers of Allied policy in who viewed denazification with misgivings and saw that a system of free enterprise could lead only to the aggrandizement of politically undesirable elements, placed considerable hope on the federalization program, under which Germany was divided into Laender (states) with extensive powers of local self-government. It seemed indisputably right in so many ways: it would act as a safeguard against accumulation of power, and thus appease the understandable if exaggerated fears of Germany's neighbors; it would prepare the German people for the hoped-for federalization of Europe; it would teach grass-roots democracy in the field of communal or loc al affairs where people had their immediate interests and were supposed to know the ropes, and thus EGermany VENTHE AFTERMATH OF NAZI RULE of the country, are more centralized than ever and therefore represent the only visible power. This is a dangerous situation, but in itself it is not necessarily the worst that could have happened. The real trouble comes from the nature of the party machines themselves. The present parties are continuations of the pre-Hitler parties-that is, of the parties that ‘Hitler found it so surprisingly easy to destroy. They are in many cases run by the same people and are dominated by the old ideologies and the old tactics. However, only the tactics have somehow preserved their vitality; the ideologies are carried along simply for tradition's sake and because a German party cannot very well exist without a Weltanschauung.One cannot even say that the ideologies have survived for want of something better; it is rather as though the Germans, after thei r experience with Nazi ideology, have become convinced that just about anything will do. The party machines are primarily interested in providing jobs and favors for their members, and they are allpowerful to do so. This means that they tend to attract the most opportunistic elements of the population. Far from encouraging initiative of any kind, they are afraid of young people with new ideas. In short, they have been reborn in senility. Consequently, what little there is of political interest and discussion occurs in small circles outside the parties and outside the public institutions.Each of these small groups, because of the political vacuum and the general corruption of public life around them, is the potential nucleus for a new movement; for the parties have not only failed to enlist the support of the German intelligentsia, they have also convinced the masses that they do not represent their interests. TEm melancholy story of postwar Germany is not one of missed opportunities . In our 353 eagerness to find a definite culprit and definable mistakes we tend to overlook the more fundamental lessons this story may teach us. When all is said, the twofold question remains: What could one reasonably expect from a people after twelve years of totalitarian rule? What could one reasonably expect from an occupation confronted with the impossible task of putting back on its feet a people that had lost the ground from under it?But it would be well to remember and try to understand the experience of the occupation of Germany, for we are all too likely to see it repeated in our lifetime on a gigantic scale. Unfortunately, the liberation of a people from totalitarianism is not likely to come to pass merely through â€Å"the breakdown of communications and centralized control [which] might well enable the brave Russian peoples to free themselves from a tyranny far worse than that of the Czars,† as Churchill put it in his recent speech to the Assembly of the Counci l of Europe. The German example shows that help from the outside is not likely to set free indigenous forces of selfhelp, and that totalitarian rule is something more than merely the worst kind of tyranny. Totalitarianism kills the roots.Politically speaking, the present conditions of German life have a greater significance as an object lesson for the consequences of totalitarianism than as a demonstration of the so-called German problem in itself. This problem, like all other European problems, could be solved only in a federated Europe; but even such a solution seems of little relevance in view of the imminent political crisis of these coming years. Neither a regenerated nor an unregenerated Germany is likely to play a great role in it. And this knowledge of the ultimate futility of any political initiative on their part in the present struggle is not the least potent factor in the Germans' reluctance to face the reality of their destroyed country.

Organisational Behaviour Essay

I. Introduction An organisation is commonly defined as a group of people who work together in a consciously coordinated social unit for a shared purpose. Management refers to the activity of controlling and organizing people to accomplish its goals. In today’s increasingly global and competitive environment the effective management of people is even more important to the successful performance of the work organisations. Therefore, the managers need to understand the main influences on how people behave in an organisation setting. Mullins (2008, p.4) defined organisation behaviour (OB) as ‘the study and understanding of individual and group behaviour, and patterns of structure in order to help improve organisational performance and effectiveness’. It comprises a synthesis of a variety of different theories and approaches. Therefore, this essay opens by briefly explore a number of interrelated disciplined to the study of organisational behaviour, before examining the relevance of four main approach to the subject in today’s workplace. Finally, it discusses the purpose of organisations. II. Interrelated discipline to the study of organisational behaviour The study of behaviour can be viewed in terms of three main disciplines – psychology, sociology and anthropology. The contribution of all three disciplines has played an important role to studying organisational behaviour. Psychology is the science and art of explaining mental processes and behaviour. The main focus of attention is on the individuals and explores such concepts as perception, motivation, perception and attitudes. It is arguable that McKenna considers psychology as the key discipline in studying organisational behaviour. There are five key areas in Psychology that can impact on organisations; these are: psychological psychology, cognitive psychology, development psychology, social psychology and personality psychology. Psychological aspects are useful to the practical applications such as job analysis, interviewing models or selection, but it provide too narrow view for understanding of organisational behaviour which ‘is not concern with the complex detail of individual differences but with the behaviour and management people of people’ (Mullins, 2008, p. 7). Watson (2008) defined sociology is more concern with the study of social behaviour, relationships among social groups and societies. It focuses on group dynamics, conflict, work teams, power, communication and intergroup behaviour. It is possible that Watson considered sociology to be the key discipline in studying organisations though he also places emphasis on economics. The structuration reflects the dual effect that individuals make society and society makes individuals. Watson (2008, p. 30) presents six strands of thought applied to his framework for analysis. He further presents six substantive areas applied to the six strands of though in a matrix which are work, society and change; work organisations; the changing organisation and the management of work, occupations and society; work experiences, opportunities of meanings; and conflict challenge and resistance in work. This discipline is valuable to the organisation. It helps managers recognise the relationships between large-scale social forces and the actions of individual. However, Mullins (2008, p. 7) argues that the study of organisational behaviour cannot be studied entirely in single discipline. Although each discipline has an important contribution, it just underpins the study of subject. Indeed, Mullins synthesises interrelated disciplines which are psychology with sociology, anthropology that explore culture and behavioural factors; economics that attempts to provide a rational explanatory framework for individual and organisational activity; and political science that is study of power and control between individual and groups; in his framework for analysis of organisational behaviour. III. Four main approaches In Mullins’ framework, the study of organisational behaviour is concerned with not only the behaviour in isolation, but with interaction among the structure and operation of organisations, the process of management and behaviour of people that are affected by external environment. He applies a number of approaches to organisation: 1. Classical  2. Human Relations 3. Systems 4. Contingency 1. Classical Approach The classical writers considered organisation in terms of purpose and formal structure with attention to hierarchy of management and technical requirements of organisation. Frederick Taylor with the Scientific Management had a major contribution to the Classical Approach. Taylor’s theory was based on the psychological discipline that is concerned with the study of individuals’ behavior. He believed that individuals behave rationally toward financial incentive. Worker would be motivated by highest possible wages by doing highest grade of work. Furthermore, his main objective is to find more efficient methods and procedures for the task design and control of work. Combined with training workers, it was always possible to find the one best way to perform each task. It was criticized that since workers passively do repeated task and paid by result, the less human approach can cause a decline in worker morale as well as in skill requirements, reducing flexibility.Nevertheless,massive productioncompanies stilladopt partially Taylor’s theory in order to maintain or increase productivity. For example, Mc Donald uses the payment method of Taylor’s theory to motivate and encourage the workers. The human who work in fast food restaurant are trained to do a limited number of tasks in precisely. 2. Human Relations Approach Human Relations is a managerial approach based on the consideration of and the attention to the social factors at work and the behavior of employees. Attention is paid to the informal organization and the satisfaction of individual’s needs through groups at work. Elton Mayo (1880-1949) conducted Hawthorne tests on organizations to access productivity. He moved away from scientific beliefs on money and discipline towards importance of group belonging (social study). The tests examined effect of group piecework pay system on productivity. The result is that workers did not necessarily seek to maximize production in order to receive enhanced bonuses but social pressure caused them to produce at group norm level. On the other hand, the research was originally intended to examine effects of lighting on productivity. As a consequence, productivity increased regardless of lighting level was due to workers’ receiving attention. The Hawthorne effect adopted in Human relation approach suggested that good supervision and environment increase satisfaction and other variables affect this, such as structure, leadership, and culture. Unlike the classical thought with consideration of improving productivity, human relation approach ‘strove for a greater understanding of people’s psychological and social needs at work as well as improving the process of management. However, Mullins (2008, p. 29) criticized human relations as a ‘unitary frame of reference’ and oversimplified theories. Even today the Hawthorne experiment is still useful for describing the changes in behavior of individuals and groups, and opened the door to more experiments by other sub-division of approach known as neo human relation. 3. Systems Approach The system approach to the study of organizations combines the contrasting position of the classical approach, which emphasized the technical requirements of organization and its needs – ‘organization without people’, and human relations approach, which emphasized the human fulfillments and social aspects – ‘people without organization’. This approach inspires managers to regard organization as an open system interacting with environment and to view total work but not the sum of separate parts. In Figure 2.5 (Boddy, 2008, p.60), the system consists of a number of interrelated subsystems, such as people, power, technology or business processes system; which add complexity and interact with each other and external environment. It is stated that any part of an organization’s activity affects all other parts because there are areas overlap between various subsystems. Therefore, it is the task of management to integrate these interrelated subsystems and direct efforts of members towards the achievement of organizational goals. The system approach, which is components of interrelated subsystems, provides analysis of organizational performance and effectiveness while the socio-technical approach takesorganization as viewed by the individual members and their interpretation of the work situation. In time of increasing globalization, technological change has influenced on the behavior of people and other parts, thus the whole system. It is valuable for manager to manage the total work and coordinate the technical change and the needs of individuals. 4. Contingency Approach According to Mullins (2008, p. 31), the contingency approach rejects the idea of ‘one best form or structure’ or ‘optimum state’ for organizations. The organizations needs to be flexible to cope with change and managers need to change structure and processes required. This approach influenced many management practices such as market research, PR or strategic planning, which stress response to external conditions. Furthermore, it emphasized that the practice depends on people interpreting events and managers be able to have subjective judgments as much as rational analysis. The contingency approach is relevant to management and organizational behavior. It provides a setting in which to view large number of variables factors that influence on the organizational performance. Hence, it enables process of management to change the structure of organization at the expense of the need for stability and efficiency. IV. The purpose of organizations As defined earlier in this essay, organization is a group of people who work together in a structured way for a shared purpose. It is a task for management to clarify strategy, which tell people how to work, where to go, and what to achieve. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the nature of strategy for the formal organization in order to study organizational behavior. Johnson et al. (cited in Mullins, 2008, p. 350) define the strategy is ‘the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with aim of fulfilling stake holder expectation’. People dimension of strategy is concerned with people as a resource; people and behavior and organizing people, therefore, influencing behavior of people to achieve success and motivation of individuals are central part of organization’s strategy. Mullins (2008, p. 352) stated that ‘the goals of an organization are the reason for its existence’. It is the desired state for organization to pursue in the future. Therefore, an organization gains its effectiveness and performance through achieving its goal. To be effective, the goals need to be clearly stated and understandable, thus making impossible for people in organization to perceive. It is clearly evident that goal setting promote immediately behavior of people at work and it can be considered as successful tools of increasing work motivation and effectiveness. An organizational goal are likely to achieve when informal goal, which are defined by individual and based on both perception and personal motivation, are compatible with organizational goals. Therefore, it is crucial role for management to integrate the needs of individuals with the overall objective of the organization. Organizational goals are generally translated into objectives that set out more specifically the goals of organization. Drucker (cited in Mullins, 2008) indicated eight key areas for setting objectives, which ‘are needed in every area where performance and results directly and vitally affect the survival and prosperity of the business’. SWOT analysis, which focuses on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats facing the organization, draw out strategic implication.First, Strengths are internal aspects of organization that give it competitive advantage over others in the industry such as size, structure, technology, reputation or staffing. Second, Weaknesses are those negative aspects that place organization at a disadvantage regarding to other. Examples of weaknesses could be operating within narrow market, limited resource, and lack of information. Third, Opportunities are favorable chances arise from external environment which provides potential for the organization to offer new, or to develop existing goods or services. Finally, Threats are external elements in the environment that cause trouble for the organization. For example, change in law, increasing tax or competition from other organizations. SWOT analysis may be used in evaluating any decision-making situation when a desired end results (objectives) has been defined. V. Conclusion In conclusion, this essay has been identified the main approaches to the study of organization. In the first section, it provides a discussion on the interrelated disciplines of Organizational behavior, which is Psychology and Sociology. McKenna stated his idea that psychology has the biggest contribution to the study of subject; whereas Watson placed emphasis on sociology. However, the subject is rooted in multidisciplinary and cannot be undertaken in any single discipline. In Mullins’ framework, he examines a broader view, and then presents four main approaches to the study of organizational behavior. In the final section, this essay has defined the strategy that directs to the goal and objective of organization, and commented on the usefulness and relevance of SWOT analysis in evaluating the strategy.

Latin America's Economic Progress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Latin America's Economic Progress - Essay Example There is a persistent problem of political instability in the region. Since the independence of Latin America, the political environment has not been stable enough to facilitate economic development. Dictatorship of military officials has long controlled the region and this was one of the constraints in the way of economic stability. The economic factors such as rate of inflation, rate of economic growth and income distribution, all pointed towards a deteriorating economic condition. Numerous economic reforms have been taken by the government but they have not been applied properly due to the prevailing political instability. According to a study conducted by Luisa Blanco and Robin Grier within the period between 1971 and 2000, in 18 Latin American countries there were 451 political assassinations, 217 riots, and 113 crises that threatened to destabilize the sitting government (Blanco & Grier, 1). Apart from Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuella, all the other countries in the region w itnessed severe political instability. Regional Disparities The independence of the region widened the regional disparities and this is also one of the reasons behind lack of economic growth in the region. ... Resistance to Change One of the reasons behind the failure of economic reforms is the prevailing resistance to change in the region. Any kind of change is considered to be hostile by the population of the region therefore it is not accepted completely. In order to facilitate economic growth, there are a number of factors that need to be changed in the region but due to the prevailing resistance to change in the region any modification in the economic policies or any introduction of reforms is not implemented properly. The development of strategy is done but the implementation phase is the real problem in the region. The restraining forces overpower the driving forces therefore the economic reforms are not implemented and the economic growth remains at a disappointing pace. Lack of Industrial Development It has been said that the Latin American region is rich in natural resources but still the region has been unable to reach the heights of economic development it should have reached b y now. The natural resources held by the region are benefiting the developed countries more rather than the Latin American region itself. This is due to the lack of industrial development in the region (Llosa, 17). In the absence of industries to process the raw natural resources, the region has been unable to produce finished goods. Instead, the Latin American region exports the natural resources it possesses to other developed countries at low prices and the revenue generated by such exports is not commendable. If the region had its own production facilities that put the locally produced natural resources to use, the economic condition of the region would have been different. With domestically produced affordable raw material, the industries would not only

Trace the development of language and gender research since the 1980s Essay

Trace the development of language and gender research since the 1980s. Taking one or two examples from research in the last ten years, explain what the priorities are now - Essay Example Gender differences stem from childhood and how boys and girls are treated differently. Baby girls are considered delicate and fragile and are therefore treated as such, being exposed to language that is gentle and handled with utmost care. On the other hand, boys, expected to grow up to be strong and masculine, are exposed to power-filled language punctuated with strong tones (Rasquinha & Mouly, 2005). This example reflects the Sociolinguistic Subculture Approach which suggests that that boys and girls grow up in essentially different talk subcultures resulting from the differing expectations parents and peers direct toward them about acceptable ways to talk (Maltz and Borker, 1982). Leaper (1991) explains that at three years of age, little girls develop earlier in terms of language and this helps them explore relationships with those around them. Girls use language that demonstrates attentiveness, responsiveness, and support. Boys, in turn, use language that demand attention, give o rders, and establish dominance (Leaper, 1991). They engage in group activities with other boys and test out their ‘high’ and ‘low’ status roles: â€Å"I’m the leader†, â€Å"you follow me†, etc. They establish positions among the group and they are apparently louder, more physical and less verbal than girls (Rasquinha & Mouly, 2005). By the age of 7, children have acquired gender constancy (Kohlberg & Zigler, 1967) and knowledge of gender-role stereotypes (Huston, 1983; Martin, 1989). As they transition to middle childhood, interaction strategies become more gender-differentiated. Whereas girls become more competent in collaborative strategies, boys stick to their reliance on domineering influence strategies. Bakan (1966) explained that boys are taught to value autonomy, competition and linear problem solving and such values are expressed by the encouragement of self-assertion and self-expansion (Mason, 1994). They grow up learning that information and

Brooklyn in the 1950's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Brooklyn in the 1950's - Essay Example Among these displays, some of the very best include those on 83rd and 84th streets. For the tourists nowadays a 3.5 hours tour shuttle is also offered whose name is â€Å"Tony Muia† This is what Brooklyn looks like at present times but in this article we’ll try to have a look about the outlook of Brooklyn as it was in 1950s. The main reference to the history of Brooklyn is a beautiful book by Colm Toibin named â€Å"Brooklyn†, it is basically a novel based on the life of Brooklyn in 50s. This novel basically depicts a sad life and gives an overview about the pattern of life in Brooklyn at that time. Geographical Location: In 1950s, Brooklyn had the same boundaries as of the Kings County which is now the 2nd most densely populated county of United States after the Manhattan County, if we go far behind in the past then Brooklyn was an independent city until it was included in New York in 1898, but still in 1950s, despite of the merger into New York., Brooklyn maint ained its individuality in culture, art and its architecture and it has harbor different cultures in different areas. Downfall of Brooklyn: In the post war years, Brooklyn was the main supplier of the industrial goods to the whole of the country but by 1950 these industrial supplies began to diminish pertaining to the fact that the major industrial manufacturers started to move to other cities which appeared cheaper to them as well as the Brooklyn port also started to decline as larger ships came into scene which required larger ports having deep harbors which was deficient factor in the port of Brooklyn, at that time, economy was unstable and banks were providing loans for building houses on easy conditions so a large number of white middle class community left their native homes in Brooklyn and moved to other localities which appeared to have more prosperous future for them such as Staten Island and New Jersey. Whole of the Jewish community left their homes in Brooklyn and moved t o other places such as Flatbush, Borough Park, Eastern Parkway and Brighton Beach. Most of the Italians also moved from Brooklyn and what could be regarded as a major blow was the incidence of Brooklyn Dodgers moving to Los Angeles in 1957. This was quite significant as Dodgers symbolized Brooklyn for a very long time so it was a big setback for the residents of Brooklyn and the dodgers wee the unifying factor for the whole diverse ethnic groups residing in the Brooklyn. So everyone in Brooklyn in some way or the other was related to each other through the Dodgers. One such incidence which showed the significance of Dodgers was the defeat of New York Yankees by the Dodgers in 1955 which made their loyal fans felt proud and when this team suddenly became the Los Angeles Dodgers then it was also taken as a sign of the decline of the golden era of Brooklyn. Once all the colors of Brooklyn faded, the manufacturing power of Brooklyn also declined drastically and this can be shown by the fact that the Brooklyn Navy yard was closed in 1966. The Brighter Side: Despite of a large number of people migrating to other areas from Brooklyn, in 1950s there was an influx of a large number of Italians to this area resulting in the predominance of Italians in these neighborhoods and this dominance of Italians still persists in some areas of Brooklyn such as Bensonhurst which is also known as the â€Å"Little Italy† of Brooklyn. In 1950, one major event was the arrival of New York aquarium into the Coney Island. Though the abrupt voting of the Dodgers to join Los Angeles was the significant dilemma for the Brooklyn residents but event after that there were some leaders in Brooklyn like Galamison and Reverend Milton who continued the traditions of the activists to raise their voices against any injustice or

Introduction to Financial Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Introduction to Financial Markets - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that  by differentiating the functions of the financial markets, it is important to mention both, diverse financial institutions that operate in such markets as well as the diverse ways in which these souks are structured. This is referring to the financial institutions otherwise referred to as the major players in the financial markets.  This paper highlights that brokers are often considered as commissioned mediators of a buyer or seller who aids transaction by identifying a seller or buyer to achieve the desired transaction. A broker does not have a say in the assets she or he just trades. In other words, the broker does not reserve records in these assets. The benefits or wages of brokers are established by the commissions that they charge to consumers of their services such as the sellers, the buyers, or sometimes both. For instance, brokers include stockbrokers and real estate brokers.  The next institution is the dealers. Like brokers, th ey facilitate business by matching purchasers with assets from sellers; they do not connect in asset conversion. Unlike brokers, however, dealers can maintain records of the assets that they have traded such bought or sold. Such activities often allow them to, the dealer to vend out of the catalogue rather than constantly having to identify sellers to match each tender to purchase. The difference between the price a dealer provides to sell and the price at which he offers to purchase a product is referred to as bid price. Examples of dealers include car dealers, dealers’ of government bonds, and stock dealers. The investment bankers. The third institution which is involved in the financial markets affairs are the investment Banks. It facilitates the first offer of newly issued securities

Should affirmative action for colleges and universities be continued Research Paper

Should affirmative action for colleges and universities be continued - Research Paper Example The evolution of cultural perceptions relies on concepts being widely accepted, a progression that doesn’t appear to happen naturally without the assistance of affirmative action policies. Since its beginning, affirmative action has proved successful in balancing the scale of educational access equality. The quota system instituted by a school usually reflects the region’s ethnic demographics therefore allowing for actual educational opportunity that are not discriminatory towards any specific race. Although some in the majority racial group, Caucasians, may now perceive they are not being treated justly, the scale of justice is only now adjusted back toward to the middle thanks chiefly to the utilization of affirmative action which underscores the need for this system to continue. The U.S. government began affirmative action measures during the Civil Rights era of the 1960’s, in an effort to eliminate institutional racial discrimination. Starting with an executi ve order authored in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, these programs were sanctioned in an effort to equalize racial inequality. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) â€Å"prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin† (US Equal Employment Opportunity, 1997). The Supreme Court held in the 2003 University of Michigan case that â€Å"the University of Michigan’s use of race among other factors in its law school admissions program was constitutional† (History of Affirmative Action, 2003). This decision was a significant milestone in shaping the way we, as a society, will development. From its beginnings in the mid 1960’s, affirmative action has helped many thousands of formerly disadvantaged persons who, because of the law, have since earned previously denied access to a higher education. This includes persons of color, other types of minorities and women who were previously denied educational opportunities or were not given opportunities for advancement within the institution after given access. These advances have led to noticeable changes not only in the individual person’s life but in the significance society values the concept of justice for all. Affirmative action agendas do not have the capability to eliminate racist attitudes, but it mitigates some of the effects caused by it. The concept of affirmative action has suffered its critics and its implementation has not been without issues, but to eradicate this guiding principle of equal treatment would be to reverse the hard fought advancements of the Civil Rights Movement and turn back the time to the regretful days of overt racism prior to the mid-1960’s U.S. Arguments involving affirmative action policies are well more far reaching than the legal matter alone. It is the ethical responsibility of every person and institution in this nation to use all strategies of ending racial discrimination. However there is a s egment of society who does not acknowledge and have passionately challenged affirmative action on both legal grounds and as a social cure for bigotry. They say that affirmative action is a case in point where two wrongs do not make a right and claiming reverse discrimination has actually been the eventual result. Of course this faction does not challenge traditional means of discriminatory practices and

System Design in IT Area Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

System Design in IT Area - Essay Example The various customers are tracked for their quality of return with respect to date and material. The various records pertain to determining the loyal customers so that promotions and special offers are facilitated to them. 4. Record of holding status: The system maintains the currently held stock by the employees and ensures better management of records. The customers holding stock would ensure better management of the DVDs and Game consoles for effective stock management and grant other customers. 5. Wishlist: The customer’s wish list would focus on various future stocks which they desire so that they are able to procure that on a priority basis. The knowledge would ensure system to capture ways to serve the customers. 6. FAQ: The system must enforce a help status so that better management of DVDs and Game consoles are done and would fetch the user with detailed documentation of hardware and software’s required for ensuring the correct workability of the system. 8. Inventory status: The various inventory, comprising the DVD and game consoles, required to be ascertained for their availability in the store. The knowledge is useful in determining the amount of stock and the existing detail of the present availability. This would largely help in granting or denying requests. 9. Damaged stock: Knowing the damaged stock is very crucial so as to reduce any complications with respect to customer satisfaction. Also, the returning orders must be checked for their damage status. This requirement is very important to be present as it incurs a loss to the inventory and successively the profit. 10. Fines: Determining the fines to be levied would ensure better use of the system towards negligence of the customers so that the loss towards damage is recovered. It also puts a negative rating to the customer and decides a condition for their repeat. 11. Determination of final accounts: The determination of the statement of expenditures and incomes are to be ascertained so that the firm 6ME successfully determines their profit or loss for the desired period. The system would create better impression for audit trails and maximizes the computation of company financial status.

Family assessment paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Family assessment paper - Essay Example This is the Haddad family – a four-member Muslim-Arab family presently residing in Perth, because Alim, the father, was sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education to finish nursing (2009 to 2011). The family’s type form, is monogamous on the basis of marriage; a family of changing residence, on the basis of residence; a nuclear family, on the basis of structure; a patrilineal family on the basis of ancestry; and a conjugal family, on the basis of the nature of family relations among its members (Ellwood, 2004, pp. 45-55). Like other Muslim families, every Friday the family meets with the Islamic community in the mosque to perform their prayer. Every weekend, they visit tourist places in Perth: Perth Zoo and Wildlife Parks, Aquarium of Western Australia, Cohunu Koala Park, Mount Eliza, and Kings Park. They love visiting places together: having some time on the riverside to picnic and fish, going to beaches to swim and relax, and visiting caves to wonder. The Margret River and Albany are their favorite as these are only around 300 kilometers far from their home. They also enjoy going to the hills visiting the farms there to collect vegetables and fruits. Such privileges the family could afford as they are financially well-off. Following the Developmental Approach, this family is in its third stage characterized as â€Å"families with pre-school children† (McMurray, 1993, p. 137). Today, the family has somewhat adjusted to the demands of this stage in a social context foreign to the family. First, the family is well-adjusted to their new environments physically and socially. The daughter, no longer cries when fetched by the school bus, as she has found her own friends in the school. The mother does her work at home more relax unlike before, as she gets used to the changing demands of her family. To closely supervise her hyper-active three-year old son, Abia sometimes seeks her friendly neighbor’s help

Evolution of Life in Prisons Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evolution of Life in Prisons - Research Paper Example However, the male and female prisoners were kept in the same area, although housed in different dorms. The women were normally kept in attics and were subject to sexual abuse. Historical studies done by Johnson, Dobrzanska, Palla (2005), show that due to shortcomings of the Congregate System in terms of rehabilitating the prisoners, the format was discontinued in order to try out the Reformatory era of prisons. During this era, men were taught skills and educated in classes which would help them become better citizens upon leaving prison. Military drills were part of their daily training in an effort to create gentlemen out of the convicts. While women were educated in decorum and housework in preparation of what was then deemed to be the proper role of women in society. (p. 6) The 20th century saw the advent of the so called â€Å"Big-House†, a place where the punishment or work assigned to the prisoners did nothing to help redeem their soul or place in society. Instead, it w as a place where men were made to do empty jobs just to show that their spirits had been broken and that they were now submissive to those running the prison. This was the era when â€Å"Chain Gangs† became known as the term for prisoners and they were used mostly in the government construction field. This type of prison became the norm in the 1930's. Any prisoner who found himself out of line was given Corporal Punishment. Although much stricter than a penitentiary, the Big House was seen as more lenient and effective in reforming the prisoners since they had a wider sense of freedom in the Big House set up. (p.9) In the modern times, prisons came to be known as Correctional Institutions and function far differently from their early counterparts. According to Pearson (2009) , modern prisons are actually mini communities that function by their own set of rules and regulations independent of the prison laws. Male and female prisoners now exhibit a distinct lifestyle and values system which helps them adapt to life outside of the world they once knew. (p.2) It was only 30 years ago when the penal system of America came to the realization that the old way of treating prisoners was not effective in any way due to the disconnect between the prisoners, the prison administration, and the outside world. Mark Saunders, the warden of the Southeast Correctional Institution in Ohio wrote (2006), that the modern prison system works with the prisoners in order to help them become educated, trained, and motivated to change their ways. No longer are prisons expected to simply be the holding place for societies problem members. These days, prisons are expected to impact the lives of the male and female prisoners positively. Prisoners need to adjust psychologically to their prison lives. according to psychologist Robert Morgan, PhD (2003), requires the help of prison psychologists to overcome. He explains that â€Å""There's a great need for these folks to receive psych ological services ...†. According to Pearson (2006), they now need to â€Å"learn convict values, roles, attitude, and language in order to survive the prison subculture† (p.4) Prisoners quickly learn that in order to to evolve and survive in their new atomosphere they must abide by the 5 Elements of the Prison Code namely: 1. Don't interfere with the interests of other inmates - don't rat on others 2. Play it cool - do your own time 3. Don't whine - be a man / woman 4. Don't exploit inmates - don't break your word 5.

Marathon Running Essay Example for Free

Marathon Running Essay Runners come in all shapes and sizes. I have seen 300-pound men and women at the start of a race and in contrast the chiseled muscles of the elite runners. The reasons for running are as various as the runners themselves. Some run for weight lose, mental or physical health, competition, and charity. There are many physical health benefits for running; â€Å"Human bodies burn about 2,000-2,500 calories a day in normal activities. Running 5 miles a day can burn an additional 500 calories. † If this same formula holds true, a person completing a marathon will have burnt close to 2,600 calories. However, how fast a person doesn’t correspond with how much weight they may loose while running. â€Å"For example, a 220-pound person running an eight-minute mile burns 150 calories, while a 120-pound person running at the same pace burns only 82. Every person’s body requires an excess of 3,500 calories in order to gain a pound or a deficit of 3,500 calories in order to lose a pound. Thus, 180-pound person who runs 5 miles each day will lose about 5 pounds a month. However, as his or her weight goes down, he or she will burn fewer calories per mile† according to a study conducted at Vanderbilt University. According to Runner’s World editor Hal Higgdon. â€Å"Running can also have many psychological benefits. Most significantly runners typically report being happier and feeling less stressed than their counterparts who do not run or exercise regularly. Running actually has the ability to alter an individuals moods because hormones called endorphins are released while running. These hormones create a sense of euphoria often referred to as a runner’s high and can result in an improvement in the runner’s mood. † With these endorphins being released into the runner’s body, running can be very addictive. A man or woman can feel like they’ve been turned into Michael Jordan and anything, even running 26 miles, is possible. Running a marathon and the distances to train are also almost spiritual. When I run I am able to solve my companies, personal, families, and the whole worlds problems. I have come up with some of the most life altering and affirming choices in the sunrise of an 8-mile run. Running is also a great stress reliever while running I am able to focus on the road and the miles as they build. I am able to forget about the office, family, or other concerns. There are 26. reasons why a marathon is hard. To put this distance in perspective if you were to drive your car at 60 mph it would take a half an hour to drive that distance. But while running the marathon there is no downtime. You’re the machine, says physical therapist Jim Wharton of New York-based Wharton Performance, which trains world-class athletes. The debate about the difficulty of the marathon, doesn t center just on the physical aspects. Motivation, confidence and mental toughness are necessary, says Stephen Russo, director of sports psychology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health System. Running is painful; it’s tedious, and exhausting. After a few miles our bodies scream for us to stop and rest. When the body screams stop that is when the mind takes over and you keep running. Through my experiences in running and race competitions I can say a marathon is not something that can be described it is something must be experienced. In a marathon the participant will be competing against hundreds and in larger races thousands of other hopefuls. In many marathons time restrictions are placed on which the marathon will end. -8 hours after the marathon has began, barricades will be removed and the race rout will be dismantled. If a runner is unable to finish in the allotted time the race officials may take them to the finish line and will not allowed to finish. However during those 6-8 hours a runner can run, jog, or walk any distance they want. When Khalid Khannouchi won the London Marathon last year, he didnt do any walking: He set a world record of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 38 seconds. For elite athletes like Khannouchi distance running is a way of life. Marathoners seem either to be training or getting ready for the next workout. You wake up every morning and you know what you have to do. You have long mileage to accumulate. Sometimes youre already tired from your last two or three workouts. You still have to wake up, have the motivation and go outside and do the training. † Khannouchi said. For me running is not simply about the weight loss or the constant inquires of family, friends, and co-workers who ask, â€Å"How many mile(s) did you run today? † When I run I am only accountable to my trusty stopwatch and myself. The marathon is my Everest. I will be back. Standing there with hundreds of other runners in tank tops and short on a cold fall morning, waiting for the starter pistol. I dont run for the medal or the crowd I run for me. I run despite the 9 times out of 10 it will hurt, but I keep going. I run for that one time that it doesn’t and I am able to finish my run and look down at my stop watch and be excited about a new personal best time, if only a few seconds. I run because I know it will hurt but I keep going and I won’t give into the pain. I am an athlete. I am runner.

The Main Causes Of The Holocaust History Essay

The Main Causes Of The Holocaust History Essay The holocaust is considered as one of the most horrific times faced by the Jewish community in Europe and the world at large. German dictator, Adolf Hitler is blamed for having initiated the Holocaust which saw more than ten million people murdered including about six million Jews. The German dictator was known to be a very anti-Semitic character as reflected in his Mein Kampf. Though much of the blame for the holocaust has been put on Hitler, he is not solely to blame as other various causes can be identified to have initiated the holocaust (Yahya, para 3). This paper shall provide an overview of the causes that resulted in one of the worlds worst war crimes to have ever been committed in the human history. The holocaust is regarded as a systematic, bureaucratic state sponsored persecution and murder that was directed towards the Jewish community in Europe just before the Second World War. It is claimed that close to six million Jews were killed by the Nazi regime together with their accomplices. The holocaust did not just target the Jewish community but also other groups that were seen to be inferior including the Roma [Gypsies], the disabled, and people of Slavic origin. There were also other groups which were persecuted based on their political, ideological and behavioral grounds. Such groups included the Communists, Socialists, Jehovahs Witnesses and the homosexuals (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Para 2). A pictorial representation of the massacre during the holocaust By the early 1930s, the Jewish population in Europe was above the 9th million mark and most of them resided in nations which the Nazi would occupy or had influence during the time of WW II. By the time the Second World War came to a close, the Germans together with their associates had killed two in every three Jews as part of the Final Solution policy adopted by the Nazi regime (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, para 3). The Jews were exterminated by being confined in overpopulated camps, being subjected to systematic murder by use of gas chambers, overworking them without food to death and committing them to mass murder before being buried in mass graves. This has been argued to be the largest scale of genocide to have ever been committed in human history. The holocaust is said to be a history of enduring horrors and sorrows as it reflects the extremes that human beings can go without any spark of human concern nor any act of humanity. According to one survivor of the holoca ust, it was painstaking to explain how the holocaust was carried out. He had this to say, There were not six million Jews murdered; there was one murder, six million times (BÃ ¼low, para 3). The Nazi rise to power is seen as the leading cause of the holocaust experience. Following the defeat of the Germans in the First World War I, the Versailles Treaty inflicted more pressure on the wounded Germany. The treaty is known to have required Germany to accept the blame of instigating the War and therefore accept responsibility of paying huge sums of money to the Allies. Germany did not have money and therefore took loans from the United States to pay the financial penalties of the war. With the toll of the Great Depression taking a high on the United States economy, the financial institutions in the US which had lend Germany started to demand that Germany repay the loan advancements. This resulted in even more economical suffering for the Germans. According to Yahya (para 4), the Nazis promised to make Germany a great country, they took over the government to fulfill these promises by rebuilding the nation. Since everyone wanted to see change in their country for the better, the Nazis were elected and took control of the government with the hope that they would bring the much desired change The holocaust could not have been carried out without the support from the public. Propaganda therefore became a very crucial element in the Nazi political orientation. Josef Goebbels was made the Minister for propaganda by Hitler and he rose to become one of the most known figures amongst the public. He worked hard to convince the Germans that the Aryan race was the most superior. In addition the use of propaganda was extensive in the whole country especially against the Jews. The Jews continued to receive much hatred and suffering in the hands of the Nazis: The economic troubles of Germany were blamed on the Jews. They were accused of taking all the money for themselves. The Nazi party generated extensive propaganda to this end. As anti-Semitism grew within the population, the things done to the Jews by Hitler and his army began to be widely seen as acceptable. Herding Jews into slums, burning and taking their businesses and finally sending them to camps all became common (Rakoczy, para 4). The Jews found themselves on the receiving end as the propagandist minister worked hard to spread hatred towards them from the public. According to Goebbels and Hitler, propaganda was an important aspect since they reasoned that when lies are repeatedly heard, eventually they gain acceptance among the public. To ensure that the public was able to listen to the propaganda, radio sets were sold to the public cheaply and the government had control of all the radio stations while forbidding treason charges against the government in the media (Lieberman, para 4). Once the propagandas became popular anti-Semitic sentiments gained momentum. Hitler supported the racial anti-Semitism as opposed to the religious anti-Semitism which was the hatred that was directed towards the Jews who refused to be converted to Christianity. Racial anti-Semitism on the other hand was the hatred directed towards anybody who could be traced back to a Jewish linage even if the person in question was practicing Christianity. Hitler is known to have facilitated the creation of the Jewish ghettos, burning of the businesses belonging to the Jews and distributed The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a book that claimed that the Jews were out to take over the world. It can be argued that Hitlers belief in anti-Semitism was one of the key aspects of his motivations (Lieberman, para 5). The other concept that contributed to the development of the holocaust can be said to be the lack of intervention from the other nations in stopping what was happening in German. During the Evian conference that took place prior to the war, the US and Great Britain together with some other countries gathered to discuss the events in Germany and during this time, the Jews were allowed to voluntarily leave Germany in case they wished. The nations at the conference discussed the need to raise the Jewish quota that could be admitted in their territories. Surprisingly, by the end of the conference, only the Dominican Republic had opened their boundaries for the Jews fleeing away from the Germans. The obsession that Hitler had, of completely destroying the Jews has also been associated with the fact that He had suffered from syphilis while in Austria as a young boy which was not treated and it may have resurfaced in his later years. The resurgence of syphilis can lead to many eventualities as it may affect the nervous system and the brain. Critical examination of Hitler indicates that he might have contracted syphilis in 1908 while in Vienna which only reappeared in 1935 when it was at the tertiary stage. The effect of the disease on the brain includes aspects of paranoia, megalomania, loss of sense of reality, loss of moral senses and fits of anger (Rakoczy, para 6). These are the characters which were observed in Hitler during later life. Conclusion It can be argued that there were various factors attributed to have caused the holocaust. Such factors range from the social, economic, political and individual factors. In a nutshell, they include the anti-Semitism sentiments, demonization of the Jews, the Versailles Treaty with its economic woes on Germany, the Nazi regime and the subsequent the public support without leaving out the mental health of the Nazi leader that is said to have been aggravated by the untreated syphilis (Kimel, para 1). The holocaust has gone down the history books as the most atrocious event to have ever happened among the human race. The holocaust was encouraged by the Nazi regime and the world failed to act fast to stop it. Nevertheless, the causes of the holocaust are many and varied as opposed to being though to have been Hitler alone. Though Hitler was to squarely be blamed for he was the German leader at the time of the holocaust, the causes of the holocaust were gradual and cumulative for over an ex pansive period of time. Work Cited BÃ ¼low, Louis. The Holocaust: Crimes, Heroes, and Villains. 2010. Retrieved on 20th October 2010 from; Holocaust.Web.28 Dec 2010 from; http://www.auschwitz.dk/anker /holocaust/. Kimel, Alexander. Direct Causes Of The Holocaust. 2010. Retrieved on 20th October 2010 from; http://kimel.net/direct.html. Lieberman, Daniel. Causes of the Holocaust. 2009. Retrieved on 20th October 2010 from; http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1353270/causes_of_the_holocaust.html. Rakoczy, Christy. Why Did the Holocaust Happen? 2010. Retrieved on 20th October 2010 from; http://answers.yourdictionary.com/history/why-did-the-holocaust-happen.html. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Holocaust. 2010. Retrieved on 20th October 2010 from; http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005143lang=en. Yahya, Hasan, The Causes of the Old Holocaust Are Building Up For a New One. 2010. Retrieved on 20th October 2010 from; http://www.articlesbase.com/strategic-planning-articles/the-causes-of-the-old-holocaust-are-building-up-for-a-new-one-1918168.html