Holocaust Survivors as Superheroes: A New Perspective on Heroism and Survival

The Holocaust, a dark and incomprehensible period in human history, left deep scars on the soul of the Jewish people. The stories of the survivors, those who endured the inferno, are a living testimony to evil, suffering, and loss, but also to extraordinary human heroism. Often, the prevailing image of the Holocaust survivor in popular culture tends to present a broken, victimized figure, or even a collaborator – an image ingrained, in part, through the stories of the Kapos. However, there exists another perspective, important and inspiring, which views Holocaust survivors as superheroes – men and women who displayed resourcefulness, courage, extraordinary physical and mental strength, and refused to surrender to the Nazi extermination machine.

Holocaust survivors demonstrated heroism in an impossible reality. Among others, the story of Golda Zandman, appearing in the book "Golda, Heroine of the Holocaust," presents a vivid example of a Holocaust survivor as a superhero. "If necessary, be strong as iron. If necessary, be soft as butter" – these words, which accompany Golda, summarize the mental flexibility and adaptive ability required for survival under extreme conditions. Golda, a vibrant young Jewish girl, is drawn from her warm home into the cruel reality of labor and concentration camps. But she refuses to be a passive victim. She demonstrates resourcefulness as a shrewd trader and a daring smuggler, outsmarts the authorities, forges complex relationships, and faces death with open eyes. Her story is not merely a documentation of loss and destruction, but a story of determination, of a daily struggle for survival, and of the triumph of the human spirit. Her heroism lies not in supernatural powers, but in her inner strength, her courage, and her refusal to lose her human dignity even in the face of horror.

Interesting parallels can be found between the stories of Holocaust survivors and the narratives of superheroes familiar from the world of comics and cinema. Many superheroes, such as Spider-Man, Batman, or Magneto (himself a Holocaust survivor), cope with trauma, loss, and a hostile environment, developing exceptional abilities, physical and mental, to survive and protect others. They operate in complex urban spaces, demonstrating daring and adaptability.

Golda's story points to the importance of the sense of touch and the intense physical experience in the world of superheroes – they feel the world around them in an amplified way, through direct contact with the environment, with the blows and explosions. A certain analogy can be seen with the experience of the survivors, whose bodies and souls experienced the harsh physical reality of the camps – the hunger, the cold, the forced labor, the violence – in a direct and extreme manner. Physical and mental survival in the camps required a sharpening of the senses, constant vigilance, and a rapid response to dangers, similar to Spider-Man's "Spider-Sense" or Daredevil's abilities.

Throughout history, figures of heroes and myths have provided frameworks for coping with crises and changes. Figures like Samson the Hero, medieval knights, fighter pilots, or space pioneers served as focal points for admiration and imitation. Modern superheroes, whether in comics or cinema ("Star Wars," the Marvel Universe), fulfill this basic human need. They offer narratives of overcoming obstacles, the struggle between good and evil, and the defense of values.

In the context of the Holocaust, the image of the survivor as a superhero allows us to connect with the stories of survival not only through identification with the suffering but also through a deep appreciation for the mental and physical strength required to survive. It is a narrative that allows rising from the ashes, filling the void left by the Holocaust, and lighting a "memorial candle" composed of personal and collective stories of heroism. Instead of focusing only on the victim image or the complex questions of collaboration, viewing survivors as superheroes sheds new light on the boundaries of humanity, femininity, and heroism, offering an inspiring model of hope and resilience.

The stories of Holocaust survivors are much more than historical documentation of atrocities. They hold within them extraordinary tales of heroism, of ordinary people who became heroes against their will. Like the superheroes from the world of fantasy, they faced inconceivable evil, displayed resourcefulness and tremendous inner strength, and fought for their lives and their human dignity. Adopting the perspective that views survivors as superheroes does not diminish the severity of the suffering and loss, but rather empowers the human spirit, emphasizes the power of survival, and presents a model of heroism and revival for us and for future generations. Stories like that of Golda Zandman remind us of the human potential inherent within us, even in the darkest moments, and of the importance of memory as a shaping and strengthening force.

Drones as Litany

The word "Litany" has a few different meanings, but the most common one is:

A long and repetitive list or series of something, usually complaints or problems.

For example:

“The customer service representative had to listen to a litany of complaints about the faulty product.”

“The politician’s speech was just a litany of empty promises.”

The word originates in a religious context:

‘’Litany’’ is a prayer that includes a series of requests or supplications from the worshipper or the prayer leader, followed by repetitive responses from the congregation or group of worshippers.

For example, in a traditional prayer, the cantor might say "God! Please have mercy" and the congregation would respond "Have mercy, please have mercy." This repetition creates a sense of call and response, or a dialogue between the leader and the congregation.

The word's origin is in ancient Greek, λιτανεία (litaneía), which means "prayer, supplication." From there it passed into Latin (litania) and finally into English.

Although its religious origin is still in use, today the word litany is mostly used in a broader context to describe any long and repetitive list, usually of complaints or problems.

So, when someone says "a litany of..." they are emphasizing the length and repetitiveness of the list, often with a slightly negative connotation.

In the context of ‘’Drones’’ as the nickname inspired by the meaning of the word "refrain" for UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles, the word "litany" can be used to describe: a list of negative claims or concerns about drones.

In these days of reciting the Selichot prayers in preparation for the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the supplications uttered in the wee hours of the night chillingly echo the harsh reality of the military conflict unfolding on the banks of the Litani River.

The Nazis' War on Memory

 

Erasing Jewish Identity

The Nazis were not content with annihilating Eastern European Jewry and plundering all their possessions. They also erased any trace of Jewish existence throughout the generations. In Jewish cemeteries, all tombstones were uprooted. Synagogues and other community buildings became Nazi property. All records in Jewish community archives, including family lineages spanning dozens of generations, were destroyed. Even their civil records in state authority archives, such as the Interior Ministry and municipalities, were obliterated.

Stolen Heritage - The Denial of Citizenship

Today, many Israelis obtain a second passport from the European Union based on their country of origin. In Eastern European countries that were under Nazi occupation, this is impossible. Descendants of Holocaust survivors from Poland, many of whose families perished, cannot prove that their parents were born in that country and are rejected outright by the relevant authorities.

Women's Roles in the Nazi Regime

 

Germanization and the Nazi Woman

Within the policy framework based on benefits, women held a privileged position in the Nazi regime. Hitler believed that women's place was in the home. He did not enlist them in the war effort, neither as soldiers nor as factory workers. He saw their purpose as housewives, whose primary role was to bear children and support the men serving the Reich. In her book, "Women and the Nazi East: Agency and Complicity in Germanization," Elizabeth Harvey examines the activities of German women outside the motherland, particularly in occupied Poland. These women concentrated their efforts mainly in the western regions of Poland annexed to Germany, but they were also active in the areas that remained under self-rule. The responsibility for "Germanization" fell upon the women of the Third Reich. Denied equality with their male counterparts in the homeland, Nazi women found an additional sphere of public control in the East. Although their tasks were primarily domestic, their role was empowered by the fact that while they were subordinate to their German male colleagues, they could act with a sense of superiority and impose strict authority over the local population.

Indoctrination and Expansion

As early as 1933, the Nazis formalized the key role of women in the Germanization of the East. Propaganda emphasized that the struggle to instill "Germanness" in the border regions began at home, in school classrooms where mother-teachers taught health, racial purity, language, and faith. This propaganda aimed to prepare German women for their role in the East. The Nazi victories at the beginning of World War II profoundly impacted these women for the rest of their lives. Many volunteered for the mission of bringing the homeland's culture to Eastern Europe, driven by a sense of German superiority. They believed that people in the East lacked order, hygiene, and efficiency, essential qualities that Germans cherished. Naturally, the lower standard and quality of life in Eastern Europe reinforced their views. The women who moved eastward were portrayed as both courageous pioneers and traditional housewives, serving as settlement advisors, teachers, welfare workers, and the like.

Complicity and the Final Solution

Nazi women were representatives of a brutal and racist regime and participated in activities that advanced its goals. They assisted in the racial screening process, selecting Germans from the general population, resettling them, and confiscating and redistributing Polish and Jewish property. The Nazi women involved in indoctrination in the East, actively or passively, were all aware of the Final Solution's course, culminating in the extermination camps. It was an open secret. They rarely engaged in direct murder, but they contributed as much as they could to the unprecedented plunder of tens of millions of people.

Profiting from the Holocaust - The Nazi Plunder Machine:

 

From Corpses to Commodities

In the extermination camps, the German Reich profited even from the corpses. Gold teeth were extracted from victims' jaws, rings were torn off, and women's long hair was shorn. The gold teeth were melted into bars and handed over to banks. The hair was woven into threads and used to make ropes and mattress stuffing. The bodies were sent to crematoria, their ashes used as fertilizer in fields and as insulation and construction material. 

As SS personnel amassed significant amounts of money and valuables from the victims, none of them cared about the death penalty awaiting them under international law. Items suitable for immediate use were transferred to distribution centers. These were vast warehouses located in the heart of population centers, overseen by appointed officials. Nazi citizens throughout the Reich, in need of various goods during the war when normal commercial activity was disrupted, turned to these centers as one would to a department store. The officials assessed the legitimacy of the requests and provided the products accordingly, free of charge.

The Theft of Jewish Homes

Real estate, including houses, apartments, and land, constituted the primary asset plundered by the Nazis. Immediately upon conquering a city, they compiled a list of Jewish-owned properties. In the second phase, Jews were deported to makeshift ghettos. The real estate list was then handed over to a special office, which distributed the properties to Germans and local collaborators loyal to the Nazi regime. This amounted to hundreds of thousands of homes. After the war, the absence of property owners who had perished, population exchanges between countries, and the new communist regimes obscured original ownership in many places. These factors contributed to legitimizing the takeover of Jewish real estate, which largely consisted of residential apartments belonging to Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Even before the war, pro-Nazi locals openly coveted and divided Jewish buildings among themselves. They would tell the Jews, "Your streets! Our houses!" A black market also flourished, where Jews sold everything dear to them for pennies. This market created a vast economic system in the occupied countries, involving all segments of the population, operating alongside the official plunder.

Nazism as a Regime Based on Benefits

 

Plunder and the Holocaust

In his book, replete with charts, calculations, and citations, Götz Aly argues that the plunder of occupied territories and the theft of Jewish property served the Nazi regime to finance its war effort and elevate the living standards of Germans. Behind this central explanation lies the argument that Germans were not primarily guilty of anti-Semitism but rather succumbed to base instincts of greed, leading first to the seizure of Jewish property and ultimately to the Holocaust. They yielded to the Nazi version of consumer culture.

The Ethnocratic State

Götz contends that Germans did not hate Jews more than other Europeans. Germany never followed a unique historical path. Germany was a country like any other, and Germans a people like any other. The answer to the question of why the Holocaust occurred specifically in Germany is horrifyingly simple: Nazi Germany was an ethnocratic social-democratic state. It granted social rights only to those belonging to the ruling ethnic group. It operated on the same logic as other states of that type, but it went further than any other.

Nazi Welfare

Nazi Germany provided its citizens with benefits greater than any other country: it was the first to distribute child benefits, the first to offer subsidized healthcare to pensioners, its soldiers received decent salaries and could send home loot from war zones and killing sites, and, in general, ethnic Germans lived better than ever before. Ordinary Germans supported the Nazi regime because it provided them with the highest standard of living they had ever experienced. The living standards of non-ethnic Germans were, of course, significantly worse. This was an inevitable consequence of the logic of the ethnocratic welfare state.

The Dark Side of Solidarity

European welfare states have always been based on ethnic solidarity. This solidarity, the feeling of being part of an "us," is a necessary condition for the existence of a state that genuinely cares for the security of the individual, a state whose citizens are willing to give up their tax money in exchange for the government taking care of all their needs. The other side of ethnic solidarity, unfortunately, is the lack of solidarity with anyone outside the ethnic group. It's not necessarily about hatred but rather indifference, a lack of concern for the fate of those who are not part of the same ethos. When this dynamic is amplified, when the state provides far more benefits in exchange for more enthusiastic solidarity, the separation between those inside the charmed circle and those outside it deepens.

Plunder as Policy

Götz adds another layer to this argument. He claims there was a direct link between the rise in German living standards and the dispossession and murder of Jews because the Nazi regime was largely based on plunder. It robbed Jews of their property and distributed it to Germans. Through charts and calculations, he documents and proves what was a massive redistribution of wealth that had a decisive impact on the history of the Nazi regime.

Profiting from Fascism

Götz argues that this transfer of wealth is the primary explanation for the Germans' acceptance of the Holocaust: they were bribed. Götz asserts that the basis for the Germans' situation under the Nazi regime being significantly better than under any previous rule stemmed from the fact that the plunder of Jews and occupied territories was larger, more systematic, and of greater importance than previously assumed, and that the spoils were distributed extensively. Germans profited from racist murder almost without exception. Stolen goods were systematically distributed at bargain prices. Even if a German wasn't a Nazi ideologically, they wouldn't oppose the regime to avoid jeopardizing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Götz shifts the emphasis from the profits of the wealthy capitalists to the profits of the masses. Nazi interests were not shaped by the capitalists but rather by the consumer masses, each of whom personally profited from fascism. His book is a reconstruction of the school of thought that sees the extermination of Jews in the Holocaust as the realization of a pre-planned agenda, with a materialistic emphasis.

Anxiety and Joy: Eid al-Adha and "Inside Out 2''

The Temple Mount and the International Space Station

The International Space Station above the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

 

The International Space Station above the Temple Mount in Jerusalem 

The International Space Station above the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

The development of man from an ape to the image of the Holy Land

 

T-O map in Jerusalem

 

The Oblique of the Tribe of Dan

The tribe of Dan, from which the hero Samson came, migrated north in the Land of Israel and settled in the area near Sidon. There it connected with the gentiles of the sea and became a tribe of sailors. From there, according to one tradition, it continued in a northwesterly direction, becoming part of the Greek tribes, also called "Danaides". It continued wandering in this direction along the Dnieper River, reaching as far as Denmark. All of these places contain the syllable "Dan" in their names.

"Oblique" is also an important geometric concept in modern architecture. It notes a design compromise between the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the urban space. The world is today one global city, run virtually in the speed of light, by the electronic media.

Ukraine, along which the Dnieper River flows, is also on a political "Oblique", as an intermediate state between East and West.

The danger in this geographical-political-war Oblique for the State of Israel is its inevitable lengthening towards Lebanon, Syria, the Gulf states and Iran.

Oblique of Dan

Human mosaic in motion - Walk on Sukkot in Jerusalem

A walk on Sukkot in Jerusalem. 

From Jaffa Gate to the Western Wall and from there to the entertainment complex of the old train station.

Human mosaic in motion - Closing a Circle on Sukkot in Jerusalem - part 1 of 4 - from the Jaffa Gate to the Western Wall