The Berlin Wall

As we were sitting in class last week, our topic of discussion turned to the Berlin Wall. I just couldn't seem to turn away from what a symbol the Berlin Wall was. Not only was it an actual wall, whether you want to call it a wall representing Soviet oppression or a wall to repell capitalist enemies, it was a very powerful psychological symbol as well. Up till this point in time, the Soviets, by this I mean the party members in Moscow, had tried to at least maintain a semblance of a democratic process but the Wall changed that. It was a physical symbol to the people of not only East Berlin and East Germany but all of the people behind the "Iron Curtain". The Soviets could no longer deny their use of force to quell any and all uprisings. Both the Berlin Wall and the Inner German Border were considered to be defenses against the Fascists and capitalists but all the guns pointed inwards.
I view the building of the wall as one of the pivotal points where the Soviets shed their false "democratic" dealings and let the world view their true identity. It was with this that Moscow would have lost all support from socialists and communists all over the world but disapproved of oppression and the use of violence against the subjects under the communists governments.
It just seems to me that their were pivotal moments in the Cold War that effected the way that the two superpowers would react. With the building of the Berlin Wall, and subsequently the Inner German Border, it seemed as if the USSR was drawing the proverbial line in the sand and setting up the future battle line for Europe that seemed to once again to involve the German people in a war. Germany, both East and West Germany, was where the attention of the world would gaze. And for the most part, the Nazis and their atrocities would almost be forgotten in preparation to for the future war. It seems that, especially in the West, that the atrocities was best forgotten, if not forgiven, in order to move on and provide a buffer between the rest of Western Europe just as the USSR would do with Eastern Europe.

Hitler's Executioners

I have to say that the articles we read over the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 got me thinking. Both Browning and Goldhagen provide varying theories over just who was responsible for the mass murders that occurred during the Third Reich. I do not know just with which side I would side. Browning makes a compelling argument with his empathetic approach. He writes that the men themselves, the ordinary men of Germany, though ordered to kill, were not happy with the orders themselves. The commanding officer, Trapp, is one example Browning seems to favor. He points out that Trapp offered the men a chance to be reassigned to other duties and protected the first one who took the offered. Browning also offers evidence pointing to the internal conflict that Trapp seemed to find himself in.
Goldhagen, meanwhile, seems to want to "hang" the men of Police Battalion 101. Though he does provide some evidence supporting Trapp's conflict over his orders, he goes further with Trapp. He writes that Trapp provided an excuse that the Jews were "partisans" and what they were doing was helping the war effort. Goldhagen argues that this excuse was transparent and proves Trapps guilt. Lt. Buchman, the only officer who flat out stated that he wouldn't have any part in this atrocity, is the source of a theory of Goldhagen's. He believes that the reason Buchman would not take part was, quite simply, that he knew Jews from his professional life.
I have to say that though Goldhagen does provide more info, he seems to be more on a witch hunt than anything else. Browning, on the other hand, seems to want to provide a more complete view of the atrocity. He provides the facts and theories on why the men did what they did and lets the reader decide for himself just what went on and why?
It does bring me one last thought. I just wanted to comment on the seeming circle that the history of the Holocaust seems to be going on. At first it was viewed that the people of Germany, all of them, were perpetrators of the Holocaust. Later, it was put forth that it was the Nazi Party and the SS that carried out the killings. Now it seems that with the opening up of more sources the first theory is brought back to the forefront.