{"id":57648,"date":"2017-05-02T12:50:17","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T17:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=57648"},"modified":"2017-05-08T08:08:52","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T13:08:52","slug":"understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/","title":{"rendered":"Does &#8220;Understanding All Sides&#8221; Include Defending Hitler?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The title of this article is something of a feint. Of course, neither I nor this web site entertain for the slightest instant the possibility that \u201cunderstanding all sides\u201d could extend so far as justifying Hitler\u2019s atrocities. This I\u2019m sure comes as no surprise. What may surprise you \u2013 and should dismay you \u2013 is that there are educators who would have our children think otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Michael DeNobile, an Oswego County High School teacher, assigned students to roleplay Nazi party officials attending the 1942 Wannsee Conference. So far, so good, I guess. They were then to write in the form of internal party memos either supporting or opposing \u201cthe Final Solution of the Jewish Question.\u201d In theory, this is an exercise in critical thinking. In practice, it\u2019s a little more complicated than that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This assignment is problematic even for students assigned to oppose the \u201cfinal solution\u201d since there is no record of any Nazi-party opposition to the plan. How does one effectively roleplay a position that never existed? That notwithstanding, the \u201cin favor\u201d position is inherently troubling, as the assignment requests that students justify the killing of innocents.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Consider how the following assignments would be received by parents, students, or the school board:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Defend 9\/11;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Defend American slavery;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Defend female genital mutilation;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Defend the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Defend bullying Tyler Clementi or Amanda Todd to suicide.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I don\u2019t think any of those assignments would have gotten off the ground. The \u201cfinal solution\u201d assignment, however, had apparently been given several times before without complaint. That is in and of itself quite disturbing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This year was something different, as two students, Ms. Jordan April and Mr. Archer Shurtliff, both 17 and neither Jewish, finally raised objections to the assignment. One would think that would be that but such was not the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">MaryEllen Elia, NY State Commissioner of Education, at first defended the assignment, stressing the importance of \u201cteaching students \u2026 the ability to understand all sides of an issue.\u201d Because, you know, pro-genocide advocates have a position with which high school students should be taught to empathize. (Elia later backpedaled on her statement, claiming that she didn\u2019t know the specifics of the issue when first asked about it by reporters). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Other teachers and administrators were likewise unfazed even after the troublesome assignment was brought to their attention. April and Shurtliff kept a record of their efforts to have the offensive assignment withdrawn from the curriculum. What they named their \u201cChronicle of Activism Against the Final Solution Assignment\u201d ended up being a document 14 pages long, single-spaced. A single-paragraph email to the principal should have been sufficient to end this but the assignment was not withdrawn until the students\u2019 efforts drew media and political attention, and the assignment received ADL condemnation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Even the other students, whom one would expect to be more socially conscious, were disappointing in their lack of outrage. Within four days of April and Shurtliff\u2019s initial objection, the administration decided to offer the option of an alternative assignment to all 75 students. April (who had been assigned the \u201ccon\u201d position) and Shurtliff (who had been assigned \u201cpro\u201d) both took advantage of the opportunity, as did exactly one other student; the rest chose to stick with the original assignment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Some students reportedly felt uncomfortable with the assignment but preferred not to rock the boat by joining April and Shurtliff\u2019s protest. Most of the students were angered by the young activists\u2019 efforts, seeing it as a slur against their teacher. One student (whose name I have chosen to omit) defended the assignment on the basis that it would \u201chelp us become more sympathetic to everyone\u201d and \u201chumanize\u201d the Nazis by making students able to \u201csee their side of the story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The assignment also gave license to one student feeling comfortable making a Nazi salute, while another expressed disappointment in not being assigned to the pro-genocide group \u201cbecause Heil Hitler, duh.\u201d (Great. Way to keep it classy, kid.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Normally, around this point in an article, I include some Biblical verse or Talmudic aphorism to support my thesis. I\u2019m not going to do that here. Do I really need to bring a proof text in support of the idea that we don\u2019t teach our children to look for the good in genocide? Do we really have to argue the point that murderers and victims are not morally equivalent?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Officially, there are four volumes in <i>Shulchan Aruch<\/i>, the code of Jewish law. There\u2019s a popular saying that the fifth volume is <i>seichel<\/i>, common sense. Some things shouldn\u2019t have to be legislated because any thinking person can intuit them for himself. Where was the <i>seichel<\/i> in assigning students a project that would have students visiting hate sites as \u201cresearch?\u201d Where is the common sense in presenting wholesale slaughter as a defensible policy? Where is the wisdom in teaching teens to justify morally-reprehensible positions? We have enough trouble raising kids properly when we actually try to teach them right from wrong; do we not even invest that much effort anymore? If that\u2019s what we sow, I dread what we\u2019re going to reap.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So many of our political hot-button issues are shades of gray. When it comes to topics like gun control and abortion, each side sees their own position as \u201cgood\u201d and the other as \u201cevil,\u201d when clearly things are far more nuanced than that. The Holocaust is one of the few things in this world that are truly black-and-white. Hitler is universally recognized as history\u2019s greatest monster. It\u2019s not surprising that one unthinking teacher might assign a misguided topic. What is surprising \u2013 and more than a little distressing \u2013 is the widespread acceptance the assignment garnered once it had been brought to light. Teachers, administrators and students alike had reactions ranging from apathy to outright defense of the project. Where was the outrage?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Kudos to Jordan and Archer for their efforts, especially when they had no vested interest in that fight. Pastor Niem\u00f6ller (\u201cFirst they came for the socialists and I did not speak out for I was not a socialist\u2026\u201d) would be proud. But the absence of a more widespread outcry is more than a little disturbing. One fears that the lesson of defending the indefensible may already have been taught a little too well.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The title of this article is something of a feint. Of course, neither I nor this web site entertain for the slightest instant the possibility that \u201cunderstanding all sides\u201d could extend so far as justifying Hitler\u2019s atrocities. This I\u2019m sure comes as no surprise. What may surprise you \u2013 and should dismay you \u2013 is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":55483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Does &quot;Understanding All Sides&quot; Include Defending Hitler? - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So many of our political hot-button issues are shades of gray. The Holocaust is one of the few things in this world that are truly black-and-white.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does &quot;Understanding All Sides&quot; Include Defending Hitler? - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So many of our political hot-button issues are shades of gray. The Holocaust is one of the few things in this world that are truly black-and-white.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-02T17:50:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-08T13:08:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Hitler-Y.S..jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"627\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/\",\"name\":\"Does \\\"Understanding All Sides\\\" Include Defending Hitler? - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Hitler-Y.S..jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-02T17:50:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-08T13:08:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/50551cbad585e4b2a31b4b0227e06c1c\"},\"description\":\"So many of our political hot-button issues are shades of gray. The Holocaust is one of the few things in this world that are truly black-and-white.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Hitler-Y.S..jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Hitler-Y.S..jpg\",\"width\":940,\"height\":627,\"caption\":\"Hitler Y\\\"S\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/50551cbad585e4b2a31b4b0227e06c1c\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Jack-Abramowitz_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Jack-Abramowitz_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\"},\"description\":\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz is Torah Content Editor at the Orthodox Union. He is the author of six books, including The Tzniyus Book and The Taryag Companion. His latest work, The God Book, is available from OU Press as well as on Amazon.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi-jack-abramowitz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Does \"Understanding All Sides\" Include Defending Hitler? - OU Life","description":"So many of our political hot-button issues are shades of gray. The Holocaust is one of the few things in this world that are truly black-and-white.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Does \"Understanding All Sides\" Include Defending Hitler? - OU Life","og_description":"So many of our political hot-button issues are shades of gray. The Holocaust is one of the few things in this world that are truly black-and-white.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2017-05-02T17:50:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-08T13:08:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":940,"height":627,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Hitler-Y.S..jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/","name":"Does \"Understanding All Sides\" Include Defending Hitler? - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Hitler-Y.S..jpg","datePublished":"2017-05-02T17:50:17+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-08T13:08:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/50551cbad585e4b2a31b4b0227e06c1c"},"description":"So many of our political hot-button issues are shades of gray. The Holocaust is one of the few things in this world that are truly black-and-white.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/understanding-sides-include-defending-hitler\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Hitler-Y.S..jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Hitler-Y.S..jpg","width":940,"height":627,"caption":"Hitler Y\"S"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/50551cbad585e4b2a31b4b0227e06c1c","name":"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Jack-Abramowitz_avatar-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Jack-Abramowitz_avatar-96x96.jpg","caption":"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz"},"description":"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz is Torah Content Editor at the Orthodox Union. He is the author of six books, including The Tzniyus Book and The Taryag Companion. His latest work, The God Book, is available from OU Press as well as on Amazon.","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi-jack-abramowitz\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57649,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57648\/revisions\/57649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}