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Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing
by Dr. James Waller
Over 50 educators turned out last week to hear Dr. James Waller speak on the topic of his book at Seattle University. The program was organized by the Holocaust Center in partnership with Seattle University. Here's what a few of the participants had to say:
Everyone should give some attention to James Waller’s work on “the ordinariness of extraordinary evil” and his investigation into how it is possible for ordinary people to commit horrible crimes. It has been common in the past half century to explain events such as the Holocaust by locating them outside of time and history and simply saying that such things are an evil beyond human comprehension. Although that approach may offer a means of coping with such atrocities, it does not help us to understand how they can occur. Waller approaches the problem from a different angle and argues that genocide is not simply the work of monsters but rather the monstrous work of ordinary people. Specifically, he argues that we, as humans, are all capable of such actions, depending on the way we are socialized to understand the world, “the Other,” and the concept of cruelty. Given the reality of ongoing violence against ethnic, religious, and cultural groups that exists in our world today, Waller’s work is critical to gaining an understanding of how such events can literally take place.
- Steve R., Seattle Academy
I read Dr. Waller’s article and here is my response. (I hope I am correct in sending it to you rather than going directly to the blog). I was fascinated by the provocative angle he is approaching the Holocaust from. The notion that it takes ordinary individuals to do horrible things is what can make the topic so engaging for my students. As soon as we see ourselves capable of evil we are no longer capable of dismissing the topic as “something from the past.” I would be interested in developing lessons that help students see how collectivist values, a societies authority orientation and its approach to social dominance relate to their everyday lives. In other words, how the beginnings of “perpetrators” are around us every day.
- Travis F., Kent Meridian
I'm just going to reflect back on a quote offered that evening, by Winston Churhill, I believe. It was, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." Before I went to the class that night, I noted on Facebook that I was going. I thought to myself that some people may think, "Why in the world is she going to a class about the perpetrators of genocide and mass killing?" Why indeed? There are other workshops through which to earn clock hours. But it's Churhill's quote that gives me an answer, or at least one possible answer, along with others. It's that we all must be interested in "war", because it IS interested in us. Its ripples and crashing waves are all around us and we are so affected, whether we know it or not, spiritually, psychologically, economically, physically. We can not be bystanders, especially in the ever shrinking world, or we are really no different than those who look on in the photographs from the Holocaust. Our starting point is awareness, then building from there.
- Rikke C., Seattle
The lecture was fascinating! I had never thought much about the idea of how or what specifically constituted genocide or the concept the human profile of those who readily participate. Dr. Waller's talk was so interesting and certainly gave me much to ponder. Great inspiration for deeper thinking! More importantly, it provides an interesting topic for secondary-level discussion related to World affairs and conflicts. Thank you for setting this up!
~Judy C., Kent Mountain View Academy
I found James Waller’s lecture on genocide particularly pertinent to my teaching about social justice issues. This year, I’ll be teaching books such as Maus and Cry, the Beloved Country. The fact that, as he quoted Churchill, “the story of the human race is war,” is evident in the books we teach. This event helped me reflect on how I can help students engage in dialogue around issues of violence, all the ways in which humans participate in it, and how that shapes our society in lasting ways.
- Carolyn H., Roosevelt High School, Seattle
Yesterday Co-Executive Director Delila Simon and I had the pleasure of accompanying Frieda S. to a speaking engagement at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. Frieda shared her story of survival during the Holocaust with 30 students who are taking a Holocaust course at the college.
imprisoned in the Theresienstadt camp. The students and myself were amazed by Frieda's descriptions of how she and other prisoners were forced to portray the camp as a comfortable and desirable place when the International Red Cross visited, and the true conditions under which Frieda was forced to live.
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By Kathleen Ralf, a teacher at the International School in Stuttgart, Germany. Prior to teaching in Germany, Kathleen taught at Easmont High School in East Wenatchee, WA. Photos by Jens Knickmeier.
