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Documenting World War II

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What do you believe are some of the notable philosophical problems (objectivity, choice of sources, bias) of documenting WWII? Sources and examples are VERY HELPFUL.

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This solution discusses the philosophical problems (objectivity, choice of sources, bias) of documenting WWII. Sources and examples are provided.

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1. What do you believe are some of the notable philosophical problems (objectivity, choice of sources, bias) of documenting WWII? Sources and examples are VERY HELPFUL.

Words and concepts that come to mind are: bias, prejudice, racism, discrimination, and propaganda and indeed these words affected documenting WWII (e.g., Nanking, Internment, and the Holocaust, to name a few).

Example1: Biases of what actually occurred and whose fault

For example, if the source of the documentation of the Holocaust were from a reported that was biased (prejudice and racist) toward Jews, it would look a lot different than from a liberal source. For example, for Kingsley WWII (Auschwitz) was indeed a human tragedy: "As we pass into the 21st century the world particularly Europe will inherit an indigestible piece of history [the Holocaust] which can not be understood, may not be forgiven and must not be forgotten." This quote from Ben Kingsley in Survivors of the Holocaust provides a prescription to prevent the disease of the Holocaust from repeating. The Holocaust must be talked about until it is engraved on the consciences of people. The first way to prevent "Holocaust-like" tragedies from repeating is to inform people of past tragedies and to learn from them.33 Forgiveness and tolerance must be used not as a blanket to cover every difference, but they must used as a medicine to heal the wounds of the past. (1)

Also, Holocaust denial is a reflection of biased documentation and interpetation. It implies, or openly states, that the current mainstream understanding of the Holocaust is the result of a deliberate Jewish conspiracy created to advance the interest of Jews at the expense of other peoples. For this reason, Holocaust denial is generally considered an anti-semitic conspiracy theory. Because of this, Holocaust denial is also illegal in a number of European countries, as their governments hold that it is motivated by an ...

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