The Eichmann Trial in Retrospect and The Pianist Media Assignment

Essay by auth3nticHigh School, 12th gradeA-, April 2004

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Prejudice is among the top reasons for man's injustice towards one another. An example of this type of hatred was during the Holocaust. As written by Abba Eban in the essay titled The Eichmann Trial in Retrospect, "He who cannot remember the past is doomed to repeat it". In saying so, memory is essential in today's society. Knowing historical events which took place many generations ago is an asset for any individual, enabling one to distinguish between what's right and wrong. "Man is the only animal able to transmit experience. Memory is the father conscience. The issue is whether we should wipe from the tablets of memory the most vivid evidence of the consequences flowing from chauvinism, racial discrimination, and inhumanity" from Abba Eban.

Distinguishing how the world would be without the aspect of memory still needs to be taken into account. If an individual is not reminded that what he or she is doing is right or wrong, would it not become natural to one's mind that what they are doing is right from the get-go? How would have the world turned out if it was in complete chaos and yet no one, according to their memory, knew what they did was harmful.

Such scenarios need to be taken into consideration.

In retrospect to "The Pianist", the film takes a similar toll with correspondence to Eban's ideas. The director of the film had one simple objective. And that objective was to grab hold of the audience and tell them that what the Nazi soldiers did to the Jewish nation was so incredibly wrong. And as a whole we should recognize the occurrence of the Holocaust in Germany and take the events into great consideration. Such occurrences were well documented in the film. Specific sequences in the movie were...