This post really resonated with me, largely because it echoes my own experience of being Jewish in this day and age. I remember my father telling me never to let anyone know I'm Jewish until I've learned that I can trust them. (My response: You named me Rachel Naomi!) I also used to wonder if people could tell just by looking that I was Jewish, and if I'd been captured by the Nazis, would they have put me to work or sent me right to the gas chamber, or what. (Mom used to say, A healthy, strong girl like you? They'd have experimented on you.) Nowadays I find myself grappling with the concept of whiteness. Am I white? I certainly benefit from white privilege, but am I really?
I ... take note of the holidays, let's say. *g* I'm an atheist, but my Judaism is of cultural importance to me. So I light candles at Hanukkah, I eat apples and honey on Rosh Hashana, I try to remember to get cookies for everyone at Purim. Passover isn't much fun without the rest of the family (we're pretty scattered now), and I don't think I've ever fasted on Yom Kippur. *sigh* Bad Jew, no brisket.
IIRC, my issue with First Class was that it treated Magneto's killing of Kevin Bacon like some kind of moral event horizon, and once he crossed it that was it, he couldn't go back, he was a Bad Guy. But I don't think there's anything particularly immoral about killing a Nazi, so I wasn't buying it. But I've noticed in the lot of movies and TV shows, as you point out, when Nazis are the villains they're excised from their historic context. The good guys are fighting for truth and freedom or whatever, and the murder of 6.5 million people is a side note, if it comes up at all. It doesn't give me a pleasant feeling.
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I ... take note of the holidays, let's say. *g* I'm an atheist, but my Judaism is of cultural importance to me. So I light candles at Hanukkah, I eat apples and honey on Rosh Hashana, I try to remember to get cookies for everyone at Purim. Passover isn't much fun without the rest of the family (we're pretty scattered now), and I don't think I've ever fasted on Yom Kippur. *sigh* Bad Jew, no brisket.
IIRC, my issue with First Class was that it treated Magneto's killing of Kevin Bacon like some kind of moral event horizon, and once he crossed it that was it, he couldn't go back, he was a Bad Guy. But I don't think there's anything particularly immoral about killing a Nazi, so I wasn't buying it. But I've noticed in the lot of movies and TV shows, as you point out, when Nazis are the villains they're excised from their historic context. The good guys are fighting for truth and freedom or whatever, and the murder of 6.5 million people is a side note, if it comes up at all. It doesn't give me a pleasant feeling.
Anyway, sorry to ramble. Thank you for this post.