Book chapter
Stealth Altruism in the Open
Stealth Altruism, pp 121-132
2017
Abstract
Any display of altruism by Jewish untermenschen refuted Nazi ideology, as the Third Reich insisted only superior human beings, specifically Aryans, were capable of noble sentiments. Detection of altruism brought harsh beatings, torture, and/or execution. Regardless, forbidden caring was sometimes "hidden in plain sight", and it served as a major aid to survival. The most unique of all worksite acts of stealth altruism took place at the Janowska Camp. Easily one of the most rewarding acts of stealth altruism in a work setting involved Sala Garncarz. To judge cautiously from survivor accounts of overt acts of stealth altruism in the camps, the Nazis had good reason to vigorously oppose nonviolent resistance. While it was not always everything that participants might have wished for, acts of stealth altruism provided Jewish prisoners with morale-boosting evidence that some of them could achieve "a transcendence of evil and of faceless dehumanization".
Metrics
5 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Stealth Altruism in the Open
- Creators
- Arthur B. Shostak
- Publication Details
- Stealth Altruism, pp 121-132
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Edition
- 1
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Sociology; Culture and Communication [Historical]
- Other Identifier
- 991020705468504721