Oppression: Nazi Germany and German Workers Party Essay

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To Be Oppressed In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the author depicts the oppression of women similar to that of the oppression of Jews by the Nazis. Through the gained power under the governmental regime, both parties received a higher ground which allowed them to depersonalize women and Jews in an attempt to create a utopia. If an attempt to create a utopia is done by force, it dehumanizes the society and is counterproductive and results in a dystopia. Each individual has a purpose in life, and if they are forced to live in a certain way, their will to live is diminished The Holocaust began in the 1930’s when Adolf Hitler gained massive power in Germany. When Germany lost the war in World War I, Hitler blamed the Jews and grew strong hate towards them. After a while, Hitler joined the National Socialist German Workers Party known as Nazi’s. He became the leader of this group and through his power in the group, his oppression to Jews began. Adolf Hitler became accountable for six million deaths of Jews. His oppression of these Jews throughout their years of suffering were similar to the oppressions of the Handmaids. The lifestyles of the Jew’s were one of the first things affected by the Holocaust. The Jews had to flee away from their homelands due to how hard their lives were getting because of anti-Semitism. Hitler greatly despised of the Jews and wanted to get rid of every single one of them and pictured the world being better without them. Since children were easier to hide because they didn’t require having personal identifications, parents often mixed their kids in with German kids to save them. They were separated from their kids, without the hope of ever reuniting. The Jewish adults had to protect themselves by converting to Christianity and changing their names to prevent the Nazis from sending them to death camps. The Jews were forced to live in the Ghettos in which the conditions were horrible and unhealthy with little food and cramped area – making it extremely crowded. Trying to escape the Ghettos resulted in an automatic death penalty, so out of fear the Jews had to live there. They were forced to wear the Star of David bands on their sleeves to be differentiated from the non-Jews. The Jews were treated like prisoners. They were confined to living a small area, given minimal food, and stars representing their identity. They were no longer approached as human beings. The lifestyle of the women in this Utopian society was under similar rulings as the Nazis rule under the Jews. Due to the decrease in population because most women were unable to conceive, the women who could conceive were held hostage moving from commander to commander to become pregnant. They were limited to where they could go and who they can go with. When they were in the Red Center, they slept in the gymnasium in army cots, all squeezed in together. The women who lived there belonged in certain categories – the Handmaids, the Martha’s, and the Wives. The women were all dressed in certain ways to differentiate them from the others, for example the handmaids had to be dressed in all red, with white wings above their heads. The Handmaids were those who could conceive. Their dress code filled the same purpose as the Star of David filled for the Jews. The handmaids didn’t even have their own identity – they were referred to as “it”. Rather than being respectfully called upon with their names, they were called upon with ‘of’ and their commanders name. This made them the property of their commanders, erasing their own identity. Knowledge is a very powerful tool that draws people closer to each other and their surroundings. Knowledge is sought through education, the radio, television, the newspaper, and much more. The Jews were deprived of obtaining knowledge. Jewish teachers were fired from their job, and in 1938 all Jewish kids were banned from going to a German school. Education was very vital for the Germans because they
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