Existentialism is a Humanism

After the end of the first Great War, the world settled into an era of peace and recovery, or so it seemed. In Germany however, the stage was being set to play out one of the greatest tragedies in human history. Anti-Semitism is a problem that has plagued the Jewish community since the beginning of time. When combined the deprivation of moral standards in Europe and the rise of national totalitarianism in Germany, the results were nothing but disastrous. The horrors of the Holocaust produced many evils but also many lessons.

Three of the most profound lessons can be seen in the writings of Adolf Hitler, Jean-Paul Sartre and Viktor Frankl. In 1926, Adolf Hitler put his hatred into writing in his book, Mein Kampf. This single work is heralded as one of the greatest pieces of propaganda ever made, citing everything from Mother Nature to doing the Lord's work as reasons for his horrible actions. The results of this propaganda demonstrated how easy it is to fall prey to blind faith and how easily it is abused. In his work "Existentialism is a Humanism" (ca. 1946 CE), Jean-Paul Sartre attempts to explain the philosophy of existentialism.

Sartre explains that mankind lives through a series of choices and ultimately the individual must make them. The teachings of Sartre would later be adopted by a Holocaust refugee named Viktor Frankl and applied in a real world situation. Frankl, a survivor of the Holocaust, chronicles his ordeal in the concentration camps of World War II in his book, "Man's Search for Meaning". Frankl tries to teach that people must chose who they want to be regardless of the situation they are put in and that conscious decision will ultimately decide how the events of their life unfurl.

All of these important lessons come together with the power of the past and the powers of hatred as well as the moral indifference of the masses to spawn a genocide that no civilized people would want to experience ever again. In 1933, Germany was in the process of undergoing some radical changes in leadership. Adolf Hitler was beginning his rise to power that would eventually lead him down a bloody path known as the Holocaust. One of the most important tools that Hitler used in slaughtering countless civilians was the blind faith of the German people.

Hitler manipulated the people in many ways and one notable way was in his book Mein Kampf. In his book Hitler states, "And so I believe to-day that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. In standing guard against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord" (Hitler). Hitler used everything from divinity to science to validate his claims against the Jewish people. With such logic on his side Hitler had no problem in convincing the people of Germany to agree with his point of view and follow him without question.

He was able to harness the same blind faith that had been used by things like religion all these years and use it to control the masses. It is because no one had questioned these divine orders or challenged them in any way, that six million people were slaughtered unmercifully while the entire world stood by and watched. The lesson of the follies of herd mentality is a dangerous one that all people must be aware of in order to avoid the pitfalls of its evils.

Humanity must learn to identify and be prepared to hold ground against anyone that would defile the essence of humanity with such heinous acts of atrocity in order to prevent a tragedy such as this from repeating itself ever again. While exploring the mysteries of life, a French philosopher by the name of Jean-Paul Sartre became the father of a movement known as Existentialism. In 1946, Sartre attempted to outline the basis of Existentialism and defend it against its would-be attackers in his essay "Existentialism is a Humanism".

Sartre defines Existentialism as a series of conscience life choices that man makes in his life. All men are governed by free will and therefore must find the answer from within. In his essay, Sartre goes on to say, "That man is, before else, something which propels itself towards a future and is aware that it is doing so. Man is, indeed, a project which possesses a subjective life, instead of being a kind of moss, or a fungus or a cauliflower. Before that projection of the self nothing exists; not even in the heaven of intelligence: man will only attain existence when he is what he purposes to be.