Comments on: Monuments Men Part IV Questions

By: DoingDewey

DoingDewey — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 01:59:25 +0000

Yeah, I do think one of the scarier things about the Nazi’s is that they were still just people. I thought the book did a really good job with this too. I also liked that it constantly made me think about the value of art and the ethics of spending human lives to protect it. Definitely a thought-provoking book!

By: Masanobu

Masanobu — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 21:47:01 +0000

This set of questions is rather interesting - it reminds me of the Nuremberg trials. Everyone's judgement of nazi crimes hinged on the inhumanity of their actions, so they were expecting a group of either immoral monsters or mentally ill individuals, and it was difficult to reconcile this image with the fact that they were human beings, with different facets to their personalities. I think The Monuments Men reflects this well regarding Hitler. Hannah Arendt discusses this wonderfully on The Origins of Totalitarianism and the rest of her work, so if you like philosophy, or political theory, try reading her books.

By: DoingDewey

DoingDewey — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 00:36:16 +0000

1. Me too! I don’t think I’d be brave enough to put myself through something like that, although I see the value in doing so.

2. Although I found it a bit creepy to think of Hitler as having human qualities like the lover of art, I shared your reaction to that statement. What made Hitler was not his humanity but his inhuman actions.

3. I’m glad you enjoyed the book! I liked it a lot too and can’t wait to see it made into a movie Thanks for participating in the read-along!

By: Kathy@Smile for no reason

Kathy@Smile for no reason — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 19:54:02 +0000

1. I would have been like Hancock and avoided viewing the concentration camps where horrible atrocities occurred. The pictures of the piles of shoes and the large box of wedding rings taken by the Germans was heart wrenching.

2. No, Hitler was just a sick, greedy individual.

3. I truly did enjoy this book. It was nowhere near any type of book I would have chose to read on my own. I am glad I participated in the readalong. It opened my eyes to be more open to many more types of books.
I look forward to discussing Divergent later this month.