Modernity and the Holocaust

Author: (English) Zygmunt Bauman (Bauman.Z), translated by Yang Yudong and Shi Jianhua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: This is a powerful work reflecting on modernity. Renowned sociologist Zygmunt Bauman argues that the Holocaust was not merely a tragic event in Jewish history or an abnormal behavior of the German nation, but rather an inherent possibility of modernity itself. It is the essential elements of modernity that turn such inhumane tragedies as the Holocaust into a closely collaborative social collective action involving designers, executors, and victims. Moving from extreme rationality to extreme rationality, from high civilization to extreme barbarism—though seemingly paradoxical, it is actually logically inevitable. The path to salvation may lie in: under any circumstances, individuals unconditionally bear their moral responsibility.