ia_2011_c_nash

=Evaluation of Sources (250-400 words) Tips]=

Film, Boys from Brazil, Director: Franklin J. Schaffner, Writer/Author: Ira Levin

This representation can be useful to the historian. In terms of origins, the film was made during the 1970s, shortly after the book, and so does provide the historian with the gift of hindsight. The author and writer, Ira Levin is Jewish, and although it would be a lazy assumption to say that he was touched and affected by the Holocaust and this was visible through his writings, in fact he seems to be relatively untouched; providing me with maybe a more objective point of view than I first suspected. He grew up in the United States throughout the rise and fall of the Nazis, and did not appear to suffer from the events of the 30s and 40s. When it comes to purpose, the film was one of the first films meant to inform the public of the upcoming possibility of cloning, and the discovery of DNA; but also of Nazi principles and the prospect of it returning to the world. the accuracy of the science in the film and book is astonishing compared to other works such as "They Saved Hitler's Brain" as Scott Ashlin says, "As for the science, it’s all but impeccable in the context of the late 1970’s... //The Boys from Brazil// is just about the only movie I can think of that makes a serious effort to address the messier environmental aspects of the problem of cloning. ... a film in which the entire plot hinges on the necessity of reproducing the environment in which the original person was raised is more than welcome."[1]In terms of limitations for origins of the film, although it was made with hindsight, this also brought subjective nature. This means that producers twist the film so it would be impossible for us to formulate our own opinion. Also, it is a fictional, farfetched representation used to entertain the public. There a several inaccuracies, such as whether Mengele ever experimented on humans again. Another grave inaccuracy that not only the film makes, but also the majority of people who are not familiar with Mengele is that it was he who was chief Doctor at Auschwitz. His name was first mentioned by a character who believed that he had sighted the doctor; the response he gets from the Nazi hunter is "Dr. Mengele? The man who ran Auschwitz? The Angel of Death?"[2] In no way did Mengele run the Auschwitz concentration camp, Levin is entirely historically inaccurate here, but this book and movie spread the Mengele myth significantly.[3]

Mengele the Complete Story by Gerald L. Posner and John Ware

When critiquing the book //Mengele The Complete Story// I must also look at its values and limitation. The book can be extremely useful for the historian, as it can also bring wisdom with hindsight, as it was published in 1986. it also contains hundreds of useful sources from other witnesses and people who worked and encountered Mengele; which provides a balanced and very well supplemented book. In terms of limitations, this book is can be scrutinized. In terms of origins, the witnesses had been victims of concentration camps, and so it would be expected to shed a miserable light upon the ‘Angel of Death’. even the authors themselves, are unreliable, as they talk about the ‘allegations’ which Mengele is supposed to have committed. //‘alleged to have operated on the sex organs of males prisoners’,//[4] //‘he is said to have 'thrown a newborn baby on a stove’;//[5] //‘he is said to have stood on pregnant women’s stomachs until the fetuses were expelled.’// [6] and finally, 'he is said to have forced a mother...to cover her breasts with tape "to see how long the baby could live without food."'[7] None of these ‘allegations’ have evidence to support Mengele’s evil persona. Unfortunately, the main author of the book Posner, is renowned for plagiarism. He has been sued for plagiarism in his book Miami Babylon[8], and the book Mengele the Complete Story has been widely discredited, being quoted as a 'dishonest book' [9]. Posner cannot be trusted when he claims that the evidence against Mengele is overwhelming: “Although some inmates who knew Mengele have testified that they never saw him commit an act of violence,” Posner writes, “there are witnesses to corroborate every one of these extraordinary allegations”. Of course all we have is the witness testimony. What Posner calls “the most damning and complete document (...) ever compiled against [Mengele]”, a series of indictments drawn up by the West German Prosecutor’s Office, is in fact almost exclusively based on witness testimony.[10] Revisionist Robert Faurisson does not trust Posner, saying, 'I am thinking in particular about one piece entitled "Fiat Lux" (mentioned on page 316); the title leads me to think that in it Mengele might shed light on what really happened at Auschwitz. I am not alone in thinking that Posner, Rolf Mengele and the whole group of supposed experts or researchers are hiding some documents from us.' [11]

[1] http://www.1000misspenthours.com/reviews/reviewsa-d/boysfrombrazil.htm //Last Accessed = 04/10/10//

[2] The man who actually ran Auschwitz was in fact Rudolf Hess, and the Chief Medical Officer was Dr. Eduard Wirths. Josef Mengele was actually Hauptsturmführer, and Chief Medical Officer of the Gyspy and then the Main Infirmary Camp

[3] http://mason.gmu.edu/~rerbeldi/popculture.html //Last Accessed = 04/10/10//


 * [4]** Posner, Gerald L., and John Ware. //Mengele: the Complete Story//. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. ISBN 0-8154-1006-9 "// Auschwitz: May 1943-January 1945 . //" 44. Print.


 * [5]** Posner, Gerald L., and John Ware. //Mengele: the Complete Story//. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. ISBN 0-8154-1006-9 "// Auschwitz: May 1943-January 1945 . //" 45. Print.


 * [6]** Posner, Gerald L., and John Ware. //Mengele: the Complete Story//. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. ISBN 0-8154-1006-9 "// Auschwitz: May 1943-January 1945 . //" 44. Print.


 * [7]** Posner, Gerald L., and John Ware. //Mengele: the Complete Story//. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. ISBN 0-8154-1006-9 "// Auschwitz: May 1943-January 1945 . //" 44. Print.

[8] http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/09/frank_owen_sues_gerald_posner.php //Last Accessed = 04/10/10//

[9] http://www.codoh.com/review/revmengele.html //Last Accessed = 04/10/10//

[10] Ibid

[11]http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v09/v09p--5_Faurisson.html //Last Accessed = 04/10/10//