a.

COMMUNITY VIEWS

Why The Atonement
And Why Now?

which sprouted the heinous German
Si
addition, societies can
have begun to wonder over the
manufactured Holocaust. Some have it.
no longer insulate
last few months about the ever
said that history will show that trends ="2
their citizenry from
increasing number of collective
which France originates, Germany
the real circumstances
apologies for the events of the
perfects. Thus, the present move of
of competitive soci-
Holocaust coming from government
varying
segments
of
French
society,
eties.
officials, church officials and, grudg-
including its medical association and 21
The dawning of
ingly, even from the Swiss bankers
police, makes the current phe-
this new era compels
- who are being "forced" to
nomenon even more interest-
governments, religious
account for their special brand
ing.
institutions and other
of "neutrality" which the
The trial in Bordeaux of
collective groups with-
Jewish community experienced
87-year-old Maurice Papon,
in society to confront
over a half century ago.
the
only
Vichy
official
to
be
the
reality of their
Why is it, as we move
put on trial for the deportation
behavior, both as a
towards the year 2000 on our
of French Jews into the
function of real time
civil calendars, we are experi-
Holocaust grist mill, is in and
events and as a func-
encing this outpouring of con-
of itself a startling event. Mr.
tion of historic legiti-
trition and expiation from the
MARK
Cohen's hypothesis is intrigu-
macy. Any society
Eastern Orthodox church, the
SCHLUSSEL
ing and meritorious, as the
which refuses to
Catholic church in France, the
Special to
close
of
the
20th
century
will
acknowledge its most
French Physicians Association
The Jewish
no doubt conclude what one
sordid
behavior and
and the government of France?
News
could argue is the most violent
which refuses to con-
One answer appeared in an
century in recorded history.
demn that behavior
article by Roger Cohen in the
One
could
look at the technological
and expiate its guilt
New York Times on Oct. 19, 1997. He
advances of the Industrial Revolution
will move forward
said, "As a bloody century wanes,
and
recognize
that
mankind's
scientific
with
an inability to
repentance is in vogue, a sort of global
advances
have
far
outstripped
purge
its soul and
purging of the soul before the
humankind's moral growth. The
spiritually elevate its
- _ Millennium." A world relatively
Holocaust was the event that crystal-
societal values.
becalmed, perhaps moderately bored,
lized
man's technological advance-
Thus, within the
is confronting the upheavals of the
ments, tied to the most debasing of
context of the water-
past hundred years as a form of atone-
human experiences.
Pierre Lenfant, president of the National Uniformed
shed changes which
ment.
Police,
reads
a
statement
apologizing
for
the
role
police
Roger
Cohen's
thesis
of
collective
are occurring, which
In France in particular this becomes
played
in
deporting
French
Jews.
atonement
does
not
go
far
enough
in
include
globalization
a very interesting question. As many
examining reasons for these startling
of economic enter-
commentators on the "Jewish ques-
and the dawn of this new era of the
confessional events. It is not only the
prises and the reduction of the rele-
tion" in Europe have noted, the
"information revolution" in which the
event
of
the
Millennium
which
is
gen-
vancy of national borders, particular-
Dreyfus Affair was the initial seedling
events of a turbulent world are piped
erating the acts of atonement. It is the
ly in Europe, those societies must
Mark Schlussel is past president of the
into our homes coterminous with the
societal transformations occurring at
reach for a common understanding of
Jewish Federation.
actual occurrence of the event. In
the end of the Industrial Revolution
WHY on page 31

I

-

EDITORS
NOTEBOO/C

Make The
Punishment
Fit The Crime

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Associate Editor

I have to hand it to
the state of
Massachusetts. Never
in my life would I
have imagined this
bastion of liberalism
sanctioning the death
penalty. Yet that's

what happened just days ago.
The decision was prompted by a
series of horrendous crimes, and many
of those lobbying the politicians were
families of the victims. I especially
recall one father whose teen-age son
had been murdered, and whose killer
would now be up for execution. "It's
not that everything is all right now; it
will never be all right," he said. "But at
least we'll have some sort of closure to
this."
And then came the critics, those
arrogant, self-righteous "experts" who
step forward to say we need more reha-
bilitation, more social-service pro-
grams, more compassion — as though
our priority should be the welfare of
criminals. Most stunning of all,
though, was their assertion that the
death penalty has not proven a deter-
rent to violent crime.
In fact, I have been following this
issue for many years and statistics, as

so often is true, aren't really valuable.
In some states with the death penalty,
crime is indeed lower; in others, it's
negligible.
But this isn't the issue. The issue is
that the death penalty is a punishment
— a severe punishment certainly, but
let the punishment fit the crime.
One of the most striking examples
is that of Westley Alan Dodd. Dodd's
crimes were too horrendous for me to
even begin to describe here; suffice it
to say they were any parent's worst
nightmare. Dodd, who eventually was
executed in Washington state, was
interviewed at length before his death,
and I was fascinated to hear that he
was never abused, never abandoned,
never really mistreated in a way that
might make you wonder, "So, is that
why he turned out like that?" He sim-
ply enjoyed killing.
There's no chance a guy like this is
going to be rehabilitated (although just

before he was hung he claimed to have
"found Jesus" which, he said, would
help him turn his life around). Had he
not been executed, Dodd would have
spent the rest of his life behind bars,
certainly not a pleasant existence, but
he would have been alive — alive to
read a good book from time to time,
to breath fresh air for an hour or two
each day, to enjoy a cup of coffee in
the morning. All this, while parents of
the victims grieve for eternity in ways
unimaginable, suffer in ways for which
there is no language.
In a recent issue of The New Yorker,
a New York judge who had presided
over many cases where the death
penalty was imposed said that an often
neglected but key question in such
debates must be, does executing of the
criminal bring any peace to the family
of the victim? He had no doubt that it
did. In fact, he used the same words of

PUNISHMENT on page 31

11/14
1997

29