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The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust

Amos N. Guiora (Goodreads Author)

3.35 · Rating details · 40 ratings · 13 reviews

If you are a bystander and witness a crime, should intervention to prevent that crime be a legal obligation? Or is moral responsibility enough?

Amos Guiora addresses these profoundly important questions and the bystander-victim relationship from a deeply personal and legal perspective, focusing on the Holocaust and then exploring cases in contemporary society.

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Hardcover, 220 pages

Published April 1st 2017 by Ankerwycke

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Sep 15, 2019 Jill Meyer rated it liked it

Even after reading and thinking a lot about lawyer Amos Guiora's, 'The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust", I'm still disturbed and confused about the book. Guiora who was born in Israel and raised in both the United States and Israel, has practiced law in both countries. Currently, he works at the University of Utah and is the author many books on terrorism and world affairs. He is also the son of Holocaust survivors, and it is the ideas of "standing by" while others are taken Even after reading and thinking a lot about lawyer Amos Guiora's, 'The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust", I'm still disturbed and confused about the book. Guiora who was born in Israel and raised in both the United States and Israel, has practiced law in both countries. Currently, he works at the University of Utah and is the author many books on terrorism and world affairs. He is also the son of Holocaust survivors, and it is the ideas of "standing by" while others are taken that is the subject of this book.

Guiora's family on both sides were Hungarian Jews. His paternal grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz when the Germans invaded Hungary in Spring, 1944. His father survived the war but was in a work camp, and his mother and grandmother survived the Nazi occupation of Budapest through basically moving around and just plain luck. They were selected to be murdered by the Arrow Cross - the Hungarian Nazis - but the shooting in stopped before it reached them. Both parents emigrated to Israel after the war, met, and married.

Amos Guiora's book attempts to make sense out of how Jews were rounded up and sent to the concentration camps. He looks at the "bystanders" - those Christians who watched silently as their Jewish friends and neighbors were marched off to those trains that took them to their fates. He also looks at others who actually aided in the Nazi's attempts to make Europe "Judenrein". He makes the valid point that in Holland, Hungary, and Germany people knew bad things were going on to the Jews taken. As the war dragged on, the horrors of the camps were becoming known. But why did most people do nothing to help? I think almost everyone knows that abject fear kept most people from helping. Fear of getting involved in a dangerous situation and maybe being taken themselves.

Okay, some Christians helped their neighbors. Jews were hidden by people who cared, who weren't scared of the authorities, and were in a position to help. But most did not and I can understand why most did not. It's called human nature and its unfortunately a primal force in most humans.

And here's where Amos Giora's book seems to go off track. He writes about people who help other people in trouble and people who don't. People who watch or ignore bad situations they could help. He uses himself as an example when he writes about ignoring the cries of a young boy who has been locked out of his house on a cold night by his parents, apparently as some form of punishment. He doesn't call the police to help the child, even though he admits he could have done so anonymously. No, he just goes about his business and assumes the boy was let into his house eventually. This part of the book is at 63% and is titled "My Neighbor's Child". I went back and reread the passage several times to make sure I was interpreting it correctly. I thought he could be writing it as a hypothetical situation, but he wasn't. It really happened. He doesn't refer to it again in the book that I can find.

I was so disturbed by this one point because it was written with a blandness I could find nowhere else in the book. He rightly castigates others for basically doing the same thing, in different circumstances. Now, perhaps he was pointing out that ANYBODY could ignore the plight of others in troubled times. I just don't know and, in a way, it upsets the book's major point. ...more

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Jan 28, 2019 Anneke van Dijken rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Bij het zien van de foto op de cover van Medeplichtig van Amos N. Guiora weet je meteen waar het boek over zal gaan. De titel in de combinatie met de bloedrode kleur van de cover zegt genoeg. Het geeft aan dat ook de omstanders bloed aan hun handen hebben. De vraag is of dat ook zo is. Je wordt heel erg nieuwsgierig naar de mening van de auteur. Het is in ieder geval een heel interessant onderwerp die je aan het denken zet en misschien heb je jezelf al wel eens deze vraag afgevraagd als je weer ...more

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Apr 26, 2017 Chaunceton Bird rated it really liked it

In this book, law professor Amos Guiora provides a persuasive argument for the creation of a new law: one that compels bystanders to intervene or face criminal punishment. There are, of course, factors of the new law that make it more reasonable than any single sentence could. Professor Guiora's argument is well-thought-out and clearly articulated.

At times it felt like there was some fluff, but overall the book tracked well and got to the point without meandering too far. ...more

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Jan 09, 2019 Quirky Shauna rated it liked it

Shelves: holocaust, non-fiction, utah-mention, history

“Poet Edward Yashinsky: “Fear only the indifferent who permit the killers and betrayers to walk safely on the earth.””

Interestingly, Amos Guiora, is a Professor of Law at the University of Utah. He’s also a Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) in the Israel Defense Forces. His parents survived the Holocaust; his grandparents did not. In this book he discusses"how" the Holocaust happened and explores current crimes when the victim was harmed because a bystander did nothing to intervene or call 911 for help. “Poet Edward Yashinsky: “Fear only the indifferent who permit the killers and betrayers to walk safely on the earth.””

Interestingly, Amos Guiora, is a Professor of Law at the University of Utah. He’s also a Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) in the Israel Defense Forces. His parents survived the Holocaust; his grandparents did not. In this book he discusses"how" the Holocaust happened and explores current crimes when the victim was harmed because a bystander did nothing to intervene or call 911 for help. He believes that legislation is needed to compel bystanders to “do the right thing” and intervene when witnessing a crime.

I admit, in the beginning, this did seem a bit excessive. However, I found his argument compelling and the proposed legislation very reasonable: “Any person at the scene of an emergency who knows that another person is exposed to or has suffered grave physical harm, shall, to the extent that the person can do so without danger or peril to self or others, give reasonable assistance to the exposed person. Reasonable assistance may include obtaining or attempting to obtain aid from law enforcement or medical personnel. A person who violates this section shall be fined not more that $500.”

I believe most of us will choose to intervene, to help, to offer assistance, to call 911 instead of looking the other way or ignoring the situation.

However, there are some who need a law to compel them to do the right thing. This example solidified the concept for me and I support legislation. It is from a horrific gang-rape case at Vanderbilt University in 2013.

“The bystander [Mack Prioleau], a fellow football player, pretended to be asleep on the upper bunk while the victim was raped, sodomized an otherwise violated for over thirty minutes…He testified that he knew exactly what was going on but failed to intervene because the situation ‘made him uncomfortable.’ ….he was not charged with any crime , nor was he suspended from the university.”

Unbelievable.
So I did some research. If other witnesses are present, people are less likely to help a victim. This is called the Bystander Effect. To rephrase, ‘ the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that one of them will help.’ (Wikipedia)

Only 10 states have duty-to-act legislation: California, Florida, Hawaii,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Last year in 2018, the Utah legislature failed to pass a duty-to-assist bill sponsored by Rep. Brian King. I’m incredibly disappointed. ...more

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Sep 12, 2017 Erika Jost rated it did not like it

This was frustrating to read. I am intrigued by the example of the bystander in the Holocaust: how does the bystander (who is not directly victimized) act morally in opposition to the immoral acts of the state? This question is difficult and relevant, and the answer necessarily exists outside the legal system of that state.

However, that question is not addressed in this book. Somehow, this author reflects on the Holocaust and concludes that there is a legal solution to the bystander problem: the ...more

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Feb 11, 2018 Monical rated it it was ok

The author is a lawyer, and can't seem to escape a "lawyerly" approach to his book on the role of bystanders in the holocaust. He also can't stay on topic, as he brings in other examples of bystanders failing to aid victims during crimes. I think this book was cathartic for the author, as his parents and grandparents were survivors and victims, respectively, of the holocaust, and he seems haunted by the circumstances of their persecution. That issue is why I was interested in the book and picked ...more

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Jan 21, 2021 Karla Jay rated it liked it

This is for research and I found a few ideas I hadn't previously known. It's more of an important, cathartic journey for the author, I feel, which he deserves. ...more

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Jun 14, 2017 Greta rated it really liked it

Thought provoking.
Compelling.

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Dec 07, 2017 Katie rated it did not like it · review of another edition

The author needed a good editor to make this book readable and reduce the redundancy.

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Apr 07, 2018 Rochelle rated it it was ok

Good theory and ideas. Not well written. Redundant an scattered.

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Oct 06, 2017 Iris Rosen rated it really liked it

Extremely thought provoking.

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Feb 22, 2019 Julia rated it really liked it

As a U Alum, I receive their periodical magazines, and saw a blurb about this book. I had to read it.
This was essentially a 200+ page persuasive essay and I found it thought-provoking, engrossing, and compelling. Mr. Guiora is careful to consider what naysayers would say about his proposal: criminalizing bystanders that don't notify the authorities when a victim is in danger. The Holocaust was a fascinating and frightening context for which the book was laid out. I found my natural curiosity o ...more

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