After Dachau
Encyclopedia
After Dachau is a novel written by Ishmael
author Daniel Quinn
that was published in 2001.
. People have souls that pass on to other individuals and give them their memories, usually alongside, but sometimes in place of their own memories.
The story focuses on Mallory Gabus, a recently reincarnated woman and her fascinating integration into the new world. She recalls and narrates her experiences and memories of Hitler's victory, which allowed Hitler to bring his desire for an "Aryan" world to fruition. She realizes all that went wrong. The Nazis had won World War II
and purged their empire of all non-whites, then rewrote history so as to say that Dachau, a concentration camp, was instead a battle with Adolf Hitler
as its hero.
After Hitler's victory, the Third Reich is solely Aryan
, the Aryans have killed all non-Aryans in their new empire. They now use A.D. to refer to After Dachau, the turning point in their civilization, and A.D.-A.D. to refer to our A.D.
Mallory was (re-)born in 1922 A.D.-A.D. as an Afro-American female in New York.
We find out that the Nazi purges in the Third Reich have started to have a cultural effect on America, and soon Jews
are being executed. Blacks
are being "repatriated", which turns out to mean: put into concentration camps. Mallory, hides out with her lover in the N.Y.
underground and makes a life until their hiding place is discovered by police. At that point, they commit suicide rather than being taken alive or executed.
The narrator, in an attempt to publicize the story and the atrocities the Aryans committed, contacts a newspaper and other news media. His investigation gets him sequestered in an unknown location until he can write three words upon a chalkboard
. The words turn out to be "No One Cares", and, as it turns out, no one does.
The narrator explains that he cares, and he doesn't care if others don't care, he is still going to pursue this for his own personal interest. He opens an exhibit displaying relics from the old world, including works by Jewish authors such as Albert Einstein
and Sigmund Freud
.
The narrator receives a gift from his "uncle" (the man who imprisoned him), and expresses his intent to publish the gift. He opens a shop where he displays pictures of Africans that had been saved in Mallory's hideout.
Finally, one night, someone throws a brick through the gallery's windows, prompting the narrator to conclude that somebody "does care". The last line reveals that the gift is the diary of a young girl written during World War II, the Diary of Anne Frank.
The major theme of this book is the social constructedness of history and of what we take to be the foundations of social reality
. In this book, Quinn uses the example of the Holocaust to make his argument - he suggests that had history gone slightly differently (i.e. had the Germans won World War II
), we might have been fooled into thinking of a monstrous evil as something not really worth concerning ourselves with. This dovetails with his other work, in that much of Quinn's work focuses on re-telling the conventionally accepted narrative of human progress over the last 10,000 years in a way that he hopes will inspire people to be horrified and realize the need to change course with regard to humanity's relationship to its environment.
Other points made:
1. Capitalism
and the progress with it, is a Jewish invention, the Aryan (and a very collectivist) motto being "if it works why change it?"
2. History is written by the winners, and at such a distant point it does not really matter anymore because humans are resigned to bad action, which is explained via "No One Cares."
3. The view of history is a very Neo-Nazi view of the modern world.
4. A person's body does not constitute who they are.
Ishmael (novel)
Ishmael is a 1992 philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn. It examines mythology, its effect on ethics, and how that relates to sustainability. The novel uses a style of Socratic dialogue to deconstruct the notion that humans are the end product, the pinnacle of biological evolution...
author Daniel Quinn
Daniel Quinn
Daniel Quinn is an American writer described as an environmentalist. He is best known for his book Ishmael , which won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award in 1991....
that was published in 2001.
Plot summary
The story is narrated by a young rich man, heir to a huge sum of money. He devotes his life to an organization called "We Live Again" which investigates the reality of reincarnationReincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
. People have souls that pass on to other individuals and give them their memories, usually alongside, but sometimes in place of their own memories.
The story focuses on Mallory Gabus, a recently reincarnated woman and her fascinating integration into the new world. She recalls and narrates her experiences and memories of Hitler's victory, which allowed Hitler to bring his desire for an "Aryan" world to fruition. She realizes all that went wrong. The Nazis had won World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and purged their empire of all non-whites, then rewrote history so as to say that Dachau, a concentration camp, was instead a battle with Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
as its hero.
After Hitler's victory, the Third Reich is solely Aryan
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
, the Aryans have killed all non-Aryans in their new empire. They now use A.D. to refer to After Dachau, the turning point in their civilization, and A.D.-A.D. to refer to our A.D.
Mallory was (re-)born in 1922 A.D.-A.D. as an Afro-American female in New York.
We find out that the Nazi purges in the Third Reich have started to have a cultural effect on America, and soon Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
are being executed. Blacks
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
are being "repatriated", which turns out to mean: put into concentration camps. Mallory, hides out with her lover in the N.Y.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
underground and makes a life until their hiding place is discovered by police. At that point, they commit suicide rather than being taken alive or executed.
The narrator, in an attempt to publicize the story and the atrocities the Aryans committed, contacts a newspaper and other news media. His investigation gets him sequestered in an unknown location until he can write three words upon a chalkboard
Chalkboard
A chalkboard or blackboard is a reusable writing surface on which text or drawings are made with sticks of calcium sulfate or calcium carbonate, known, when used for this purpose, as chalk. Chalkboards were originally made of smooth, thin sheets of black or dark grey slate stone...
. The words turn out to be "No One Cares", and, as it turns out, no one does.
The narrator explains that he cares, and he doesn't care if others don't care, he is still going to pursue this for his own personal interest. He opens an exhibit displaying relics from the old world, including works by Jewish authors such as Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
and Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
.
The narrator receives a gift from his "uncle" (the man who imprisoned him), and expresses his intent to publish the gift. He opens a shop where he displays pictures of Africans that had been saved in Mallory's hideout.
Finally, one night, someone throws a brick through the gallery's windows, prompting the narrator to conclude that somebody "does care". The last line reveals that the gift is the diary of a young girl written during World War II, the Diary of Anne Frank.
Major themes
To novice eyes, reincarnation would appear to be a major theme of the book. However, this is not the case. Quinn has stated that he merely used reincarnation as a convenient vehicle for telling his story, and that he does not endorse (or oppose) the idea of reincarnation.The major theme of this book is the social constructedness of history and of what we take to be the foundations of social reality
Social reality
Social reality is distinct from biological reality or individual cognitive reality, and has been defined as 'a level of phenomena that emerges through social interactions and that cannot be reduced to the intentions of individuals'....
. In this book, Quinn uses the example of the Holocaust to make his argument - he suggests that had history gone slightly differently (i.e. had the Germans won World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
), we might have been fooled into thinking of a monstrous evil as something not really worth concerning ourselves with. This dovetails with his other work, in that much of Quinn's work focuses on re-telling the conventionally accepted narrative of human progress over the last 10,000 years in a way that he hopes will inspire people to be horrified and realize the need to change course with regard to humanity's relationship to its environment.
Other points made:
1. Capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and the progress with it, is a Jewish invention, the Aryan (and a very collectivist) motto being "if it works why change it?"
2. History is written by the winners, and at such a distant point it does not really matter anymore because humans are resigned to bad action, which is explained via "No One Cares."
3. The view of history is a very Neo-Nazi view of the modern world.
4. A person's body does not constitute who they are.