Riddle

“Who killed the Jews?”  This question appears four times throughout Riddle, and four times it remains unanswered; and it is this question that forms the subject, or rather “riddle,” of the poem. Yet, these questions serve not to ask but rather imply an answer through the use of rhetorical questions.  Overall Riddle articulates the shared fault of all those involved in the Holocaust.  Therefore the speaker finds it impossible to answer the question he poses.  This clearly illustrates the mutual involvement of all parties, and not a single entity in this tragedy.  The author’s intent is further accentuated through other rhetorical questions in the work.   As he attempts to answer who killed the Jews he asks “Were they Germans?  Were they Nazis?/  Were they human?” (27-28).  In asking these rhetorical questions in sequence, the author demonstrates directly the various groups involved.  By listing these multiple groups, to which blame is directed, consecutively the author concisely demonstrates the inability to simply blame a single entity.

Furthermore repetition within the poem serves to identify the plurality of those responsible.  In the second stanza a response comes to the question “who killed the Jews”, “Not I, cries the typist, / not I, cries the engineer, / not I, cries Adolf Eichmann, / not I, cries Albert Speer” (5-8).  In this response four different individuals are presented, two general occupations and two specific people.  They all vary, and none directly killed the Jews, however the repetition of “Not I” associates all four individuals, and places their responsibility on equal grounds.  This repetition illustrates their collaborative fault, and distinguishes no single party that is responsible.  Additional repetition appears in describing the murder of the Jews referring to each action in the murder specifically, each perpetrated by “some men” “and some.” Not only are these subjects plural, as is the authors point, but they are also unnamed.  These indescript individuals represent the large whole of people responsible for the Holocaust and the repetition of their involvement, articulates the authors purpose that all those involved share responsibility for the Holocaust.