[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum : Some Were Neighbors](http://somewereneighbors.ushmm.org/)
“Millions of ordinary people witnessed the crimes of the Holocaust—in the countryside and city squares, in stores and schools, in homes and workplaces. Across Europe, the Nazis found countless willing helpers who collaborated or were complicit in their crimes. What motives and pressures led so many individuals to abandon their fellow human beings? Why did others make the choice to help?”
1 - While true, the statement about [innocent] bystanders is problematic. What should have been the reaction of civilian Germans to the Nazis' rise? Should they all have endured persecution and/or death, or all have taken up arms against the regime? Would it have been martyrdom?
2 - And, as we have seen in other regimes and today in Syria, taking up arms is no guarantee of success; dictators can hold a country hostage with an ethnic minority just by controlling the armed forces. So we need to think really carefully about these things.
3 - I'm not comfortable with blaming all civilian Germans for what happened. I don't think it's fair. But what I really don't want is for Holocaust remembrance to become a trend, an easy, knee-jerk reaction for gentiles, something like Easter or Christmas. I think we all need to wrestle with the problem of evil in the world as it is, as we find it.
4 - I think the best you can say about the /practical/ problem of evil is that it is very difficult; that it prompts us to move from remembrance to analysis, to philosophical reflection over it. This is harder than gut reactions, and the answers may not come as clearly.
5 - In particular, I want to keep the civilian/military distinction quite sharp, a very bright line. I think the blurring of it, through conscription and other things, in our thinking, is one thing that has led to genocide being more likely than not.
6 - I know it is difficult to do this, of course; but since we are focused on /education/ as perhaps the main means by which future genocides may be prevented, I think that must be an essential part of our curriculum.
7 - If the global order were to be structured in such a way that genocide were made impossible, what would it look like? Would it make war impossible? Would it be through the UN, or some other vehicle? Would it require the abolition of nationalism? Is abolishing racism enough? Is the task practically impossible?
8 - I think /dehumanization/ is key to understanding this. The second world war was based on it. Was the first? I want to say no - a cursory look at the propaganda used in WWI confirms that, across countries, dehumanization was part of the war effort. The same was true of earlier conflicts. A cynic would say it was essential to the war effort - you can’t convince citizens to kill people in other countries for strategic reasons; you need to have your people /hate/ the enemy in order to kill them.
“Millions of ordinary people witnessed the crimes of the Holocaust—in the countryside and city squares, in stores and schools, in homes and workplaces. Across Europe, the Nazis found countless willing helpers who collaborated or were complicit in their crimes. What motives and pressures led so many individuals to abandon their fellow human beings? Why did others make the choice to help?”
1 - While true, the statement about [innocent] bystanders is problematic. What should have been the reaction of civilian Germans to the Nazis' rise? Should they all have endured persecution and/or death, or all have taken up arms against the regime? Would it have been martyrdom?
2 - And, as we have seen in other regimes and today in Syria, taking up arms is no guarantee of success; dictators can hold a country hostage with an ethnic minority just by controlling the armed forces. So we need to think really carefully about these things.
3 - I'm not comfortable with blaming all civilian Germans for what happened. I don't think it's fair. But what I really don't want is for Holocaust remembrance to become a trend, an easy, knee-jerk reaction for gentiles, something like Easter or Christmas. I think we all need to wrestle with the problem of evil in the world as it is, as we find it.
4 - I think the best you can say about the /practical/ problem of evil is that it is very difficult; that it prompts us to move from remembrance to analysis, to philosophical reflection over it. This is harder than gut reactions, and the answers may not come as clearly.
5 - In particular, I want to keep the civilian/military distinction quite sharp, a very bright line. I think the blurring of it, through conscription and other things, in our thinking, is one thing that has led to genocide being more likely than not.
6 - I know it is difficult to do this, of course; but since we are focused on /education/ as perhaps the main means by which future genocides may be prevented, I think that must be an essential part of our curriculum.
7 - If the global order were to be structured in such a way that genocide were made impossible, what would it look like? Would it make war impossible? Would it be through the UN, or some other vehicle? Would it require the abolition of nationalism? Is abolishing racism enough? Is the task practically impossible?
8 - I think /dehumanization/ is key to understanding this. The second world war was based on it. Was the first? I want to say no - a cursory look at the propaganda used in WWI confirms that, across countries, dehumanization was part of the war effort. The same was true of earlier conflicts. A cynic would say it was essential to the war effort - you can’t convince citizens to kill people in other countries for strategic reasons; you need to have your people /hate/ the enemy in order to kill them.
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