Nazis decided to commit genocide. Was this always Hitler's intention from the beginning? If not, why and when did it change? If so, why the various policy changes? Please illustrate your answer with specific historical examples.
While the process of killing a lot of people in a dedicated and concentrated fashion might seem easy enough, that was far from being the case. One method that was ruled out right away was the use of bullets due to the cost and time involved. There was also deemed to be a toll… Continue Reading...
began in the United States during the 1920s reached a brutal extreme with the Nazis’ experimentation with improving the racial stock of human beings through controlled breeding, and this movement would have significant implications well into the 21st century (Sutton, 2015). Many practitioners today, though, may be unaware of organized psychology’s role in contributing to the eugenics movement during the 20th century (Newhouse, 2016). To gain some new insights into this issue, this paper reviews the relevant primary and secondary literature concerning organized psychology’s long involvement in the eugenics movement and how this involvement provided the scientific basis for the selective breeding and extermination… Continue Reading...
status when the Nazis came to power. Klemperer's area of academic interest was Voltaire, not anything pertaining to Jewish theology. Thus, his life experience is particularly illustrative of the extent to which even relatively educated, assimilated and privileged Jews were affected by Nazism. Klemperer's life also shows how relatively assimilated many Jews were and the extent to which Hitler's rise to power came as a surprise. "Again it's astounding how everything collapses," mused Klemperer.[footnoteRef:2] [1: Martin Chalmers, "Introduction," to I Will Bear Witness, Volume 1: A Diary of the Nazi Years: 1933-1941 by… Continue Reading...
it considers its foe as something less than human beings. According to Smith (2011): "The Nazis really considered Jews to be less than human. It is also how Japanese invaders conceived of their Chinese victims during the Nanjing Massacre... and how Hutu genocidaires regarded their Tutsi compatriots... This list could be extended indefinitely." It is critical to denote that each of the examples the author lists are of actual genocides in which the attacking group considered the other less than human. Thus, there is a direct correlation between dehumanization and genocide, as the former is a huge part in the enactment of the latter.
It… Continue Reading...
Nazis regarded members of the Resistance as heroic figures, while the Nazis themselves regarded the Resistance as the enemy. Similarly, during the Civil War, the Confederate Army regarded themselves as noble defenders of their way of life, while the federal government regarded them as traitors. Donald Trump has positioned himself as a defender of border security, while those who oppose him regard his position as racist. Alinsky would suggest that this polarization cannot be overcome easily through compromise, and is not based in rules or genuine outrage over Trump’s manipulation… Continue Reading...
