MaxedOutMama
Monday, January 24, 2005
Mass Murder And Its Roots
What we speak of when we remember the Holocaust and Auschwitz is mass murder, a bureaucratic murder that was committed with intent, planning, forethought, a certain legalistic ritualism, and a species of idealism.
Arthur Chrenkoff has posted about the UN's session on genocide and the Holocaust. I would far rather you read what he has written than what I write. Arthur closes his post with this:
What did happen, and who was guilty? Tom Carter has an excellent post that reviews the facts of what happened, and asks another important question - "Why did and how could this happen?"
Most of the answers to the question of "why" can be found here, in UPenn's translation of the Wannsee Conference. If you have never read it, I recommend that you do. As for who was guilty, of course the Nazis were guilty in the first degree. But so many countries refused refugees (refused to save some of those they could have saved) that there is plenty of guilt to go around. It can be argued that the populations of other countries could not have imagined the barbarity that was to come, but then Hitler had been quite clear about his beliefs in Mein Kampf. The press had reported Kristallnacht and similar events. The Nuremberg Laws were not a secret, and foreign governments had already intervened on behalf of a few individuals affected.
I think the most honest way to describe the lack of recognition of the true danger in other countries is that it was a convenient ignorance, and one reinforced by anti-Semitism and eugenic beliefs in many other nations. The links I am posting here are either related to German history or US history, but these laws were hardly unique to two nations.
Ah, yes. The Nuremberg Laws seem to have been inspired by some US efforts along the lines of racial purity:
The Nazis intended to get rid of over 11 million people. The numbers and the territories are carefully itemized in the report. And they did intend to get rid of them, completely and absolutely:
There was another problem - some Jews (despite their inferiority!) were doing essential defense work:
As Tom Carter wrote in his post on the Holocaust:
I reject bad science because it may have many outcomes. I reject foolish ideals because someone may carry them to their logical conclusion and kill people with them. I exercise my own judgment about some political matters, because my father refused to let us view the Holocaust as having happened "over there" and having been done by "them". The older I get, the more I comprehend how right he was and the more grateful I am for the sandpaper he applied to my ego when I was very young. In my opinion, when remembering the Holocaust one has to get one's pronouns straightened out.
Q: Who committed the crime?
A: Most of the western world had a hand in stirring this pot. We did.
Q: Who were the victims of this crime?
A: Those we called "they". At that time they were the Jews, the ill, the social misfits, the dissenters caught in the cauldron of madness that was Nazi-occupied territory.
Q: Why did we do it?
A: Because we are human, and the human race has a severe tendency towards self-righteousness, apathy in the face of others' suffering and danger, and idealistic deeds of violence. This we must fight.
(Note, I updated this post to straighten out a few of the most tangled sentences. This is such a heart-wrenching topic that I find it difficult to write about clearly. All I can achieve is honesty.)
Arthur Chrenkoff has posted about the UN's session on genocide and the Holocaust. I would far rather you read what he has written than what I write. Arthur closes his post with this:
And so, sadly, sixty years on, we still live in a world where the very terms like "genocide" and "Holocaust" are political and rhetorical footballs and where historical commemorations get invariably marred by present-day politics, all at the same time when the world community keeps repeating the mantra of "never again", knowing full well that never again has already happened many times in the past and will, with a sickening inevitability, happen many times in the future.Exactly. If you feel skeptical about Arthur's words, keep reading. Otherwise, you get a free ticket off to a happier and gentler place, because I am in no mood for hypocrisy tonight.
What did happen, and who was guilty? Tom Carter has an excellent post that reviews the facts of what happened, and asks another important question - "Why did and how could this happen?"
Most of the answers to the question of "why" can be found here, in UPenn's translation of the Wannsee Conference. If you have never read it, I recommend that you do. As for who was guilty, of course the Nazis were guilty in the first degree. But so many countries refused refugees (refused to save some of those they could have saved) that there is plenty of guilt to go around. It can be argued that the populations of other countries could not have imagined the barbarity that was to come, but then Hitler had been quite clear about his beliefs in Mein Kampf. The press had reported Kristallnacht and similar events. The Nuremberg Laws were not a secret, and foreign governments had already intervened on behalf of a few individuals affected.
I think the most honest way to describe the lack of recognition of the true danger in other countries is that it was a convenient ignorance, and one reinforced by anti-Semitism and eugenic beliefs in many other nations. The links I am posting here are either related to German history or US history, but these laws were hardly unique to two nations.
Ah, yes. The Nuremberg Laws seem to have been inspired by some US efforts along the lines of racial purity:
Please take special note of the similarity between these laws and the Jim Crow Laws which were passed in the United States following the Compromise of 1877, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy vs Ferguson (1896) and remained in effect until the court reversed the "separate but equal doctrine in Brown vs the Board of Education of Topeka (1954). It is clear that Hitler used the Jim Crow segregation statutes as his model for defining Jews in the Third Reich.The Nuremberg Laws (a full exposition here) removed the rights of German citizenship from those defined as "racial Jews", (followed by a useful regulation defining a Jew more precisely), forbade intermarriage, and (not solely applied to Jews) allowed sterilization of those deemed to suffer from inheritable diseases. Sterilization of those deemed "unfit" was practiced in the United States in the 1930's, by the way. There was a strong US eugenics movement:
Eugenicists effectively lobbied for social legislation to keep racial and ethnic groups separate, to restrict immigration from southern and eastern Europe, and to sterilize people considered "genetically unfit." Elements of the American eugenics movement were models for the Nazis, whose radical adaptation of eugenics culminated in the Holocaust.You can read about the US marriage laws here, sterilization laws here, and immigration restrictions here, and then you will stop feeling smug about not being German. One reason the US didn't accept all the Jewish refugees the Germans were willing to bestow upon us was:
The resulting law, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1924, was designed consciously to halt the immigration of supposedly "dysgenic" Italians and eastern European Jews, whose numbers had mushroomed during the period from 1900 to 1920. The method was simply to scale the number of immigrants from each country in proportion to their percentage of the U.S. population in the 1890 census – when northern and western Europeans were the dominant immigrants. Under the new law, the quota of southern and eastern Europeans was reduced from 45% to 15%. The 1924 Act ended the greatest era of immigration in U.S. history.Not that the Nuremberg laws violated any Jew's human rights, of course:
The Fuehrer emphasized especially that in accordance with these Laws the Jews in Germany were offered opportunities of living their own national ( voelkisch ) life in all areas, as they had never been able to do in any other country. With a view to this the Fuehrer reiterated his order to the Party to avoid all individual actions against Jews, as before.Kind of him, but should the gratitude of the Jews for all these wonderful voelkisch opportunities not be fully manifested, Hitler himself warned of dire consequences:
This international unrest in the world would unfortunately seem to have given rise to the view amongst the Jews within Germany that the time has come openly to oppose Jewish interests to those of the German nation. From numerous places vigorous complaints have been received of the provocative action of individuals belonging to this people, and the remarkable frequency of these reports and the similarity of their contents point to a certain system of operation.Long before the Wannsee Conference, the Jews had been identified as an enemy of the German people, an impurity which had to be eradicated from the bloodstream of the Volk and history (due to a projected future lack of gratitude for all the voelkisch opportunities vouchsafed to them under the Reich). The participants of the Wannsee conference had a deadline of October 31, 1941 to "cleanse German living space". The first attempts had been forced emigration (the excerpts that follow are from the conference report):
...The only way to deal with the problem which remains open is that of legislative action. The German Government is in this controlled by the thought that through a single secular solution it may be possible still to create a level ground [eine Ebene] on which the German people may find a tolerable relation towards the Jewish people. Should this hope not be fulfilled and the Jewish agitation both within Germany and in the international sphere should continue, then the position must be examined afresh.
The aim of all this was to cleanse German living space ofEven as a child, more than 30 years ago, our schoolbooks told of shiploads of desperate Jews being turned away from many countries, including the US. We simply would not accept all the people the Nazis wished to send. There was a lot of anti-immigration sentiment in this country, and a lot of anti-Semitism. And then there were those laws about limiting "undesirable immigration".
Jews in a legal manner.
All the offices realized the drawbacks of such enforced
accelerated emigration. For the time being they had, however,
tolerated it on account of the lack of other possible solutions
of the problem.
The work concerned with emigration was, later on, not only a
German problem, but also a problem with which the authorities of
the countries to which the flow of emigrants was being directed
would have to deal. Financial difficulties, such as the demand
by various foreign governments for increasing sums of money to be
presented at the time of the landing, the lack of shipping space,
increasing restriction of entry permits, or the cancelling of
such, increased extraordinarily the difficulties of emigration.
In spite of these difficulties, 537,000 Jews were sent out of the
country between the takeover of power and the deadline of 31
October 1941.
The Nazis intended to get rid of over 11 million people. The numbers and the territories are carefully itemized in the report. And they did intend to get rid of them, completely and absolutely:
Under proper guidance, in the course of the final solutionThey knew there would be a few public relations problems, and were willing to make a compromise or two with Theresienstadt:
the Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the East.
Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in
large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the
course of which action doubtless a large portion will be
eliminated by natural causes.
The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly
consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated
accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and
would, if released, act as a the seed of a new Jewish revival
(see the experience of history.)
It is not intended to evacuate Jews over 65 years old, butForeign groups inquiring after the Jews were somtimes taken to Theresienstadt, which was not a death camp. Those at the conference were reasonably optimistic about the prospects for success in most of Nazi-occupied territory:
to send them to an old-age ghetto - Theresienstadt is being
considered for this purpose.
In addition to these age groups - of the approximately
280,000 Jews in Germany proper and Austria on 31 October 1941,
approximately 30% are over 65 years old - severely wounded
veterans and Jews with war decorations (Iron Cross I) will be
accepted in the old-age ghettos. With this expedient solution,
in one fell swoop many interventions will be prevented.
In occupied and unoccupied France, the registration of JewsThere were a few worries when considering those of mixed blood and their children. Under certain circumstances they were prepared to permit German-appearing persons of mixed blood to live if sterilized. There was some dissent about the difficulties of such excessively complicated distinctions:
for evacuation will in all probability proceed without great
difficulty.
Under Secretary of State Luther calls attention in this
matter to the fact that in some countries, such as the
Scandinavian states, difficulties will arise if this problem is
dealt with thoroughly and that it will therefore be advisable to
defer actions in these countries. Besides, in view of the small
numbers of Jews affected, this deferral will not cause any
substantial limitation.
The Foreign Office sees no great difficulties for southeast
and western Europe.
SS-Gruppenfuehrer Hofmann advocates the opinion that(In the camps, experiments as to efficient methods of sterilization were conducted. These people were completely serious about all of this.)
sterilization will have to be widely used, since the person of
mixed blood who is given the choice whether he will be evacuated
or sterilized would rather undergo sterilization.
State Secretary Dr. Stuckart maintains that carrying out in
practice of the just mentioned possibilities for solving the
problem of mixed marriages and persons of mixed blood will create
endless administrative work. In the second place, as the
biological facts cannot be disregarded in any case, State
Secretary Dr. Stuckart proposed proceeding to forced
sterilization.
There was another problem - some Jews (despite their inferiority!) were doing essential defense work:
With regard to the issue of the effect of the evacuation ofFinally, Buehler begged for priority to get rid of the Jews in the annexed eastern territories (Poland and the easter territories). It seems a "kill them now, but quietly" policy was approved:
Jews on the economy, State Secretary Neumann stated that Jews who
are working in industries vital to the war effort, provided that
no replacements are available, cannot be evacuated.
SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Heydrich indicated that these Jews
would not be evacuated according to the rules he had approved for
carrying out the evacuations then underway.
State Secretary Dr. Buehler stated further that the solutionFor someone of our times, it is very difficult to understand the prejudices of another time in history. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, shame caused the change of many laws in many nations. But the story of the Holocaust is the story of prejudice and lies, and prejudice and lies are constants always with the human race. Like Chrenkoff, I think we cannot honestly commemorate the Holocaust without looking at what has happened and will happen in our times, and asking ourselves the question "Did I contribute to the dismissal of some class of human beings as being unworthy of rights and life, or did I fight against such beliefs and such actions?"
to the Jewish question in the General Government is the
responsibility of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD and
that his efforts would be supported by the officials of the
General Government. He had only one request, to solve the Jewish
question in this area as quickly as possible.
In conclusion the different types of possible solutions were
discussed, during which discussion both Gauleiter Dr. Meyer and
State Secretary Dr. Buehler took the position that certain
preparatory activities for the final solution should be carried
out immediately in the territories in question, in which process
alarming the populace must be avoided.
As Tom Carter wrote in his post on the Holocaust:
This genocide was carried out against an accomplished people, a people who have contributed more to humanity than any other, by another people, meaning much of Europe, to whom the world looks for leadership and example in culture, achievement, and humanitarian impulse. If humanity could so seriously fail in that case, who is ever safe, anywhere?No one is safe unless the vast majority of people refuse to countenance such beliefs and such actions, and oppose the denigration of humans and their rights in a firm and proactive way. I hope I have included enough unpleasant facts to remind everyone that the massacre of the Jews in Europe, aided and abetted by people of many countries, was not a sudden startling aberration, but the result of carrying a commonly held set of perverse ideas and ideals to its ultimate logical conclusion. This massacre of millions in the Holocaust was racially and eugenically motivated, but during the 20th century millions have died in other lands to "purify" the body politic in order to achieve a new and brilliant utopian future for the people. Ethnic or racial cleansing is neither a new human idea or even, historically speaking, a startling one - and it is generally justified by those who commit it on idealistic grounds.
I reject bad science because it may have many outcomes. I reject foolish ideals because someone may carry them to their logical conclusion and kill people with them. I exercise my own judgment about some political matters, because my father refused to let us view the Holocaust as having happened "over there" and having been done by "them". The older I get, the more I comprehend how right he was and the more grateful I am for the sandpaper he applied to my ego when I was very young. In my opinion, when remembering the Holocaust one has to get one's pronouns straightened out.
Q: Who committed the crime?
A: Most of the western world had a hand in stirring this pot. We did.
Q: Who were the victims of this crime?
A: Those we called "they". At that time they were the Jews, the ill, the social misfits, the dissenters caught in the cauldron of madness that was Nazi-occupied territory.
Q: Why did we do it?
A: Because we are human, and the human race has a severe tendency towards self-righteousness, apathy in the face of others' suffering and danger, and idealistic deeds of violence. This we must fight.
(Note, I updated this post to straighten out a few of the most tangled sentences. This is such a heart-wrenching topic that I find it difficult to write about clearly. All I can achieve is honesty.)
Comments:
<< Home
Spectacular post! I am quite impressed and humbled by your essay on such an important subject!
PLEASE read THIS for information on a blogburst scheduled for January 27th about Auschwitz, and join in!
PLEASE read THIS for information on a blogburst scheduled for January 27th about Auschwitz, and join in!
Spectacular post! I am quite impressed and humbled by your essay on such an important subject!
PLEASE read THIS for information on a blogburst scheduled for January 27th about Auschwitz, and PLEASE join in!
PLEASE read THIS for information on a blogburst scheduled for January 27th about Auschwitz, and PLEASE join in!
This is a very thoughtful and moving essay. I'll link to it prominently. I hope many, many people read it.
Thanks, there are no words to describe this post. I got here through Tom and Gindy's blogs.
You might want to see what what they think at the Liberty Forum. Make sure not to eat anything right before the read though.
http://www.libertyforum.org/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=news_history&Number=293286054&page=&view=&sb=&o=&t=0
Post a Comment
You might want to see what what they think at the Liberty Forum. Make sure not to eat anything right before the read though.
http://www.libertyforum.org/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=news_history&Number=293286054&page=&view=&sb=&o=&t=0
<< Home
