4 ms·

I always wondered why Germans in the 2nd world war didn't do anything to stop Hitler from committing genocide against the jews and others. But now I understand.

I always wondered why Germans in the 2nd world war didn't do anything to stop Hitler from committing genocide against the jews and others. But now I understand. Perhaps the biggest genocide of this century is happening now in Yemen. Not only we aren't trying to stop it, but we are sponsoring it and profiting from it. History will not be kind to us.

raverbashing 8y ago
They didn't because most of them didn't know the details/the scale of what was happening and the extermination on the camps was only "discovered" after the camps were broken up by the opposing armies (depending on the camp) "Discovered" because there were some reports of it, by one or two people, but I'm not sure how seriously they were taken. I guess people concluded/knew some of this was happening, but the breakup of the camps was important for validation of the story. (Edited given the responses)
- freddie_mercury 8y ago
  None of these claims are true. Germans knew. > The mass of ordinary Germans did know about the evolving terror of Hitler's Holocaust, according to a new research study. They knew concentration camps were full of Jewish people who were stigmatised as sub-human and race-defilers. They knew that these, like other groups and minorities, were being killed out of hand. They knew that Adolf Hitler had repeatedly forecast the extermination of every Jew on German soil. They knew these details because they had read about them. They knew because the camps and the measures which led up to them had been prominently and proudly reported step by step in thousands of officially-inspired German media articles and posters according to the study, which is due to be published simultaneously in Britain and the US early next month and which was described as ground-breaking by Oxford University Press yesterday and already hailed by other historians. > The reports, in newspapers and magazines all over the country were phases in a public process of "desensitisation" which worked all too well, culminating in the killing of 6m Jews, says Robert Gellately. His book, Backing Hitler, is based on the first systematic analysis by a historian of surviving German newspaper and magazine archives since 1933, the year Hitler became chancellor.
- jacobush 8y ago
  It varied. Many people knew. But even a few years after the war ended, some people even in neighbouring countries (I am from a neighbouring country) had a hard time believing it could have happened at that scale. I think that changed as TV documentaries become a thing. Either way, there was and still is great room to look the other way. But regarding the situation in Germany and occupied areas during the war, you have to understand that by the time the death industry was in full swing, protesting openly in any way could have you yourself summarily executed or imprisoned - with unclear outcome.
  - Theodores 8y ago
    There was an exception that proved* the rule. In 1943 there was a hitch and the Nazis stepped back from mass murdering German women that dared to protest in their capital city. The problem was that these good German women had Jewish husbands and weren't that keen on having their loved ones sent off for processing into lampshades: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenstrasse_protest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenstrasse_protest * The actual facts of this protest are not clear and there is lots to be learned about not just what happened but the stories told about this event.
- Tomte 8y ago
  That's the usual apology of the 60s through 80s, but it's simply not true. Cardinal von Galen openly preached from the pulpit about the destruction of "unworthy life" (the T4 program) in 1941. Concentration camp inmates often weren't strictly confined to some walled-off camp, but had to go to work brigade actions all over the countryside, where they had limited contact to the populace, who quite often slipped them a bit of bread or so. Even when no such work was happening around the populace, it was an open secret. You simply cannot keep a lid on it when tens of thousands of Germans saw something keeping watch over the inmates, delivering goods to the camps, requesting slave labor from the camps, actually building the ovens, conducting trains to the camps, or with soldiers returning from the eastern front.
  - raverbashing 8y ago
    There was some knowledge, but it seems it wasn't so widespread. Also the Sonderkommandos were "rotated" (hint: they weren't relocated or fired) with some frequency https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6b1z61/did_the_german_people_know_about_the_holocaust/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6b1z61/did_t...
- blattimwind 8y ago
  This is wrong. Yes, the Nazis built systems specifically designed to break up social cohesion with Jews, e.g. first deporting them from smaller cities to Ghettos, then deporting from Ghettos to KZs (concentration camps). And also yes, relatively few actually knew about the scale of operation themselves, but a large part of the population knew that many of those deported were killed and not just deported to work camps or whatever. It was not a well-kept secret. Also, NS propaganda was full of the "[Endlösung der] Judenfrage", eradication of Jews etc., though it did very intentionally leave execution open. I think it is fairly obvious that most didn't want to know anything about it, choosing to ignore what is happening.
rapsey 8y ago
US involvement is much larger then simply selling weapons. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/us/politics/green-berets-saudi-yemen-border-houthi.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/us/p...
- walrus01 8y ago
  UK government involvement and complicity is also much larger than the average Commonwealth citizen might think it is. https://www.google.ca/search?q=uk+arms+sales+to+saudi+arabia&oq=uk+arms+sales+to&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.5678j0j7&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.ca/search?q=uk+arms+sales+to+saudi+arabia...
  - blattimwind 8y ago
    The UK notably is the one country that doesn't adhere to the EU's resolution to suspend arms sales to KSA following the Kashoggi killing.
    - sandbags 8y ago
      My understanding is that there has been, and for many years, a 'revolving door' between the Ministry of Defence and the various defence procurement companies & arms manufacturers. So, preserving defence company profits is, I think, a built-in to UK government policy. Further, since the whole area is shrouded in secrecy, it appears to be nigh on impossible to pour sunlight or cold water on what happens in this area.
    - dberhane 8y ago
      If there is EU resolution to suspend arms sales why is Macron still refusing to abide and continuing to sell weapons to the Saudi regime: https://www.france24.com/en/20181026-macron-france-halt-saudi-arabia-arms-sales-khashoggi-demagoguery https://www.france24.com/en/20181026-macron-france-halt-saud...
      - blattimwind 8y ago

raverbashing 8y ago

They didn't because most of them didn't know the details/the scale of what was happening and the extermination on the camps was only "discovered" after the camps were broken up by the opposing armies (depending on the camp) "Discovered" because there were some reports of it, by one or two people, but I'm not sure how seriously they were taken. I guess people concluded/knew some of this was happening, but the breakup of the camps was important for validation of the story. (Edited given the responses)

freddie_mercury 8y ago
None of these claims are true. Germans knew. > The mass of ordinary Germans did know about the evolving terror of Hitler's Holocaust, according to a new research study. They knew concentration camps were full of Jewish people who were stigmatised as sub-human and race-defilers. They knew that these, like other groups and minorities, were being killed out of hand. They knew that Adolf Hitler had repeatedly forecast the extermination of every Jew on German soil. They knew these details because they had read about them. They knew because the camps and the measures which led up to them had been prominently and proudly reported step by step in thousands of officially-inspired German media articles and posters according to the study, which is due to be published simultaneously in Britain and the US early next month and which was described as ground-breaking by Oxford University Press yesterday and already hailed by other historians. > The reports, in newspapers and magazines all over the country were phases in a public process of "desensitisation" which worked all too well, culminating in the killing of 6m Jews, says Robert Gellately. His book, Backing Hitler, is based on the first systematic analysis by a historian of surviving German newspaper and magazine archives since 1933, the year Hitler became chancellor.
jacobush 8y ago
It varied. Many people knew. But even a few years after the war ended, some people even in neighbouring countries (I am from a neighbouring country) had a hard time believing it could have happened at that scale. I think that changed as TV documentaries become a thing. Either way, there was and still is great room to look the other way. But regarding the situation in Germany and occupied areas during the war, you have to understand that by the time the death industry was in full swing, protesting openly in any way could have you yourself summarily executed or imprisoned - with unclear outcome.
- Theodores 8y ago
  There was an exception that proved* the rule. In 1943 there was a hitch and the Nazis stepped back from mass murdering German women that dared to protest in their capital city. The problem was that these good German women had Jewish husbands and weren't that keen on having their loved ones sent off for processing into lampshades: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenstrasse_protest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenstrasse_protest * The actual facts of this protest are not clear and there is lots to be learned about not just what happened but the stories told about this event.
Tomte 8y ago
That's the usual apology of the 60s through 80s, but it's simply not true. Cardinal von Galen openly preached from the pulpit about the destruction of "unworthy life" (the T4 program) in 1941. Concentration camp inmates often weren't strictly confined to some walled-off camp, but had to go to work brigade actions all over the countryside, where they had limited contact to the populace, who quite often slipped them a bit of bread or so. Even when no such work was happening around the populace, it was an open secret. You simply cannot keep a lid on it when tens of thousands of Germans saw something keeping watch over the inmates, delivering goods to the camps, requesting slave labor from the camps, actually building the ovens, conducting trains to the camps, or with soldiers returning from the eastern front.
- raverbashing 8y ago
  There was some knowledge, but it seems it wasn't so widespread. Also the Sonderkommandos were "rotated" (hint: they weren't relocated or fired) with some frequency https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6b1z61/did_the_german_people_know_about_the_holocaust/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6b1z61/did_t...
blattimwind 8y ago
This is wrong. Yes, the Nazis built systems specifically designed to break up social cohesion with Jews, e.g. first deporting them from smaller cities to Ghettos, then deporting from Ghettos to KZs (concentration camps). And also yes, relatively few actually knew about the scale of operation themselves, but a large part of the population knew that many of those deported were killed and not just deported to work camps or whatever. It was not a well-kept secret. Also, NS propaganda was full of the "[Endlösung der] Judenfrage", eradication of Jews etc., though it did very intentionally leave execution open. I think it is fairly obvious that most didn't want to know anything about it, choosing to ignore what is happening.

rapsey 8y ago

US involvement is much larger then simply selling weapons. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/us/politics/green-berets-saudi-yemen-border-houthi.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/us/p...

walrus01 8y ago
UK government involvement and complicity is also much larger than the average Commonwealth citizen might think it is. https://www.google.ca/search?q=uk+arms+sales+to+saudi+arabia&oq=uk+arms+sales+to&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.5678j0j7&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.ca/search?q=uk+arms+sales+to+saudi+arabia...
- blattimwind 8y ago
  The UK notably is the one country that doesn't adhere to the EU's resolution to suspend arms sales to KSA following the Kashoggi killing.
  - sandbags 8y ago
    My understanding is that there has been, and for many years, a 'revolving door' between the Ministry of Defence and the various defence procurement companies & arms manufacturers. So, preserving defence company profits is, I think, a built-in to UK government policy. Further, since the whole area is shrouded in secrecy, it appears to be nigh on impossible to pour sunlight or cold water on what happens in this area.
  - dberhane 8y ago
    If there is EU resolution to suspend arms sales why is Macron still refusing to abide and continuing to sell weapons to the Saudi regime: https://www.france24.com/en/20181026-macron-france-halt-saudi-arabia-arms-sales-khashoggi-demagoguery https://www.france24.com/en/20181026-macron-france-halt-saud...
    - blattimwind 8y ago