On one hand, what you say is the most important lesson IMHO, but I don't think it goes far enough down that path: You and I are biologically the same as people

On one hand, what you say is the most important lesson IMHO, but I don't think it goes far enough down that path: You and I are biologically the same as people who became Nazis; we have the same potential in us. When we imagine we are not is when we do wrong. Lots of ordinary Germans; smart, sophisticated people; and other people in many countries supported the Nazis. At the same time, the people who embrace Naziism, or go along, or tacitly allow it, also have good in them. A tactic of such ideologies is a display of aggression, to scare you off; it's a political tactic that solidifies their movement by distancing members from everyone else; it also dehumanizes outsiders (also through disdain from them), allowing violence. In the end, it's a tactic, a display, a barking, scared dog. It may bite, but they are the same as we are, and have the same good inside, and have allowed themselves to be misled. The classic citation is to Hannah Arendt's 'banality of evil': https://iep.utm.edu/hannah-arendt/#H6 https://iep.utm.edu/hannah-arendt/#H6