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Today is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Sixty years ago today, the Russian Red Army rolled into Auschwitz and liberated the infamous concentration camp from Nazi control. PBS is broadcasting a 6-part series (2 parts at a time) titled: Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State. I've seen the first 4 parts so far. This series is particularly interesting because it attempts to reveal the Nazi mindset behind Auschwitz and their reasons for trying to exterminate a whole race of people. ••• continued ••• I've always been interested in understanding how things work .. like a nuclear reactor, for example, which is why I enlisted in the Navy's nuclear power program. (Dumb reason, I later discovered.) But one thing I've never really been able to grasp is the mindset behind the Nazi passion to exterminate the Jews, even their children. I mean, if someone wrongs me (and I've been wronged plenty of times) we will have words. We might go to court to settle things. If wronged badly enough, we might even come to blows. But you would have to be *really* angry to go after a person's entire family. And then if you extrapolate this anger to an entire race .. well, I'm simply not able to fathom that kind of anger or hatred. And it wasn't just one man (Hitler), or even his feared SS division, or the Nazi state as a whole, but it seems an entire nation felt this way, or at least a good majority of them. So it's difficult for me to dismiss the notion, as some say, that Auschwitz is the result of a single deranged madman (Hitler). Rather these were educated, rational people who felt this way. American soldiers who fought the Germans in WWII described them as well-trained & well-disciplined. I mean, they came frighteningly close to taking over the entire world. You don't conquer the world with a nation of crackpots. I have no answers today, just more questions. I have asked some online-friends who live in Germany about this (why did it happen, the Nazi mindset, the national anger), and they were likewise unable to provide satisfactory answers. Anyway, that PBS special is excellent. I've never been to Auschwitz myself, but friends who've visited say it's eerie there .. that you can feel things. I would like to go sometime. I hear Poland is beautiful. Nizkor's Layman's guide to Auschwitz is posted here. As usual, Wikipedia did a nice job here. |
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you are wrong stating :
Posted by: wrong wrong wrong at January 28, 2005 04:54 PM"but an entire nation who felt this way"
And I would recommend that you read a lot more before you come to any conclusion. Talking to people that live at that time becomes difficult so you will have to read about it.
How the nazi worked - their methods and how when they realized (1941-42) that they will loose the war they turned to the final solution : death.
And when you learn about the Gestapo methods you will find how much the american use those methods nowadays.
Schutzhaft = dentention without trial - guantanamo .
You have to proove that you are innocent - you are guilty until proven innocent.
Just try to visit the u-s-a and you will have to proove that you are innocent of any crime they like to question you on. For example : you have to take pills that your doctor discribes for you - so you have to proove that you are not a drugdealer. These are nazithings that are happening today. Not 1940 or 1945 and than don't wonder that the rest of the world hates fascist and their methods.