The roots of evil: The origins of genocide and other group violence by Ervin Staub

Author:Ervin Staub
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1990-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

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a A striking claim by the sixty- to seventy-five-year-old Germans was that they knew nothing about the persecution of the Jews until Kristallnacht, in 1938. (Only one woman clearly acknowledged prior knowledge: she reported that her father, who rented out rooms, was directed by the authorities not to rent to Jews.) In conflict with this claim, some of them expressed the belief that the German people accepted the anti-Jewish actions. Given the highly public persecution, the perhaps “tentative” awareness might mean false reporting or psychological defense, but probably reflects lack of concern. In the overall context of the period, the fate of the Jews was unimportant to people, especially to youth, and probably barely penetrated awareness.

b Some have suggested that one reason for the refusal to believe early reports about the killing of Jews was their similarity to reports about German atrocities in World War I. World War I reports were mostly propaganda. However, this is a partial explanation at best, given the very minimal response to the Jews’ fate during the preceding years and after their ongoing extermination was conclusively confirmed.

c An interesting example of cooperation with the Nazis was the replacement of two Jewish athletes on the 4 x 400 meter U.S. relay team in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (New York Times, Aug. 10, 1986, p. 95). This was done without any direct pressure by the German organizers. The world’s participation in the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 was itself a statement of acceptance of Nazi policies.

d Consider the experience of one of my students, which she described in a paper for a course. A man pulled a knife on her and forced her to follow him to a park, where he talked about himself for a while and then raped her. A couple of days later she and her boyfriend were leaving her apartment when, playfully responding to something he did, she held up her fists and said, “Do you want to fight?” He said in response, “Why didn’t you fight the other day?”

e The story of a woman born in Austria is consistent with many of the themes in this chapter. Now a Canadian citizen, she was fifteen years old at the time of the Anschluss, the German takeover of Austria in 1938. She and her family felt well-regarded and well-treated members of the community. Immediately upon the German entry they became nonpersons. Schoolmates stopped talking to her. Austria had a history of intense anti-Semitism, which, as conditions changed, immediately came to the fore. (We can contrast this with the Danes’ loyalty to Jews after they were occupied by the Germans.)

Her family, especially her father, refused to believe that the Nazi actions were aimed at all Jews, innocent Jews. When they witnessed the Gestapo taking away a neighbor’s son, her father thought that he must have done something terrible. Even as he himself was arrested, he claimed it had to be a mistake.

After he was released, a shadow of his former proud self, and the family accepted the reality of their situation, they had no place to go.

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