1

How a cultured nation, such as Germany

perpetrated such crimes under the Nazi regime

2

INTRODUCTION

This study will result in a better understanding as to how the Nazis’

barbaric regime could have such wide support from the majority of a cultured

nation, that would go on to perpetrate the worst examples of inhumanity.

Chapter 1 will assess the beginnings of how a regime like the Nazi Party

could gain such wide support in Germany, and eventually be given the

opportunity to carry out such crimes in relation to the Holocaust. It will explore

the highly influential propaganda used by the Nazi Party upon German

culture; particularly analysing the use of German art where it was twisted into

a tool for terror in their aim to control Germany.

Chapter 2 analyses how a cultured nation allowed the development of the

Nazis’ ethnic racial policy. The ideal Aryan race and Darwinian ideals will be

explored, as well as the enthusiasm of ordinary Germans who were

brainwashed into believing that Jews were the enemy of Germany. Focus will

also be on the origins of Nazi genocide to the Nazis’ ‘Final Solution’ analysing

how a cultured nation such as Germany perpetrated such crimes.

3

CHAPTER ONE

“I believe that one of the most revealing ways to explore the complexities of the German character is through the story of German art.”

4

When critiquing Ian Kershaw’s article, How Hitler Won over the German

People (2008) he notes that the propaganda and military success carried out

by the Nazis transformed Hitler into an idol, and with this came the adulation

which helped make “the Third Reich catastrophe” 1 possible. As a result of the

death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, Kershaw notes how Hitler

abolished the Reich Presidency and had the army swear a personal oath of

unconditional obedience to him. The newspaper headline “Today Hitler Is All

of Germany”, as Kershaw discusses, reflected the vital shift in power that had

just taken place. To elaborate on this, the wording of the newspaper headlines

portrays how Hitler’s Germany was able to gain control of a cultured nation

and would later on perpetrate such crimes. The phrasing highlights that the

cultured nation that was Germany is now the embodiment of Hitler. It also

demonstrates a clear sign of control upon Germany, and a sense that a new

part in German history is about to form and changes are going to be seen

under Hitler and the Nazis’.

The propaganda-led image of Hitler as a hero of Germany was something

in which the Reich Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, claimed as “his

greatest propaganda achievement” 2 raising the issue of how the Nazi Party

managed to gain support from the beginning. In Hitler’s Reichstag speech of

1939, he assesses how he overcame chaos in Germany and in particular

states how he tried to “liquidate that Treaty sheet by sheet whose 448 Articles

1 Kershaw, Ian, How Hitler Won Over the German People, (30 January 2008), Available online: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,531909,00.html Date accessed: January 2012. 2 Kershaw, Ian, How Hitler Won Over the German People, (30 January 2008), Available online: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,531909,00.html Date accessed: January 2012

5

contain the vilest rape that nations and human beings have ever been

expected to submit to.” 3 This reiterates how Germany managed to perpetrate

such crimes: Hitler and the Nazis presented themselves as heroes of

Germany which is demonstrated when he talks of destroying the much hated

Treaty of Versailles and “resettling in useful production those 7 million

unemployed who so touched our hearts” 4 which even Hitler’s opponents

recognized as the evolution of his popularity. In 1938, the exiled Social

Democratic organization claimed “Hitler could count on the agreement of the

majority of the people on two essential points: 1) he had created jobs and 2)

he had made Germany strong” 5 thus reflecting how Hitler and the Nazis

managed to gain such wide support and power within Germany. By assessing

issues in Germany such as unemployment, the result came in the form of the

masses being impressed with the Nazi agenda. This sense of joy is reflected

through interviewee Heribert Suntrop in Johannes Steinhoff’s Voices from the

Third Reich: An Oral History, where he states that the Nazi program, for the

improvement of the quality of life, “led to public enthusiasm, or at least

sympathy, for the new regime” 6 and he also continues to reflect upon the

moments “when self confidence - even euphoria - suddenly emerged” 7,

portraying how and why the Nazi Party managed to receive such wide support

3 Kershaw, Ian, How Hitler Won Over the German People, (30 January 2008), Available online: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,531909,00.html Date accessed: January 2012 4 Kershaw, Ian, How Hitler Won Over the German People, (30 January 2008), Available online: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,531909,00.html Date accessed: January 2012. 5 Kershaw, Ian, How Hitler Won Over the German People, (30 January 2008), Available online: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,531909,00.html Date accessed: January 2012 6 Third Reich 7 Third Reich

6

throughout Germany. Its influence brought an economically prosperous

Germany, representing itself as the party of the people, and thus as a result

the majority were enthusiastic towards providing their support.

Clement Greenberg’s essay Avant-Garde and Kitsch, first published in

1939, assesses that avant-garde and modernist art was a means to resist the

'dumbing down' of culture. The phrase “Avant-Garde” represents a brand new

revolutionary sense of modern art, whilst “Kitsch” describes a more cheap art

that is easy to understand and easy to mass produce. Greenberg claims that

kitsch is the culture of the masses in countries such as Germany, Italy and

Russia not because the governments are controlled by philistines but because

it is like this everywhere else. To elaborate on this point, the masses always

favour kitsch as they are too uneducated to understand modern art. This

aspect of the Nazi rule in Germany is particularly significant in that it highlights

the progress of the Nazi Party’s rise to power, and thus how a once cultured

nation would support such a brutal regime that would eventually result in the

death of 6 million people, simply by having them believe they’re more

educated and therefore more cultured, and further to this a better people

under Nazi rule.

Hitler and the Nazi Party realised that for them to gain support, kitsch

artwork was crucial. Greenberg observes that “The encouragement of kitsch

is merely another of the inexpensive ways in which totalitarian regimes seek

to ingratiate themselves with their subjects.” 8 which develops on how the

notion that Germany perpetrated such crimes was via the development of the

8 Greenberg, Clement, ‘Avant-Garde and Kitsch’ in Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul, ‘Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas’, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003, p.548.

7

influence that Hitler had on the German people. The encouragement of kitsch

artwork and culture was how Hitler and the Nazi Party manipulated people

into their views via mass-produced propaganda, heralded as ‘high’ art by the

ruling party, and easily understood by the masses. Here Hitler’s demagogy

influenced how the masses reflected upon German art and how the Nazi

Party managed to gain such support because of the great advantage that

“Kitsch keeps a dictator in closer contact with the “soul” of the people.” 9 which

was highly important in order for the Third Reich’s support to develop. By

lowering the level of culture in Germany from the ‘high’ art movement of the

avant-garde to the easily understood ‘low’ art of kitsch, the Nazi party lead the

masses to believe that, seeing as they now understand this culture touted by

the Nazis’, they are more informed and therefore more cultured. Most

importantly, however, it furthers the image that the Nazi party is the party of

the people.

To elaborate on this issue, Greenberg continues his argument that “Since

these regimes cannot raise the cultural level of the masses - even if they

wanted to... they will flatter the masses by bringing all culture down to their

level.” 10 Perhaps one of the best examples to illustrate this is an art

exhibition partly curated by Hitler himself was put on in 1937 advertised as

“degenerate art”. Artists of the avant-garde were shown in this exhibition and

portrayed as enemies of the state, culture and reason and visitors were

encouraged to think the same. Simultaneously, a show entitled “Great

German Art” was shown in the Haus der Kunst full of kitsch Nazi propaganda

9 Ibid, p547-548. 10 Greenberg, Clement, ‘Avant-Garde and Kitsch’ in Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul, ‘Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas’, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003, p.548.

8

paintings and was visited by Hitler to show his support of this type of work,

favoured also by the masses for its accessibility. Greenberg also notes that

“the avant garde is outlawed”11 and another example of this outlawing of the

avant-garde was demonstrated with the Bauhaus School of Art: a school that

took modern style to a radical, utopian extreme. This modern art was much

feared and despised by Hitler which resulted in the closure of the school and

the destruction of all work. In the BBC documentary, Art Of Germany,

presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon, it is shown how “to their right wing

critics, Bauhaus was Hitler’s “Jewish threat” incarnate, the ‘home of schizoid

scribbling and experiments in embarrassment’” 12 which highlights the initial

beginnings of ethnic prejudice being introduced into German art and culture.

The portrayal of this Jewish threat being associated with art further attempts

to firmly seat the ideals of kitsch in the minds of the masses to a point where

they value it highly. Then, when told it is under threat from an infectious force

(such as the avant-garde), the masses will be likely to side with this populism

and favour the Nazis’ view to eradicate the threat and maintain their original

(but manipulated) mindset. By also insinuating that the Jewish people were

not only a threat to the German masses’ new found culture but also their very

way of life, the Nazis’ agenda was bolstered by fear and gained the support of

the majority.

Greenberg (1939) observes “Under these circumstances people like

Gottfried Benn [an avant-garde writer and poet], no matter how ardently they

11 Greenberg, Clement, ‘Avant-Garde and Kitsch’ in Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul, ‘Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas’, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003, p.548. 12 Sacco, Silivia (dir), Graham-Dixon, Andrew (pres) ‘Art of Germany’, BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2011.

9

support Hitler, become a liability; and we hear no more of them in Nazi

Germany.” 13 demonstrating how Germany was able to gain mass support as

they removed any threat to their new cultural policies. The totalitarian regime

of the Third Reich was being implemented into Germany’s culture. By

removing all threats to his policies, the actions of Hitler portray the very way in

which Germany managed to perpetrate such crimes. They would remove any

threat to their controlled and considered brainwashing of the masses, even if

these supposed “threats” were in support of them, in order to carry out their

objective.

The development of German culture dominated by kitsch artwork was an

approach towards this objective: “The literature and art they enjoy and

understand were to be proclaimed the only true art and literature and any

other kind was to be suppressed”14, suggesting Hitler was deceiving the public

into thinking they’re better off and a more educated and cultured nation under

the Nazi Party, and therefore a better people – indeed, a supreme race.

Furthermore Greenberg notes that “The masses must be provided with

objects of admiration” 15which would reinforce this elation they feel of

experiencing different culture under Hitler. In being kept happy and feeling

culturally educated and elevated (rather than actually being intellectually

bettered, as this requires too much difficult input), the German masses would

13 Sacco, Silivia (dir), Graham-Dixon, Andrew (pres) ‘Art of Germany’, BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2011. 14 Greenberg, Clement, ‘Avant-Garde and Kitsch’ in Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul, ‘Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas’, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003, p.548. 15 Greenberg, Clement, ‘Avant-Garde and Kitsch’ in Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul, ‘Art in

Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas’, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003, p.548.

10

want a continuation of this regime and thus go forward with their support of

and belief in the Nazi Party as it further established itself within Germany.

Alfred H. Barr Jr, [American art historian] notes in his essay Is Modern Art

Communistic? that throughout Nazi Germany the Big Lie triumphed. The Big

Lie being the conspiracy circulated by the Nazis’, where they proclaimed that

the modern art involved “an international cartel of Jewish dealers, corrupt art

critics, irresponsible museum officials and artists who were spiritually un-

German, Bolsheviks, Jewish and degenerate” 16 which proceeded to pave the

way for Nazi art to take form whereas Barr describes how Luftwaffe and S.A

troopers began to be idealized figures within Nazi Germany. These images

were accompanied with paintings of “pretty German landscapes, generals, the

Nazi ringleaders and above all the Fuehrer” 17 thus explaining how Germany

managed to coerce the majority under the Nazis’ power, by tarnishing modern

art and associating it with the Jewish and Communistic enemy.

Radio was to prove a significant tool for the Nazis’ as they carried out their

aim for support throughout Germany. Cultural theorists Theodor Adorno and

Max Horkheimer argued in their work The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as

Mass Deception (1944) that popular culture is similar in comparison to a

factory producing standardized cultural goods such as radio where, through

access to and consumption of popular culture, people are made content and

to feel like a part of the wider party themselves as they can be subject to it at

their leisure – as though Hitler was in their living room. Adorno and

Horkheimer (1994) discuss that, when the German Fascists decided one day

16 Barr, Alfred H, ‘Is Modern Art Communistic?’ in Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul, ‘Art in

Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas’, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003, p.673. 17 Ibid.

11

to launch a word - say, “intolerable” - over the loudspeakers, the next day the

whole nation was saying “intolerable”. Furthermore, the pronunciation of the

announcer, according to Adorno and Horkheimer, when he “says to the

nation, ‘Good night, everybody!’” 18 or “This is the Hitler Youth, and even

intones the Fuhrer in a way imitated by millions.” 19 develops the notion of how

the radio becomes the “universal mouthpiece” 20 of Hitler, and thus highlights

how the masses were conditioned under the Nazis’ regime, which produces to

some extent an answer to how Germany managed to manipulate the masses

via new cultural advances via mass production of the media and ultimately to

succeed and perpetrate such crimes. Martin Koller, a former Hitler Youth

troop and reconissance mission pilot in Voices From The Third Reich: An Oral

History, describes how his family reacted to the introduction of the radio into

their home stating, “These were our first impressions of a new technology that

let us take part in what was happening in the world” 21 which develops Adorno

and Horkheimer’s argument that “mass-produced entertainment aims, by its

very nature, to appeal to vast audiences and therefore both the intellectual

stimulation of high art and the basic release of low art.” 22 Here, it can

therefore be seen how, via a method that flatters the German people (they

receive the artful “intellectual stimulation” of politics) in an easy and

accessible manner (the mass produced media of the radio – the “basic

release of low art”), the Nazis were even able to enter the homes, and

18 Adorno, Theodor and Horkheimer, Max, The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception 19 Adorno, Theodor and Horkheimer, Max, The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception 20 Adorno, Theodor and Horkheimer, Max, The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception 21 Steinhoff, Johannes, Pechel Peter, Showalter, Dennis, Voices From The Third Reich: An Oral History, New York, Da Capo Press Inc, 1994, p.xxxvii. 22 Durham Peters, John (2003). The Subtlety of Horkheimer and Adorno, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2003, pp.66.

12

ultimately the very psyches, of ordinary German people to deliver their

propaganda-fuelled messages.

Alfred Rosenberg was an intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party

who stated in his book, The Myth of the Twentieth Century, that the existence

of modern art was, “to undermine the ‘beauty ideal’ of the Aryan race” 23

developing racial policy among Germans and thus the persecution of Jews.

To elaborate “The titular ‘myth’ is ‘the myth of blood, which under the sign of

the swastika unchains the racial world-revolution. It is the awakening of the

race soul, which after long sleep victoriously ends the race chaos.” 24 linking in

with how he notes the race chaos of Germans, Jews and anti-natural street

races was abroad and due to this the result was “mongrel art.” 25 This

develops the notion of how the introduction of the Nazis’ Aryan race ideology

began to take influence on Germany when such literature was being

published, which will be discussed in Chapter 2.

The introduction of the Hitler Youth was an example of child propaganda.

Rudolf Hess’ broadcast to the nation aimed at the Hitler Youth stated, “For

you, doing your duty means: Obey the Führer’s orders without question!” 26

and also refers that the Hitler Youth will be “the best living memorial to the

dead comrades of the first years of the war when you maintain discipline in

23 Rosenberg, Alfred, ‘The Myth of the Twentieth Century’, in Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul, ‘Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas’, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003, p.412.

24 Viereck, Paul, ‘Metapolitics: From Wagner and the German Romantics to Hitler’, USA, Transaction Publishers, 2004, p.229.

25 Rosenberg, Alfred, ‘The Myth of the Twentieth Century’, in Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul, ‘Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas’, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003, p.412. 26 Hess, Rudolf, The Oath To Adolf Hitler, (25 February 1934) Available online: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/hess1.htm Date accessed: 11 March 2012.

13

your ranks” 27 developing that this military based environment that was

provided for the German youth helped gain such popular support. The Hitler

Youth provided an opportunity for the German youth to feel a part of the

Nazi’s regime, thus highlighting that it was another form of brainwashing

propaganda, adopted by the Nazis’ in order to gain popularity and condition

German youth to believe that the Jews were the enemy of Germany. Albert

Bastian, a former Hitler Youth and war volunteer explains in Voices From The

Third Reich: An Oral History, that “We boys had the task of convincing our

parents not to do with business with Jews.” 28 This develops the notion that

the Hitler Youth were to be a vital advantage to the Nazis. If the young people

of Germany were won over, and adopted this anti-semtic and ethnic racial

policies demonstrated by the Nazis’ their support would increase. The Hitler

Youth were Germany’s next generation. The conditioning of the Hitler Youth

was an easy task for Hitler and the Nazis which is clearly evident when

Richard Gellately in Backing Hitler notes that Hitler’s strongest supporters

were indeed the young people of Germany. Melita Maschmann, part of the

Hitler Youth “was swept away by anti-Semitism as well as new teachings that

awakened in her a sense of idealism and spirit of self sacrifice based on the

theory of being part of the ‘master race’.” 29 thus highlighting that the appeals

to the youth via the Hitler Youth were successful and the Nazis’ were

achieving their aim of spreading anti-Semitic messages. Although anti-

27 Hess, Rudolf, The Oath To Adolf Hitler, (25 February 1934) Available online: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/hess1.htm Date accessed: 11 March 2012. 28 Steinhoff, Johannes, Pechel Peter, Showalter, Dennis, Voices From The Third Reich: An Oral History, New York, Da Capo Press Inc, 1994, p.xxxvii. 29 Gellately, Robert, Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion In Nazi Germany, United States, Oxford University Press, 2001, p.116.

14

Semitism throughout the Hitler Youth was evident, it wasn’t just through the

Hitler Youth that the young people were in support of Nazi rule. Eva Kranz, a

teenager in the 1930s, remembers the Nazi rule as “a glimmer of hope…not

just for the unemployed but for everybody because we all knew that we were

downtrodden.” 30 and she claims “We weren’t living in affluence like today but

there was order and discipline” 31 reflecting that the young people within

Germany also recognised the advantages of living under the Nazi regime.

There was a vast improvement and one which was noted. To elaborate, the

pageants and celebrations provided for the young people were fondly

appreciated and still spoken of after the unique horrors were perpetrated. The

‘Night of the Amazons’ held in Munich each year for four years, starting in

1936 consisted of showing topless German maidens on horseback. The idea

of this being that the semi-naked young women were “arranged to represent

historical tableaux” 32 which also included Greek myths’ hunting scenes. Eva,

Kranz, a teenager in the 1930s, remembers how the purpose of such events

was to portray Germans as an elite: “People had the conceit to say that a

German is special, that the German people should become a thoroughbred

people, should stand above the others” 33developing that this ‘Aryan’ and

Darwinian ideology produced by the Nazis’ was contagious as Kranz states

that, “You used to say that if you tell a young person every day, you are

something special, then in the end they will believe you.”34developing how the

young people were indoctrinated under the Nazis and brainwashed into

believing that they, the German nation, are a ‘master race’ which developed

30 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis a Warning from History, London, BBC Books, 1997, p.56. 31 Rees, The Nazis a Warning from History, p.56. 32 Rees, The Nazis a Warning from History, p.57. 33 Rees, The Nazis a Warning from History, p.57. 34 Rees, The Nazis a Warning from History, p.57.

15

the support throughout the young people and anti-Semitism was therefore,

seen at all levels of German society.

This also demonstrates how the Nazis managed to achieve such support

and how a cultured nation perpetrated such crimes. Every person of Germany

was experiencing the Nazis’ brainwashing and children were evidently no

exception, when a piece of child propaganda book was produced titled the

The Poisoned Mushroom, in which it warned of the “insidious danger of the

Jews” 35and this was carried out in a way by portraying the mushroom as

attractive on the surface but in reality poisonous, thus reflecting how the Jews

are like the mushroom. Anti-Semitism was introduced at a young age so that

that is what the children of Germany were used to and therefore, they think

the way the Jews are treated and made examples of are justifiable as they are

the enemy of Germany, and thus highlights how a cultured nation could have

perpetrated such crimes.

35 Rees, Laurence, Auschwitz: The Nazis & The ‘Final Solution’, UK, BBC Books, 2005, p.33.

16

CHAPTER TWO

“The policy of deportations and mass murder succeeded because the public

displayed moral insensibility to the Jews’ fate. 36 -

36 Bankier, David, The Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion under Nazism, UK,

Blackwell Publishers,1992, p.156.

17

The Nazis’ racial ethnic policy was allowed to be produced and developed

into what it did because of the success of Nazi propaganda. The increase of

anti-Semitism in Germany developed because the majority of Germany were

conditioned to believe that the Jews were indeed the enemy of Germany, and

the persecution the Jews faced is only what they deserved. The Aryian ideals

and ‘master race’ statements produced by Hitler and the Nazis indoctrinated

the ordinary Germans into believing that they were indeed the ‘master race’.

Extreme measures were taken by the Nazis as Hitler claimed that in the future

any undesirables in society would “forbid procreation to indiviudals known to

be sick or suffering from hereditary defects, and would ‘physically remove

their reproductive capacity’ 37 which highlights the Nazi eugenics policy.

Further development of these kinds of policies and one in which it became

apparent how a nation perpetrated such crimes, is because of the system - of

the Chancellery that was organized. It was organized by five offices, each

man claiming to represent Hitler and thus, as Rees states, they aimed to

please the Fuhrer in order to increase their influnece. As a result it was a

system “in which chance events could provoke radical policies” 38 which was

demonstrated when a father of a ‘deformed’ child wrote to Hitler describing his

disabilities and he wanted the child to be “put down”39. Philipp Bouhler,

leading the Chancellery of the Fuhrer, put forward the peition to Hitler. As a

result of Hitler’s “obsessive psuedo-Darwininan views”40 it resulted in one of

37 Burrin, Philippe, Hitler and the Jews, p.26. 38 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis a Warning from History, London, BBC Books, 1997, p.76. 39 Rees, The Nazis a Warning from History, p.76. 40 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis a Warning from History, p.74.

18

the most “repungnat policies” 41 – the Children’s ‘Euthanisia’ programme.

From this a detailed criteria were drawn up for children who were to be

“referred for treatment” 42 under the new programme. The incidents at

children’s hopsitals such as Aplerbeck in Dortmund highlighited the true

atrocities of the Nazis’ child euthansia policy. An example of such child

euthansia is Gerda Bernhardt’s family who lost her younger brother, Manfred,

who had “always been retarded.” 43 As Rees explains in The Nazis: A

Warning From History, Manfred was sent to a children’s hospital called

Aplerbeck in Dortmund. However, hospital authorities had stated that Manfred

had died a natural death of measels. Paul Eggert, an 11 year old patient at

Aplerbeck claims whilst he was pushing trolleys containing dirty washing, “he

pulled back the washing and saw the bodies of two girls and a boy.” 44 Thus,

this reflects the horror story of children’s hospitals such as Aplerbeck. Uwe

Bitzel, a historian, pieced together the true story of Aplerbeck and records

show that the same day Manfred Bernhardt met his death, two other children

died. This therefore develops the notion that children weren’t dying from

natural deaths but being killed under this evil policy of child euthanasia, as the

previous week eleven children lost their lives and Uwe Bitzel notes that “This

is such a high death rate that it can be ruled out that all these children died of

natural causes.” 45 Therefore, not only did the child euthanasia derive out of

Nazi ideology but it was the influence and conduct of decisions being made

within the Third Reich. This has been demonstrated by the deaths of “more

41 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis a Warning from History, London, BBC Books, 1997, p.73. 42 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis a Warning from History, p.74. 43 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis A Warning from History, p.74. 44 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis A Warning from History, p.75. 45 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis A Warning from History, p.75.

19

than five thousand children” 46 resulting from a letter which pleased Hitler’s

Darwinian ideology. As the euthanasia programme continued, hospitals such

as Aplerbeck were not required to fill in Bouhler’s form resulting in how typical

examples of policies spiralled out of control. Staff were able to independently

select the children they wanted to kill. How a cultured nation perepetrated

such crimes is evidently down to the chaotic structure of the Nazis. The

origins of child euthanasia were not only abhorrent, but instructive.

Furthermore, the ordinary Germans chose to see the dynamic and prosperous

Germany evolve, not the Germany that was perpetrating such horrendous

crimes.

Hitler described Germany as a state going through the transition of racial

contamination and “must one day become master of the earth.”47 This

conditioning that the Germans faced from Hitler and the Nazis brainwashed

the Germans into thinking they were indeed the ‘master race’ and would

continue to be so under Hitler, consequently supporting his aim to rid

Germany of the Jews. The Nazis’ believed the Jews to be a second-class

citizen within Germany, and amongst them held several views towards the

Jewish race. Hitler believed the Jews to be “a parasite race which exploited

the labour of the people among whom they settled” 48 whilst Goebbels claimed

that “There is only one effective measure: cut them out.” 49 Thus, this

demonstrates how Germany managed to perpetrate such crimes. The

46 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis a Warning from History, London, BBC Books, 1997, p.74. 47 Burrin, Philippe, Hitler and the Jews: the Genesis of the Holocaust, Great Britain, Routledge, 1994, p.43. 48 Burrin, Hitler and the Jews, p.43. 49 Goebbels, Joseph, The Jews are Guilty! (1941) Available online: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb1.htm Date accessed: April 2012.

20

beginning of the Nazis’ ideological views regarding eugencis started to

develop. Therefore, the whole process of Jewish persecution was seen to be

justified. This ‘parasitic race’ raised the ‘Jewish question’ in Germany, and

because of these terms that were implemented into Germany society, the

atrocities that would happen reagarding the Holocaust and the Final Solution

to the perpetrators were justified.

The announcement of the Nuremberg Race Laws of September 1935

resulted in legitimate legislation regarding the ‘Jewish question’. As Steinhoff

observes in Voices from the Third Reich, Jews were deprived of their German

citizenship, and forbade marriage between Christian and Jews: also labelling

children or grandchildren of mixed marriages “Jews and “half breeds”.

Furthermore, it forbade Jews to employ Gentile housemaids under the 45

years of age, justifying it by stating it was for “the protection of German

honour,” 50 demonstrating the limited standing Jews had within the

community. As Philippe Burrin lists in his book, Hitler and the Jews, there

were also examples of immediate removal of German citizenship from all

Jews, which resulted in emigration or expulsion. Violent attacks were occuring

from Nazi mobs, especially storm troops where they were stripping Jewish

pedestrians of their money and leaving them dead: “45 Jews were killed in

this fashion in 1933, and hundreds of others wounded more or less

severely.”51 This highlights the increase of the Jewish persecution throughout

Germany, developing how a cultured nation, such as Germany, perpetrated

50 Steinhoff, Johannes, Pechel Peter, Showalter, Dennis, Voices From The Third Reich: An Oral History, New York, Da Capo Press Inc, 1994, p.41. 51 Burrin, Philippe, Hitler and the Jews: the Genesis of the Holocaust, Great Britain, Routledge, 1994, p.43.

21

such crimes. The Nazis’ propaganda previously discussed is therefore a

major contributor into how the Nazis’ crimes were able to continue.

Furthermore, as businesses and personal property were confiscated, “the

nets around the Jews were drawn even tighter”. 52 This was evident when

Germany implemented a process regarding identity cards where male Jews

were required to add ‘Israel’ and women assume ‘Sara’ (Steinhoff 1994). This

reflects the growing exclusion of the Jews within German communities. It was

a sense of the Nazis against the Jews. The Jews’ daily struggles in Germany

were going to continue, and persecution increased. How Germany managed

to perpetrate these crimes under the Nazi regime is portrayed in the

Nuremberg Race Laws. The Nazis’ ideology regarding the development of a

‘pure Aryan’ Germany is reflected in the Race Laws. The language used to

describe the legislation portrays this sense of master race and Darwinian

ideals of Nazism. This is seen when the word “race” is used to title the

legislation. It demonstrates how the Jews were developing to be seen as a

‘parasite’ and a weaker race in comparison to the Germans, and that the

‘Jewish question’ had to be solved.

Kristallnacht, which took place in November 1938, reflected that the Nazis’

anti-Semitic policy was only to develop a stronger sense of anti-Semitism

throughout Germany. As Rees describes in Auschwitz: The Nazis & The Final

Solution, German Jews were rounded up and property of the Jews destroyed

by Nazi stormtroopers. Lucille Eichengreen, growing up in Hamburg in the

1930s describes how “Walking to school we saw the synagogues burning” 53

52 Steinhoff, Johannes, Pechel Peter, Showalter, Dennis, Voices From The Third Reich: An Oral History, New York, Da Capo Press Inc, 1994, p.41. 53 Rees, Laurence, Auschwitz: The Nazis & The ‘Final Solution’, UK, BBC Books, 2005, p.39.

22

and “the glass of Jewish shops broken, merchandise in the streets, and the

Germans laughing…We were so afraid.” 54 Ordinary Germans had clearly

adopted the Nazis’ racial ethnic policies towards Jews and these ideologies

were transferred into everyday life, and forced into the forefront of the German

communities. As a result of the night of Kristallnacht, Rees lists in Auschwitz:

the Nazis & the Final Solution, that more than 1000 synagogues were

destroyed, 400 Jews killed and around 30,000 male Jews imprisoned for

months in concentrations camps. This caused a large number of German

Jews to emigrate. This reflects the Nazis provided predominantly successful

solutions when it came to sorting the ‘Jewish question’. The terror

implemented by actions such as Kristallnacht, demonstrated just how the

nation perpetrated such crimes under the Nazi regime. The Nazis’ and their

ardent supporters were ruthless.

The introduction of the wearing of the yellow star in September 1941 was

all in the aid of Jewish isolation with German communities. The reactions to

the wearing of the yellow star from some, “praised the labelling, which brought

them into the open.” 55 This highlights that ‘them’ means the Jews, and this

also demonstrates Nazi ideology had brainwashed ordinary Germans, as

some had adopted the Nazi viewpoint that the ‘Jewish enemy’ could be

beside you. On the other hand, there was some criticism amongst the

Germans of the labelling of the Jews which resulted in sympathy towards the

Jews. This was the opposite effect the Nazis’ wanted, so the decree of 24

October 1941 was a tool to intimidate anyone who criticised the wearing of the

yellow star or showed symptathy towards Jews, in which it threatened

54 Rees, Auschwitz, p.39. 55 Bankier, David, The Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion under Nazism, UK, Blackwell Publishers,1992, p.124.

23

Germans with a three month incarceration in a German concentration camp.

Furthermore Goebbels, in his article, The Jews are Guilty! states that the Jew

is “an enemy of the people” 56 and also reiterates that “Anyone who deals with

him is the same as a Jew and must be treated accordingly.” 57 This raises the

issue of Germany sympathy being demonstrated towards Jews, and also

notes the dangers of being so sympathetic to the ‘enemy’. As the wearing of

the yellow star progressed and the Nazis became more threatening, the

criticsm of the yellow star declined considerably.

Furthermore, the Jewish deportations are a vital factor into determining how

the Nazis managed to get a cultured nation like Germany to perpetrate such

crimes. Kurt Maier, an interviewee in Bankier’s The Germans and the Final

Solution, describes how after deportration in Baden it “elicted comment and

praise from his teacher in class.” 58 and other interviewee Ludwig Haydn

discusses how “Jews were taken on open trucks like animals to the

slaughter….others laughed and enjoyed the view.” 59 Both of these accounts

highlight important aspects of Nazi Germany. Kurt Maier at the time was in

school: a part of the Nazis’ ploy to gain support was to involve the German

youth. This anti-Semitism being demonstrated by Maier’s teacher develops

how the Nazis gained power. With the support of this being demonstrated by

a teacher in school, this could influence the youth to adopt the same feelings.

Furthermore, Haydn’s account of the deportation opens up the beginnings of

the most inhumane crimes to occur. The enjoyment of such an inhumane way

56 Goebbels, Joseph, The Jews are Guilty! (1941) Available online: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb1.htm Date accessed: April 2012. 57 Goebbels, Joseph, The Jews are Guilty! (1941) Available online: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb1.htm Date accessed: April 2012. 58 Bankier, David, The Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion under Nazism, UK, Blackwell Publishers,1992, p.131. 59 Bankier, The Germans and the Final Solution, p.132.

24

to treat another human being portrays the success the Nazis’ brainwashing

had over some in Germany. This idea that they are ‘parasites’ and second-

class citizens is reflected in the deportations, when they are transferred like

cattle to the concentration camps to their deaths. However, there were some

claims from the German public that they helped the Jews by doing their best

to send families together. Depsite this act of what they believe to be kindness,

Bankier’s observes that “it was not only a banal response to criminal policy,

but in fact a grotesque ploy to evade responsibility.” 60 Therefore, this

develops the notion that Germany managed to perpetrate such crimes

because the majority would not oppose such a cruel regime. They tried to

avoid responsibility to such a barbaric regime and this relaxed approach is

exactly why the crimes were committed so easily.

To elaborate on this point Raul Hilberg, a political scientist and historian,

observed how participation in the process of disenfranchisement and

genocide extended to almost every agency of the German state. An example

of this is during the process of transferring Jews to ‘Aryan’ artists who had

been bombed out of their homes or apartments and supervising the

‘Aryanization’ of art objects from Jews prior to deportation. These practices

embodied “cultural eugenics in a particularly direct form.” 61 Evidently, the

deportation process for some within Germany was an opportunity for them to

gain from the Jews’ persecution. With attitudes like this, it is no surprise as to

how the nation managed to perpetrate atrocious crimes. Lucille Eichengreen

grew up in a Jewish family in Hamburg during the 1930s and describes the

reaction to the Jews being forced out of their current building and moved to

60 Bankier, The Germans and the Final Solution, p.138. 61 National Socialists Cultural Policy, p.31.

25

places called ‘Jewish houses’ 62 She says “I think we more or less accepted it”

63and adds “This was the law, those were the rules, and you could do nothing

about it.” 64 This reflects how Germany perpetrated such crimes under the

influence of the Nazi regime. It was the ‘norm’ for Jews to be treated like this:

it had to be accepted. Furthermore, as Glenn lists in National Socialist

Cultural Policy, a combination of indifference, fear, and opportunism led most

to look away, leaving active persecution to a small minority and active

opposition to an even smaller one.

The Jewish persecution in reality was everyday life under the Nazi regime.

Those who were opposed to the persecutions didn’t criticse the Nazi regime

effectively enough for the everyday persecution of the Jews to diminish, so

therefore it was only going to continue and to develop into such horrific

crimes. This was just the beginning of the Holocaust and the Final Solution.

This viewpoint is discussed in Bankier’s The Germans and the Final Solution,

where he notes that such acceptance of ‘mild’ persecution paved the way for

harsher measures. Furthermore, as long as the Jews were being segregated

the public could “claim ignorance and deny the reality created by the

antisemitic policy” 65 and therefore remain “emotionally distant” 66 developing

the notion as to how such crimes were ever perpetrated. The German public

lived in agentic ignorance of the Jews’ welfare, being witness to persecution

such as the wearing of the yellow star and deportations: they simply co-

operated with the Nazis.

62 Rees, Laurence, Auschwitz: The Nazis & The ‘Final Solution’, UK, BBC Books, 2005, p.38.

63 Rees, Auschwitz, p.39. 64 Rees, Auschwitz, p.39. 65 Bankier, David, The Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion under Nazism, UK, Blackwell Publishers,1992, p.129. 66 Bankier, David, The Germans and the Final Solution, p.129.

26

The popularity of Nazi leaders needs to be anlaysed in order to determine

how a cultured nation like Germany perpetrated such crimes under these

leaders. Officer Karl Boehm –Tettelbach, and also an aide to Field Marshal

von Blomberg, had only the kindest words for head of the SS, Heinrich

Himmler. He states how “he was a very nice and agreeable guest because he

involved younger people like me and would enquire about the air force” 67also

adding that he thought Nazi leaders like Himmler and Goebbels were “good at

their jobs.”68 However, when the later horrors came to emerge in Germany he

claims how he found it “hard to reconcile with the considerate man he met

across the dinner table” 69 thus illustrating that it wasn’t just the Nazi regime

that was popular, but also the elite, whom were later to become the names of

one of the most inhumane crimes to occur. By having this popularity, the

support for the Nazi regime would increase. It also shows how Nazi leaders

like Himmler and Goebbels were regarded in a different light than to those

men involved with the later atrocities, and it is quite difficult to come to terms

with the fact of how these men could suddenly change when it came to the

Jews.

With support for the Nazi regime developing, ‘ordinary’ Germans were

becoming involved in the process of the crimes that were continually

perpetrated by the Nazis. This is evident when the Gestapo, the official secret

police of Nazi Germany, started to develop. It has been highlighted that “80

percent of all political crime was discovered by ordinary citizens who turned

the information over to the police or the Gestapo.”70 This reiterates the

67 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis a Warning from History, London, BBC Books, 1997, p.56. 68 Rees, The Nazis a Warning from History, p.56. 69 Rees, The Nazis a Warning from History, p.56. 70 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis a Warning from History, London, BBC Books, 1997, p.60.

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development of the crimes perpetrated under the Nazi regime. This want to

‘denunciate’ or ‘report’ developed as the ordinary Germans lived under the

Nazi regime, and realised that there were gains that could be made. It was

seen that “Denunciations could also be used for personal gain; you want the

flat an old Jewish lady lives in – you denounce her; your neighbours irritate

you – you denounce them too.”71 Thus, this can to some extent explain how

such crimes were allowed to happen within such a cultured nation. The

indoctrination of propaganda and the increase of violent conduct towards the

Jews, accompanied with a brutal inhumane treatment of them, highlighted to

the ordinary Germans that the Jews were an easy target. However, it was not

only Jews who were targeted for denunciation but fellow ‘ordinary’ Germans.

This attitude, therefore, reflects the mindset of Germany at the time, and if

people were denunciating their neighbours for personal gains, then the crimes

the Nazis were undertaking would be irrelevant.

The development of the concentration camps to which the Jews and other

‘undesirables’ in society were deported to reflect the lasting symbol of Nazi

genocide and inhumanity. The analysis and focus of the concentration camps,

particularly Auschwitz, will evolve how a cultured nation managed to

perpetrate such crimes. Inside the concentration camps, Hitler’s Darwinian

ideology was implemented, with the aid of Nazi leaders who had adopted the

Nazis’ racial ideology regarding the Jews and other ‘undesirables’. Hitler’s

speech in 1928, touched upon “The idea of struggle is as old as life itself,” 72

and that “In this struggle the stronger, the more able, win while the less able,

the weak, lose. Struggle is the father of all things…It is not by the principles of

71 Rees, Laurence, The Nazis a Warning from History, London, BBC Books, 1997, p.61. 72 Rees, Laurence, Auschwitz: The Nazis & The ‘Final Solution’, UK, BBC Books, 2005, p.33.

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humanity that man lives or is able to preserve himself above the animal world,

but solely by means of the most brutal struggle.” 73 This quasi-Darwinian

attitude was at the very core of Nazism and the administration of the

concentration camps. This was demonstrated by the Kapos. The Kapos were

prisoners within the camps who had been assigned to supervise labour work.

This system was designed to turn prisoner against his fellow prisoners. The

Kapos for example could ‘justly’ mistreat those in their charge since they had

proved themselves in life’s struggle. Furthermore, in order for the

concentration camps to function efficiently, they would need them under Nazi

control. These leaders were to become known as the SS. The SS were a vital

factor into how such crimes were perpetrated. The SS leaders’ views

regarding the Jews and the function of the concentration camp, taking into

account their personalities, and why they were a part of the SS are vital into

determining how such inhumanity took place. As Rees notes in Auschwitz:

The Nazis & The Final Solution, the process of learning how to bury emotions

like compassion and pity towards those in the concentration camp, Rudolf

Hoess, a high ranking member of the SS, absorbed the sense of brotherhood

that was also strong in the SS. This sense of brotherhood reflected the power

an SS man should hold, and how the crimes continued. It was portrayed that

“The SS man knew that he would be called upon to do things that ‘weaker’

men could not” 74 and Reinhard Heydrich, the most powerful figure in the SS

after Himmler, claimed that “We must be hard as granite; otherwise the work

of our Fuhrer will perish” 75 developing the notion that the SS guards

73 Rees, Laurence, Auschwitz: The Nazis & The ‘Final Solution’, UK, BBC Books, 2005, p.33. 74 Rees, Auschwitz, p.34. 75 Glover, Jonathan, Humanity – a Moral History of the Twentieth Century, Pimlico, 200, p.344.

29

continued to work under this Nazi regime under the belief that they were doing

the right thing: Hitler’s work in solving the ‘Jewish question’. Johannes

Hassebroeck, commandant of a concentration camp claimed that “Many of us

had been so bewildered before we joined the organization” 76 and adds that

“the SS offered us a series of simple ideas that we could understand, and we

believed in them.” 77 these simple ideas and beliefs they held were in terms

relating to the crude values demonstrated by the SS. As Rees lists, the

unquestioning loyalty, hardness and protection of the Reich against the

enemy within became almost a “substitute religious creed, a distinct and

easily absorbed world-view.” 78 Thus, this reflects how a cultured nation

managed to perpetrate such crimes under the Nazi regime. Ordinary

Germans had been continually brainwashed, and the ideas regarding the

Third Reich, the master race, and the constant anti-Semitism resulted in men

in the SS adopting such views that they believed in what they were doing, and

therefore reflects how they managed to perpetrate them. They believed what

they were doing was the right thing.

The development of both Auschwitz and the ‘Final Solution’ were

undertaken by individual Nazis who committed crimes in order “to feel more

personally in control” 79 which reflects how the crimes continued to develop.

This sense of control overpowered them, and was an emotion which didn’t

diminish during their roles in such perpetrations. Nazism in the environment of

a concentration camp gave the Nazi leaders full freedom to treat non-

Germans as they saw fit. Goldhagen notes in Hitler’s Willing Executioners that

76 Glover, p361-2. 77 Glover, p361-2. 78 Rees, Laurence, Auschwitz: The Nazis & The ‘Final Solution’, UK, BBC Books, 2005, p.34. 79 Rees, Laurence, Auschwitz, p.16.

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moral rules and practices that governed ‘ordinary’ Germany, did not apply to

the camp. As a result the camps were thus a place where, according to their

ideologically informed understanding of their victims, they carried out such

atrocious crimes within them. The central feature of the camp system

highlighted the brutality and the justification by the Nazis who “thought it

appropriate in conformity with the moral order of the world” 80 thus portraying

how they deemed it fit to “dehumanize”81 the prisoners.

Auschwitz in particular organized them indistinguishably. Goldhagen states

the tattooing each prisoner with a number rather than using their name,

developed the dehumanization undertaken by the Nazi leaders, and to some

extent denied their existence as human beings. To elaborate, the crimes that

were perpetrated developed because of the Germans’ view of the prisoners’

“sub-humanity”. Psychological consequences derived from such violent

attacks and beating the prisoners, as it lead them to “cower in the presence of

their German overlords, to cower as no people would before equals” which

shows that that the crimes were perpetrated because the Germans’

refashioned and conditioned the prisoners in this camp world. “The conditions

of life” 82 proved imminently significant as it provides a deep understanding on

how such crimes could be committed. The Nazis had installed in them that

such treatment was justified: they weren’t human beings in their eyes. Dora

Volkel, a survivor of Auschwitz, talks about her experiences in Voices From

The Third Reich, describing the conduct of the SS. She claims, “Essentially,

80 Goldhagen, Daniel , Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans And The Holocaust, United States of America, Abacus, 1997, p.175. 81 Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, p.175. 82 Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, p.176.

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there were very primitive people. They were animals. The SS men were most

likely all good husbands and fathers. But when it came to us, they beat us,

they hunted us down, and they murdered us. They didn’t hesitate before using

their pistols.” 83

Rudolf Hoess, a model member of the SS eventually rose to become

commandant of Auschwitz - the lasting symbol of Nazi inhumanity. As Rees

notes, creating a model concentration camp in the new Nazi empire was his

biggest challenge, and one he relished. Furthermore, Rees also states that

Hoess, responsible for the murder of more than a million people to his last

breath, felt the reasons for the extermination of the Jews were ‘right’. This

belief that Hoess held whilst he rose to the commandant of Auschwitz was to

result in the development of mass murder. During the early stages of

Auschwitz, Hoess and his colleagues “had already used their own initiative to

help devise temporary methods by which to kill large numbers of people” 84

reflecting the chaotic system the Nazi Party had in aspects of its system. It

demonstrates how such crimes developed. Accompanied with the belief that it

was ‘right’ was to prove fatal.

83 Steinhoff, Johannes, Pechel Peter, Showalter, Dennis, Voices From The Third Reich: An Oral History, New York, Da Capo Press Inc, 1994, p.312. 84 Rees, Laurence, Auschwitz: The Nazis & The ‘Final Solution’, UK, BBC Books, 2005,

p.148.