I think we are allowed to criticize. The soldiers honored their (perceived) duty to their Country (or their race). But they betrayed their duty as human beings.
Now we have to understand : why did they thought they had no duty to humanity ? You have to remember the Jews were not seen as human beings. They were excluded from the racial pyramid ; there were worse than Untermenschen (subhumans), they were Unmenschen (non-humans), a Unrasse (non-race). How did this became acceptable ? This is the work of the Historian.
Edit : As many pointed out, Christopher R. Browning's Ordinary Men : Reserve Police battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland is a very good book to understand the subject. How were ordinary men capable of mass killings ? This is also tied to the Milgram and Stanford experiment, about obedience and cruelty in the human being.
AhnQiraj376 karma
I think we are allowed to criticize. The soldiers honored their (perceived) duty to their Country (or their race). But they betrayed their duty as human beings.
Now we have to understand : why did they thought they had no duty to humanity ? You have to remember the Jews were not seen as human beings. They were excluded from the racial pyramid ; there were worse than Untermenschen (subhumans), they were Unmenschen (non-humans), a Unrasse (non-race). How did this became acceptable ? This is the work of the Historian.
Edit : As many pointed out, Christopher R. Browning's Ordinary Men : Reserve Police battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland is a very good book to understand the subject. How were ordinary men capable of mass killings ? This is also tied to the Milgram and Stanford experiment, about obedience and cruelty in the human being.
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