Chapter 6 Conformity The Scope and Sequence and Consent in Individual Choosing to & Society Participate the National We & They Judgment, Memory & Legacy The Holocaust Community FPG / Staff / Gey Images / Gey FPG / Staff HaHB_chapter6_v1_PPS.indd 280 3/7/17 4:35 PM Overview By 1934, Hitler considered the National Socialist revolution in Germany complete. In control of the nation, the Nazis turned their attention to creating a racially pure “national community” in which Nazism was not revolutionary but normal. This chapter focuses on the methods the Nazis used to get individuals to conform, if not consent, to their vision for German society. It also focuses on the consequences faced by those who did not fit into the “national community” the Nazis envisioned. HaHB_chapter6_v1_PPS.indd 281 3/7/17 4:35 PM Chapter 6 Introduction By 1934, Germany was firmly under Nazi control. After President von Essential Hindenberg’s death in August of that year, Adolf Hitler declared himself Questions not only the nation’s chancellor but also its Führer. The revolution was over, he told his closest associates. It was now time to consolidate power • In what ways did the and normalize life in the “new Germany” they had created. The Nazis Nazis use laws to create were determined to create a Volksgemeinschaft—a “national community” “in” groups and “out” groups in German society? or, literally, a “people’s community.” How did they also appeal The term had become popular during World War I as a way of rallying to people’s hearts and support for the conflict. At that time, it simply meant that all Germans, minds? regardless of class, religious, and social differences, would work together • What were some of the to achieve a national purpose—winning the war. But the Nazis interpreted reasons that the Na- its meaning differently. They used the word to advance the idea of a racial- zis’ idea of a “national ly pure and harmonious national community united in its devotion to the community” appealed German people, their nation, and their leader. In the words of a popular to many Germans? Why Nazi slogan, the goal was “Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Führer!” (“One People! did it appeal to particular One Empire! One Leader!”) groups, like young people? As the slogan suggests, the Nazis viewed National Socialism as more than • What did it mean to be a set of political ideas. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda, an outsider or even a called it a “total and all-encompassing general perspective on all public dissenter in an otherwise matters.” It was an ideology—a system of closely related ideals and beliefs. “racially pure and harmo- Goebbels said of Nazi ideology: nious national communi- ty”? What did it mean to We hope that the day will come when nobody needs to talk about National So- be an insider? cialism any more, since it has become the air that we breathe! . People must get used inwardly to this way of behaving; they must make it into their own set of attitudes.1 Hitler described the foundation for the national community in his book Mein Kampf: If one were to divide mankind into three species: the culture-creators, the cul- ture-bearers, and the culture-destroyers, the Aryan would fit the first definition. It is to him that we must trace the foundations and the walls of all that human beings have created. The most powerful [opposite] to the Aryan is the Jew . The Jew possesses no culture-creating ability whatever, since he does not, and never did have that quality without which man cannot truly develop toward a higher order: idealism. Therefore, his intellect will never act as a constructive force. He is and remains the typical parasite, a sponger who, like a malign bacillus, spreads more and more as long as he will find some favorable feeding ground.2 1 Quoted in Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power (New York: Penguin, 2005), 221. 2 Quoted in Joachim Remak, ed., The Nazi Years: A Documentary History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1969), 34. 282 HOLOCAUST AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR HaHB_chapter6_v1_PPS.indd 282 2/28/17 7:57 PM While the Nazis were clear about their ultimate goal of creating a “racially pure” state, they were also conscious of public opinion. They worked to cultivate consensus in German society even as they suppressed dissent. They established organizations for workers, women, young people, and other groups to build a feeling of connection to the Nazi government. They produced all kinds of propaganda designed to create allegiance to Nazi ideas. In an effort to avoid the appearance of lawlessness to order- minded Germans, they wrote most of their policies into new laws. They encouraged Germans to police their own behavior, and that of their neighbors, in accordance with those laws. And through their policies and propaganda, they set out to prepare Germans for war to acquire the “living space” that the “Aryan” race needed in order to grow and expand. Chapter 6 examines the Nazis’ efforts to create a Volksgemeinschaft and the important questions those efforts raise about obedience and conformity, persuasion and dissent. CHAPTER 6: CONFORMITY AND CONSENT IN THE NATIONAL COMMUNITY 283 HaHB_chapter6_v1_PPS.indd 283 2/28/17 7:57 PM Reading 1 The Common Interest before Self-Interest Six years before Hitler took power in Germany, Joseph Goebbels, the National Socialist Party’s propaganda expert, published a pamphlet that would be reprinted many times during the Nazi years. It spelled out the goals of National Socialism: What is the first commandment of every National Socialist? Love Germany more than anything and your fellow Germans more than yourself! What is the aim of the National Socialist idea of liberty? To create the national community of all honestly creative Germans! What is the content of that national community? Freedom and bread for every German! Who is a fellow German, a racial comrade? Every honestly creative German is, provided his blood, his customs, his culture are German and provided he speaks the German tongue! What is the basic economic principle with which National Socialism wishes to replace the present economic warfare of all against all? The Common Interest before Self-Interest!1 Connection Questions 1. How does this pamphlet define what it means to be German? What do you think Goebbels meant by the phrase “national community”? What might he have meant by “honestly creative German”? 2. What did National Socialism offer to these “honestly creative” Germans? What did it ask of them? 3. Why do you think this pamphlet was repeatedly reprinted? Why would a govern- ment want to encourage the values expressed in the pamphlet? 4. How does this pamphlet define the relationship between the individual and society? 1 Quoted in Joachim Remak, ed., The Nazi Years: A Documentary History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1969), 39. 284 HOLOCAUST AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR HaHB_chapter6_v1_PPS.indd 284 2/28/17 7:57 PM Reading 2 Spying on Family and Friends As the Nazis worked to consolidate their power and build a cohesive “national community,” suppression of dissent played a key role. In 1933, the Nazis issued a decree that required Germans to turn in anyone who spoke against the party, its leaders, or the government (see “Outlawing the Opposition” in Chapter 5). That decree, “For the Defense against Malicious Attacks against the Government,” stated: 1. Whoever purposely makes or circulates a statement of a factual nature which is untrue or grossly exaggerated or which may seriously harm the welfare of the Reich or of a state, or the reputation of the National government or of a state gov- ernment or of parties or organizations supporting these governments, is to be pun- ished, provided that no more severe punishment is decreed in other regulations, with imprisonment of up to two years and, if he makes or spreads the statement publicly, with imprisonment of not less than three months. 2. If serious damage to the Reich or a state has resulted from this deed, penal servi- tude may be imposed. 3. Whoever commits an act through negligence will be punished with imprisonment of up to three months, or by a fine.1 To enforce the decree, the Nazis set up special courts to try people who were accused of “malicious attacks.” In December 1934, the government replaced the decree with the “Law against Malicious Attacks on State and Party,” adding a clause that criminalized “malicious, rabble-rousing remarks or those indicating a base mentality” against the Nazi Party or high-ranking government or party officials. Alfons Heck, then a member of the Hitler Youth, recalled the effects of the law. In 1938, he was living with his grandparents when his father came to visit. In retrospect, I think it was the last time my father railed against the regime in front of me. He wasn’t much of a drinker, but when he had a few too many, he had a tendency to shout down everyone else, not a small feat among the men of my family. “You mark my words, Mother,” he yelled, “that goddamned Austrian housepainter is going to kill us all before he’s through conquering the world.” And then his baleful eye fell on me. “They are going to bury you in this goddamned monkey suit [his Hitler Youth uniform], my boy,” he chuckled, but that was too much for my grandmother. 1 Quoted in Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey Pridham, eds., Nazism: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts, 1919–1945, vol. 1 (New York: Schocken, 1984), 478. CHAPTER 6: CONFORMITY AND CONSENT IN THE NATIONAL COMMUNITY 285 HaHB_chapter6_v1_PPS.indd 285 2/28/17 7:57 PM “Why don’t you leave him alone, Du dummer Narr [you stupid fool],” she said sharply, “and watch your mouth; you want to end up in the KZ [the German abbre- viation for concentration camp]?” He laughed bitterly and added: “So, it has come that far already, your own son turning you in?” My grandmother told me to leave the kitchen, but the last thing I heard was my father’s sarcastic voice.