1
Differentiate & De-Otherize.
Injustice flourishes in the shadows of ambiguity. Our ability to
dismantle the chains of inequity depends on the extent to which
we are willing to notice historical patterns of injustice, especially
when experienced by those who are different from ourselves. Yet,
in highlighting our differences, we run the risk of creating the
societal “Other,” who will often feel the blame for the failures of
the overall community. The line is fine, but it must be walked in
order to see and appreciate the differences between us as natural
and a part of our “togetherness,” not as evidence and reason for
“Otherness.”
1
1
Differentiate & De-Otherize.
Injustice flourishes in the shadows of ambiguity. Our ability to
dismantle the chains of inequity depends on the extent to which
we are willing to notice historical patterns of injustice, especially
when experienced by those who are different from ourselves. Yet,
in highlighting our differences, we run the risk of creating the
societal “Other,” who will often feel the blame for the failures of
the overall community. The line is fine, but it must be walked in
order to see and appreciate the differences between us as natural
and a part of our “togetherness,” not as evidence and reason for
“Otherness.”
2
Write your explanation of the historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological
theories that support the argument of your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your
explanation of the historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological theories that support
the argument of your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your explanation of the
historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological theories that support the argument of
your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your explanation of the historical events from
the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological theories that support the argument of your lesson (in 12 point
font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your explanation of the historical events from the Holocaust and/or
Social Psychological theories that support the argument of your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS
FONT) HERE.
Write your explanation of the historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological
theories that support the argument of your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your
explanation of the historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological theories that support
the argument of your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your explanation of the
historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological theories that support the argument of
your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your explanation of the historical events from
the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological theories that support the argument of your lesson (in 12 point
font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your explanation of the historical events from the Holocaust and/or
Social Psychological theories that support the argument of your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS
FONT) HERE. Write your explanation of the historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social
Psychological theories that support the argument of your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT)
HERE.
Write your explanation of the historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological
theories that support the argument of your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your
explanation of the historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological theories that support
the argument of your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your explanation of the
historical events from the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological theories that support the argument of
3
your lesson (in 12 point font AND in THIS FONT) HERE. Write your explanation of the historical events from
the Holocaust and/or Social Psychological theories that support the argument of your lesson (in 12 point
2
Don’t Support Hateful
Campaigns
Hateful campaigns breed division among societies. Do your
research on candidates. Hateful policies and promises can hide in
a sea of positively driven statements. The people who benefit
from these campaigns will latch onto these bigoted ideas and
faithfully support the candidate behind them. When the candidate
gets elected into a position of power, those who are the targets of
the bigotry will face a life of discrimination and hardship.
4
Politicians have to win over voters if they want a chance at winning an election. Just
like ads on television they must attract the electorate with enticing policies and promises.
This is where politicians begin to say very profound things, hoping to gain support of the
more extreme ends of society. Many campaigns will feature several hateful policies under
the guise of doing something positive for the nation, like national defense or job security. In
the case of our most recent presidential candidates, Donald Trump promised to, “Build a
Wall and register all Muslims in the USA into a database.” While neither of these things have
directly happened they are still very frightening. The “Build a Wall” slogan was disguised
under the pretense that keeping immigrants out of the country would lower crime rates,
violence and protect jobs for American citizens. The Muslims Database was reinforced by
the fact that keeping Muslims out of the country and monitoring them would increase
national security. While some may say, “Trump hasn’t actually fulfilled either of these
promises”, his policy making makes it clear that he certainly wants to.
The repeal of DACA and the Muslim Travel Ban are indicators that what he originally
set out to do is currently underway-- just not as visible. One only needs to look at the
political decisions of Adolf Hitler during the Third Reich to see parallels in the terror that
may follow recent events. Hitler began by simply segregating Jews from society, making
them wear Stars of David and disclosing to other Germans that they were Jewish. Through
time and the use of propaganda Hitler was able to use this existing discrimination to further
his actual goal, although one may argue unlike Trump, Hitler never said as one of his
campaign slogans that he intended to rid the world of the Jewish population. Eventually
Hitler did achieve his goal of exterminating the majority of the Jewish population in Nazi
Occupied Germany. The situation that Hitler took advantage of was awfully convenient and
unlike the situation that we currently find ourselves in today but, nevertheless, it still is a
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valuable lesson to look at.
3
Remember that words have
power.
Intentional or not, lies have lasting consequences. Think before
you speak, because your words may result in other people’s
actions. Investigate what you’re told and always question its
credibility, rather than taking it at face value. Avoid spreading or
starting rumors that could be harmful and don’t repeat anything
you haven’t yet verified.
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“in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses... would be ashamed
to resort to large-scale falsehoods...It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths,
and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even
though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and
waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie
always leaves traces behind it.” Mein Kampf
Hitler speaks here of how easy it is to manipulate the masses by exploiting their good nature to
generally tell the truth, and goes on to state that by simply fabricating outlandish lies, one can lend them
an air of credibility. One might not think to question such a statement because it is so far removed from
reason, or one may have to think for a moment to recognize such a lie, and in doing so familiarize oneself
with it.
This was seen recently with President Trump’s inauguration. On January 25, 2017, the Washington
Post published an article about a survey conducted in which American adults were asked about the sizes
of crowds in two pictures—one of Donald Trump’s inauguration, and one of Barack Obama’s. When asked
which photograph had more people, 40% of Trump voters and 20% of Clinton voters gave an incorrect
response. When asked which picture was of Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd however, only 15% of
Trump voters and 2% of Clinton voters responded incorrectly. While many seemed to knowingly responded
incorrectly, the fact that it was a question at all lends credence to Hitler’s concept of a “big lie;” by simply
stating a bold faced lie, one can lay a groundwork for the masses questioning the obvious truths.
Hitler concluded this passage by stating that a “big lie,” as the propaganda technique is now
referred to, “always leaves traces behind it.” Today, in America, there are an estimated 99 Neo-Nazi groups
and 100 White-Supremacist groups. Even the former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon was the
executive chairman of Breitbart, which under his leadership became “a platform for the alt-right” in his
words. Despite boasted of his ties to a White Nationalist and Neo-Nazi political sect, he still became one of
the most powerful men in our government. Hitler’s ideology did not die with him; his propaganda has
spread to the top of a government that less than a century ago helped topple him from his position of
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power.
Many think that a simple lie is neither harmful nor long lasting, however this is proved wrong with
what is known as the Blood Libel. The Blood Libel was a myth started in Europe in the 12th Century which
blamed Jews of murdering Christian children. These children were victims of murders of which there was
no clear perpetrator, and so people used Jews, a group that had been criticized and targeted for centuries,
as scapegoats. Their motive? It was believed that the Jews killed Christian kids as a sacrificial ritual and
wanted their blood, a ridiculous notion. This clearly shows that almost anything can be believed by at least
a few others, and therefore we must preserve the truth and be careful what we say.
Soon, these lies caught on and people started to take revenge on the Jewish population. Some of
this included Jews getting arrested, tortured until they confessed, hung, beheaded, and even in some
cases burned alive. Additionally, there were anti-semitic riots and government support which perpetuated
society’s horrible perception of Jews.
Not only did this lie cause innocent people to be accused of murder as well as the deaths of
hundreds in the 12th and 13th Centuries, but it persisted and continued to be believe by the next
generations, all the way up to the 20th Century. As time went on, the myth spread to different countries
throughout Europe and to the United States. Eventually it even contributed to the anti-semitic views which
lead to the Holocaust and the death of over 6 million Jewish men, women, and children. After the first
world war in which Germans suffered a painful and humiliating loss, some thought that the Jews had
caused the loss and blamed the Jews for their suffering. Already having a bad reputation from the Blood
Libel and other conspiracies, Jewish people made easy and believable targets. The Blood Libel was
depicted in many pieces of Nazi propaganda which resurfaced the false accusations as well as the attitude
towards the Jews. Overall, the Blood Libel shows how words, and in particular lies, no matter how
ridiculous they are, have the power to withstand the test of time and do an enormous amount of harm. For
these reasons we must always think before we speak or our words may do great damage.
8
The Gestapo were small in number, and relied upon German Citizens for information. They did not
see for themselves what so called crimes people were committing, rather, they sorted out reports from
others. People were put at risk by gossip, as their own relatives and neighbors would denounce them to
the Gestapo.
One example of this was Ilse Totzke, who was placed in a Concentration camp where she later died.
After she was denounced by a relative, the Gestapo asked her neighbors to keep an eye on her. Her
neighbors reporting behavior that they deemed ‘suspicious’, with little hard evidence to prove her ‘crimes’
of possibly having Jewish friends and being a lesbian.
One of these neighbors, Resi Kraus, was interviewed for the documentary, The Nazis, A warning
from History, Episode 2. When presented with the document where she reported that Totzke was visited by
a woman of ‘Jewish appearance’, she admitted that it had her signature, but claimed not to remember it.
“I mean, I didn’t kill anybody, didn’t murder anyone. I didn’t even join the BDM, the Hitler Youth for
girls. My father said to me, ‘BDM- I will not have you travel into town twice a week when it’s dark.”
It’s important to emphasize that the Gestapo would not have been able to arrest as many people as
they had without reports from others. The Gestapo are often thought of, similarly to how Nazis in general
are thought of, as simply being evil, in a way that you or I never could be. But without ordinary, everyday
people, they would lose much of their power
Currently, there are no Secret Police who are threatening to arrest people without trial for crimes that
are not crimes, and we all hope that there never will be. Other lessons here may help to prevent us from
ever reaching that point. But if we do, be careful what you say about others, not just to a secret police, but
to any of the people around you. Start a rumor and someone else may report it to the wrong person. When
talking about someone else, ask yourself, what are you trying to accomplish by what you are saying? How
might others interpret it? Even in a democracy, it is good to do this, but in a dictatorship, it is crucial.
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Words have power, and we certainly see this being demonstrated with the usage of the term “JudeoBolshevik”. During the years leading up to the Second World War and during the war itself, the use of this
term became increasingly normalized, and the effects that came out of this are profound.
Despite there being no actual affiliation between the two groups, by combining the words “Judeo”
and “Bolshevik” together, it created an association between the two, where if a person identified as a Jew,
it’ll immediately be assumed that they were also a Bolshevik -- and vice versa. The correlation of these two
words linked violence with a religious group that started the widespread belief that these types of people
needed to be captured, isolated, and killed, claiming that they were twice as dangerous.
The normalization and usage of this term contributed to the murders of the millions of lives lost during the
Holocaust. This word, which carried the weight and responsibility of the lives of both the Jews and the
Bolsheviks, was used so lightly, that it made people become immune to the power that this word actually
holds. People used it as if it was nothing, carelessly accusing anyone they thought appeared to be
suspicious, when it actuality, this word was partly the reason why so many Jews and Bolsheviks ended up
suffering the terrible fates they did. Because those that used this term weren’t the ones being labeled with
it, they used it as if it was nothing and became blind to how powerful it was.
It is always after, when the whole matter dies down, that people realize their carelessness and how the
words that come out of their mouths, even if it is a seemingly two measly, small words, can end up
changing the entire course of history, resulting in one of the most horrific genocides to this day.
Going forward, we ought to be more mindful and aware of the words we speak and remember the impact
we can have. It is a simple task, but one that will help in preventing something like the Holocaust from
happening again.
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4
Refuse to Conform
When injustice arises be sure to refuse to conform with what's
happening around you. Stand up for what you think is right, intervene
when intervening must be done. Conformity allows for the progression
of injustice, be your own ideals and don’t conform to injustices
happening around you.
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1
In order to avoid conformity we must know about it. The idea of Group Conformity Theory came out of a study
performed by Solomon Asch. He concluded that on average, ⅓ of the time, subjects conformed to giving an answer
that was the same as the others who answered before them, even though that answer was obviously wrong. No
subjects had a seemingly valid reason to conform either. Some said they didn't want to seem peculiar, but most were
aware that their answers were wrong, although some said they genuinely thought they were answering correctly. To
refuse to conform we need to be aware of our disposition to it. Whether we are witnessing a time period of injustice
or a moment of injustice we need to maintain a recognition of the demonstrated human behavior of conforming. In
the experiment it was simply lines of varying lengths drawn onto a piece of paper being looked at. But in the real
world that can translate to something much larger. If someone is on the ground asking for help, and everybody else
keeps just walking by and going along, mostly likely you would too. Be cognisant of the “group’s” (the people around
you at any given time) mentality, and separate it from your own mentality. Create a sense of self, you must know your
own values before you start. Don’t make an excuse after about why you followed the group, be proactive and don’t
follow. In the moment the push is to be with the group. To try and disintegrate situations and moments of injustice,
individuals must refuse to conform. If you feel unable to do that in the moment, look inside and see if you are
conforming to not stand out, or if you truly believe in the basis of what is perceived by others as a moment or time of
injustice. In this case evaluate your beliefs before moving with the group to see if it's what you truly believe in. Group
Conformity Theory has been doubted but the basis of knowing that one can so easily able to conform in something
that is so obviously wrong is what we must consider important for refusing to conform.
The Ordnungspolizei, or the Orpo, was the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. Headed by
the Schutzstaffel (SS), the Orpo was tasked with policing the civilian populations of Germany and later all countries
under the occupation of the Nazi empire. In its formation in the mid 1930s, the Nazis began to provide military-style
training to police officers of the Orpo. Starting in 1939, the Orpo established paramilitary police battalions that would
be used as reserve forces for the war. One of the most notable of these battalions was Reserve Police Battalion 101.
Police battalions were organized regionally, and Battalion 101 was primarily composed of men who came from
middle to lower class areas in Hamburg. This group of 500 policemen were truly ordinary men. Most were in their
30's and 40's, older than most conscripts in the Wehrmacht. They included men who, before the war, had been
professional policemen as well as truck drivers, construction workers, machine operators, waiters, and teachers.
Only a minority were members of the Nazi Party, and only a few belonged to the SS. After the German army invaded
the Soviet Union in 1941, the police battalions of the Orpo were deployed along with the Einsatzgruppen behind
Wehrmacht lines. This group of “ordinary men” provided the man power to help carry out the Nazi’s Final Solution to121
the Jewish Question by murdering at least 83000 Jewish men, women, and children through firing squads and
2
deportation to death camps. The majority of these murders occured in occupied Poland following Operation
extremely gruesome action at the Polish village of Józefów in July of 1942. Two platoons of 3rd company surrounded
the village; shooting anyone who tried to escape. The remaining men rounded up the Jews and took them to the
marketplace. The sick, elderly, and infants were shot on sight. The rest of the men formed the firing squads that killed
the Jews from the marketplace. Their uniforms were wet with brain matter and blood as they murdered 1500 of
Józefów’s 1800 Jews in the span of 17 hours. How does such a group of “ordinary men” willingly kill so many
civilians with such brutality?
One has to look at Battalion 101’s extreme conformity to the endless proclamation of German superiority and
incitement of hatred for the Jewish enemy. The men of Battalion 101 were offered the choice by their commander,
Major Wilhelm Trapp, to disengage from the killings at Józefów, yet the 12 men who turned in their rifles could not
deter the hundreds of other battalion members from their conformity to the task of eliminating the Jewish enemy.
This case of conformity to an authority figure is present in most genocides especially the ones of the 20th century
which in general were carried out on a larger scale in a much shorter time period due to technological advances. One
case where this was mostly present was during the Holodomor. The Holodomor was when the Russian communists
after the formation of Soviet Russia went into Ukraine and to make it become a part of the Soviet Union they blocked
trade routes of food and other basic supplies to support life in Ukraine to starve them into becoming a new state in
the Soviet Union. After this plan was fully implemented and Ukraine submitted and became a new state in the Soviet
union, the Russians allowed for the trade routes to be reestablished but only at the cost of around seven million lives
over the single year period that it happened in. The case of conformity to an authority figure here has to come from
the fact that most of the Russian soldiers who were occupying the area didn't just have to kill them, but they had to
watch these people from small villages all over Ukraine starve to death and were under strict orders to keep food
from them no matter who the person was. The only way that anyone could install that idea into a person's head, then
make it seem like a good idea and make them actually follow through with this is only by having a person who is in a
greater stance of power then they are (in this case it would be Stalin), tell them that they should go through with this
“for the greater good”.
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3
5
Philosophy - Logic, Ethics, Justice.
In a day and age where information is freely available, it seems silly not to develop one’s morals
and virtues through exploration of timeless philosophical works. To stop a moment of injustice,
one must learn to recognize a moment of injustice; to understand the gravity behind one's actions
one must first understand the implications of the actions itself; and to fight against one’s natural
tendencies, one must train his/her mind until he/she is able to control his/her cognitive reality. This
is when philosophical works, whether it be timeless literary works or lectures on justice, teaches
one how to think for ourselves without external influences. By delving into the simple, yet complex
world of philosophy, one improves his/her analytical, consequential, logical, rhetorical, and critical
reasoning. All in which are needed in order to identify the injustices in our perceived world.
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Combat instances of injustice by training one's mind through the study of philosophy or more specifically the
subdisciplines of ethics and justice. Philosophical works such as the Genealogy of Morals (Friedrich Nietzsche),
Beyond Good and Evil (Friedrich Nietzsche), Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael Sandals and other
works are timeless and are not subject to change and therefore manipulation. We live in an age where information is
freely available. The entire series of lectures of Justice, hosted by Harvard professor Michael Sandals, is available in
many different languages online. Inform yourself and therefore arm yourself with the knowledge needed in order to
recognize and stop the moments of injustices that occur in everyday life. The enactment of the final solution,
liquefaction, ghettoization, enactment of anti-semitic policies, and discriminatory beliefs weren’t created in one night.
The Holocaust was essentially the progressive build up of moments of injustice after injustice. Surely philosophy,
and therefore a knowledged populus, wouldn't have been able to save the Jewish people in the extermination camps
or the shooting lines, but with proper self improvement predicated from the study of ethics and justice I believe it
would have never gotten to the point in which the Jewish population were subject to mass murder.
The effects of studying philosophy and its literary works isn’t something new. Studying philosophy allows for the
systematic deconstruction and rebuilding of one's ideological worldview through deliberate externalisation of one’s
internal thought process. This continual remodeling and examining of one's beliefs is what Plato called "the
examined life." In this proactive sense, Studying the discipline of philosophy is to mastering of one's own cognitive
reality. For if we leave the determination of our own philosophy and its ideology to others, we become intellectual
slaves, living in the Cave (Allegory of the Cave in the Republic by Plato) (or the Truman Show, or the Matrix) of those
masters' designs, intents, and purposes. Even if it’s the human condition to abide to authority, or to conform to the
beliefs of the group, philosophers have historically shown to resist these physiological pressures. Meaning with
one’s self betterment by studying philosophy it is possible to resist the natural tendencies of our mind.
“The authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual”(Galileo) as famously said
facing his trial for his abjuration of heliocentricity (the perceived truth in Galileo’s society).
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”(Socrates) Socrates later would perform his own execution by drinking
hemlock poison for the crimes of challenging the norms of Athenian Society - the beliefs held in regards of the gods
15
worshipped by the Athenians
And if my logical premises weren’t enough to convince you of the importance of philosophy, there exists scientific studies
which backup my conclusion. In a study done by Emanuele Castano a psychology professor and David Comer Kidd a Phd
holder at Harvard it was shown that reading literary fiction (works that offer deliberate social commentary, political
criticism, or focus on the individual to explore some part of the human condition) allowed for readers to perform better on
theory of mind tasks (ToM is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—
to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different
from one's own). This means that those who read literary fiction, a frequent format of philosophical books, are able to
clearly distinguish one’s own derived thoughts compared to the beliefs of others. Which concludes to one standing up for
one's beliefs despite societal pressures and oppression.
By studying philosophy and thus training one’s mind, humans can resist the subconscious force of the human condition,
and therefore fight against moments of injustices instead of falling at the feet of one’s own natural tendencies.
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6
You Are No Different
It is not above anyone to commit acts of injustice. Often in life,
people will say to themselves, “I would never do that; I am not an
evil person,” however, there is no such thing as an “evil person,”
only regular people who choose to do evil deeds.
17
The Stanford prison experiment was conducted from Aug. 14th to Aug. 20th, 1971 by Stanford
psychology professor Philip Zimbardo, and is just one example of how easily human beings can be
influenced into committing morally wrong or even illegal deeds. In this experiment, 24 males were
randomly divided into two groups of prisoners and guards. These young men were selected because they
were seen as both physically and mentally healthy and with no criminal backgrounds.
Over the next 7-14 days, they were to act as if they were in a real prison. The guards were told not to
physically harm the prisoners and were then sent off into a makeshift prison. Over a startlingly short
period of time, the guards began to act in cruel ways, psychologically torturing their prisoners. They
physically punished them with extreme exercises for long periods of time, forced them to use buckets for
urination and defecation, refused to allow prisoners to empty the buckets, and forced some to be naked. It
was reported that one third of the guards, all of whom had gone into this study cleared from any mental or
physical ailments, showed sadistic tendencies.
The treatment of the prisoners became so poor that the study was terminated early, on the sixth day.
This suggests that the situation, rather than the morals or personalities of a person, is what most
powerfully motivates and influences one’s actions.
The Reserve Police Battalion 101 was a group of men who shared similar traits to the city policemen
in Germany. This group consisted of ordinary lower and working class men from the neighborhoods of
Hamburg who were sent east to help fight the war against the Jewish-Bolsheviks. On July 13, 1942 the
Battalion was ordered to go to the village of Jozefow where they were to execute all Jews in the Village
except for young men deemed fit for labor. The men were disturbed by what was being asked of them,
including the leader Major Trapp who was described as talking “with a choking voice and tears.” Given this
undesirable order, Trapp allowed for members to step out and be assigned another task, but only around
18
ten of the men stepped down and turned in their rifles while the others watched and waited for further
instructions. As the day went on and the murders increased, members of the battalion were able to resign
at the discretion of their officers. However, the majority of the men continued the killings.
In their later testimonies, many of the men tried to justify their decision to follow through with the
orders by saying that they didn’t recall Trapp saying that anyone could step down or that they hadn’t been
paying attention in the moment and had forgotten. On the other hand, some accepted the decision that
they had made and opened up about how they had been given the decision but “failed to opt.” These
testimonies show how, although the men were given the option of stepping down, they were too scared or
embarrassed of seeming weak or vulnerable in front of the other men to quit their mission. Many men were
also blinded by their own prejudices against Jewish people as well as the extreme nationalism of Germany
at this time. These actions support the deindividuation theory which is thought of as the loss of selfawareness when placed in a group.
On November 7th, 1938, a Polish Jew by the name of Herschel Grynszpan shot and killed German
diplomat Ernst vom Rath in Paris, France. Two nights later, German citizens took up arms and started a
nationwide riot that would forever shape the events in the years to come. Kristallnacht, or the Night of
Broken Glass, was a nation wide riot promoted by Nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels and
perpetrated by German citizens. On the night of November 9th, 1938, German citizens took to the streets,
rioting and destroying any Jewish shop they could find. Without the opposition of the local police, who
were instructed to look the other way, regular people ran wild all over the Germany, destroying the
livelihood of their Jewish neighbors, people that they grew up with. Over 90 Jews were killed in the day
long riot, and countless others ended their own life after losing everything they had ever worked for.
Around 7500 jewish businesses were destroyed and 267 synagogues burnt to the ground. The nation-wide
destruction of Jewish livelihood, although conceived by high ranking government officials, was mostly the
fault of regular people. Those who did not actively riot did nothing to stand up to it.
These were not “evil people”. They were everyday citizens, no different than you or me. An entire
nation of people can’t realistically be entirely evil, so the only logical conclusion is that these people were
19
nothing special. You may tell yourself that you would never do that to another human being, you could not!
That was then but this is now, the world has changed! You tell yourself this to avoid having to face the ugly
truth. The German people of 1938, the men of Reserve Police
Battalion 101 in 1942, and even the American college students who participated in the Stanford Prison
Experiment of 1971 would all say the same about themselves had you asked them prior to their actions. “I
would never do that to another human being, I could not! That was then but this is now, the world has
changed!” The world does not change. You do.
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7
Know your own fragility.
To often we assume that in a moment of injustice we will follow
our morals and stand up for what is right. Despite an ever
flourishing self important and invincible idea, we as humans
succumb to the darker side of humanity, conforming to authority
and a larger group, accepting diffused responsibility, and
performing atrocious acts in the name of a cause we begin to fully
accept as truth.
21
During the time of the Holocaust there were many people fighting for their lives and doing anything in their power to try and stay
alive. However this was really no easy task given that such a high majority of authority figures were trying to harm a huge
population of many countries. Sophie Scholl was a young leader of the White Rose non-violent resistance group. She was a very
hard believer in the anti-war ideas and she ,unlike many people, chose to act against the seemingly destructive Nazi party
political system. She participated in spreading leaflets that spoke about how the Nazi party was turning evil and killing Germans.
This clearly was something that could get Scholl in huge trouble yet she still spread the leaflets and supported her own opinions.
As a result of this the Gestapo got involved and was set out to find the perpetrators and kill them. Initially there was no success
and the pamphlets were continued to be spread. However eventually Scholl and her brother were caught and put on trial. Even
through her trial she continued to stand up herself and refrain from falling under what the Nazi party wanted her to be like. She
didn’t fall for just going with the rest of society and letting terrible things happen to her, she spoke up and stood strong.
Although she did end up getting executed she is remembered today as a very strong and powerful young girl who stood against
the Nazi party and stood for the minority and less powerful population of society.
During the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, many of those accused attributed their actions to mindless obedience. Many
social psychologists believed that this was simply an excuse and those who were truly good people would stand by their morals
and defend those weaker than themselves. Professor Stanley Milgram decided to put it to the test. In 1961 Milgram began the
process of discovering the truth of obedience. The experiment was set up in the format of a student and teacher both in separate
rooms. The teacher would give give a series of questions. When a question was answered incorrectly the student, a member of
the experiment, would receive an increasing amount of shocks for each incorrect answer. The results were eye opening; 65% of
participants continued onto the highest level at 450 volts, all of the participants continued to 300 volts. Ordinary people who
simply came in in response to a newspaper ad began to perform dangerous acts against people they did not know all under the
command of a person in a position of authority. The near mindless obedience to orders is similar to the actions displayed by the
test participants is mirrored in the actions of members of the Volunteer Police Battalions who performed the mass executions
across conquered lands.
Later social psychology professor Philip Zimbardo performed his own experiment on human behavior and the perception of
power, specifically in the guard and prisoner relationship in prisons. SImilarly to Milgram’s study, participants were chosen and
given their roles randomly. Within the first few hours many of the guards began to partake in both physical and psychological
forms of torture and stress.The experiment was initially planned to last two weeks but was terminated after only six days due to
the extreme violence and actions taken against the prisoners by the guards. Without being prompted the guards performed acts22
of aggression that were not predicted by Zimbardo and his students. The quick change of ordinary people into experienced
instigators and aggressors unfortunately supported Milgram’s realization, the majority of people will change when given
8
Practice What You Preach
It’s easier said than done, but this is one of the most crucial
elements we need to maintain if we want society to preserve itself.
Practicing what you preach isn’t just limited carrying out your
own sincere beliefs, but it means to be your own role model.
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In times of oppressiveness, role models are few and far to come by. What you decide to do in instances of injustice helps
determine who you are, and while many of us would like to imagine that we would stand up for what we believe in, the sad truth
is that it rarely happens.
The Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 put well-behaving teenagers in the atmosphere of a prison. Some were guards, and
some were prisoners. Within a week, the guards had abused their power so badly that some prisoners had to be escorted out of
the experiment due to the mental instability that they suffered through during the experiment. All of these subjects were
behaving, ordinary citizens in the real world, but in the experiment, without supervision, some of them exploited their positions
and were met with no resistance from anyone else.
After the abrupt conclusion to the experiment, the guards all said that they never thought they would be capable of the abuse
they imposed, and that they knew that they were good people. Maybe if these young men had truly lived by their morals each
day, they would not have acted the way they did.
The Stanford Prison Experiment shines a light on the fact that very few people behave the way they wished during times of
tyranny, regardless of position.This is why it’s even more important for us to recognize our own principles and beliefs, and to
know when to stand up for them.
In July of 1961, Stanley Milgram started an experiment in researching how far individuals will go to obeying an authority figure
even if it means harming someone. The participants were middle-aged males (similar to the men of the Reserve Police Battalion
10). The participant was always the “teacher,” and a confederate of the experiment was always the “learner”. The teacher was to
give a shock everytime the learner made a mistake, and the level of shock increased with each error made by the learner.
Milgram found that 65% of participants continued to the highest level of volts (450) and all of the participants continued to 300
volts. Most people think that the atrocities the ordinary men of the Reserve Police Battalion committed is only possible in the
context of the Holocaust, but Milgram’s results show the opposite.
Most people believe that they have a good set of morals, but when placed in difficult situations they will most likely do what is
told of them-even if it means physically harming someone. It is imperative for everyone to ingrain practicing their morals into
their daily life so that they are less susceptible to an authority figure commanding them to do something against their morals.
Although it may seem daunting to think that our entire behavior is controlled by our current situation and that we can
often dismiss the idea of ending another human being’s life if the blame lies on someone else, it is important for you to
reevaluate how deeply you are set in your morals. Just as the kids from Palo Alto believed that they were moral and loving
people until they turned into menacing inhumane guards, we might also believe we are in the right however be susceptible to
being changed by a situation. The more we think about our morals and social responsibility as a human being, the harder it will 24
be for a situation to change us. Many of us talk about being loving human beings and being in the moral right, but very few give
thought and reinforce our moral standings. By thinking more deeply about our morals during times of peril and injustice, we will