The Degradation of Ethics Through the Holocaust

Springer Nature Switzerland (2023)
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Abstract

This book discusses ethical behavior through the genocidal stages of the Holocaust. Paul E. Wilson first looks at the antisemitism in Germany and Europe beginning in the decades preceding the Nazis reign of terror, and goes on to discuss the ethical decisions made in the initial stages that moved society toward genocide. The author maintains that the stages of genocide represent subtle changes that can be happening within a society in response to the moral choices made by actors. By giving attention to the stages of genocide in the Holocaust, this book contributes to the overall understanding of how the Holocaust was possible, and encourages the moral community to join the watch for the development of genocide in the modern world.

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9783031309182   9783031309199   3031309189

DOI

10.1007/978-3-031-30919-9
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Chapters

Propaganda for Genocide

Propaganda is a powerful tool for communication and for persuading a mass of persons who are willing to surrender a measure of autonomy to the propagandists. It has been used successfully to communicate information that administrators deem acceptable for public consumption. It has been used to endor... see more

Introduction

Philosopher and ethicist John K. Roth as well as Jonathan Glover reflected that thinkers in the early twentieth century like Martin Heidegger failed to condemn the Holocaust when they could have done so. This woeful silence prompts ethicists and historians to ask how the Holocaust could have happene... see more

Antisemitism is a Vicious Racism

Antisemitism precedes the Holocaust, shapes the Holocaust, and outlives the Holocaust. Antisemitism provides a cultural and ethical underlayment for the stages of genocide identifiable in the Holocaust. Antisemitism was present before the Nazis came to power, and it is still prevalent in the twenty ... see more

Denial of Rights as a Prelude to Entitlement

Genocide is a denial of a fundamental right and that is the right of an individual to life. While the onset of mass murder may appear to happen swiftly in genocide, there may have been several preliminary steps leading up to the mass killing. One preliminary step that has historically led to genocid... see more

The Case of the Aryan Jesus Dogma: Enlarging Entitlement through Propaganda

In a national effort to promote antisemitism, the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence (ISEJI) was established in Nazi Germany. Its leader, Walter Grundmann, was instrumental in the promotion of the Aryan Jesus dogma in scholarly circles. Through a quid pro quo arrangement wit... see more

Self-Entitlement for the Chosen Few

This chapter investigates how killing non-Aryans was justified from an individual viewpoint and before the international community. One’s ancestry can be understood as a matter of moral luck, but the Nazis saw Aryan ancestry as their entitlement. Nazis used the Aryan Protocol to classify persons of ... see more

Postscript

Why repeat today these moral issues? Genocide Watch identifies contemporary global hotspots, where the stages of genocide are happening today. Failing to speak out against genocide in its priming or peak phase is a grave moral omission. As Primo Levi argued, if it happened in the past, it could happ... see more

Ethical Gray Zones in Genocidal Killing Camps

This chapter takes the readers inside the ghettos and concentration camps to consider the artificial conditions imposed upon victims. In these camps victims were in theory and practice denied a role in the ethical community of the perpetrators. Thus, there was no recognized universal moral realm but... see more

Bystanders to Genocide

This chapter examines the role of bystanders in genocide. To achieve their objectives perpetrators had to rely on bystanders to be neutral or supportive. Bystanders are not victims or perpetrators, but they can easily be swept into supporting one or the other sides in a genocidal conflict. Borrowing... see more

The Holocaust and the Ideal of Purity

This chapter investigates how genocide makes use of the notion that the in-group can preserve itself only if it eliminates those it deems to be a threat to its purity. This devotion to ethnic or ideological purity can also be found in terrorist organization. This notion that others threaten the puri... see more

Cry Genocide!

The label “genocide” emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. After years of campaigning, Raphael Lemkin succeeded in gaining international recognition for the term “genocide.” The term identified a peculiar type of mass atrocity that aimed at the annihilation of an ethnic group. The pro... see more

The Case of the Muselmänner: A Study in the Loss and Reclamation of Dignity

Victims of genocidal violence like the Muselmänner test our notions of dignity. In practice it is not altogether clear if respect of dignity is deserved, earned, or to be granted. Here and previously I borrow Joel Feinberg’ notion that the dignity of respect is owed to individuals as bearers of righ... see more

Resistance and Neighborly Aid

This chapter explores how individuals in the Holocaust become the victims of genocide and in what ways resistance has been mounted against the perpetrators of genocide. The charge that victims did not rise up and repel the violent treatment of perpetrators is shown to be an empty claim. Perpetrators... see more

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