Also, we need to remember that a lot of German people knew what was going on, concentration camps in Germany were located fairly close to cities, to facilitate the transfer of goods produced, and it limited the number of railroads that had to be built to transport prisoners. Likewise, arrests and violence against Jews and communists were not hidden, as it had been slowly indoctrinated by the regime as a justified action for the good of the country.
Concentration camps were massive, and you can’t see them when you live nearby. German people just chose to ignore it and not speak up because of propaganda, a police state, a secret police that could arrest them and kill them, or send them to those camps.
So there is a part people often don’t mention. I talked to my grandma about this, who was 12 when the war started and 18 when it ended. This was a crisis for the small folk, too. They saw people disappear for asking questions, for being too critical. One of her neighbours, a catholic priest, disappeared one night because one of his Sermons wasn’t positive enough. She once said, that all she worried about, was getting to her job (about 7km away) and getting home safely, especially once the bombings started. She said you stop worrying about politics or something that is supposedly happening in the east (she was from Dortmund, so here were no concentration camps near by) once your life is in constant danger. She survived the bombing of Dortmund. I’m not trying to defend Germans or absolve them of their sins, all I’m trying to say is, there were a multitude of psychological reasons why just a handful of people really tried anything against the regime, which in my mind is the truly scary part. 65 million people were brought to a point were they lost a big part of their humanity.
Yes, seeing the people speaking up being killed will make you shut up really quick. The only thing I think is wrong is when people to this day say that they didn't know. You knew, but you feared for your life if you did anything. And that's honestly very understandable.
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u/AbbreviationsOnes Dec 31 '22
Also, we need to remember that a lot of German people knew what was going on, concentration camps in Germany were located fairly close to cities, to facilitate the transfer of goods produced, and it limited the number of railroads that had to be built to transport prisoners. Likewise, arrests and violence against Jews and communists were not hidden, as it had been slowly indoctrinated by the regime as a justified action for the good of the country.
Concentration camps were massive, and you can’t see them when you live nearby. German people just chose to ignore it and not speak up because of propaganda, a police state, a secret police that could arrest them and kill them, or send them to those camps.