However it is well documented that the vast vast vast majority of Germans supported the Nazis of their own free will. The “good german” and “clean wehrmacht” concepts are myths brought about in the aftermath of the war due to political expediency and, though they were adequately discredited by the 1980s, it still stubbornly holds on because the inhumanity is still so unbelievable.
Those Germans who did stand up to the Nazis were minute in numbers, and did so in an atmosphere of extreme hostility from the general public. After all, the Gestapo was a very small agency, and the population was self-policing.
Oh definitely. I just don’t like it when conclusions are drawn that as such, all germans are nazi sympathisers due to their blood (something intrinsic that can’t be changed), rather than just most of them and due to the societal circumstances that actually caused the widespread fervor. The former stance reeks of essentialism.
However it is well documented that the vast vast vast majority of Germans supported the Nazis of their own free will. The “good german” and “clean wehrmacht” concepts are myths brought about in the aftermath of the war due to political expediency and, though they were adequately discredited by the 1980s, it still stubbornly holds on because the inhumanity is still so unbelievable.
Those Germans who did stand up to the Nazis were minute in numbers, and did so in an atmosphere of extreme hostility from the general public. After all, the Gestapo was a very small agency, and the population was self-policing.
Oh definitely. I just don’t like it when conclusions are drawn that as such, all germans are nazi sympathisers due to their blood (something intrinsic that can’t be changed), rather than just most of them and due to the societal circumstances that actually caused the widespread fervor. The former stance reeks of essentialism.