I've seen it before, and honestly don't know why I watched it again. Tonight the History Channel broadcast a multipart series on the SS. It's not a bad series, but promotes a recurring theme which I find both off-putting and dangerous: that leaders of the SS were different than us - they were evil incarnate.
No - I'm not an SS apologist. Yes, the actions of the SS were evil.
This does not mean that SS leaders were non-humans.
In fact, I think the more troubling - and more important - question is, "How did normal men come to commit such horrific acts?"
As soon as we identify Himmler, Heydrich, et al., as non-human monsters, we are relieved of responsibility for our own actions. "Whatever we do to protect our nation, we are, after all, compassionate men, motivated only by patriotism - not at all like the sadistic monsters who led the SS!"
No. Demonizing the enemy is dangerous. With very few exceptions, most men share in humanity - we are motivated by love, by lust, by fear, by greed, by patriotism, by self-interest, by honor, by spirituality, ... lots of different motivations available, but none of them is alien to any one of us.
It is only by asking, "How could ordinary humans - my fellow men - do such terrible deeds?", that we arrive at understanding which may prove useful to us when we confront our own fears.
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