If I were living there I'm sure I would suspect something when ash was spewing out everywhere and trains full of people were only passing in one direction.
2007-04-19 00:41:04 · 25 answers · asked by CC_Boobcock 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Most of the German people would have known that millions of Jews were being killed. I can think of 5 reasons why this is so from the top of my head:
1. they knew about the happening but were fearful of Hitler's Gestapo to do anything or felt helpless to do anything about it
2. they were in agreement with the policies that discriminated and then tried to exterminate the Jews.
3. they were polarized by the charisma of Hitler and considered him as a messianic figure after the failings of the Weimar Republic. The deep wave of nationalism was again stirred up by the German people as a whole.
4. Not only Germany but the majority of Europe including the USSR discriminated and killed the Jews because they believed from medieval times they were subhuman
5. There is the old-fashioned outdated and wrong attitude that the Jews killed Christ and Nazi Germany used the aura of religion, superstition and the occult to sway people to their way in attitude which included the elimination of all Jews.
2007-04-19 02:07:25 · answer #1 · answered by Dave aka Spider Monkey 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are two things to keep in mind when it comes to the whole Nazi Germany thing.
Before the rise of Hitler and the nazi party, the german economy was in ruins. The end of WW1 had left all of their industrial districts in French hands. When you get the classic "wallpapering your house with money because it's cheaper than buying wallpaper" you know there's something wrong.
Part of the reason for the success of Nazism was that it offered hope to people who had none. All throughout history is filled with causes that were questionable in hindsight but were followed because it fed and clothed people and ensured they had jobs.
You're also assuming a fair bit regarding ash and trains.
From my understanding it's not like there was a convenient side street with signage and lighting that lead to the concentration camps. They were all several miles into the wilderness from the nearest outpost of civilisation. There wouldn't have been ash "spewing out everywhere" where the german populace were. And this same german populace wouldn't be seeing "trains full of people". Rather they'd see cargo trains going both ways (it's not like they'd just leave them open when they going back the other way now would they?).
Also the trains wouldn't have gone from nothing to one every half hour. They would have started with one extra one every week or so and gradually ramp up. Where changes are gradual, they tend to blend in and not be noticeable.
2007-04-19 02:13:02 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The concentrations camps were not in Germany. Most were in Poland - Auschwitz, Treblinka...so they wouldn't see the ashes. The people were told the Jewish people, at first, were being relocated, then they were being sent to work camps, and the lies went on.
If you were a german at the time and heard rumours, would not the absolute horror of the thought send you into complete denial. After the war, the world could not believe, and some still refuse, that man could perpetrate such horrific acts upon other men, women and children.
Does this help you understand how the common man in Germany wouldn't believe it of their own countryman.
2007-04-19 00:55:13 · answer #3 · answered by Choqs 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
People disappear in France and Britain today... some are taken "into protective custody", but we never hear from them again.
Then there are mysterious disappearances, unexplained deaths, and there are some people who want to hold terrorist suspects indefinitely without charge and without council.
In the USA, they also had camps (with Japanese and Italian inmates) but they didn't kill them. The Canadians held a lot of Ukrainians in camps. The British also had camps in South Africa during the Boar War. Non-leathal concentration camps were commonplace at that time, and visiting was not often allowed.
If it happened in America, we wouldn't have known about it until after the war.
Some people today are against deporting illegal aliens without a huge paper trail because they're paranoid they'll be put into camps. The death camps have changed our awareness of what goes on.
2007-04-19 00:52:50 · answer #4 · answered by dude 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
What makes you think the German civilians didn't know?
And what's this about ash "spewing out everywhere"?!?
And most people don't live next to train stations or train tracks ya know!
That would be something that most people probably wouldn't really notice, not even you!
What a strange question!
Where do you get your information from little lady?
2007-04-19 00:48:49 · answer #5 · answered by Devilish Angel 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Germany was a police state. If you chatted about things that you weren't supposed to you could find yourself an inmate of a concentration camp. The Nazis put the death camps in remote areas of Poland away from curiuos eyes. Camp personnel were prohibited from taking pictures of the activities.
The German people did hear about the atrocities from sources like the BBC. But most thought that was enemy propaganda.
2007-04-19 00:56:00 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The ash wasn't "everywhere."
Germany is to the east of Poland. The majority of Jews were in poland being shipped to Poland, the germans wouldn't have seen the trains...
I doubt you'd suspect anything was happening when your gov't tells you that "they're just being relocated to a better place"
2007-04-19 00:43:27 · answer #7 · answered by kamustahappy 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
They did know.
Just put yourself in their shoes for one moment.
Any german caught associating with a jew would be shot dead.
And if you dared to speek out against what the nazi's were doing you would be seen as a jew supporter and you would be shot.
The German people did know, they just chose to selectively forget, play dumb, so at least they could save the lives of themselves and their family.
It is just another example of government hypocrasy, the government mess up and the people get the blame!!!
2007-04-19 00:51:17 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The Germans knew. It's just that ignorance is bliss.
The Gestapo hired German people to mistreat the Jews and they gave German people money , rewards if they turned in a Jewish family in hiding.
2007-04-19 10:10:28 · answer #9 · answered by Kandice F 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
sadly i think that any Germans that cared back then most likely were to frightened to say anything.... if they did, they would've been dead in a heart beat.
my mum works in a hostel as an aged care nurse and when she first started there 11 years ago there were some pretty old Germans living there as it was predominately for Germans when she started, the few that were there were total a**holes
no offence to anyone, but i experienced there rudeness first hand. not to cool
on the other hand, my mate at school was German and wicked, as were her parents! thanks to her i passed my German classes lol
2007-04-19 00:58:21 · answer #10 · answered by pale_rider 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋