Hitler’s rhetoric worked by dividing Germans into the worthy and the worthless

Evidence

Examining neutral and critical sources in addition to official reports, Gordon has documented a widespread and growing approval of ‘ordinary Germans’ for the exclusion of Jews from positions of power, wealth and influence. The gradual disappearance of Jews from public life was either applauded or studiously overlooked. Unwillingness of the public to partake personally of the persecution of the Jews was, in short, combined with the readiness to go along with, or at least not to interfere with, the action of the State. ‘If most Germans were not fanatical or “paranoid” anti-Semites, they were “mild”, “latent”, or passive anti-Semites, for whom the Jews had become a “depersonalized”, abstract, and alien entity beyond human empathy and the “Jewish Question” a legitimate subject of state policy deserving solution.’ — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 221 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Volksgemeinschaft meant equality of nature, not of rights, for Germans; Hitler pioneered dividing propaganda-won masses into sympathizers versus limited party members; Nazi propaganda distinguished public and internal speech with deliberate intent (+5 more)

Related

• The Volksgemeinschaft meant equality of nature, not of rights, for Germans (similarity 0.89)
• Nazi ideology encompassed antisemitic views that blamed Germans rather than Jews (similarity 0.83)
• Ordinary Germans approved state exclusion while avoiding personal persecution (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Nazi ideology encompassed antisemitic views that blamed Germans rather than Jews #qualifies (0.90)
• Ordinary Germans approved state exclusion while avoiding personal persecution #corroborates (0.85) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 221