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đŸȘ” The Threshold

Implementation of the final solution was a coolly rational bureaucratic process

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tagsja-picks, xref, share, causal_relationships, trade, singleton, category/causal-relationships
aliases@bauman_modernity_1989, loc. 223

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Implementation of the final solution was a coolly rational bureaucratic process

Evidence

In his famous Wandsee briefing, Heydrich spoke of the ‘approval’ or ‘authorization’ of the RSHA Jewish policy by the FĂŒhrer. Face with the problems arising from the idea and the purpose this idea determined (Hitler himself preferred to speak of ‘prophecy’ rather than of a purpose or a task), the bureaucratic organization called Reichsicherheithauptamt set about designing proper practical solutions. It went about it the way all bureaucracies do: counting costs and measuring them against available resources, and then trying to determine the optimal combination. Heydrich underlined the need to accumulate practical experience, stressed the graduality of the process, and the provisional character of each step, confined by as-yet-limited practical know-how; RSHA was actively to seek the best solution. The FĂŒhrer expressed his romantic vision of the world cleansed of the terminally diseased race. The rest was the matter of a not at all romantic, coolly rational bureaucratic process. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 223

Categorization

  • XREF: Central mechanism for the reader’s scaffolding module: how a visionary political goal becomes administrative routine. — connects to: The Holocaust exemplifies modern bureaucratic rationality applied to maximum-efficiency ends. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 425; Exhaustive bureaucratic planning can create false psychological closure about danger — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 49
  • SHARE: The vision-vs-bureaucracy cleavage (FĂŒhrer ‘prophecy’ vs RSHA cost-benefit) is a sharp point for anyone studying organizational evil.

Broader Connections

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