Majority ambivalence toward Jews, not indifference, enabled genocide

Evidence

The construction of the “Jew” as “other” may involve positive and negative elements representing both the anxieties and desires of the majority society and culture. It is the exception (although clearly in the case of the twentieth century, not one that can be in any way dismissed as unimportant) for the Jew to be seen as the unambiguous source of all evil. Indeed, what the hard core Nazi antisemites exploited was not so much the indifference of those both under their control and outside it (as was the case with the Western Allies) towards the Jews, but their fundamental ambivalence, enabling the victims to be seen somehow as “other,” as not fully belonging in the construction of place identity, and therefore beyond the universe of moral obligation. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 521

Categorization

• XREF: The mechanism — othering that places victims beyond the moral universe — parallels how the vault frames the functions of racialized exclusion more broadly. — connects to: Public indifference, not hatred, greased the machinery of genocide — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 215; The Holocaust required neutralizing popular attitudes, not mobilizing them — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 522; Popular hatred was insufficient to drive the Holocaust — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 212 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Public indifference, not hatred, greased the machinery of genocide #contradicts (0.88) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 215
• Popular hatred was insufficient to drive the Holocaust #corroborates (0.82) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 212
• The Holocaust required neutralizing popular attitudes, not mobilizing them #corroborates (0.80) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 522
• The absence of active anti-anti-Semitism enabled complicity with genocide. #qualifies (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1810
• Modern genocide thrives on bureaucratic indifference, not on active hatred #corroborates (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 452
• People without prejudice can still participate zealously in genocide #expands (0.75)
• Traditional antisemitism negatively correlates with willingness to perpetrate genocide #corroborates (0.70) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 521