Nazi degradation of victims functioned to spare the perpetrators’ own psychological distress.

Evidence

Primo Levi, Italian novelist and concentration camp survivor, writes about the same processes when describing his personal experience. According to Levi, the degradation imposed on the prisoners was not a matter of cruelty, but a necessary process: for those operating the gas chambers not to be overwhelmed by distress, victims had to be reduced to sub-human objects beforehand (Levi, 1987). — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2097 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Nazi guards could sincerely punish victims for conditions the guards themselves created — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 363; Perpetrators can overlook their own role in degrading victims even when they caused it — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 362; Nazi degradation of prisoners functioned to protect perpetrators from psychological distress — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2097 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Nazi degradation of prisoners functioned to protect perpetrators from psychological distress #expands (1.00) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2097