Nazi perpetrators relied on victims’ and bystanders’ refusal to believe atrocity reports

Evidence

The Nazis were well aware of the protective wall of incredulity which surrounded their enterprise. A secret report to Rosenberg about the massacre of 5,000 Jews in 1943 states explicitly: “Imagine only that these occurrences would become known to the other side and exploited by them. Most likely such propaganda would have no effect only because people who hear and read about it simply would not be ready to believe it” (Nazi Conspiracy, I, 1001). — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2812

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to disbelief mechanisms in survivor testimony and the epistemology of the concentration camps that Arendt develops in later chapters.