The authentic mass man will resemble Himmler’s bureaucracy more than Hitler’s fanaticism

Evidence

According to the functionalists’ findings, ‘Hitler set the objective of Nazism: “to get rid of the Jews, and above all to make the territory of the Reich judenfrei, i.e., clear of Jews” – but without specifying how this was to be achieved.’ Once the objective had been set, everything went on exactly as Weber, with his usual clarity, spelled out: ‘The “political master” finds himself in the position of the “dilettante” who stands opposite the “expert”, facing the trained official who stands within the management of administration.’ The objective had to be implemented; how this was to be done depended on the circumstances, always judged by the ‘experts’ from the point of view of feasibility and the costs of alternative opportunities of action. And so the emigration of German Jews was chosen first as the practical solution to Hitler’s objective; it would resulted in a judenfrei Germany, were other countries more hospitable to Jewish refugees. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 79 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Holocaust’s methods emerged from expert judgments on feasibility, not from Hitler’s orders. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 79

Related

• The Holocaust’s methods emerged from expert judgments on feasibility, not from Hitler’s orders. (similarity 0.93)

Broader Connections

• The Holocaust’s methods emerged from expert judgments on feasibility, not from Hitler’s orders. #expands (0.85) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 79