General Discussion

the ones like Miller, Shirer etc. fail to account for the many thousands and thousands of Germans who did resist and fight and eventually fled and helped others flee. They were raised by German parents as well. My point being there is no one answer because there were many reasons, many different motivations, many different circumstances and there is no room for recognition by these "analysts" of the time that some people did what they did for reasons that have nothing unique to being German. If it were true then we could extrapolate that broad brush to any and all situations involving the horrors that mankind has inflicted upon others down through the centuries. A section of the country for various reasons fell in line or went along for their own survival and some for their own greed etc. I reject the approach of ones like Miller or Shirer because it imparts an unjustified "unity" of blame to a whole people that is not supported by the facts and I also reject it because it is an example of stereotyping bigotry. For example the British writ large did not do horrible things to the Irish as opposed to many in power and their many supporters. The Israelis writ large are not doing things to Palestinian civilians as opposed to a portion of the Israeli population and certain leaders. In all of these example situations there are those who are in opposition to the atrocities and who take actions to resist and to protect others sometimes at ultimate cost of their lives. Despite being raised by the same style of parenting.

Our own Civil War had plenty of examples of brother fighting brother, one defending an atrocity and another decrying it, despite being raised in the same house by the same parents/style.