The SS and the Gestapo: Instruments of Destruction
A few questions many researchers ask during study of WWII is, “How did we let this happen? What instruments could carry out such atrocities?” Even before the war started, there was persecution and maleficent intentions towards people that were deemed unfit to reproduce. Who would carry out these crimes against humanity? What extent of damage did the dark acts of the Geheime Staats Polizei (literal translation, Secret State Police or, best known as, the Gestapo) have in Nazi controlled Germany, and what lessons does it teach all of us today?
1940’s Protestant Pastor Martin Niemöller best put the situation many Germans were in when he wrote, “First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out …show more content…
If one person or group has too much power, they may think they have the right ideology for everyone, but it won’t quite work out in everyone’s best interests. This is why people are persecuted against all over the world, and ruled over with an iron fist. What’s the difference between say Hitler and Kim Jong-Un? Millions of people being underfed, malnourished, and repressed, people who are speaking out against the government are being murdered; it’s all the same. Where do we draw the line between a dictatorship and a genocide? It is said that hating somebody is like drinking poison and hoping that the other person will die. Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, and all the other Nazi officials hated the Jews so much that they ultimately destroyed themselves. They drank the poison of their crimes, prejudice, and racism and faced the consequences. At the end of the war, the Nuremburg war trials took place in Nuremburg, Germany where 12 high ranking Nazi officers were sentenced to death, while other key people that attributed to the genocide were given jail time. Several of the people that were convicted admitted that they were just following orders. The lessons to be taken from these dark moments in history, is not to just follow blindly, not to just take orders and carry them out willy-nilly. Most importantly, The SS and Gestapo teach us that powers can be used to build a people up or to destroy a people. Hate is a powerful tool, but if used, it is liable to self-destruct. In conclusion, the SS and Gestapo acting alone are not responsible for all of the Jewish deaths during WWII, but without them, it would not be as possible to the scale they did it
A few questions many researchers ask during study of WWII is, “How did we let this happen? What instruments could carry out such atrocities?” Even before the war started, there was persecution and maleficent intentions towards people that were deemed unfit to reproduce. Who would carry out these crimes against humanity? What extent of damage did the dark acts of the Geheime Staats Polizei (literal translation, Secret State Police or, best known as, the Gestapo) have in Nazi controlled Germany, and what lessons does it teach all of us today?
1940’s Protestant Pastor Martin Niemöller best put the situation many Germans were in when he wrote, “First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out …show more content…
If one person or group has too much power, they may think they have the right ideology for everyone, but it won’t quite work out in everyone’s best interests. This is why people are persecuted against all over the world, and ruled over with an iron fist. What’s the difference between say Hitler and Kim Jong-Un? Millions of people being underfed, malnourished, and repressed, people who are speaking out against the government are being murdered; it’s all the same. Where do we draw the line between a dictatorship and a genocide? It is said that hating somebody is like drinking poison and hoping that the other person will die. Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, and all the other Nazi officials hated the Jews so much that they ultimately destroyed themselves. They drank the poison of their crimes, prejudice, and racism and faced the consequences. At the end of the war, the Nuremburg war trials took place in Nuremburg, Germany where 12 high ranking Nazi officers were sentenced to death, while other key people that attributed to the genocide were given jail time. Several of the people that were convicted admitted that they were just following orders. The lessons to be taken from these dark moments in history, is not to just follow blindly, not to just take orders and carry them out willy-nilly. Most importantly, The SS and Gestapo teach us that powers can be used to build a people up or to destroy a people. Hate is a powerful tool, but if used, it is liable to self-destruct. In conclusion, the SS and Gestapo acting alone are not responsible for all of the Jewish deaths during WWII, but without them, it would not be as possible to the scale they did it