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Was the Nazi era in Germany and some of Europe kind of like the witch trials in Salem? Where if you said your neighbor was a witch they would be killed but replace witch with jews? With no evidence?
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Don_Dickle lemmy.world Patnou@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-11-30
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Lumidaub feddit.org Lumidaub@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-11-21
#2 · (edited) Quote Reply

The thing about the Nazis was their methods. They were bureaucrats and kept book meticulously (that's one way we know how many people were killed). Their (primary) goal wasn't terror but preservation of the "Aryan" race by eradicating "lesser" people. It would've been counterproductive to allow people to accuse others willy-nilly. Hence the Ariernachweis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_certificate

Of course, I'm sure there were people who would've been considered "Aryan" by descent but simply couldn't present the necessary documentation being accused of being Jewish and killed. But that wasn't the usual procedure.

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NOT_RICK lemmy.world NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#3 · Quote Reply

The thing about the Nazis was their methods. They were bureaucrats and kept book meticulously (that's one way we know how many people were killed). Their (primary) goal wasn't terror but preservation of the "Aryan" race by eradicating "lesser" people. It would've been counterproductive to allow people to accuse others willy-nilly. Hence the Ariernachweis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_cer...

I’m going to assume you’re a German national based on your instance so please correct me if you see any issues with my statement. It’s my understanding that while one may not inform on their neighbor who is clearly a gentile by accusing them of being a Jew, but they very well may accuse them of being a labor organizer or any other manner of threat to the reich. Farmer with a land dispute? Well, your neighbor can’t contest that if he’s been rounded up by the police for being an enemy of the state. I know there were children that reported their own parents for criticizing the Nazi leadership at the dinner table.

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Sharkticon lemmy.zip Sharkticon@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-12-21
#4 · (edited) Quote Reply

In some ways yes it's similar. In fact, the financial aspect that spurred nazi germany is rarely talked about. How many people participated so that they could receive financial windfall. How many people were able to acquire thriving businesses for pennies on the dollar, because the previous owner was jewish and was forced to sell. And of course, the European tradition of allowing Jewish communities to gather wealth and then murdering and or displacing them so you could confiscate it is certainly a long one.

Though I would probably suggest it's not so much people making accusations as taking advantage of a situation. The displacing of jewish populations and the seizing of their wealth for the benefit of their german base was the goal of the nazis. It wasn't haphazard it was planned.

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Lumidaub feddit.org Lumidaub@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-11-21
#5 · Quote Reply

I’m going to assume you’re a German national based on your instance so please correct me if you see any issues with my statement. It’s my understanding that while one may not inform on their neighbor who is clearly a gentile by accusing them of being a Jew, but they very well may accuse them of being a labor organizer or any other manner of threat to the reich. Farmer with a land dispute? Well,...

Yes, hi, German here, correct :) not a historian though, just had loads of classes on the 3rd Reich and have lived here all my life.

True, they also persecuted political enemies of all kinds, like communists and socialists (nb!) as well as any other people they found disagreeable, like homosexuals, disabled people etc. etc. But they had categories for all of them, not everybody was treated the same (the Jewish yellow star is by far not the only such badge they created). Also, while, as I said, I'm not a historian, from what I know about their methods, I'd assume they would have thoroughly checked any such accusations, especially for people of well-documented Aryan descent. Anything else would've been wasting precious German blood, wouldn't it?

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Mugita Sokio lemmy.today msokiovt@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-10-10
#6 · (edited) Quote Reply

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Don_Dickle Moderator Patnou@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-11-30
#7 · Quote Reply

[deleted]

Welcome to the MOD club.

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