The Jewish question, what would persuade you?

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This question has been posed to me through my Ethics class and I am finding it difficult to answer. Please include ethical and moral principals.

The Nazi's had a "World View" that allowed them to carry out the genocide of the Jews and other undesirables, they thought that what they we doing was right and good. How did they arrive at this point?
(by the way it wasn't just the Nazi's, virtually every institution withing Germany said yes to the final solution.....even the church).
What did morality look like do you suppose?

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[+6] - joefromchicago - 02/08/2011[quote="studentstrugling"]The Nazi's had a "World View" that allowed them to carry out the genocide of the Jews and other undesirables, they thought that what they we doing was...

@studentstrugling,

It is the same principle that has been since the dawn of time. Someone always thinking they are so much better than someone else to the point of wanting to make others extinct.

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If this is for an ethics class, your instructor is woefully ignorant. The elimination of "undesirables" was not predicated on any morality, it was expedience, pure and simple. The material resources of people thrown into camps were seized, political opposition was eliminated, classes of people (such as homosexuals and the Roma) who would be unsuitable for military service were eliminated--and above all, "enemies" were identified (such as Jews and Slavs) who could be portrayed as enemies of the state, justifying the imposition of a police state and the elimination of civil liberties. Additionally, political symbols of "the other" readily identified with evil in the public mind (once again, Jews and Slavs primarily) were targeted.

It had nothing to do with morality.

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@Setanta,

The only "Jewish question" worthy of ethics is whether , if youre a goyem, should you observe kosher when at a party thrown by jews or should you fress on the "kielbasi for gentiles"

Your teacher is an idiot. The whole NAzi stance was loosely based on a Mideaval Christian belief and was further stirred by Hitlers own personal hate for Jews who he blamed for his inability to get accepted in a prestigious art school because his abilities at rendering the human form belonged more on a refrigerator than in a portfolio.

EThics indeed.

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OK now I am really confused....I am supposed to reflect on the Ethical systems used in both the child Elizer (Elie Wiesel) in the book entitled Night and the Holocaust both.
What ethical perspective did he call upon to guide him in through making sence of the world. (Socrates) "how we ought to live" .
I'm thinking I should drop the class since I really do not understand any of this.

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I don't suggest that you drop the course--it is hardly the fault of the subject of ethics that your instructor has framed a ridiculous question. Stick with it, you'll learn valuable lessons nonetheless. Those who decry the holocaust can find many, many good ethical and moral objections to that horror. That does not imply, however, a polar corollary--there was no moral basis for the killing.

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How anyone can equate morals and ethics with that event is beyond me. In fact I'm beginning to wonder how one equates morals and ethics with the human race period.

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@studentstrugling,

studentstrugling wrote:

The Nazi's had a "World View" that allowed them to carry out the genocide of the Jews and other undesirables, they thought that what they we doing was right and good. How did they arrive at this point?
(by the way it wasn't just the Nazi's, virtually every institution withing Germany said yes to the final solution.....even the church).
What did morality look like do you suppose?

I have no doubt that plenty of Germans involved in the mass extermination of the Jews thought that what they were doing was moral. I doubt, however, that they all arrived at that point by the same means. The paths that they took to reach that conclusion were probably as numerous as the Germans who were complicit in the Holocaust. The human capacity for inventing moral rationales to justify self-interested actions is inexhaustible.

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@studentstrugling,

Hitler thought his race was pristine and pure and the world would flourish if the purest strain of mankind survived and was uncorrupted by lesser mortals. He was creating a master race, by cleaning up the gene pool. I'm sure this can be worded in a way that makes Hitler's Final Solution sound like an important thing to do for mankind.

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@Lash,

Lash wrote:

Hitler thought his race was pristine and pure and the world would flourish if the purest strain of mankind survived and was uncorrupted by lesser mortals. He was creating a master race, by cleaning up the gene pool. I'm sure this can be worded in a way that makes Hitler's Final Solution sound like an important thing to do for mankind.

considering they're buying the NYSE....that doesn't sound good for us. Laughing

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@Lash,

That's true! Hitler created the "Lebensborn e.V" (life born) where blond, blue eyed German girls and blond, blue eyed soldiers would come together for the sole purpose of procreating the "superior Aryan race". He was obsessed with it.

Jews were mostly dark haired, brown eyed with distinctive features and yes, he hated the Jews for many reason, none of them were religious though,
in general Jews had a good standing in Germany, had wealth with significant real estate, all things Hitler needed to fulfill his horrendous dream. As Setanta mentioned already, Hitler did not stop with the Jews,
the Sinti and Roma had the same fate, and he abhorred people with disabilities. In Hitler's mind they all had no right to continue living, they
were considered a weak link in his pursuit to create the true Aryan race.

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@blueveinedthrobber,

It's only the NYSE Euronext they're buying (for now Evil or Very Mad

)

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@blueveinedthrobber,

I know, right! The US is like a flea market these days. We nearly have it sold off to the highest bidder.

The SE! (really shaking my head)

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

If this is for an ethics class, your instructor is woefully ignorant. The elimination of "undesirables" was not predicated on any morality, it was expedience, pure and simple. The material resources of people thrown into camps were seized, political opposition was eliminated, classes of people (such as homosexuals and the Roma) who would be unsuitable for military service were eliminated--and above all, "enemies" were identified (such as Jews and Slavs) who could be portrayed as enemies of the state, justifying the imposition of a police state and the elimination of civil liberties. Additionally, political symbols of "the other" readily identified with evil in the public mind (once again, Jews and Slavs primarily) were targeted.

What was the point with the Slavs ??

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

The Poles are Slavs, as are the Russians and Ukranians. Hitler had already outlined his plan to overrun the Ukraine, and settle Germans there (as the Empress Catherine had don in the 18th century) in his book. Identifying Slavs as enemies simplied the justification for invading Poland and, eventually, the Soviet Union.

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@Setanta,

I heard of an incident of Slavs
who repudiated communism and surrendered to the SS,
offering to re-inforce them, in the fight against the communists.
The ill will against the Slavs was so intense that
the SS allegedly burned them with flame throwers.

1 Reply

@studentstrugling,

studentstrugling wrote:

This question has been posed to me through my Ethics class and I am finding it difficult to answer.
Please include ethical and moral principals.

The Nazi's had a "World View" that allowed them to carry out the genocide of the Jews and other undesirables, they thought that what they we doing was right and good. How did they arrive at this point?
(by the way it wasn't just the Nazi's, virtually every institution withing Germany said yes to the final solution [Will u share your evidence with us, on this point??].....even the church).
What did morality look like do you suppose?

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@studentstrugling,

You might want to mention it was not just the Germans. The French sent an entire train load of toddlers and babies off to the camps, and the Poles killed several hundred Jews who survived the war because they wanted their houses back.

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@OmSigDAVID,

I don't know that those to whom you refer were necessarily Slavs. Some Ukranians who were ethnic Germans joined the German army, often serving as irregulars or as prison camp guards--but it was a risky business. Many ethnic German Ukranians were persecuted by the Soviets because they were ethnic Germans, and persecuted by the Germans because they were Soviet citizens.

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@studentstrugling,

studentstrugling wrote:

This question has been posed to me through my Ethics class and I am finding it difficult to answer. Please include ethical and moral principals.

The Nazi's had a "World View" that allowed them to carry out the genocide of the Jews and other undesirables, they thought that what they we doing was right and good. How did they arrive at this point?
(by the way it wasn't just the Nazi's, virtually every institution withing Germany said yes to the final solution.....even the church).
What did morality look like do you suppose?

studentstrugling

Well considering some of what has been already been posted, is it ethical to seek revenge, or restitution, or be recompensed in what you believe is your’s to have? And are there justifications for such, that are ethical? And if one does of his own without state sanction, is it ethical and or justified? And if it is state sanctioned is it justified, or ethical?

1 Reply

The Jewish question, what would persuade you?

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