Posted by
KsReaganite on Sunday, April 11, 2010 2:02:59 PM
Today is Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. Never mind Israel, it is reflective for anyone who wonders how could it all happen. Whether it was six million or more or less, the fact remains it happened right in the middle of purported modern civilization.
Germans were the epitome of Western civilization, buzzing with industry, energy, arts, culture, parliaments, parties, and an efficient bureaucracy. Yet, when the laws started rolling out of their Reichstag, they were indifferent. Neighbors, friends, and coworkers were slowly deprived of their livelihoods, freedom of movement, homes, and finally lives. It is the law, came the refrain. We are following the law, said the policeman and the Gestapo agent. We can only apply the law, said the distinguished jurists. A little inconvenience for some is okay for the safety of many, said the average fraulein rushing to catch the bus to the market. We shouldn’t involve ourselves in politics, intoned the venerable preachers from their Sunday pulpits.
And so, came the midnight knocks on the doors, the dismissals from jobs, the expropriation of the last dime saved for retirement, and finally, the trains to Auschwitz and Dachau. Jews were illegal. And a modern civilized society always followed the law, right?