Actually Crystal Night was Goebbels' operation. He did it to draw attention away from his affair with a Czech actress he was cheating on his wife with, and to win back Hitler's favor. It wasn't at all participated in by the German people other than a handful of scattered anti-Semites. The vast majority were stormtroopers (who hadn't had much good from the regime until then, so they finally got an outlet to vent) and the SS. Even the army wasn't involved. It was a state-organized pogrom.
Ok, so Goebbels is busted porking another woman and... to mend fences with Adolf he decides to kill almost 100 Jews and send them a clear message to get out of the country. Son, do you really expect me to believe such bullshit?
It also took place in late 1938 - you mean to say that 33-odd percent that voted for the Nazis in 1932 would've known about it in advance?
I am not saying that German civilians had foreknowledge of
kristallnacht, what I am saying is that
MANY German civilians took
active and passive part in the proceedings. Meaning many German civilians actually burned synagogues, beat up Jews and burned many of their businesses. All with the acquiescence of the authorities and the other non-participating German civilians. Many Jews, when recounting the horrors of the holocaust, make specific mention of how German civilians would laughingly taunt them telling them they were walking to their deaths.
Not at all. Hitler's anti-Jewish speeches actually declined throughout the mid-1930s because of the Olympics coming and his need to keep foreign credit reserves stable. His businessmen and top bank officials all warned against anti-Jewish agitation. He had to listen, until the war started, to avoid short-circuiting his domestic policies. In fact, until Crystal Night, Jewish immigration away from Germany had slowed immensely and some were even coming back. That whole wearing the yellow star and beating Jews up in public business only started after the war gave a cover for it. Even then, it was government officials who did all that, not everyday people.
Ok so... just because Hitler put a stop to his "I hate the Jews, and so should you!" speech means that he actually... what? Stopped hating the Jews? Son, did you know that there are
multiple documented cases of
German civilians taking direct part in the killings of concentration camp survivors?
Don't conflate 60+ million Germans with a small group of fanatics in the government and police.
It's not a question of numbers buddy, we all know that not all Germans took part in the killings, it's a question of how in the fucking world did the German people put such sadistic people in power. Dude, even foreign divisions that helped the Hitler cause in the eastern front, e.g. the Blue Division, were appalled at the sadistic ways of both German soldiers and civilians, going as far as killing German soldiers that were being especially hostile toward the local population.
It's like saying most Americans supported the war in Iraq and the abuses at the prisons there or Gitmo.
More than 2/3 of Americans agreed with the War in Iraq.
They didn't have any idea for the most part.
No, we did.
The one who did and didn't agree with it tried to kill Hitler on about 20 occasions, starting with right before the war even started.
You said it, "The one". In a country of 60+ people, you do the math.
And honestly as a nation I feel they've paid their dues, honestly. Being bombed into the stone age, split in half for 45 years, and made to shell out the equivalent of other countries' GDP to pay reparations to multiple generations is enough. How much longer do they need to feel bad about what guys who lived 70 years ago did?
Because you haven't learned.
Had many of your countrymen not tried to show the world how superior your genes are and stayed their asses home making sure their wives were being taken care of (instead of being one of the main instigators of
2 world wars,) maybe we wouldn't even be having this conversation. And... ya know what? Third time's a charm: Maybe Germans are next in line for a good gassing.
