“And people did this, just like you, you and me. These people did not come from another planet. […] They were human beings, just like us. And it was not Hitler who arrested me, not Goering, not Goebbels. The grocer, the janitor, the tailor, the shoemaker, the baker, they suddenly got a uniform, a swastika armband, and there they were, the master race…”
Some take away from this that the grocer, the janitor, the tailor, the shoemaker, and the baker are to be forgiven as it would be inhumane to punish everyday people.
And then turn around and claim the Nuremburg Trials were inhumane because Streicher didn’t personally shoot anyone.
The banality of evil became so much more of a defense than the indictment it should have been and should still be.
Here is a longer version of this:
From this site: https://www.nationalfonds.org/announcement/recollections-of-auschwitz-at-buch-wien-2021
Some take away from this that the grocer, the janitor, the tailor, the shoemaker, and the baker are to be forgiven as it would be inhumane to punish everyday people.
And then turn around and claim the Nuremburg Trials were inhumane because Streicher didn’t personally shoot anyone.
The banality of evil became so much more of a defense than the indictment it should have been and should still be.