No. Murder was illegal in nazi Germany. There simply was no rule of law.
Formally, part of this was justified by a law that gave Hitler the power to make laws without parliament, without oversight, without regard for the constitution. Of course, that sort of thing is nonsense. People who went along with that made a choice. FWIW, all those generals who felt they had to obey Hitler’s order according to their oath, they also had sworn an oath to the republic.
This can only be understood if one remembers that Germany had been a republic for barely 15 years. A good chunk of the elites (not just rich people, but judges, bureaucrats, … ) were indifferent or even hostile to democracy.
The holocaust itself was not justified by anything. There was no law that made it legal to murder jewish people or anyone else.
No. Murder was illegal in nazi Germany. There simply was no rule of law.
Formally, part of this was justified by a law that gave Hitler the power to make laws without parliament, without oversight, without regard for the constitution. Of course, that sort of thing is nonsense. People who went along with that made a choice. FWIW, all those generals who felt they had to obey Hitler’s order according to their oath, they also had sworn an oath to the republic.
This can only be understood if one remembers that Germany had been a republic for barely 15 years. A good chunk of the elites (not just rich people, but judges, bureaucrats, … ) were indifferent or even hostile to democracy.
The holocaust itself was not justified by anything. There was no law that made it legal to murder jewish people or anyone else.