Reply #6

As someone who has done a lot of research into Germany in the '30s, I find this very reminiscent of the beginning of the campaign against the Jews (not the horror that came later).

The interesting thing is that there weren't that many Jews in Germany at the time -- about 600,000. Most of them lived in the big cities. Germans outside the big cities most likely never met or associated with Jews, yet the Nazis were able to build their whole campaign on hatred of the Jews.

A lot of people who had no reason to developed a visceral hatred of Jews -- then it spread and to fit in you had to exhibit it too, even if you had Jewish friends, neighbors, or relatives.