How could so many people support Hitler? - Joseph Lacey

864,498 views ・ 2024-05-09

TED-Ed


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In Jerusalem, on April 11th, 1961,
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Adolf Eichmann stood trial for crimes against humanity.
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Eichmann had been a Nazi official tasked with organizing the transport
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of over 1.5 million European Jews to ghettos and concentration camps.
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He was popularly described as an evil mastermind
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who orchestrated atrocities from a cushy German office,
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and many were eager to see the so-called “desk murderer” tried for his crimes.
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But the squeamish man who took the stand seemed more like a dull bureaucrat
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than a sadistic killer.
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The disparity between Eichmann’s nature and his actions
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was unsettling for many viewers,
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but for philosopher Hannah Arendt,
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this contradiction inspired a disturbing revelation.
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Arendt was a German Jew who fled her homeland in 1933
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after being briefly imprisoned by the German secret police.
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As a refugee in France and then the United States,
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she dedicated herself to understanding how the Nazi regime came to power,
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and more specifically, how it inspired so many atrocities.
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A common opinion at the time was that the Third Reich was a historical oddity;
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a perfect storm of uniquely evil leaders
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supported by German citizens looking for revenge
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after their defeat in World War I.
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But Arendt believed the true conditions behind this unprecedented rise
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of totalitarianism weren’t specific to Germany.
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Throughout the 1950s, Arendt developed a theory of the human condition
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that divided life into three facets:
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labor— in which we satisfy our material needs and desires;
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work— in which we build the world’s physical and cultural infrastructure;
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and action— in which we publicly articulate our values
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to collectively shape the world around us.
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It was this last facet, the life of action,
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that Arendt believed was under attack,
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both in Germany and many other industrialized societies.
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She saw modernity as an age ruled by labor,
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where individuals mainly appear in the social world
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to produce and consume goods and services
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rather than share ideas and shape communities.
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Arendt believed this had fostered societies and ideologies
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where individuals were seen only for their economic value,
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rather than their moral and political capacities.
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She believed this isolated people from their neighbors and their sense of self.
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And in her 1951 book, “The Origins of Totalitarianism,”
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Arendt argued these conditions provided fertile ground for totalitarian regimes,
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which use fear and violence to increase isolation
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and make it dangerous to publicly engage as freethinking political agents.
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In this lonely state, participating in the regime
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becomes the only way to recover a sense of identity and community.
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Arendt believed it was this kind of environment
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where Eichmann committed his crimes.
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Most people expected the Jewish German philosopher
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to judge the ex-Nazi harshly.
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But while she condemned his monstrous actions,
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Arendt saw no evidence that Eichmann himself was uniquely evil.
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She saw him as a distinctly ordinary man who considered diligent obedience
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the highest form of civic duty.
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And for Arendt, it was exactly this ordinariness that was most terrifying.
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Her point wasn't just that anyone could do what Eichmann did,
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but that his story suggested ordinary people
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could willingly accept their societal role—
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even when it contributed to genocide.
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Arendt called this phenomenon “the banality of evil,”
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and warned that it can emerge whenever society inhibits our ability to think;
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or more specifically, to question our beliefs and actions
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in a self-reflective internal dialogue.
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Arendt believed this kind of thinking is the only way to confront moral problems,
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and that our responsibility to self-reflect is especially important
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when independent thought is threatened.
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She acknowledged that critical thinking in oppressive spaces
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is a defiant act that requires personal courage.
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But it must be done regardless,
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which is why Arendt still held Eichmann accountable.
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This thread runs throughout Arendt's work,
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where she continually insisted that thinking was our greatest weapon
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against the threats of modernity.
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Namely, a relentless drive for economic and technological development
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which would increase social alienation and inhibit human freedom.
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To foster this essential value,
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Arendt believed we need to create formal and informal forums
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that allowed for open conversations about shaping our collective future.
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These might include townhall meetings, self-governing workplaces,
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or student unions.
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But whatever shape they take,
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what’s most important to Arendt is that they value open dialogue
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and critical self-reflection.
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