C. Angrao, "The Nazi Intellectual Corps" - A theory that affirms the genocide: Why were highly educated intellectuals so important to the Nazis?

Summary and Comments on Christian Anglao's "The Nazi Intellectual Corps" - Intellectuals who played a critical role in Nazi ideology. Theories affirming the genocide.

I would like to introduce "Nazi Intellectual Corps," written by Christian Anglao and translated by Harumi Yoshida, published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha in 2012.

Let's take a quick look at the book.

The SD, an intelligence unit under the Nazi SS, was a group of highly educated young elites. What drove them to the endless carnage on the Eastern Front, after their passion for the millennium and their apocalyptic fears?　A masterful book that questions the very foundations of knowledge and faith.

How did a group of young, intelligent, college-educated elites commit hundreds of thousands of murders? This horrifying study provides a detailed analysis of the approximately 80 young men who took the lead as commanders of execution squads under the Nazi SS.

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This book was written to highlight young intellectuals who played a major role in the Nazi Party.

And it is also important to note, as the above quote indicates, that this unit had many young elites. The Nazi ideology was created by the young intellectual elite. It was not an ideology that had been worked out by cunning politicians.

The book tells the story of how such a young intellectual elite of the Nazis was born and how they conducted themselves during the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

The translator's afterword was very clear about the contents of this book, so I will quote from it.

They were beautiful, brilliant, intelligent, and well-educated."

They were beautiful, brilliant, intelligent, and well-educated young men," as the book opens. It was because of their intelligence that they were hired by the SS Security Intelligence Service. This was because knowledge of law and the humanities was needed for the collection and analysis of information, or "enemy research. It was also an important role of these intellectuals to provide academic support and justification for Nazi ideology. Thus, some 80 academicians (university graduates) were to play a central role in the SD (SS Security Service) and RSHA (National Security Headquarters). They would eventually be sent to the East as part of such security duties to lead the execution squads.

Still, how did these young people, who were studying law, economics, and history, end up joining the genocide? Were they so-called "ordinary people" who simply followed the orders of their superiors and got involved in the genocide? Or did they take the initiative in committing genocide? What, if anything, drove them to commit genocide? Why were they attracted to the Nazis in the first place?

Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Christian Anglao, translated by Harumi Yoshida, Nazi Intellectual Corps, p. 438-439

They were beautiful, brilliant, intelligent, and well-educated."

It is still amazing that these people reinforced the Nazi ideology and moved the people. In this book, I will describe why these "ordinary intellectuals" were driven to genocide.

The trauma of the defeat in World War I held by the Germans

The first event that can be considered as the starting point of their thoughts and actions is the defeat of Germany in World War I. Many of them were born between 1900 and 1910, and spent their impressionable youth during the chaotic period between the war and the postwar period. Many of them were born between 1900 and 1910, and spent their impressionable youth in the chaos of the postwar period. They were deeply concerned about the crisis in Germany, eager to build a strong German empire, and enthusiastic in their political and social activities. It is not hard to understand why the Nazis, with their vision of a utopia, were so attractive to them.

Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Christian Anglao, translated by Harumi Yoshida, Nazi Intellectual Corps, p. 438-439

What struck me very much about the book was the part mentioned here. It was that for the German people, the defeat in World War I was traumatic and they were always afraid of the threat of the enemy.

World War I was an all-out war, with casualties unparalleled in previous wars. And to introduce a large number of people into a war, propaganda is necessary. From this time on, the image of war as a defensive war in which the people unite to protect the homeland from enemy aggression is created. The people are told, "There are no wars of aggression in war. The public consciousness will be created that "all wars are fought in defense of the nation. Of course, such an image had existed up to that point in the war, but now it was becoming stronger and stronger.

The defeat in World War I put Germany in a dire situation. The German people were reminded of the misery that would befall them if they became a defeated nation.

Why were the youth so enthusiastic about the Nazis?

But still the question remains. Even if the megalomaniacal Germanization program they devised in Nazi institutions, the outlandish plan to relocate tens of millions of people in the East, which later led to the genocide of the Jews, still fails to explain how it is connected to the actions of Einsatzgruppe and his commanders of the commando units. It is not clear how this is connected to the actions of Einsatzgruppe and the commandos of the commando.

They were originally practical bureaucrats who had never fired a gun or thought of killing many people. These young men eventually became horrifying executioners. What exactly happened to these young men before they became executioners?

This book is based on a large number of sources and uses psychological, sociological, and anthropological methods of analysis to clarify the process. First, when they invaded the East, especially Russia, it was truly a barbaric land.

According to their perception, the Bolshevik Russians were killing German soldiers in an inhuman manner, with the Jews behind it. Such was the analysis of the security intelligence agencies, and such a perception was instilled in all German soldiers through the media and "Soldier's Tips.

And the horrific scenes they saw on the ground seemed to confirm this perception. Germans operating in occupied territory are hardened against a formidable enemy, which must be countered by strong measures. In other words, the mass executions by the Einsatzgruppe were originally a security and defensive measure, which arose from a deep-seated "fear.
Some line breaks have been made.

Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Christian Anglao, translated by Harumi Yoshida, Nazi Intellectual Corps, p439-440

Even if the trauma of World War I drove them, why did they have to push forward to genocide? Why did they become executioners on the front lines when they were "ordinary intellectuals" who had never even fired a gun? We will see that process in this book.

The fact that Nazi soldiers also suffered psychological damage from the execution of the massacre. But it further increased the efficiency of the slaughter...

What is also clear from the various documents is that such mass killings inflicted great emotional trauma on people, from commanders at the top to scullery maid soldiers at the bottom. People reacted differently to the shock; some turned to drinking and violence, while others became physically ill, which in a sense is a natural human reaction.

However, as each individual strove to overcome such shock, order developed in the manner of executions, which in turn increased the scale of the carnage. As far as the documents show, the methods of genocide were not directly dictated by the Nazi high command. As a result of the flexible response of the commanders and soldiers on the ground, methods such as firing simultaneously by order and dividing up the work took root. Once the form of "military action" was established, the "habituation" mechanism kicked in and the psychological burden on the soldiers became lighter. In this way, mass killings were repeated without limit. ......
Some line breaks have been made.

Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Christian Anglao, translated by Harumi Yoshida, Nazi Intellectual Corps, p. 440

Nazi soldiers are human beings. Slaughtering unarmed human beings is an unusual mental burden.

The Nazis are often focused on their cruelty and inhumanity, but in reality, there was still considerable psychological damage caused by the massacres.

In this way, the methods of massacre would become more sophisticated for the mentally ill soldiers.

Various methods are tried in the field to prevent people from experiencing the "feeling of having killed someone" as much as possible. The mechanical killing in the gas chambers of Auschwitz may be the ultimate example of this, and I was made to feel this very thing when I visited Auschwitz in 2019...

Genocide is not something we are immune to.

The problem that confronts us here is that the phenomenon of genocide is not unique to the Nazis. Of course, it is undeniable that Nazi racism was behind it, but the authors of this book point out that there is a limit to attributing the genocide solely to the character and thinking of Nazi leaders, or to the Nazi regime and ideology.

Therefore, the author attempts to understand Nazi behavior based on the psychology of human beings in general and their social and cultural backgrounds. From this perspective, "fear" of the enemy and "habituation" to violence can cause anyone to escalate atrocities. In other words, the Nazi genocide, and even the Nazi war itself, is not unrelated to us.
Some line breaks have been made.

Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Christian Anglao, translated by Harumi Yoshida, Nazi Intellectual Corps, p. 440-441

The Nazi genocide is not a unique phenomenon perpetrated by insane people. We could do it too.

The author continues by stating

Nazi actions were not by "madness" but by "ordinary people."

In recent years, the actions of the Nazis have been less often dismissed as "madness. On the other hand, the discourse that they were "ordinary people" has become more commonplace. However, the commanders of the Einsatzgruppe volunteered to join the Nazi Security Intelligence Service and supported Nazi ideology with their academic knowledge.

It is impossible for those in positions of authority to have been unaware of what was going on in the East, or what was actually being done there. It would be irresponsible to say that they had no idea of the future consequences of their words and actions. In this sense, it is a bit irresponsible to call them "ordinary people.

However, it may be said that they were still "ordinary people," at least in the sense that they faced and struggled with genocide. This book makes it clear that they were not "abnormal people.
Some line breaks have been made.

Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Christian Anglao, translated by Harumi Yoshida, Nazi Intellectual Corps, p. 441

That the Nazi massacres were carried out by "ordinary people" is a claim made by Hannah Arendt'sEichmann in Jerusalem, A Report on the Banality of Evil."It is also famous for the point made by

Slaughter is not something that abnormal people do; anyone can commit it.

This reminds me of the following words of Shinran Shonin, founder of Jodo Shinshu

"If you have a good karma, you should behave in any way you choose.

Shinran Shonin tells us, "If there is a chance to do that, human beings can do anything. That is what human beings are like. Please refer to the following article for a more detailed discussion of this.

Believe and kill them all.

One thing that must be pointed out, however, is that they were firm "believers" in Nazi ideology.

The original title of this book, "Believing and Killing Everyone," makes this very point. From an early age they believed that Germany was surrounded by a "world of enemies." In their youth, they encountered the Nazis and believed in their "coming utopia". Even when they were committing genocide in the East, they must have believed that they were doing it for the good of the country and the German people.

The link between faith and violence is not limited to the field of religion. This is evident in the Japanese people during the Pacific War. It is also happening in the modern world today, where highly educated people become obsessed with some ideas and cause terrible incidents. It is this attitude of "not questioning one's own ideas" and "not listening to ideas that differ from one's own" that leads to such incidents. The Nazi intellectuals are not far removed from us. We must learn a great lesson from them.
Some line breaks have been made.

Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Christian Anglao, translated by Harumi Yoshida, Nazi Intellectual Corps, p. 441-442

This is a very important part of this book. As a religious person myself, I have to keep this in mind. Belief can save people, but it can also make them stubborn and exclusive. If it escalates, it can lead to violence.

I myself sometimes feel insecure about myself as a monk in the wake of the Aum incident. It was this issue of religion and violence that led me to study Dostoevsky.

The "all is forgiven for the sake of ideals" can also be seen in the history of the Soviet Union, which has also been described in this blog.

Anything is permissible for the sake of an ideal. Such thoughts are dangerous thoughts that can still happen to anyone. We must not forget that.

Conclusion

This book focused on the young intellectuals who went on to commit genocide. We will take a close look at how they carried out the Holocaust and how they justified it.

What struck me about the book was still how traumatized prewar Germany was by World War I.

It was very interesting to see how such fear then manifested itself as incredible aggression.

However, the thing about this book is that it goes on and on with a large number of people's names and examples. So it is a little bit hard to read. It's a bit tough to read in terms of fun. The book has an atmosphere of a data-based paper.

So if you are looking for something interesting to read, the book will be a bit tough, but you will certainly be surprised again and again by the interesting insights and issues raised.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Nazis.

The above is "A Theory to Affirm the 'Nazi Intellectual Corps' Massacre: Why Highly Educated Intellectuals Were Important to the Nazis".

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