yiri@ucf-cs.UUCP (David) (09/06/84)
When discussing the motivation of the Nazis a couple of things must be
noted/included.
The Holy Roman Empire came to an end if comparatively recent (medieval)
times. The Second Holy Roman Empire was born in Europe soon after and
lasted only briefly. I don't remember the dates but they can be found
in some encyclopedias. The Third Reich was the The Third Holy Roman
Empire. This too is documented in many encyclopedias.
Christians tend to look back in retrospect and, if they don't approve
of another Christian individual or group, assert that 'they' are not
really Christians. Even currently, some Christians assert that the
snakehandling groups are not Christians. And the holiness Christian
groups insist that others are not Christians. The facts are that
those outside of Christianity need to follow the adage 'if it looks
like a duck', etc. The internal squabbling of 'I am and you're not'
is irrevelant in my opinion. What is generally accepted as Christian
today could be disavowed tomorrow if it turns out to be convenient.
The Spanish Inquisition, Crusades and, yes, Hitler are examples of
this. Sure, he thought aryans were a super race, he also thought they
were instruments of the Divine Third Reich. This also makes it more
clear why the Roman Catholic church had complicity even though some
opposed complicity. Some records of this complicity have been in
the news over the last year.
The point here is that anti-semitism in the Third Reich was not unlike
persecution by Christians in other times. The greatest difference
seems (to me) to be that there was much more resistance/opposition
within the Christian community to such persecution than, say, in the
Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades (or I may simply be unaware of
the befriending of Jews on the same scale during the SI or C).
An interesting book covering some of this would be "The Conflict
Between The Church and the Synagogue" by James Parkes as well as
vol 2 of "A Social and Religious History of the Jews" by Salo
Baron.
Just as hatred of Jews is something I abhor, I also abhor hatred
of Christians or any others. As a scholar (I hope), I also feel
it is necessary to examine history as objectively and pragmatically
as possible. We won't get far by seeing the past as we want it to
be or by erasing unpleasant mistakes of the past. We should learn
from them, not try to twist them into something more palatable (as
I'm sure I'll be accused of here).
Yirmiyahu ("Yiri") Ben-David