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Bystanders

Bystanders

The vast majority of people in Germany and occupied Europe were aware, to at least some extent, of how the Nazi regime was treating the Jews. Nevertheless, they took no active position on the matter. They did not openly persecute the Jews but they did not actively help them either. This was sometimes due to antisemitic sentiments but primarily because they felt that it was an assault not on them but on ‘an other’, even if this ‘other’ was a neighbor, partner or acquaintance. The Nazi policy of terror, which instituted the social ostracism, arrest and - in the final stages - execution of anyone who helped the Jews, was another reason for inaction. Furthermore, the benefits that many people received through the dispossession and murder of the Jews also contributed to the prevailing bystander.

 

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1 Diaries and Letters
6 Documents
1 Lexicon Entries
21 Photographs
8 Research
2 Testimonies

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