Auschwitz: Afterword by Judith Gayle

Tourist buses outside the gate at Auschwitz ii – Birkenau. Photo by Eric Francis.

[Editor’s Note: This article was originally published Oct. 13, 2006. For a more detailed introduction to this series, please see this link. This is the last edition of the original series. Please watch for one additional installment by Eric this week. Thank you all for your thoughtful comments and letters about this series.]

NATIONALISM, WHICH IS a refined form of tribalism turned into a dangerous drug, is a frightening business, and one which we must grow out of if we are to become a peaceful global entity. Yes, we love our country, and we love our flag — or maybe the vote is out on that … maybe some of us in the US of A are mature enough to see that this nation is not always right, and as much as we love the flag we wince when we see it now, knowing what it represents. Will that get us kicked out of the tribe? Or worse — shot at dawn?

There is a lie at the base of nationalism that is too often misused by the powerful — that we’re better than everyone else. Everyone outside of our big national tent is just a “stranger,” not to be trusted; in a nation formed by an amalgam of immigrants, that’s not been an effortless sell … but the spin on 9/11 swept us away. We’re us — they’re them. Where it gets dicey is when there is perceived threat. It is then that we’re called upon to sacrifice [rights, liberties, individualism, treasure, moral judgment, dissent] to the state in order to empower it against that which threatens it. The National Socialists used such mythology to drive their own to blindness, and ultimately, madness. Interestingly, both Germany in the 30’s and America in the last few years have entered into such a situation without an actual, a specific, enemy.

The mood of mainstream Germany had been ploughed by years of circumstance — a growing decadence that alarmed the straight-laced, the loss of a world war, long periods of economic scarcity — so that a heavy-handed maniac like Hitler could produce an instant harvest when he planted a few lies into that fertile national soil. The Big Lie was easy enough for a defeated and deflated public to buy … we are superior and I will lead you to the greatness you deserve.

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