Demonization

Much of the criticism of this movie centers around the issue of the demonization of Hitler. There is a sort of Shoah lobby out there that takes the view that Hitler cannot be viewed as a human being, and that anyone who does must be a holocaust-denying, jew-hating monster unfit to live in a civilized society. I think this is an understandable but mistaken view. Demonization is a useless exercise that denies us what insights and lessons we can get from the appalling era of German National Socialism. If Hitler was a demon then he is in no way normal and the resulting event was a mere abberration. We will be safe so long as another demon does not come along. History immediately before and after demonstrates that state organized mass murder is no abberration, it is happening in some degree most of the time occasionally rising to a scale and intensity that forces the world to recognize it (but seldom to stop it before it is mostly spent anyway). (Consider also the conumdrum of Rwanda where a body of people rose up to kill the better part of a million of their neighbors in a few months with mere farm tools and without an Eichmann to direct it. Minute for minute, pound of pound arguably the most proficient mass murderers of the century.) Hitler was not a satanic agent, but a deluded, sick, but in specific ways highly effective man who was able to realize his defective visions of power with the help of a powerful greedy, short-sighted few who underestimated Hitler and overestimated their ability control events, and a compliant many who welcomed an end to inflation, shortages and turmoil while not unsympathetic to his virulent hatreds and racist theories. The twin threads of disasterous loss in war, economic catastrope and centuries of entrenched bigotry converged to produce Hitler's rise to power and the holocaust. People not Satan made this happen. We are not safe and will never be safe. Future combinations of past and current events will create more opportunities for murderous regimes to take power and enable crimes on a massive scale. Hitler, Himmler and the whole gang could not have done it alone, thousands had to fevently believe and actively participate. The leader can only enable, it takes a nation to commit the crimes. The only safety will be the vast majority of the population recognizing the disease and refusing to take part, recognizing that to indulge expedient hatred against a few will result in ultimate disaster for all and not solve any problem. This cannot happen if Hitler is viewed as a demon, a fluke, or that he was just a German problem. He was an example of a human problem. Only the scale, intensity and speed not the essence of Hitler's results were distinctive. Viewing Hitler as a man should not be confused with feeling sorry for him or excusing him. Humanity deserves and requires a complete and accurate explanation which cannot happen as long as there is demonization in the process.