Germany

[Churchill]

It will someday. My guess is Muslims will be next.
But I don't think it'll happen in Germany.

As victim or protagonist?

[Mich the Tester]

As victim or protagonist?

Probably some on each side, as is often the case with crimes against humanity. But more likely to be the victims.

[Sysman]

There have been a few studies done since then that have shown it's very easy for authority figures to convince "normal" people from around the world to inflect pain on or to discriminate against others singularly or as a group if there are no detrimental consequences to themselves.

Though watching one experiment conducted in different developed countries around the world it showed that British adults in general are so distrustful of authority they don't tend to play along.

See The Stanford Prison Experiment (1971):

The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted from Aug. 14-20, 1971 by a team of researchers led by Psychology professor Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University. Twenty-four students were selected out of 75 to play the prisoners and live in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Roles were assigned randomly. The participants adapted to their roles well beyond what even Zimbardo himself expected, leading the "Officers" to display authoritarian measures and ultimately to subject some of the prisoners to torture. In turn, many of the prisoners developed passive attitudes and accepted physical abuse, and, at the request of the guards, readily inflicted punishment on other prisoners who attempted to stop it. The experiment even affected Zimbardo himself, who, in his capacity as "Prison Superintendent," lost sight of his role as psychologist and permitted the abuse to continue as though it were a real prison. Five of the prisoners were upset enough by the process to quit the experiment early, and the entire experiment was abruptly stopped after only six days. The experimental process and the results remain controversial. The entire experiment was filmed, with excerpts soon made publicly available.

For a fuller description of the events see A Simulation Study of the Psychology of Imprisonment Conducted at Stanford University

[TimberWolf]

It will someday. My guess is Muslims will be next.
But I don't think it'll happen in Germany.

It might be argued that we (the UK) have already been complicit in the mass murder of civilians in supporting the invasion and mass bombings of Iraq. What was it, about 1 million civilians dead? No death camps and torture, but dead nevertheless.

[jmo21]

pow!!
smacked down, fair enough!

Wonder why the civilians did it, fear of being shot by the soldiers?

[RichardCranium]

So why do you concentrate so singularly on the Germans?

I'm not. The only thing I have said in this thread about the square-heads is that they are friendly, hospitable and generous.

Everyone was at it.

What? Running death camps in WWII? Not quite everyone. The Canadians have a very poor record for death camp construction; rubbish at it they are.

Even recently in Yugoslavia there were atrocities, if not on the same scale.

I completely agree. I - in all honesty - wept at the news when Yugoslavia started falling to bits and Europe turned its back. We let that happen, knowing full well that it would.

And no doubt it would all happen all over again if times became tough.

If we allow it to happen, yes. Hence:

All that it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing

and

Lest we forget

[RichardCranium]

It will someday. My guess is Muslims will be next.
But I don't think it'll happen in Germany.

Either Muslims in general or Persians specifically. And most likely by the USA but done remotely and driven by Baptist fundamentalism.

For a local massacre, Africa usually has a few on the go. Won't it be nice if Sudan could settle down?

[TimberWolf]

Lest we forget

But we are forgetting. Hardly anyone mentions Russia or China or Japan or Spain and others. All Germany. I do realise that this was your own point, but you then proceed to speak singularly about Germany, just like everyone else. All the rest is forgotten.

[Churchill]

But we are forgetting. Hardly anyone mentions Russia or China or Japan or Spain and others. All Germany. I do realise that this was your own point, but you then proceed to speak singularly about Germany, just like everyone else. All the rest is forgotten.

It's not forgotten, just not part of this topic.

[RichardCranium]

Wonder why the civilians did it, fear of being shot by the soldiers?

Does someone else want to have a go at trying to explain this, or shall I just carry on?