I began to read what I could about the Nazi genocide, which really was very easy because there was actually rather little available in English.
This made it clear to me that this dehumanization was at the very heart of the killing project.
In fact, Zyklon B, the gas used in Auschwitz and elsewhere as the killing agent, was a pesticide manufactured to kill vermin—like fleas and roaches.
If you feel that you need additional backup, just go to Google Images and type in “Jewish vermin.”
Here’s one cartoon from an Austrian newspaper in 1939 depicting Jewish refugees as scurrying rats.
He means some Jews—the ones who aren’t for him, which come to think of it is most Jews.
But that’s a pretty low bar for un-American behavior; that is, fascism was not so bad until it started exterminating people? »
