Is it wrong to be fascinated with Nazis and the evil they did?

Question

My family is Jewish, Orthodox Jews of Polish decent. My grandparents on my mother's side survived the Warsaw Ghetto and the concentration camps. They really don't like to talk about it much but when they first told me about their experiences during that time I was just so amazed how they witnessed such evil and hatred and persecution, losing all their family, etc.. and I grew more and more fascinated in time. I can't help but be fascinated with Nazis and I've found myself so fascinated in learning everything about them and what motivated them and wondering what it would be like to be in their shoes, reading Mein Kampf and everything I can get my hands on. But sometimes I find myself thinking that I'm a little strange for being this fascinated with the subject, being so young and never experiencing anything myself. As a Jew, is it strange? Would you be fascinated or just move on and not think so much about the past?

Answer 1

As a Mormon we speak frequently of the trek west that our ancestors took, the persecution they faced, and the extermination order (a law in Illinois that said you could kill a Mormon). I think it's perfectly normal to see what our ancestors went through and wonder what we would have done in their shoes.

Answer 2

I think there is a danger of making Nazism seem glamorous or exciting; the fascination they hold over people is sometimes a little ghoulish and sometimes a little prurient. It is important to remember what Hannah Arendt called the "banality of evil". In most respects, the Nazis were simply normal and even boring people, not significantly different from you or I.



It is also important to remember that the Nazi persecution of Jews was not unique in human history, and that "evil and hatred and persecution" goes on in many places even today. People often talk about "learning lessons from history" (especially in relation to the Third Reich and the Holocaust), but I am pretty pessimistic about this possibility.

Answer 3

I think by human nature it's only natural to be curious about things that are atypical today. You don't hear about things like this happening in this day and age so hearing it in the past can be fascinating. As a Jew, well first let's just stop saying you are a Jew and call you a PERSON. I don't mean to say you shouldn't be jewish, just think in terms of you being a regular person.



It's okay, in fact, I'm really fascinated by the Holocaust and the horrors of it. I don't really like that it was done but the thought of it interests me.



Don't be ashamed. Open your knowledge to that historic event. As long as you don't plan for another mass murder of millions then it's just fine to want to research history.

Answer 4

I dont know, i found some of it interesting, but more so on the fact that something like that can actually happen. I think it is interesting how the human mind works, and what happened then was some crazy mind work. To me it just sounds as if you are interested in the motives behind all of it, which wouldnt be too wierd, youre just curious, at least that is how i am reading this post.

Answer 5

NO. You're not being strange here. You're discovering a serious and traumatic part of your family's past and you want to connect with it and learn about it. Follow your instincts and learn all you can.



If you're lucky enough to still have family members who survived the Holocaust, try to talk to them about it. Find out whatever you can from them, while they're still living. Someday they won't be there to answer questions any more, and all their memories (that you don't preserve) will die with them.



My family wasn't victimized by the Holocaust (though some members did live under Nazi occupation), but there are questions I wish I'd asked my grandparents before they died.

Answer 6

No, it's a part of your heritage. I have Jewish relatives on my mother's side, also from Poland. Most of her family was killed, too. I read all I can about Nazis and the war, too, because it's history. What you need to remember is there are still people in the world who think the way the Nazis did, and many of them are Americans in high political offices. They're just called "conservatives" now.



It's often an evil and hateful world. Knowing history is the best way to prevent repeating it.

Answer 7

God rest the victims of the Holocausts' innocent souls. It is important to know what atrocities they did to the Jews, that they may never be forgotten. It is also important to know how the Nazis fooled so many people around the globe from getting involved in stopping them sooner. Bless Gods virtue and breath, the Nazis had no sympathy for either. Let us know so that we will never let it happen again.

God help us to stop similar things that are happening now in the Congo

Answer 8

You're not strange. I am not even Jewish and the whole subject fascinates me from a sociological and good vs. evil standpoint. I am also terribly interested in serial killers and true crime. I just cannot get over how some seemingly normal people commit the atrocieties they do.

Answer 9

I'm not Jewish. Whenever I think of Nazis I don't imagine myself in their shoes, I imagine myself in their hands. I'm not facinated with their methods. What amazes me is how a WW1 German corporal,

a nobody, could manipulate people so well to become leader of a nation, and be responsible for the murder of millions. He was no savior, he was Germany's worst nightmare. Many Germans of all ages died because of him.

Answer 10

as long as you don't believe what they did was good somehow. i'm pretty fascinated with it too because it was such a powerful thing that controlled so many people. but like in a historian kind of way, it is not bad, or in a way that is curious. i mean movie directors and screenwriters live it in their head, look at old films like Diary of Anne Frank, etc., even Shutter Island lately.

Answer 11

Those who forget the past are destined to repeat it.



There is no harm in being interested in the Nazis. Just make sure you learn from it - and take steps that something like that never happens again.

Answer 12

It might not be in anyone's best interests to be obsessed with atrocities or man's inhumanity to man. But being appalled, fascinated or thunderstruck is a natural reaction. I would hope.

Answer 13

to want to understand why they did it would be a desire to learn more about the sociology aspect of it, to want to know what they did would be a desire for the historical information - nothing incredibly strange.



but if your grandparents down want to talk about it, them leaven them alone about it, reading it ina book and living through that horrible experience - are worlds apart. be discreet about your fascination with the subject when you are around them. You have no idea the hell they have been through.

Answer 14

How about American treatment of Japanese citizens? That was pretty screwed up.



No, the Nazis are pretty fascinating. Great aesthetics, screwy beliefs, lots of crimes against humanity. Then again, Hitler is kind of on par with lots of dictators (see any account of ancient history you can find).

Answer 15

It's never bad to learn, be it a bad or good event. As long as you don't start emulating them you are fine.

Answer 16

You have a strong interest in events that affected your ancestors. Nothing wrong with that.

Answer 17

you can be as facinated as you want as long as you dont think it was all a good idea im sure you will be ok

Answer 18

well I read the nazis were horrible but the japanese were even more gross.

Answer 19

It's a little weird.

Answer 20

no it is a normal thing for trolls