My Turn: In the years ahead, don’t become ‘The Good German’

Daniel A. Brown

Daniel A. Brown

By DANIEL A. BROWN

Published: 02-03-2025 8:01 AM

 

I recently read a book about President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s actions during the latter years of World War II, focusing mainly on his response (or lack thereof) to the Holocaust. Several chapters are devoted to life, if one can so call it, at the Auschwitz death camp, which despite my previous knowledge were hard to read.

What stood out beyond the more glaring atrocities were the acts of casual cruelty carried out by the Germans who, having effectively dehumanized the Jews, felt free to make their daily suffering as miserable as possible.

Killing and brutalizing human beings day after day, however, can be hard on the nerves so the Auschwitz camp guards, both men and women, were lucky to have a nearby resort where they could take a week off for some rest and recreation. The “Sola Hut” was a spacious complex where visitors could sunbathe, hike to the nearby lakes and mountains and at night, eat sumptuous dinners followed by jolly sing-alongs accompanied by accordions.

They took photographs of their frolics which I have viewed. What’s distressing is how normal they look. If you met them at a party, you’d be happy to make them your friends. In short, they weren’t monsters but regular men and women who chose to act as such.

After the war, the German people suddenly hated their Nazi overlords, whom they had once cheered with tears of joy, not because of their despicable crimes, but because they failed to make Germany great again. Such an attitude calls to mind the theme of “The Good German” who, when confronted with the reality of the Holocaust, expressed that they had “no idea” such awful things were taking place. Many of these folks lived in towns near the hundreds of concentration camps dotted across the German countryside.

American troops who liberated these sites had a drastic yet effective cure for such myopia. At gunpoint, they forced the citizens, every man, woman and child of these nearby towns, onto the camp’s grounds so they could see, hear and smell the results of their warped ideology. Men in three-piece suits and women in fur coats were then required to bury the decomposed dead.

Since then, the term “The Good German” has become a phrase to describe anyone who deliberately turns a blind eye to atrocities, especially those that are in plain sight. To be fair, one wonders what the average citizen could do against such a fearsome state apparatus — but others did, at substantial risk to their lives. But the Germans were not unique.

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Our recent history has shown that the elements that made Nazi Germany possible — scapegoating, demonizing, suppression of civil liberties and playing on racist fears — have effectively elected an administration that will be the closest to this darker entity.

The question, therefore, is whether the American people in the coming years will also become a version of “The Good German.”

It could be an easy thing to fall into, especially if what transpires is out of sight and out of mind. If the millions of immigrant men, women, children and babies are rounded up and placed in remote concentration camps, it’s easy to forget that they are human beings suffering hardship and terror. It’s another thing if the camp is located at the Franklin County Fairgrounds where you could, on a breezy summer evening, hear the misery of the incarcerated.

I hope there are enough police and military men and women who would have their stomachs turned enough to refuse to comply with what the future will judge as a crime against humanity. One wonders how our friends, family and neighbors will react. How will you and I?

Since Trump’s inauguration, he’s made it clear that the MAGA agenda has nothing to do with making America great or even helping the American people. Instead, it’s based on cruelty, degradation, vengeance, greed and the destruction of the Bill of Rights. As such, it must be called out and resisted in any large or small way we can.

Already, there are calls to silence or even deport those who speak out.

Under authoritarian regimes, neighbors are encouraged to inform on neighbors, but I believe that anyone who deliberately aids such policies will be harshly judged not only by history but by their own grandchildren as no different than those who ratted out Anne Frank. In short, don’t become “The Good German,” because there will be no excuse for having “no idea” of the atrocities happening in our midst.

Daniel A. Brown lived in Franklin County for 44 years and has written a monthly My Turn column for over two decades. He lives outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife, Lisa and dog, Cody.