One of the things that I had not been prepared for when I seriously began to study the Nazi movement is just how diverse the Nazis were. People often ask, "Are we like the Nazis?" Perhaps we should turn that around and ask, "Were the Nazis like us?" I'm afraid the answer is, "Yes." Individual Nazis could be humorous, bland, sentimental, courageous, weak, charming, cowardly, charismatic, sadistic, brilliant, and everything that other people could be. Some, like Goering, were avid hunters, while others such as Himmler were appalled by the hunt. Some were horrified by the slightest suggestion of pain done to animals in experiments and other contexts, but others tortured and killed animals as part of Hitler Youth initiation rituals.
Nazi science, by the... |
