• General_Effort@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    How did I not know that until now?

    Unironically, I’d like to know. Not having a go at you. There seem to be lots of people who don’t know that. But without that bit of knowledge, the holocaust doesn’t make sense.

    The nazis defined anyone with jewish grandparents to be part of a jewish race, by law. That even included a few christian priests. Of course, the nazis didn’t invent the idea. People never liked converts much. When you prosecute someone, you want to get the loot. It’s never about selflessly helping people go to heaven.

    Historically, it’s a truism that a race is a result of racism. First, a group is hated or subjugated. Then membership - and supposed negative traits - become defined as unalterable, heritable facts.

    • sabreW4K3
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      2 months ago

      I think it was something I’d been told beforehand, but it wasn’t filed away correctly. For me, the Holocaust was always a tragedy. Such a massive loss of human lives will always be a tragedy. In that regard, I didn’t see it as more of a tragedy because secular Jews were caught up in the mix. It’s a tragedy because any life was caught up in the mix. But I also feel the Trans-atlantic Slave Trade is a tragedy and we continue to feel and reap the rewards of that to this very day, where there’s a bunch of people that don’t even realise Africa is a continent.