Lessons from the Holocaust: Are We Repeating the Same Mistakes?

Several years ago I participated in a class called The Human Spirit and the Liberal Arts. This post is inspired by a lecture by the lecture on History and a paper that I wrote for this class on the Holocaust.

The Moral Lessons of History: From the Holocaust to Today’s Frontline

Much has been written about the Nazi genocide of European Jews, also referred to as the Holocaust. Many works seek to provide a historical record of events or share personal narratives of Jewish survivors and those who assisted in their escape. However, The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal and Into the Darkness by Gitta Sereny take a different approach. Instead of focusing solely on the victims, they examine the humanity—or lack thereof—of the Nazi soldiers and their enablers. How did ordinary people come to commit such atrocious acts? Where was God in this suffering? Is there a place for absolution or forgiveness for those who carried out these crimes? Their insights remain chillingly relevant today, as we witness disturbing parallels in modern society.

**Moral Dilemmas in **The Sunflower

In The Sunflower, Simon Wiesenthal recounts his experience in a Nazi concentration camp, centering on an encounter with a dying 21-year-old SS soldier. The soldier requests that a Jewish prisoner come to his bedside so he can confess his sins and ask for forgiveness. Wiesenthal, chosen for this task against his will, listens as the soldier recounts his journey from ordinary youth to SS officer, including the violent crimes he committed against Jewish people. In the end, Wiesenthal remains silent, refusing to grant the man his dying wish of absolution. The book challenges readers to consider: What would you have done?

**The Banality of Evil in **Into the Darkness

Gitta Sereny’s Into the Darkness goes further, chronicling her interviews with Franz Stangl, an SS commander who ran the Sobibor and Treblinka extermination camps. Her goal was to probe the mindset that led to his participation in genocide. Was evil created by circumstances, by birth, or by personal choice? Sereny examines how seemingly normal individuals became such cruel killers of innocent people.

One answer emerges: dehumanization. Stangl admitted that he did not see the Jewish prisoners as people. He referred to them as “cargo.” Once this mental shift took place, the atrocities became “just a job.” Another SS officer, the son of a craftsman, described how his father’s SS uniform gave him status and protection, elevating him from insignificance. He stated that “when he got that SS uniform, he began to be ‘somebody’ I suppose, rather than just anybody”. In this way, genocide became both a bureaucratic duty and a personal opportunity for power.

What is chilling is how ordinary many of these men were. They approached their horrific duties with the same diligence and professionalism as they would in any other career. Stangl himself took pride in being an efficient leader, stating, “I had to do as well as I could. That is how I am.” This echoes Hannah Arendt’s concept of the “banality of evil”—the idea that monstrous acts are often carried out not by sadistic villains but by obedient bureaucrats who dissociate from the consequences of their actions.

The Slippery Slope: How Genocide Begins

The Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers. It started with laws and policies that systematically dehumanized groups of people. Among the early warning signs:

• 1933: Germany passed a law for the compulsory sterilization of those deemed to have hereditary diseases.
• 1935: The Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of citizenship and prohibited marriage between Jews and non-Jews.
• 1939: The state-sanctioned euthanasia of individuals considered “incurable” under the guise of medical mercy.
• 1940s: The widespread killing of mentally and physically disabled children, paving the way for the mass exterminations to come.

These early measures were justified under the rhetoric of public health, national security, and economic stability. Each step made the next more acceptable. Each policy normalized the idea that some lives were worth less than others.

History’s Echo: Parallels to Today

While history does not repeat itself exactly, its patterns are clear. We must ask ourselves: what are today’s warning signs? Where do we see the same moral disengagement, obedience to injustice, and dehumanization of vulnerable groups?

• The continued legacy of slavery through state sanctioned discrimination of Black Americans through voter suppression, racialized policing, and economic disparities, reinforcing systemic inequalities that have persisted for centuries. (Isabel Wilkerson in her bestselling book Caste: The Origins of our Discontents describes how the Nazis studied American slavery, segregation, and race laws as they developed their framework for the Holocaust.)
• The cruel treatment of immigrants and refugees, including family separations, detention centers, and the use of dehumanizing rhetoric such as “invasions” to justify harsh policies.
• The use of political retribution against opponents, where individuals, businesses, and government officials who criticize the administration face targeted investigations, harassment, and punitive actions.
• The demonization of the media as “the enemy of the people”, creating a dangerous climate where journalists face threats, censorship, and increasing hostility for holding power accountable.
• The dismantling of government agencies by DOGE, where institutions designed to serve the public are being gutted under the guise of “efficiency,” consolidating power in the hands of a few and weakening democratic oversight.

History teaches us that complacency is complicity. The atrocities of the past were enabled by those who remained silent, who followed orders, or who justified their actions as mere policy enforcement.

The Courage to Act

The professor identified three key elements that make atrocities possible:

1. Moral Disengagement – Placing people outside the universe of moral obligation through dehumanizing propaganda and actions.
2. Obedience – As seen in Stanley Milgram’s experiments, where participants administered shocks simply because they were told to.
3. Situational Role Conformity – As demonstrated in the Stanford Prison Experiment, where ordinary people adopted cruelty based on assigned roles.

Slavery, the Holocaust, segregation, and modern-day injustices all followed these patterns. The question is: do we recognize them?

Every Movement Has a Beginning

Every major event in human history, whether good or bad, had a beginning.  In the case of the Holocaust, the question is what might have happened if, from the beginning, those who opposed what was being done had expressed their opposition and taken action.  This includes individuals, communities, governments, and organizations like the Catholic church.  No one can make the choice for anyone but themselves to give their lives for a cause.  What is necessary, is that we all excavate the recesses of our own souls and make sure that if and when an opportunity should arise, that we re prepared to rise to the occasion and exhibit the courage that we would like to see in others.

Let us not wait until history judges us. Let us act now.

Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 186–190 – William Shakespeare

Let us go in together,
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint—O cursèd spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
Nay, come, let’s go together.