Nazism is known for the crimes of the Holocaust but I believe that contempt for humanity is the most enduring and poisonous legacy.

DIVINE SPARK.
God created man in his own images, and embodied him with this Divine Spark, the ability to feel and reason, that separates him from the annual kingdom. The Creator is the source of wisdom, goodness, justice and love, and those qualities reflected in humanity, constitute the innate qualities of man. This divine spark was completely extinguished in the Nazi era.

In Antiquity, the borderline between deities, man and the animal world was diffused. The Gods interacted with men and animals: Zeus and Leda, the Egyptian goddess Ra, the Golden Calf, etc. The Gods were pre-occupied with their own affairs, fought for domination and had little interest in the well being of the mortals. Prayers and sacrifices served to appease the deities and assure their goodwill. Judaism revolutionized the relationship of man to God. God spoke the language of man, and was keenly interested in justice and wellbeing of men. The goodness of life, the sanctity of human life, and the equality of man in the eyes of God, is the basis of the Judeo -Christian culture.

NAZI CONTEMPT FOR MAN.
The catastrophic violence off WWI and the subsequent economic distress spawned the movements of the despair - Communism and Fascism. Both movements are based on contempt for the average man. Communism assumed that man is a consuming creature, without spiritual needs. Nazism, assumed that man is like an animal, subject to Darwin's laws of survival of the fittest, and guided by the herd instinct. Both movements robbed man of his human dignity and the divine spark. The notion that one leader is embodied with supernatural wisdom and power, can rule without common sense, and is based on the contempt for the average man.

HOLOCAUST AND CONTEMPT FOR HUMANITY.
What made the Holocaust possible wars Hitler's contempt for the German people, for the German officers Corp, for churches, and all German political and cultural institutions? Hitler flooded Germany with slave laborers and converted Germany into one big concentration camp. The air was poisoned with suspicion, fear and indifference. Similarly, Hitler had a contempt for the victims and for the bystanders Nations.

VICTIMS DEHUMANIZATION.
The Jews were purposely dehumanized and treated like non-living matter, like raw or material. Millions of naked victims were transported for weeks in overcrowded cattle cars, without food, water, sanitation facilities or even air to breath. They were gassed like vermin and their bodies recycled before turning into a heap of human ashes.

CONTEMPT FOR BYSTANDERS.
The majority of the occupied people were treated with utter contempt. Millions of Poles or Ukrainians were forcibly sent for slave labor to Germany, treated like serves or chattel subjected to corporal punishment. In addition the Germans contaminated the soul of the occupied people with hatred in cruelty toward the Jews. The victims became victimizers.

RESIDUAL POISONING.
It seems to me that the excesses of the Nazi era poisoned the prevailing Western culture and facilitated the acceptance of violence and inequality. At the of the war the notion of infallible religious and political leadership was deeply ingrained and accepted. And what a collection off infallible, cruel and imbecile leaders did we get? Stalin reigned over 300 million people. One billion Chinese marched to the tune of Mao. North Korea, Poland, Hungary, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Tibet, Rumania, The Baltic States, East Germany, Albania, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Zaire, etc..... The list of suffering humanity is long.

I believe that Nazi contempt for man opened the flood of cruelty and insanity that facilitated the killing fields of Serbia, Cambodia, Rwanda, etc. It is time that we return to the rule of reason, based on the notion that man is created in God's image and has this divine spark, and a right to live in freedom in accordance with his conscience.

kimel@systec.com