A few thoughts on the roots of the Jewish holocaust.
[And thoughts on Stalin's Purges]
[This was in response to a post that I don't think said anything very interesting.]
I'd say Anti-semitism in Europe was mostly upheld by the church until the 20th century. it was a dogma in many sects that the jews as a collective group, a people, betrayed God. And that for God's work to be done the jews will either be converted or destroyed. interpretations of ancient thinkers in a modern context mutated this into a genocidal ideology aspect in various political organisations.
Stalin feared jews too, what with him rounding up the Jewish doctors in the USSR because he feared they'd poison him. And he killed many when the tried the balance out the communist party in his purges, he was suspicious of jews, a prejudice from his youth and from his rivals in communism, such as Trotsky.
The roots of much of the antisemitism with Hitler and Stalin was cultural, based in the church, in the Russia Empire, it was a vast problem, and that didn't fully melt away in the USSR. Stalin's killing of Jews was quite extensive as well, ranging from the 30s to the early 50s when he rounded up doctors. Stalin seems to have prefered to starve his rivals, if he had been more creative then the death camp might have become associated with him more than Hitler.
German national socialist did buy into Tsarist propaganda, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and this fuelled antisemitism to a great degree than it otherwise might have done. Scapegoating the jews was an old practice by then, but new fuel for that fire was found from such fabrications. The hatred and scapegoating of Jews in Russia forced many into the communist party, millions suffered.
The main drive for race conflict was the nationalist propaganda, which pitted people who looked the same against each other in strict loyalty to their great leaders and empires. And those people who were in nations be still had an aspect of individuality, such as traditionalist groups of Jews were targets considered unbritish or Ungerman to many nationalist extremists.
It wasn't the church who called for the genocide of the Jews, not for a long time, but it was the nationalist-racist backdrop that created an extremist view within Christian nations and within a Christian cultural narrative.
So in the posts religion promoted the normality of hating/blaming Jews, more recent nationalism isolated the jews as the enemy within(within Germany, etc.), and when conditions made people vote for extremists, like Hitler, he did what people might have expected. A vast bloodletting.
And Stalin's motivations as far as Atheism does not seem to be correct since there was not an anti-religious stance that existed as a cultural background supporting genocide, nor that of the Jewish people. however, political ideology was key to Lenin's purges, as was the killing of top church officials.
Stalin, who was a gangster for the party, robbing banks to fund the communists, he brought in his old tricks back after he managed to get his hands on some real power. He moved his people into positions of power and when Trotsky was exiled he purged the party over and over, purged the red army too, and broke anyone or anything that got in his way, as he did as a crook before the red revolution of 1917. And creating and maintaining this nation of fear in the 30s was key to his safety in power.
He was still a moderate Christian by some accounts, being raised one, but clearly not a good one at best. His true religion was Himself, he was a communist in name but a narcissist accord to psychological reports, he didn't get off on pain like a psychopath but he seems to have been a sociopath, not dissimilar to Hitler in that respect.
I hope that clarifies things.
[In response to this uninteresting post from Facebook.]
[And thoughts on Stalin's Purges]
[This was in response to a post that I don't think said anything very interesting.]
I'd say Anti-semitism in Europe was mostly upheld by the church until the 20th century. it was a dogma in many sects that the jews as a collective group, a people, betrayed God. And that for God's work to be done the jews will either be converted or destroyed. interpretations of ancient thinkers in a modern context mutated this into a genocidal ideology aspect in various political organisations.
Stalin feared jews too, what with him rounding up the Jewish doctors in the USSR because he feared they'd poison him. And he killed many when the tried the balance out the communist party in his purges, he was suspicious of jews, a prejudice from his youth and from his rivals in communism, such as Trotsky.
The roots of much of the antisemitism with Hitler and Stalin was cultural, based in the church, in the Russia Empire, it was a vast problem, and that didn't fully melt away in the USSR. Stalin's killing of Jews was quite extensive as well, ranging from the 30s to the early 50s when he rounded up doctors. Stalin seems to have prefered to starve his rivals, if he had been more creative then the death camp might have become associated with him more than Hitler.
German national socialist did buy into Tsarist propaganda, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and this fuelled antisemitism to a great degree than it otherwise might have done. Scapegoating the jews was an old practice by then, but new fuel for that fire was found from such fabrications. The hatred and scapegoating of Jews in Russia forced many into the communist party, millions suffered.
The main drive for race conflict was the nationalist propaganda, which pitted people who looked the same against each other in strict loyalty to their great leaders and empires. And those people who were in nations be still had an aspect of individuality, such as traditionalist groups of Jews were targets considered unbritish or Ungerman to many nationalist extremists.
It wasn't the church who called for the genocide of the Jews, not for a long time, but it was the nationalist-racist backdrop that created an extremist view within Christian nations and within a Christian cultural narrative.
So in the posts religion promoted the normality of hating/blaming Jews, more recent nationalism isolated the jews as the enemy within(within Germany, etc.), and when conditions made people vote for extremists, like Hitler, he did what people might have expected. A vast bloodletting.
And Stalin's motivations as far as Atheism does not seem to be correct since there was not an anti-religious stance that existed as a cultural background supporting genocide, nor that of the Jewish people. however, political ideology was key to Lenin's purges, as was the killing of top church officials.
Stalin, who was a gangster for the party, robbing banks to fund the communists, he brought in his old tricks back after he managed to get his hands on some real power. He moved his people into positions of power and when Trotsky was exiled he purged the party over and over, purged the red army too, and broke anyone or anything that got in his way, as he did as a crook before the red revolution of 1917. And creating and maintaining this nation of fear in the 30s was key to his safety in power.
He was still a moderate Christian by some accounts, being raised one, but clearly not a good one at best. His true religion was Himself, he was a communist in name but a narcissist accord to psychological reports, he didn't get off on pain like a psychopath but he seems to have been a sociopath, not dissimilar to Hitler in that respect.
I hope that clarifies things.[In response to this uninteresting post from Facebook.]
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