everything from her and those other girls. Everything. Even their names.
Dehumanising people makes it easier to accept moral dilemmas. The Nazis used propaganda to dehumanise various political and cultural groups. Despite that, most of the soldiers that implemented mass murder and other crimes against humanity needed to drink excessive amounts of alcohol to do their assigned task.
Some even deserted their posts risking court martial if caught. Others requested and got transfers. This makes the argument that they’d only followed orders and would have been killed otherwise invalid. The post war Nuremberg Trials make this point although many prison sentences were commuted within a few years.
Was that justified? I don’t think it sends much of a message about the consequences of serious war crimes when the consequences are not serious too.
