Agents Of Socialization In Germany

What often gets overlooked when people think about the Holocaust is the fact that the German people did indeed allow this to happen. It was the German people who allowed Hitler to gain control over them and strengthen already existing concepts. They had the ability to not submit, it’s just that since Hitler was sending out praises of how the German people are the dominant race, how could they resist. The German citizenry allowed the Holocaust to happen with antisemitism, deindividuation, and agents of socialization.

One of the most common Jewish stereotypes is their apparent obsession with wealth. It was widely depicted that all Jewish people would do is steal money, and this is what lead to Germany's economic downfall, or so they say. In Germany,

a very large percentage of bankers were those of Jewish descent. Now, there is, of course, a reason for this and that was; for Christians, it was considered a sin to charge interest on a loan (Chapter 1, reading 7). This lead many Jews to be forced into the banking business and that is where enduring stereotype began. Even though becoming bankers was not their fault at all, it still followed them throughout history and gave Hitler a target that he could use to turn his people against them, and lead to the Holocaust. The Jewish people have always been vulnerable. There is a fair amount of jews in the world but they are very spread out making it harder to come to each other's aid. This made them a very easy target for those throughout history. During the crusades, the Crusaders would slaughter entire villages, simply because they were able to (Chapter 1, reading 7). They were defenseless and still were when Hitler was rising to power. Hitler saw this and chose his scapegoat, one that would send a clear message with little effort. One that already had the foundations of discrimination built. One that would cause him to look like the German savior. Throughout years of discrimination, there was already enough hatred for the jews that the German Government didn’t really even need to do anything. Either way, they still did. After the war Germany was going through a lot of different hardships, most of it having to deal with money (Anti Semitism - The New Prejudice Article). The money stereotype that is associated with jews made them the perfect target. Now government officials were blaming the jew for all of Germany’s hardships (Anti Semitism - The New Prejudice Article). Now the jews are the reason all of the German people are suffering, this caused discrimination to get worse. Out of this selfishness, the German people thinking about the jews hurting their country came widespread hatred. Now when the Nazi’s were rounding up Jews and sending them off to camps the German people didn’t feel remorse, for all they thought was the jews are getting what is deserved. Antisemitism played a very large role when it came to the German people letting the holocaust happen.
Deindividuation played a very large role in how it lead to the German citizenry to let the holocaust happen. The expectations that those who surrounded you had of you illustrated the whole idea of Deindividuation. Hede von Nagel, states: As my parents’ second daughter, I was a great disappointment to my father, who wanted to produce sons for the Fuehrer and the nation – and, because he was of the nobility, to carry on the family name (Chpt 5, Reading 6). Even in a family, serving the Fuehrer was more important than the lives of those who were in your own family. Alfons Heick also tells about how once the singing that he and his Fahnlein were doing displeased their leader, and he made them march in an ice-cold river. None of them obviously wanted to go about this, but none of them refused either (Chpt 5, Reading 6). Another key piece of Deindividuation was how being surrounded by people who think a certain way can suppress how you may feel about whatever it is that you enjoy in life. Hans, who loved playing different folk songs on the guitar was told that he could no longer play those songs. He at first asked why, but the German Soldiers threatened to harm him physically. This caused him to be compelled to leave his music dream behind (Chpt 5, Reading 8). This is one example from what can be predicted as many, of those who were forced to leave what they loved to do and adapt to live the same life everyone around you was leading. The final piece of evidence for deindividuation is how schools created a sort of mob mentality for children. It stated that children would have to say Heil Hitler 50-150 times a day (chapter 5, reading 4). If the students decided to not comply they would have to go up to the teacher and tell the teacher why it is that they didn’t say, Heil Hitler. This sense of humiliation would have to lead the student to, in the future, go along with the other children and say, Heil Hitler. This is an example of how people will go along with a group in order to not face humiliation. These pieces of evidence all help to support the claim on how Deindividuation was a factor in the German citizenry letting the holocaust happen.
Agents of Socialization helped to play a role in the German citizenry letting the holocaust happen.

Schooling lead to a very large portion of the way the Germans viewed the world, all of it was based on physical qualities. In schools, one part of their curriculum was how to Identify a person's racial background based on their physical qualities (Chpt 5, Reading 10). This can be interpreted as a way for students to learn how to identify Jews and then avoid them, and some of this was verified in the text; Observe the Jew: his way of walking, his bearing, gestures, and movements when talking (Chpt 5, Reading 10). When we hear this it sounds almost as if they are biology students studying some sort of animal interact with its surroundings in the wild. That’s what this was, study the pest, this invader, so we can see how well it is able to adapt. Not only were these lessons in school used as a way to identify those revered as lesser than they, but also as a way to look at different German people and their high accomplishments. With an input like this, they are able to see how great Germany is and that the reason for all of these peoples success isn’t because of their will to do something, but what blood they have coursing through their veins. Along with schooling, the Hitler youth was used as a way to program Germany’s children and helps to allow the Holocaust to happen. The Hitler Youth was a way to repeatedly tell kids that they are a more valued race than all others (Chpt 5,

Reading 6). With this thinking put into children's heads at such a young age, it all becomes a general way of their thinking. If they hear or see those kinds of things enough, they will then begin to think that behaving in these ways is “okay”. A feeling of remorse for the other people will have been thrown away, and Aryan people are on top, all others below must submit to them. This becomes the thinking of all of the German people, even though very few may try to run away from it, out of pure fear or influence of widespread belief, they too will soon submit to the sickness that is their own unquenchable thirst and specious sense for power. Adults were socialized along with children, but with peer influence, which lead to the bystander effect. In large groups people will often do what everyone else is doing, but for an obvious reason. Involuntarily people try to fit in, it’s the fear we all of have sticking out like a sore thumb. Not only that but part of the thinking that “If I don’t do it someone will”. This leads to the bystander effect (Video). The bystander effect and peer influence fit together quite nicely. For example, if you take a Nazi rally situation. Most people around you are going to be siding with what it is the Nazi’s are saying and so forth. Though you may strongly disagree with everything that is going on, you will submit. Part of it may be because you do not want to stick out, you don’t want people to know you are not in support of this because you don’t want to be ridiculed for it. The other part would be that since you are in such a large group, you think that you don’t need to act out because someone else will. (Bystander Effect). This is where it is easy to see that problems begin to occur, because if you’re thinking that why wouldn't other people be doing the same. Then there is an endless loop of none trying to help resolve a problem but rely on someone else to do it. These all support the fact that agents of socialization helped play a role in the German citizenry letting the holocaust happen.
The reason this dark time in history is often looked upon is that the fear of it happening again.

Genocides still continue today, maybe not to the grotesque extent of that of the Holocaust. Either way, if we analyze what happened, look at key details and turning points we can look out for them in the future. We can learn from this like we can with anything else, and we can do better, it just takes awareness. This all happened because, The German citizenry allowed the Holocaust to happen with antisemitism, deindividuation, and agents of socialization. Only if they had known what we know now, could this tragedy have been

avoided.