The Horrors of War

While reading this article, I was constantly thinking about the correlation to WWII and the current war we are facing. First off, Hitler was exterminating innocent people by the millions. Likewise, Islamic extremists have murdered millions, weather that be women, Americas, or anyone with interests contrasting their own. Kats states, “For Hitler, technological expediency serves to make mass extermination seem not only necessary, but just and honorable” (265). This is exactly what Islamic extremists are doing to justify the slaying of innocent people. Hitler was determined that anyone who was no part of the “master race” needed to be exterminated as a course of morality. Thus, he considered his plan technically justified, just as extremists do.

I also found the memo at the beginning fascinating. If I had not been told this memo was about concentration camps, I would assume it had something to do with a van needing fixed. Once I realized what it was talking about, I was absolutely disgusted! The way the SS could speak so carelessly without consideration to human life is unthinkable As Katz explains, they used metaphors to denote people as a means of ethical expediency. Horrible! Nazis had no respect for human life. They just wanted a means to an end.