Nazis Are People
All There is to Know About Adolph Eichmann
EYES: ……………………………… Medium
HAIR: ……………………………… Medium
WEIGHT: …………………………. Medium
HEIGHT: ………………………….. Medium
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: ….. None
NUMBER OF FINGERS: …………. Ten
NUMBER OF TOES: …………….. Ten
INTELLIGENCE: ………………… Medium
What did you expect?
Talons?
Oversize incisors?
Green saliva?
Madness?
Do you know what we call Nazis who supported Hitler for economic reasons but found the race-baiting distasteful?
We call them Nazis.
Do you know what we call the overwhelming majority of Nazis who never committed murder? Not a single one?
We call them Nazis.
Do you know what we call professors in Germany who spent more time vilifying Marxist students than authoritarian officials, while Hitler executed the other professors, the Marxists, and Jewish folk?
Nazis.
We get defensive because the word Nazi is triggering. I get that. That is the defense against calling people monsters talking. But Nazis are not monsters. They are people.
The unfortunate consequence of other-ing Nazism as well as we have, while simultaneously not fully understanding its ideology, leaves us impressionable to Nazis who seem nice. But nice is different from good. We think being bad means they cannot love their families, or have fun, laughter-filled barbecues. They do. Nazis, as people, share our feelings and needs. They like the same jokes and movies. Nazis use this misunderstanding against us:
“I know what the world tells you. But it ain’t like that. Read this book with me.”
Get used to this word: Nazi. Get comfortable with it. It is not a mindless, defensive insult. It is a description of much of the world. Of this country. Of people in government. Of people we know. Of people in our family. Of internalized tendencies in ourselves. And if not for a few tweaks in circumstances…
“But they are not killing Jews.”
What it takes to be a Nazi is a valid discussion. But “killing Jews” is not prerequisite. Most Nazis have never killed a single person, Jewish or no. Regardless, Judaism per se was post-hoc rationale. What were Jewish folk to the Nazis? They were immigrants. Economic leeches. Non-Germans.
Who are these people to the US public at large? Black and Brown folk.
If you think someone needs to hate Jewish people to be a Nazi, I might ask you why you think hating Black and Brown people is more acceptable than hating Jewish people. I might ask you why a self-identified White nationalist does not get to be called a Nazi.
I might ask you why you think the desire to create a White ethnostate that of necessity entails forcible displacement and genocidal murder against Black and Brown folk does not merit the distinction of being called “Nazi.”
I might ask whether you really think they will not do this to Jewish folk.
I also might ask: If you believe that Black and Brown folk are inferior, but are overriding the country, despite White Right-Wing folk in power at every level of government, how do you explain that?
And if you are familiar with the White nationalist movement, you would answer: The Jews are behind it.
Do they get to be called Nazis now? Was hating Black people not enough? Was kidnapping Brown refugee children, separating siblings, locking them in cages, yelling at them when they try to hug each other, and ransoming them, holding them hostage, as bargaining pawns for an ecologically destructive wall ineffective against migration not enough to be called a Nazi?
It is often said that Fascism will come with a smiley face. But emojis are relative. What is a smiley face to the US Nazi? The flag? A wall? A call to criminalize refugees? Someone who gleefully dismisses concerns about legislative bureaucracy to protect marginalized people? A wink-nod that White people will make their “comeback”?
It was the Nationalism that was the problem with Nazis. Not their Socialism — which they fought against. The famous poem about the Nazis begins, “First they came for the socialists.” The Nazis propagandized to associate Socialism with Judaism.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
You know who designed the Nazi uniforms? Hugo Boss.
You know what they design now? Business suits.
Not all Nazis wear it on the sleeves of their uniforms. Most. Because Nazis are not mindless creatures who do not recognize a need to change strategy when people resist their ideas. Some of them are very conscious and intentional about this. Because people adapt. And Nazis are people.
If we are more offended by the word Nazi than by the seemingly nice, dressed up versions of Nazism today, we might be expecting monsters. But monsters are not real. People are. And Nazis are people.
