New Harper's Essay: "Kinds of Killing"
Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 10:42AM The August 2009 Harper's includes a long Gass piece called "Kinds of Killing: The flourishing evil of the Third Reich." (subscription only), a review essay on Richard J. Evans' The Third Reich at War. Yes, it's a stomach-turning read:
Some camps were for show, like the back lots of movie studios, and were unable to make direct contributions to the killings, only mislead chosen visitors about them. In a few ghettos (Warsaw is the best known) there were uprisings as well as scattered signs of individual resistance by the Polish underground; but what slowed the German war on humanity (besides the Soviet army) was simply the size and consequent inefficiency of it. Evans ascribes the principal cause of the monstrous behavior required of its organizers to their “visceral hatred of Jews,” but the word “visceral” tends to beg the question. How was anti-Semitism, so patently false in all its ages of activity, able to lodge itself in so many minds and thereafter weaken—no, remove—their moral character? How, in general, do people become slaves of foolish ideologies, support them with treasure, allegiance, and time, and act, at their behest, so vilely, so contrary to their own interest? History is full of absurdities masquerading as absolutes. Like whooping cough, beliefs get to children early, make their symptoms chronic, hold out useless hopes, and offer vain excuses. It is reason’s business to disbelieve, but the voices of reason have as much effect here as frogs in a swamp.
Reader Comments (2)
thanks for pointing it out. though the subject matter is grim anything by Gass tides me over until the completion of "Middle C". just dipped into Vollmann's "Imperial". worth the price and patience.
You're welcome, Brian. I enjoyed scanning the Imperial reviews, but I don't think I can start it until I make more headway on Rising Up, Rising Down, which I bought in full several years ago. Maybe someday...