Research: Nazi Propaganda Had Very Long Lasting Effects On Germans

nazi
Image from en.wikipedia.org

Recently, researchers from the United States and Switzerland studied surveys conducted in 1996 and 2006. In the surveys respondents were asked about a wide range of issues, including their opinions of Jews.

The polls, known as the German General Social Survey, reflected the views of 5,300 people from 264 towns and cities throughout Germany. This range allowed researchers to examine differences according to age, gender, and location.

When researchers focused on the respondents who expressed consistently negative views about Jews in a number of questions, the researchers found that those born in the 1930s held the most extreme anti-Semitic opinions. Just imagine that; even 50 years after Nazi rule, people still harbor strong anti-Semitic opinions.

Here are a few quotes concerning this study.

“It’s not just that Nazi schooling worked, that if you subject people to a totalitarian regime during their formative years it will influence the way their mind works,” said Hans-Joachim Voth of the University of Zurich, one of the study’s authors. “The striking thing is that it doesn’t go away afterward.”

“The extent to which Nazi schooling worked depended crucially on whether the overall environment where children grew up was already a bit anti-Semitic,” said Voth. “It tells you that indoctrination can work, it can last to a surprising extent, but the way it works has to be compatible to something people already believe.”

This study is not unlike many racist attitudes in the United States. Although most people would not admit to overtly racist attitude,?many?Americans?subscribe to racist stereotypes.

The expression of deep-seated irrational stereotypical thinking is often done through ?Microaggressions,? which are small slights against another person because of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, and even body type. These slights can come in many forms such as good-natured jokes or just casual comments. You can also find these microaggresions in new and old media, such as TV?shows, cartoons, movies, music, and books.

Here’s one example. Growing up, I was taught by my parents and grandmother to speak very well. Unfortunately, because of this I was often accused of ?talking white? — not just by white kids, but by black kids as well. Even kids today make that association; I have a friend who had to admonish her teenager when she remarked that I didn’t “sound black.?

The connotation of remarks like that suggest that a person has to use broken English, slang, and sound uneducated in order to ?sound black.? Some would say “wait a minute how could that be racism if black kids did it too?” Racism goes beyond the color of the perpetrator’s skin; it’s the insinuation of inferiority to the majority race.

A person can be a minority and perpetuate racist stereotypes without being aware that they are hurting themselves. And it’s not just blacks and whites; in Japan many Chinese deal with racism from the people — a part of the Japanese majority for example.

Just take a moment to think how this type of thinking plays out in our educational and judicial systems. What about the job market?

The study in Germany is important because it shows that even after generations have passed, young people can still harbor very negative and ignorant views towards people they had been taught to hate. A lot of people feel that talking about racism promotes it — that we should not focus on things like ?harmless? stereotypes and microaggressions.

In places like Germany, it is taboo to talk about their Nazi past. This could also contribute to the long standing anti-Semitic views we see there today. ?I think continuing to discuss issues like racism is necessary to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions that have a tendency to become more common than viewing people as individuals.

Here is a video on this story.