The next stage was ‘Polarisation’, which was propaganda. The Nazis spread libels
about Jewish people and gave them a demeaning public image. Jeffrey Herf reflects on the
role of the Nazi Party’s chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels. He writes ‘Goebbels was
prolific’ and that his ‘anti - Semitic motifs were ubiquitous’. 8 Nazi propaganda incited hatred
against Jews who were stereotyped to have large, hooked noses; horns; and hoofs. They
were also stereotyped to be disloyal to Germany; and greedy, preoccupied with wealth. Nazi
propaganda against Jews was systematic. This is how Jews were dehumanised. The next
three stages of genocide are ‘Preparation’ of mass killing (in this case this was ‘The Final
Solution), ‘Persecution’ of the group based on their religion or ethnicity, and finaly,
‘Extermination’, which of course is slaughter.
‘Denial’ is the final stage. Holocaust denial is rife. There is no denial, it seems, of any
other mass killing in history, at least to such a degree. This is another reason as to why the
Holocaust can be viewed differently to other genocides. Stephen E Atkins writes that
Holocaust denial, which started after the Second World War, ‘has become an international
movement’. He adds that there are ‘Holocaust deniers active in almost every country’. This is
not the case for any of the other horrific genocides that have happened. Atkins further notes
that ‘Holocaust denial has become more acceptable to the European extreme Left’. 9 It is of
course anti-Semitic because it is an attempt to nullify the Nazi genocide, and also, Jewish
suffering. As Atkins says, it is found on the extreme Left that is supposedly forward-thinking.
Those of that mind-set have also been known to distort the Holocaust and claim that not so
many Jews were murdered. Such minimization of mass human suffering cannot be found in
8 Jeffrey Herf, The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), p. 21 9 Stephen E. Atkins, Holocaust Denial as an International Movement (Westport: Praeger, 2009), pp. 1-2
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