APPENDIX 2

SCHEMATIZATION OF THE DOMINANT BELIEFS IN GERMANY ABOUT JEWS, THE MENTALLY ILL, AND SLAVS

Source of Their Character

1. Jews: race/biology

2. Mentally ill: biology

3. Slavs: race/biology

Essential Quality

1. Jews: evil/threat

2. Mentally ill: disease

3. Slavs: inferiority

Degree of Perniciousness and Danger

1. Jews: incalculable and extreme

2. Mentally ill: chronic, festering, and somewhat debilitating

3. Slavs: potentially great, yet manageable

Attribution of Motivation and Responsibility

1. Jews: want to destroy Germany, and are responsible for their own malignancy

2. Mentally ill: unfortunate victims, no malignant motives, no responsibility for their condition or for the threat that they pose to the biological health of Germany

3. Slavs: no malignant intention, and no responsibility for their inferior condition

Metaphorical and Logical Implication

1. Jews: "eliminate," permanently only by killing

2. Mentally ill: eradicate or quarantine

3. Slavs: "helotize" (meaning "subjugate" and decimate to whatever extent is utilitarian)

Institutional Support for Images

1. Jews: state—intense and continuous barrage; Church—support for beliefs, no counter-image offered; schools—similar to state; army—no different

2. Mentally ill: state—less direct, continuous, and intense dissemination of biological notions, and no prohibition of counter-images; Church—direct opposition to Nazi ideas on this matter; schools—tended to support these notions; army—silent on the issue

3. Slavs: state—consistent dissemination of beliefs about their "subhumanity," though lacking the intensity, the vituperation, and the virulence of those about the Jews; Church—relative silence on the matter, continued preaching of universal morality (with the exclusion of Jews), and considered Slavs as Christians; schools—similar to state; army—tended to concur with the state, but with dissenting opinions in all ranks

Degree of Penetration of Beliefs (Two dimensions: breadth/depth)

1. Jews: near universal/deep

2. Mentally ill: restricted to certain groups/among them deep

3. Slavs: widespread/more variation, generally less deeply rooted than Jews

Aesthetic Reaction

1. Jews: offended sense of order and goodness

2. Mentally ill: offended sense of order, but not goodness

3. Slavs: offended neither if kept in their proper place, since they were useful beasts; they were not a moral blight

Ethical Attitude

1. Jews: as non-humans, beyond moral law

2. Mentally ill: mixed—suspension of traditional morality of the sanctity of human life, but to be treated without cruelty and unnecessary suffering

3. Slavs: inconsistent (and often violated) application of watered-down traditional morality

Interaction of Beliefs, Traditional Morality, and Degree of Penetration into Society

1. Jews: no role for traditional morality; nature of Jews invalidates their application; beliefs about Jews were so widespread that this was almost universally accepted

2. Mentally ill: biological metaphor was not so widespread, so traditional morality influenced many; also the mentally ill, unlike the Jews, were not seen as morally culpable

3. Slavs: beliefs about their inferiority were widespread, though traditional morality could still influence people's actions, yet often weakly; beliefs about Slavs were not as central as those about Jews, so the "problems" that they posed were not seen to be as urgent

Result

1. Jews: genocide; opposed by a small minority, usually on ethical or aesthetic grounds (because of the application of "outmoded" and "inapplicable" traditional morality); no trouble finding willing and dedicated killers

2. Mentally ill: "euthanasia" program formally halted because of vigorous opposition; able to find a dedicated group of ideologically attuned medical personnel to staff the killing program

3. Slavs: inconsistent policy with all sorts of major exceptions; absence of genocidal killing, but brutal slaying of all opposition; killers much less likely to be enthusiastic about their job; policy considerations (alliances) able to mold German image of particular Slavic group, because of comparative shallowness of beliefs and also because the Slavs were deemed to be fundamentally not dangerous (as long as they were kept in check) and to be without malignant intentions; intended to be a massive reservoir of slave labor; millions already so employed