Quotes: Nazis

A collection of quotes on various topics. The sentence in bold face is a plain statement of the quote that follows. Note: The quotes in this blog on the topic of "Nazism" are some of the most graphic statements on the inhuman treatment of innocent people in the history of civilization. Readers should be forewarned.

Nazis
Nazi actions had not been all that different from the American slaughter of the Indians.
Nazi defense 319 Ribbentrop thought that the German actions had not been all that different from American and the British: “Haven’t you heard about how the Americans slaughtered the Indians…an inferior race too?” Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Nazi actions were not that different from the actions of the British during the Boer War.
Nazi defense 319 The Boer War between Dutch settlers and the British colonists in South Africa had evolved into guerrilla warfare between 1899 and 1902…British cleared the countryside and herded 120,000 women and children into concentration camps…approximately 20,000 died from disease and neglect. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Hoss did not commit the murders at Auschwitz; he was simply the executioner.
Nazi defense 424 But that murder [Auschwitz] was not committed by Hoss; Hoss was merely the executioner. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

The Nazis had simply been following the principles of Henry Ford’s efficiency engineering.
Nazi defense 430 In demanding that workers “must be fed, housed, and treated in such a way that with the least possible effort the greatest possible results will be achieved,” Sauckel claimed, on the witness stand, he had merely been following the principles of Henry Ford’s efficiency engineering. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

The Nazi official claimed he worked in Czechoslovakia because he was a moderating influence.
Nazi official’s defense 450 Neurath claimed…that he had…retained his position in Czechoslovakia as long as possible in order to provide a moderating influence. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

The Nazis targeted the clergy, aristocracy, intelligentsia and Jews in order to eliminate any vestige of Polish nationalism.
Nazism 189 Hitler: …to break all elements of the Polish will to resist[,] it is especially necessary to eliminate the clergy, the aristocracy, the intelligentsia and the Jews…all…to be expelled from the four westernmost provinces of Poland, which were to be annexed to Germany[;] the most prominent and vigorous of the men were to be exterminated so as to extirpate all nationalism and ethnic identity, and leave the masses without leadership. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Personal freedom must be sacrificed to preserving the race.
Nazism 205 Mein Kampf: The right of personal freedom recedes before the duty to preserve the race. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Sick people contaminate the healthy people, so eliminate them.
Nazism 205 Mein Kampf: It is a half measure to let incurably sick people steadily contaminate the remaining healthy ones. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

When people resisted, the Nazis increased the terror.
Nazism 278 Under Hitler’s directives, the only German reaction to resistance was to intensify terror. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

How could Germany with its Christian and humanistic heritage return to such primitive barbarism?
Nazism 285 Francois de Menthon: How can one explain how Germany, fertilized through the centuries by classic antiquity and Christianity, by the ideals of liberty, equality, and social justice, by the common heritage of western humanism to which she had brought such noble and precious contributions, could have come to this astonishing return to primitive barbarism? Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Germany’s primitive passions had been aroused and led to atrocities.
Nazism 318 DuBost: Evil masters came who awakened its [Germany’s] primitive passions and made possible the atrocities which I have described to you. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

The Nazis’ crime was their policy of exterminating innocent people.
Nazism 318 DuBost: Their crime is that they conceived and achieved, as an instrument of government, a policy of terrorism toward the whole of the subjugated nations and toward their own people; their crime is that they pursued, as an end in itself, a policy of extermination of entire categories of innocent citizens…[which] alone would suffice to determine capital punishment. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Hess: Hitler, the greatest son ever brought forth upon the earth.
Nazism 478 Hess: I was permitted to work for many years of my life under the greatest son whom my people have brought forth in its thousand-year history. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

In Nuremberg only a small number of those responsible for Nazi actions were tried; Nazi responsibility also lay with hundreds of decision-makers, thousands of deputies and tens of thousands of the rank and file.
Nazism 516 From the evidence presented, it was clear that beyond the twenty-one men tried, decision-makers and perpetrators of major criminal acts ranged into the hundreds, their deputies into the thousands, and the rank and file directly involved into the tens of thousands. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

In the future, the Nazi experience will never be forgotten.
Nazism 523 Karl S. Bader: Nobody who considers the years 1933 to 1945 will in future time be able to pass by this material, tremendous in its extent and value for the perception of the errors of man. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Nazi accounting not for human beings but for deliveries of carcasses.
Nazism and bureaucracy 259 But the episode revealed the inhuman banality of the perpetrators of the Final Solution—Eichmann had not thought in terms of human beings, of despair and agony, terror and torture, but of Judenmateriel: So and so many Jewish carcasses that he had contracted to deliver. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Nazi “problems” can only be resolved with “ruthless severity.”
Nazism and decision making 268 Bormann and Goebbels: It lies in the very nature of these problems, which in part are very difficult, that they can be solved only with ruthless severity. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

According to the Nazis, it is more difficult to “discipline” “obstructive populations” than to fight the war.
Nazism and discipline 212 Himmler: Where we had to have the toughness…to shoot thousands of leading Poles…much easier to go into combat than to suppress an obstructive population…or to carry out executions, or to haul away people, or to evict crying and hysterical women. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Nazi “character”: To remain “decent” people when we have been responsible for thousands of corpses lying side by side, that is what it means to be “hard,” a glorious page in our history.
Nazism and discipline 269 Himmler: Most of you must know what it means when a hundred corpses are lying side by side, or five hundred, or a thousand [but] to have stuck it out and at the same time remained decent fellows, that is what has made us hard…a page of glory in our history…. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Nazi euphemism: We are not conquering people, but agriculturally necessary space.
Nazism and doublespeak 136 Hitler: It is not a case of conquering people, but of conquering agriculturally useful space. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Nazi economics: “Worthless” people cost far more than average laborers and civil servants; it is not economically sound to support them.
Nazism and economics 205 A German medical economist pointed out, in an article entitled “The Fight Against Degeneration,” that the care of a deaf-mute or cripple cost 6 marks a day, that of a reform school inmate 4.85 marks, and that of a mentally ill or deficient person 4.5 marks…average earnings of a laborer…only 2.5 marks and those of a civil servant 4 marks daily…state spends far more for the existence of these actually worthless compatriots than for the salary of a healthy man…. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

The Nazi reason for euthanasia is to relieve people of their suffering.
Nazism and euthanasia 207 The reason [for euthanasia] was to make room for sick soldiers, but otherwise also the reason was to relieve these people from their suffering. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Euthanasia is necessary because efficient nations have no room for weak and frail people.
Nazism and euthanasia 209 Bishop Wurm to Frick: the basis for this practice [euthanasia exterminations] seems to be the opinion that in an efficient nation there is no room for weak and frail people. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

The Nazi extermination “program” showed how fragmenting authority and tasks led to an efficient system for murder.
Nazism and extermination 210 The euthanasia program, serving as the prototype for the extermination of millions that was to follow, demonstrated how, through fragmentation of authority and tasks, it was possible to fashion a murder machine. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

The unsightly shooting of women and children led to use of the gas chambers.
Nazism and extermination 262 The drawbacks and difficulties of shooting women and children had become evident…and led to the invention of the gas vans. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

The great conquerors of history are not viewed as murderers.
Nazism and history 204 Goering: Don’t forget that the great conquerors of history are not seen as murderers-Genghis Khan, Peter the Great, Frederick the Great…. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Following orders was not illegal; they had sworn obedience to the people who gave the orders.
Nazism and legality 238 Ohlendorf: Since the order was issued by the superior authorities, the question of legality could not arise…for they had sworn obedience to the people who had issued the orders. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

The priests’ job is to keep Poles quiet.
Nazism and religion 213 Frank: the task of the priest is to keep the Poles quiet, stupid, and dull-witted. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Although thousands were responsible, they considered themselves cogs in the machine and the machine was responsible.
Nazism and responsibility 21 Thousands of people were involved, but each considered himself nothing but a cog in the machine and reasoned that it was the machine, not he, that was responsible. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.

Hitler had no trouble finding physicians and medical personnel to carry out his decisions.
Nazism and the Professions 205 As was the case throughout the Nazi regime in all the various professions, Hitler had no difficulty finding doctors, nurses, and hospitals to execute his designs. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg.