Lex Fridman: belief

Transcript context

…I mean, what Evans, for example, said is that, “I excuse the Germans of the war crimes because they were just in an intoxication.” I understand that argument, but… And if you look at individual soldiers, it’s quite tricky. Like, it’s a 19-year-old guy, he’s been drafted. And in Nazi Germany, if you don’t go, you land in the concentration camp. So you can choose, you know, concentration camp or you just join the ranks and then you get Pervitin and then you invade France. There was a trial in Germany because someone said all soldiers are murderers. And I think then the German Bundeswehr sued him. “No, soldiers are not murderers.” And he actually won in court. So it’s legal in Germany to call every soldier a murderer. But it’s a tricky question. Yeah, I remember seeing this documentary on ordinary people. I think there’s also social pressure. Again, insane it is to say, I think the documentary, “Ordinary People,” was looking at the Germans that were a part of the shooting squads. And, you know, they didn’t understand what they were signing up for, and they were told that they’re free to leave once they understand what they’re doing, and many of them didn’t. And they didn’t have hate for Jews or for the people they’re murdering. You are, again, a 19, 20-year-old young kid; it’s so hard to comprehend the moral insanity that’s happening all around you and you just kind of want to fit in. I mean, that’s why I wrote the book, “The Bohemians,” because there were a few people in Berlin that didn’t react this way, but they reacted in a different way. They said, “We cannot be part of this.” Um……

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