Nazi analogies explained

Nazi analogies or Nazi comparisons are any comparisons or parallels which are related to Nazism or Nazi Germany, which often reference Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, the SS, or the Holocaust.[1] Despite criticism, such comparisons have been employed for a wide variety of reasons since Hitler's rise to power. Some Nazi comparisons are logical fallacies, such as reductio ad Hitlerum. Godwin's law asserts that a Nazi analogy is increasingly likely the longer an internet discussion continues; Mike Godwin also stated that not all Nazi comparisons are invalid.

Origins

During the Nazi era, Adolf Hitler was frequently compared to previous leaders including Napoleon, Philip of Macedon, and Nebuchadnezzar. The comparers wanted to make Hitler understandable to their audiences by comparing him to known leaders, but according to historian Gavriel Rosenfeld the comparisons obscured Hitler's radical evil. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, Hitler was compared to Napoleon by The Brooklyn Eagle and Middletown Times. The Night of Long Knives was compared at the time to such events as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, a 1572 massacre of French Huguenots by Catholics. The comparison between Hitler and Philip of Macedon was used by some American journalists who advocated the United States's entry into World War II. Others felt that this did not go far enough and used other metaphors such as Nebuchadnezzar and Tamerlane: Harold Denny of The New York Times visited Buchenwald in 1945,[2] writing "Tamerlane built his mountain of skulls ... Hitler’s horrors … dwarf all previous crimes".[3] In a public radio broadcast of 24 August 1941, Winston Churchill compared Nazi war crimes in the Soviet Union to the Mongol invasion of Europe, saying "There has never [since] been methodical, merciless butchery on such a scale, or approaching such a scale."[4]

Nazism has come to be a metaphor for evil, according to academic Brian Johnson, leading to Nazi comparisons.[5] The Anti-Defamation League suggested that the Nazi era had become the "most available historical event illustrating right versus wrong." Rosenfeld noted that Hitler "gained immortality as a historical analogy" and that he became:[3]

Legal issues

According to the ACLU, calling someone a Nazi is protected free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[6] In 2008, British radio presenter Jon Gaunt called a guest a Nazi on a BBC radio, for which he was fired. An Ofcom complaint against TalkSport, his employer, was upheld by the United Kingdom High Court of Justice in 2010.[7] [8] In 2019, the Ukrainian S14 group won a defamation suit against Hromadske, a newspaper which had labeled them neo-Nazi, despite such a characterization having been used by Reuters and The Washington Post.[9] In Israel, a law was proposed in 2014 that would make it illegal to call someone a Nazi or use symbols associated with the Holocaust (such as striped clothing or yellow stars), in order to respect Holocaust survivors.[10]

Fallacies

Reductio ad Hitlerum, first coined in 1951 by Leo Strauss, is a logical fallacy which discounts an idea because it was promoted by Hitler or Nazis.[11] Godwin's law, coined in 1990 by Mike Godwin, asserts that "as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1".[12] A related convention is "Whoever mentions Hitler first, loses the argument."[13] [14] [15] However, Godwin has said that not all Nazi comparisons are invalid.[16] [17]

List

Anti-smoking

See also: Tobacco industry playbook. Public health measures adopted since World War II in order to reduce smoking have been compared with anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany, which is considered by proponents of anti-smoking measures to be a fallacious reductio ad Hitlerum which often exaggerates how much the Nazis actually opposed smoking.[18] [19] Historian of science Robert N. Proctor speculates that Nazi associations "forestall[ed] the development of effective anti-tobacco measures by several decades".[20]

Bioethics

According to an editorial by Arthur Caplan in Science, bioethics questions including "stem cell research, end-of-life care, the conduct of clinical trials in poor nations, abortion, embryo research, animal experimentation, genetic testing, or human experimentation involving vulnerable populations" are often compared to Nazi eugenics and Nazi human experimentation. According to Caplan, the Nazi analogy has the potential to shut down debate and its capricious use is unethical.[21] Similar arguments were made by Nat Hentoff in 1988, writing for The Hastings Center Report.[22]

Chinese Communist Party

Analogies between China and Nazi Germany have also been drawn by Australian politician Andrew Hastie.[23] However, China–Nazi comparisons are considered by Edward Luce to be a form of anti-Chinese sentiment and potentially a self-fulfilling prophecy.[24] In July 2020, British Jewish leader Marie van der Zyl said that there were "similarities" between the treatment of the Uyghurs in China and the crimes committed by Nazi Germany.[25]

Chinazi flag

Donald Trump

While qualified comparisons between Hitler's rise to power and the victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election have been made by some historians,[26] [27] NeverTrump Republicans, and Democrats,[28] the comparison is opposed by other scholars and commentators who cite reasons such as Trump lacking a coherent ideology, not supporting a dictatorship or political violence, and his rejection of interventionist foreign policy. According to Rosenfeld's research, the frequency of comparisons between Trump and Hitler in the media peaked in 2017 and the number of internet searches for "Trump and Hitler" has also decreased from a high point between mid-2015 and mid-2017.

European Union

See also: Fourth Reich. Some Eurosceptic politicians, including UKIP's Gerard Batten[29] and Finns Party MP Ville Tavio, have compared the European Union to Nazi Germany.[30] Then Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk of the pro-Russia party Ukrainian Choice argues that "objectively" the European Union is the heir of Nazi Germany.[31] In many Greek newspapers during the Greek government-debt crisis, caricatures appeared depicting the European troika and Angela Merkel as Nazis preparing to reenact the Axis occupation of Greece.[32] Merkel was also depicted as Hitler during demonstrations against her 2016 visit to the Czech Republic; the demonstrators objected to her approach to the European migrant crisis.[33] Opponents argue that the Nazi empire was formed by conquest and that joining the EU is voluntary, among other differences.[34]

Indian Wars

The Nazi war of annihilation on the Eastern Front has been compared to the United States Army's conduct in the Indian Wars.[35] [36] However, Native American demographic collapse was mostly caused by introduced disease, rather than warfare, and historians disagree as to whether the Indian Wars, or parts thereof, can be considered a form of genocide.[37]

Islamism and Islamic fundamentalism

See also: Islamofascism. Some historians, including Matthias Küntzel, Wolfgang G. Schwanitz and Barry Rubin, argue that there is a high degree of similarity between the ideologies of Nazism and Islamism, especially in their radical antisemitism and xenophobia.[38] [39]

Israel

See main article: Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany. Whether comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany are intrinsically antisemitic is disputed.[40] The Jewish Anti-Defamation League considers the comparison to be inaccurate and antisemitic,[41] and is part of the Working Definition of Antisemitism.[42] However, some Holocaust survivors have made that comparison themselves, mirroring their experiences to those of Palestinians.[43]

LGBT issues

The AIDS–Holocaust metaphor can be controversial.[44] While Susan Sontag said that "It's wrong to compare a situation in which there was real culpability to one in which there is none", it is also the case that homophobic views resulted in dismissal of the suggestion of research and treatment being supported, severely exacerbating the epidemic.[45] [46]

In 2017, Patriarch Kirill, the highest authority in the Russian Orthodox Church, compared same-sex marriage to Nazism because in his opinion both were a threat to traditional family.[47] In 2019, Pope Francis criticized politicians who lash out at homosexuals, Romani people, and Jews, saying that it reminded him of Adolf Hitler's speeches in the 1930s.[48]

Some advocates of trans-exclusionary radical feminism have compared transgender medical care to Nazi human experimentation or transsexuality to Nazism.[49]

Paul Kagame

See also: Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda relations. In a speech made on 9 December 2023, Félix Tshisekedi, the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, compared Rwandan President Paul Kagame to Hitler, saying that if he "[wants] to behave like Adolf Hitler by having expansionist aims, I promise he will end up like Adolf Hitler". A Rwandan government spokesperson condemned this statement, accusing Tshisekedi of making "a loud and clear threat".[50] This remark was made in the context of an offensive in the DRC launched by the March 23 Movement, a rebel group widely considered to be directly supported by Rwanda,[51] [52] [53] [54] despite official Rwandan denials.[55] [56]

"Second Holocaust"

See main article: Second Holocaust. The term "second Holocaust" is used for perceived threats to the State of Israel, Jews, and Jewish life.[57] In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "Iran wants a second Holocaust" and to "destroy another six million plus Jews", after his Iranian counterpart described Israel as a "malignant cancerous tumor".[58] In 2019, Israeli education minister Rafi Peretz compared Jewish intermarriage to a "second Holocaust".[59]

Vladimir Putin

See main article: Putler. Comparisons have been made between Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler especially during the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

Wealth

In 2014, venture capitalist and billionaire Thomas Perkins wrote to The Wall Street Journal to compare what he called "the progressive war on the American one percent" to what Jews faced during Kristallnacht. According to Jordan Weissmann, writing in The Atlantic, this is "the worst historical analogy you will read for a long, long time".[60] [61] Perkins was also criticized on Twitter, with The New York Times journalist Steven Greenhouse writing, "As someone who lost numerous relatives to the Nazi gas chambers, I find statements like this revolting & inexplicable". Perkins later apologized for the comparison.[62]

Criticism

According to a press release of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Careless Holocaust analogies may demonize, demean, and intimidate their targets."[63] Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League, said that "misplaced comparisons trivialise this unique tragedy in human history... particularly when public figures invoke the Holocaust in an effort to score political points."

In 2017, the German journalist Pieke Biermann argued that Nazi comparisons were undergoing a process akin to inflation due to their increased and inappropriate use.[64]

Amanda Moorghen, a researcher for the English Speaking Union, said that Nazi comparisons were not often persuasive: "Wielding accusations of fascism as an insult doesn't help to get your audience on side - instead, you raise the stakes of the debate, forcing a polarisation between 'good' and 'evil' into a discussion that may have reasonable positions on both sides." Instead, she recommended criticizing the opponent's argument directly.

See also

References

Source:

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Fox News Is Outraged by Nazi Analogies—and Other Big Lies . FAIR . 28 April 2020 . 21 January 2011.
  2. Web site: Denny . Harold . "The World Must Not Forget" . The New York Times Web Archive . 2018-04-09 . 2024-08-20.
  3. News: Rosenfeld . Gavriel . How Americans Described Evil Before Hitler . 28 April 2020 . The Atlantic . 9 October 2018.
  4. Breitman . Richard . Hitler and Genghis Khan . Journal of Contemporary History . 26 July 2016 . 25 . 2 . 337–351 . 10.1177/002200949002500209 . 159541260.
  5. Book: Johnson . Brian . The Nazi Card: Nazi Comparisons at the Beginning of the Cold War . 2017 . Lexington Books . 978-1-4985-3291-4 . 171, 179.
  6. Web site: Eidelman . Vera . There's No Such Thing as a Right Not to Be Called a Nazi . . 29 April 2020 . 17 April 2019.
  7. News: McFarlane . Andrew . Is 'Nazi' ever an acceptable jibe? . 28 April 2020 . BBC News . 14 July 2010.
  8. News: Robinson . James . Jon Gaunt loses legal battle over 'Nazi' jibe . 28 April 2020 . The Guardian . 13 July 2010.
  9. News: Ukrainian nationalist group wins defamation suit after being labeled neo-Nazi . 29 April 2020 . Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  10. News: Nachmias . Ormi . השרים אישרו: חצי שנת מאסר לאדם שיכנה אחר "נאצי . 6 May 2020 . . 2014.
  11. News: Godwin's Law, or Playing the Nazi Card . 28 April 2020 . Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  12. Godwin, Mike . Mike Godwin . Meme, Counter-meme . October 1994 . . March 24, 2006.
  13. News: Molloy . David . Why does everyone keep making Nazi comparisons? . 29 April 2020 . BBC News . 24 November 2017.
  14. News: Elbaum . Daniel . When Is It Okay to Evoke Hitler and the Nazis? . 28 April 2020 . AJC . 20 June 2018.
  15. News: Chivers . Tom . Internet rules and laws: the top 10, from Godwin to Poe . 28 April 2020 . . 23 October 2009.
  16. News: Ohlheiser . Abby . The creator of Godwin's Law explains why some Nazi comparisons don't break his famous Internet rule . 28 April 2020 . Washington Post . 2017.
  17. News: Amira . Dan . Mike Godwin on Godwin's Law, Whether Nazi Comparisons Have Gotten Worse, and Being Compared to Hitler by His Daughter . 28 April 2020 . Intelligencer . 8 March 2013.
  18. Schneider . N. K . Glantz . S. A . "Nicotine Nazis strike again": a brief analysis of the use of Nazi rhetoric in attacking tobacco control advocacy . Tobacco Control . 1 October 2008 . 17 . 5 . 291–296 . 10.1136/tc.2007.024653 . 18818222 . 2736555.
  19. Proctor . R. N . On playing the Nazi card . Tobacco Control . 1 October 2008 . 17 . 5 . 289–290 . 18818221 . 10.1136/tc.2008.026344 . free.
  20. Proctor . Robert N. . Commentary: Schairer and Schöniger's forgotten tobacco epidemiology and the Nazi quest for racial purity . International Journal of Epidemiology . 1 February 2001 . 30 . 1 . 31–34 . 10.1093/ije/30.1.31 . 11171846 . 0300-5771 . free.
  21. Caplan . A. L. . Misusing the Nazi Analogy . Science . 2005 . 309 . 5734 . 535 . 10.1126/science.1115437 . 16040671 . free.
  22. Hentoff . Nat . Callahan . Daniel . Crum . Gary E. . Cohen . Cynthia B. . Contested Terrain: The Nazi Analogy in Bioethics . The Hastings Center Report . 1988 . 18 . 4 . 29–33 . 10.2307/3563233 . 3563233 . 3065286 . 0093-0334.
  23. News: Australian lawmaker likens China threat to Nazi Germany . 28 April 2020 . . 8 August 2019.
  24. News: Luce . Edward . Edward Luce . The reckless analogy between China and Nazi Germany . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221224161214/https://www.ft.com/content/b6ce2cba-d7d5-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17 . 24 December 2022 . subscription . live . 28 April 2020 . . 16 September 2019 .
  25. News: Courea . Eleni . Treatment of Uighurs in China 'is reminder of Nazi crimes' . 28 July 2020 . . 21 July 2020.
  26. News: Beauchamp . Zack . A leading Holocaust historian just seriously compared the US to Nazi Germany . 28 April 2020 . Vox . 5 October 2018.
  27. News: Taschka . Sylvia . Trump-Hitler comparisons too easy and ignore the murderous history . 28 April 2020 . The Conversation . March 12, 2018.
  28. Rosenfeld . Gavriel D. . An American Führer? Nazi Analogies and the Struggle to Explain Donald Trump . Central European History . 2019a . 52 . 4 . 27 . 10.1017/S0008938919000840 . free.
  29. News: Hitler's Nazis designed the EU, Ukip MEP claims . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-nazis-created-basic-plan-for-the-european-union-ukip-mep-gerard-batten-says-a7032221.html . 18 June 2022 . subscription . live . 28 April 2020 . The Independent . 16 May 2016.
  30. News: Teivainen . Aleksi . Finns Party lawmaker likens EU to Nazi Germany . 28 April 2020 . www.helsinkitimes.fi . 13 December 2018.
  31. Web site: Европа прячет свои истинные намерения за так называемыми демократическими ценностями, - Медведчук . РБК-Украина.
  32. Droumpouki . Anna Maria . Trivialization of World War Two and Shoah in Greece: Uses, Misuses and Analogies in Light of the Current Debt Crisis . Journal of Contemporary European Studies . 2013 . 21 . 2 . 191 . 10.1080/14782804.2013.815463 . 145093418.
  33. News: Gerstenfeld . Manfred . The Ongoing Major Distortion of the Holocaust . 13 May 2020 . Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs . 14 March 2018.
  34. Web site: Is the EU a Nazi project? Debunking an enduring myth . . 28 April 2020.
  35. Book: Westermann . Edward B. . Hitler's Ostkrieg and the Indian Wars: Comparing Genocide and Conquest . 2016 . University of Oklahoma Press . 978-0-8061-5713-9 .
  36. Book: Kakel . C. . The American West and the Nazi East: A Comparative and Interpretive Perspective . 2011 . Springer . 978-0-230-30706-3 .
  37. Madley . Benjamin . Reexamining the American Genocide Debate: Meaning, Historiography, and New Methods . The American Historical Review . February 2015 . 120 . 1 . 98–139 . 10.1093/ahr/120.1.98. free .
  38. The Nazi-Islamist Connection - Herbert Eiteneier . www.jcpa.org .
  39. Rodman . David . Nazis, Islamists and the making of the modern Middle East . Israel Affairs . February 2016 . 22 . 1 . 252–254 . 10.1080/13537121.2016.1120968 . 147394007.
  40. Rosenfeld, Alvin H. (9 January 2019). Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: The Dynamics of Delegitimization. Indiana University Press. p. 175-178, 186.
  41. Web site: Response To Common Inaccuracy: Israel Acts Like Nazis . Anti-Defamation League . 28 April 2020 . To make such a comparison constitutes blatant hostility toward Jews, Jewish history and the legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel..
  42. News: State Department redefines antisemitism: Don't compare Israel to the Nazi . 28 April 2020 . The Jerusalem Post . 8 August 2019.
  43. News: Corbyn apologises over event where Israel was compared to Nazis . The Guardian . The main talk at the event, called Never Again for Anyone – Auschwitz to Gaza, was given by Hajo Meyer, a Jewish survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp. He repeatedly compared Israeli action in Gaza to the mass killing of Jewish people in the Holocaust..
  44. Stein . Arlene . Whose Memories? Whose Victimhood? Contests for the Holocaust Frame in Recent Social Movement Discourse . Sociological Perspectives . 2016 . 41 . 3 . 522 . 10.2307/1389562 . 1389562 . 147317075.
  45. Shnayerson . Michael . The Silent Devastation of AIDS on New York's Art and Fashion Worlds . 11 January 2019 . Vanity Fair . 21 August 2013.
  46. Reagan Administration's Chilling Response to the AIDS Crisis. Vanity Fair. 1 December 2015.
  47. Russian Bishop Likens Gay Marriage Laws to Nazi Germany . 28 April 2020 . Time . 2017.
  48. News: Pope compares politicians who rage against gays to Hitler . 28 April 2020 . Reuters . 15 November 2019.
  49. Schotten . C. Heike . TERFism, Zionism, and Right-Wing Annihilationism . TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly . 2022 . 9 . 3 . 334–364 . 10.1215/23289252-9836022. 253054403 .
  50. News: 9 December 2023 . DR Congo President Tshisekedi compares Rwanda counterpart Kagame to Hitler . BBC News .
  51. News: 28 May 2012 . Rwanda 'supporting DR Congo mutineers' . BBC News . live . 18 November 2012 . https://archive.today/20120721211131/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18231128 . 21 July 2012.
  52. News: Chris McGreal . 25 July 2012 . Rwanda's Paul Kagame warned he may be charged with aiding war crimes . The Guardian . London . live . 26 July 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120726212033/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/25/rwanda-paul-kagame-war-crimes?CMP=twt_gu . 26 July 2012.
  53. Web site: 5 August 2022 . RDC : le gouvernement salue le rapport de l'ONU sur le soutien du Rwanda au M23 . DRC: government welcomes UN report on Rwanda's support for M23 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230226042221/https://www.radiookapi.net/2022/08/05/actualite/politique/rdc-le-gouvernement-salue-le-rapport-de-lonu-sur-le-soutien-du-rwanda . 26 February 2023 . RadioOkapi . fr.
  54. Web site: 6 January 2023 . M23 Rebels' Vow to Retreat at Odds With Hazy Reality in DR Congo . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230107003750/https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/01/06/m23-rebels-retreat-dr-congo/ . 7 January 2023 . The Defense Post.
  55. News: 14 June 2022 . DR Congo accuses Rwanda of 'invasion' as rebels attack town . DW . https://web.archive.org/web/20220615140548/https://www.dw.com/en/dr-congo-accuses-rwanda-of-invasion-as-rebels-attack-town/a-62120212 . 15 June 2022.
  56. Web site: Schipani . Andres . 27 October 2022 . How the DRC became the battleground of a proxy war over precious resources . subscription . Financial Times.
  57. Book: Peleg . Ilan . Victimhood Discourse in Contemporary Israel . 2019 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1-4985-5351-3 . 63, 95–96 .
  58. News: Harpin . Lee . 'Iran wants second Holocaust', says Benjamin Netanyahu . 6 May 2020 . . June 5, 2018.
  59. News: Israel's education minister: Intermarriage among US Jews 'like second Holocaust' . 6 May 2020 . www.timesofisrael.com.
  60. News: Billionaire Compares Outrage Over Rich In SF To Kristallnacht . 28 October 2020 . NPR.org.
  61. News: Weissmann . Jordan . Venture Capitalist Says "War" on the Rich Is Like Nazi Germany's War on the Jews . 28 October 2020 . The Atlantic . 25 January 2014.
  62. News: Kopan . Tal . Perkins apologizes for 'Kristallnacht' . 28 October 2020 . POLITICO.
  63. News: Friedberg . Edna . Why Holocaust Analogies Are Dangerous . 28 April 2020 . United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  64. News: Biermann . Pieke . Historisch unsensible Reflexe - Warum Nazi-Vergleiche rhetorische Rohrkrepierer sind . 28 April 2020 . Deutschlandfunk Kultur . 2017 . de-DE.

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