Dehumanization
This is the process of dehumanization, at which the humanity of the representatives of a given group is negated and they are compared to animals, insects, or diseases. Dehumanization helps to overcome the natural repulsion and resistance of one person to murder another. The dominant group receives a propaganda message that the “others” are inferior, not human, and therefore should not function in society. Individuals belonging to the victim group are stripped of their identity, dignity, and even their names, which were replaced with numbers during the Holocaust.
Dehumanization can be countered by condemning hate speech, banning hateful propaganda and the activities of those responsible, and immediately punishing perpetrators of hate crimes and other atrocities.
“It must become clear to everyone in Germany, even to the last milkmaid, that Polishness is equivalent to subhumanity. [...] This must be done until every German citizen has it encoded in his subconscious that every Pole, no matter whether the worker or intellectual, should be treated as vermin.” Directive No. 1306 of the Reich Propaganda Ministry dated 24.10.1933
Izak Goldfinger was born in Tropie in 1925. His parents had a big farm in the village. In the beginning of the German occupation, he was working at a road building site...