Opinion of parallels to the nazi holocaust

[buritobr]

Was the nazi holocaust an unique event or it is possible to make some parallels?

The right and the left have parallels to the holocaust

The right says that what Hitler did was similar to what Stalin did. The nazi concentration camps could be compared to the gulag. The problem of this comparison is that there was no killing industry in the gulag camps like the gas chambers. Many gulag prisoners died of cold, hunger and diseases, but many interns were released after serving during their sentence. No prisoners in the nazi camps were released. Most of them were executed, many of them died of natural causes, and few of them escaped or were free after the allied troops arrived.

On the other hand, the left says that that what the nazi did to the jews, roma and slav people was not so different to what the british, the french, the dutch, the belgians, the spanish and the portuguese did to native people of Americas, Africa and Asia from the 16th to the early 20th century and that the nazi holocaust is more present in the memory of the media and the entertainment industry because the victims were educated europeans.

What do you think about this comparisons?

[Samof94]

Was the nazi holocaust an unique event or it is possible to make some parallels?

The right and the left have parallels to the holocaust

The right says that what Hitler did was similar to what Stalin did. The nazi concentration camps could be compared to the gulag. The problem of this comparison is that there was no killing industry in the gulag camps like the gas chambers. Many gulag prisoners died of cold, hunger and diseases, but many interns were released after serving during their sentence. No prisoners in the nazi camps were released. Most of them were executed, many of them died of natural causes, and few of them escaped or were free after the allied troops arrived.

On the other hand, the left says that that what the nazi did to the jews, roma and slav people was not so different to what the british, the french, the dutch, the belgians, the spanish and the portuguese did to native people of Americas, Africa and Asia from the 16th to the early 20th century and that the nazi holocaust is more present in the memory of the media and the entertainment industry because the victims were educated europeans.

What do you think about this comparisons?

I always felt China was engaging in a genocide based on Han Supremacy.

[Diabolical Materialism]

I always found this kinds of comparisons to get really sticky. Not really of much historical value and usually levied in bad faith for a political argument. One can talk about the horrors of European colonialism without having to make comparisons to the Holocaust.

Unless you're trying to show some kind of actual historical link between the two (I've read some pretty interesting papers talking about the similarities between the Herero genocide in German Southwest Africa and the Holocaust. Look up who the second Reichskommissar of German South West Africa was for a fun little surprise.) there's really not much point in making these kinds of comparisons unless you're trying to make some kind of political point.

[progressive85]

Never ever ever compare anything to the Holocaust.  That period of evil and horror stands separate from anything else.

[LBJer]

Never ever ever compare anything to the Holocaust.  That period of evil and horror stands separate from anything else.

I think the Armenian and Rwandan genocides are comparable. 

[John Dule]

The Holocaust was not a unique event in human history. To suggest otherwise is to give humans way more credit than they're due.

[Velasco]

Was the nazi holocaust an unique event or it is possible to make some parallels?

The right and the left have parallels to the holocaust

The right says that what Hitler did was similar to what Stalin did. The nazi concentration camps could be compared to the gulag. The problem of this comparison is that there was no killing industry in the gulag camps like the gas chambers. Many gulag prisoners died of cold, hunger and diseases, but many interns were released after serving during their sentence. No prisoners in the nazi camps were released. Most of them were executed, many of them died of natural causes, and few of them escaped or were free after the allied troops arrived.

Leaving aside the gas chambers, the main difference between Hitler and Stalin are the motivations. Both were seeking the extermination of ideological enemies,  but Stalin was lacking the racial hatred that moved Hitler to exterminate the Jewish and the Gipsy peoples (nobody ever mentions the Romani Holocaust, why?), as well as the enslaving and slaughtering of Slavs and other untermenschen. Stalin never envisioned anything similar to the Final Solution. The nature of the plan discussed at the Wansee conference is what makes the Nazi terror particularly atrocious

Parallels are always a bad idea

[Samof94]

Never ever ever compare anything to the Holocaust.  That period of evil and horror stands separate from anything else.

I think the Armenian and Rwandan genocides are comparable. 

What about Burma?

[Middle-aged Europe]

While I would also caution against drawing Holocaust parallels too eagerly, I'd say that the Khmer Rouge actually came pretty close. A regime so evil and brutal that it had to be ended by the military intervention of a government that technically was ideologically related to - and formerly allied with - the very prepetrators of the genocide (probably counts as a real-life example for the "Even Evil Has Standards" trope.) The Cambodian genocide's death toll probably also came closest to the Holocaust's raw numbers.

But I can only reiterate that Holocaust parallels must be strictly curtailed to the point I would say that even Stalin's regime doesn't qualify for such a comparison.

[jaymichaud]

Unless you’re referring to a literal genocide then it’s not appropriate IMO.