Timothy Snyder

Without the conformists, the great atrocities would have been impossible

From “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” by Timothy Snyder When we think of the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews, we imagine Auschwitz and mechanized impersonal death. This was a convenient way for Germans to remember the Holocaust, since they could claim that few of them had known exactly what had happened behind …

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Anticipatory Obedience

From “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” by Timothy Snyder Anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy. Perhaps rulers did not initially know that citizens were willing to compromise this value or that principle. Perhaps a new regime did not at first have the direct means of influencing citizens one way or another. After …

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