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About this quote

What does it mean?
Frank acknowledges the mass killings and frames responsibility for the war criminals as a duty to maintain unity.
In plain terms
He says we must accept the death toll and stay united as accused war criminals.
What can you take from it?
Acknowledge atrocities and maintain group cohesion under guilt.

Where it applies

  • war tribunals
  • political alliances
  • historical records

Putting it to work

  • record historical facts
  • maintain group loyalty
  • face accountability

Questions to consider

  • How do groups rationalize shared responsibility for atrocities?
  • What does unity look like under guilt?

Another view

The speaker minimizes personal agency by framing mass murder as a collective duty.

More from Hans Frank

  1. This war would be only a partial success if the whole lot of Jewry survived it, while we shed our best blood to save Europe. My attitude toward the Jews will t…

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  2. If the authority of the National-Socialist Reich is to be upheld, then it is unacceptable that representatives of the Reich should be obliged to meet Jews when…

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  3. Death by hanging...I deserved it and I expected it, as I've always told you. I am glad that I have had the chance to defend myself and to think things over in …

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