Eugenics, Propaganda, and Censorship: How the Lessons of the Holocaust Apply Today

The documentary “Never again is now global” features Holocaust survivors sharing their memories of the events of the 1930s and 1940s. They draw direct parallels to current times, including the exclusion of certain groups, propaganda, censorship, state-controlled science, and the collaboration of doctors who legitimize these policies. Vera Sharav, the initiator of the documentary, discusses its message and themes in an exclusive interview with The Other Newspaper.

Sharav survived the Nazi camps as a young girl. She later founded the Alliance for Human Research Protection, which advocates “informed consent” in medical experimentation and the ethical practice of medicine. She spoke out loud and clearly against what she considers the lies behind the Corona policy.

There is a taboo on drawing historical lessons from the Holocaust; you break that in the documentary. As someone who has experienced the camps yourself, how do you experience that taboo?

The Holocaust has now become politicized. The institutional gatekeepers have undermined the purpose of teaching Holocaust history. Let me explain this. Before there was a Holocaust memorial in Washington, there was a presidential commission headed by Auschwitz survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. He was very outspoken about what the Holocaust meant and the warning the event holds about what could happen, about what happened. In 1979, the commission issued a report insisting that such a large-scale genocide could happen again. In 2019, the same institution published a warning: no parallels should be made with the Holocaust, historically or with the present time. This is a complete reversal. Six hundred scientists wrote a letter of protest: if that is the case, we can no longer study history. They were ignored.

I agree with Elie and the other survivors, who understood that the purpose of remembering that event was not only out of respect for the dead but also as a warning of any sign that things might be moving in that direction again—those first, small steps. Most do not take into account that Hitler came to power in 1933. The Holocaust did not begin until 1942. There was a very long run-up. That run-up was slow; the system became more oppressive, step by step.

It is essential to understand what happened then because it is a blueprint for what is happening now on a global scale. And the fact that they are trying so hard not to look at this is a telling sign. They are afraid – if people suddenly saw that what happened then is being planned again, but on a much larger scale, they would no longer obey what the authorities tell them to do.

Back then, Jews were demonized, but so were the disabled, especially the mentally handicapped. The first victims of the Nazis’ medical killings were disabled children (the T4 program – ed.). They assumed that if they “cleaned up” the gene pool in this way, no more disabled children would be born in the future. That’s pseudoscience. The same kind of pseudoscience states that you spread disease if you are not vaccinated. They called Jews spreaders of disease, a public health hazard at the time. Demonizing a large portion of the population eventually gave them a license for genocide.

Another parallel is the cooperation of the medical profession. Of all professionals, doctors were the most represented in the Nazi party. They thus gave legitimacy to medical murder. This is important to realize because, without their cooperation, many of the crimes would not have been possible. The same thing is happening now: the medical order is scrupulously following all the protocols prescribed to them by the government.

For example, in many countries, including the U.S., there were orders (during the Covid crisis) not to treat the elderly. [A Swedish Doctor, Jon Tallinger, exposed the Swedish government’s orders to administer end-of-life drugs to elderly covid patients. Interviews here and here.]  When they did end up in the hospital, the protocols followed, such as respirators and high doses of Midazolam combined with other breath-suppressing medications, amounted to medical murder.

In the documentary, several people comment that very nice, normal, friendly people participated in very horrific things. For example, I can hardly imagine doctors doing this on purpose; they start their training because they want to help people.

The Milgram experiments (psychological experiments from the 1960s – ed.) showed that about 60 percent of ordinary people are willing to administer a lethal shock when instructed to do so by an authority. Doctors follow protocols. That’s how it’s done. The government imposes it; the professional associations give their stamp. Independent doctors who followed their oaths and developed protocols that saved lives were pilloried and demonized.

In addition, there was Nazi science at the time, which supported policy. We see the same thing now: ‘there is a scientific consensus of experts.’ Do you know what real scientists tell you? That when there is consensus, there is no longer science. Because real science always asks questions. The people who ask questions are demonized in the mainstream media and social media. Governments work closely with all platforms. That, again, is an absolute parallel to how the Nazis handled things. Back then, you didn’t have the Internet, but the pattern of propaganda, censorship, and banning anyone who deviates is just like back then.

In addition to parallels, a line of continuity also emerges in the documentary. Eugenics, the involvement of the financial sector, and the cooperation of large international companies with the state.

After the war, more than 1,600 prominent Nazi scientists and engineers were brought to the U.S. through Operation Paperclip, against President Truman’s orders. With that, their culture was also imported into medical and scientific institutions. They should have been put on trial at Nuremberg. The eugenics (racial doctrine – ed.) came from the U.K. and was adopted by the U.S. The U.S. was the first country to implement these eugenic laws, which led to the forced sterilization of more than 30,000 women, among other things. Hitler took this even further. You have to understand that the elite academics were the biggest proponents of eugenics. They believed that people were not equal. The people they see as inferior, you can get rid of that, or you can use them as slaves. American companies like Ford and General Motors took advantage of that. The financial sector was also involved. The Associated Press international news agency worked closely with the Nazis. IBM conducted a census identifying every Jew in Germany and Australia and later in the occupied countries. It was then still a punch card system.

On those punch cards were family, family tree, addresses, work address, bank account, property, everything. A few years later, when they were ready to deport the Jews, it was very easy to dispossess them; everything was registered. The prisoners were branded with numbers, like cattle – those were IBM identification numbers. Nowadays, that wouldn’t be necessary if it all goes digital now. And you’re not just identified; you’re surveilled 24 hours a day. That’s the essence of smart cities. They are digital concentration camps where you are not allowed to travel further than ten kilometers from your home. If people continue to be obedient, this is the trap they are walking into. Obedience is what gives perpetrators power. There are very few of them in the end. Obedience made the Holocaust possible. Now we have this history and can learn from it.

Source: De Andere Krant