Destructive Obedience and Prejudice Blind obedience to authority combined with ethnic prejudice in Germany during World War II led to the slaughter of millions of Jews in concentration camps. When questioned after the war, Nazi officials and soldiers claimed that they were “just following orders.” In the almost 70 years since the end of World War II, genocide and politically inspired mass killings have occurred in Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, and the Sudanese Darfur. As of 2014, in the Central African Republic, an uncountable number of people have been killed and more than 400,000 people have been driven from their homes. There has been a huge increase in torture, rape, and executions, and a warning from the United Nations that genocide is imminent.
USHMM, courtesy of Tibor Vince
AP Photo/Jerome Delay
AP Photo/Jerome Delay