Friday, October 3, 2014

In what ways did Nazi actions during World War II violate each of the “four freedoms” described by President Roosevelt?

Freedom of speech and expression. Everywhere the Germans went during World War II they suppressed basic human rights. Free speech and expression had been banned by the Nazis not long after they took power and they showed a similar contempt for this freedom in the territories they conquered and occupied. Subject peoples were not allowed to speak out against their new masters on pain of death. They were expected to do as they were told and keep quiet.
The freedom of everyone to worship God in their own way. For the most part, the Nazis allowed people to worship as they pleased so long as they didn't use faith as a vehicle for defying their rule. However, this didn't apply to Jews, who were systematically rounded up by the Nazis and deported to concentration and extermination camps were they were murdered in their millions.
Freedom from want. Once the Germans had conquered a particular territory, they immediately set about exploiting it for their own gain. The Nazis regarded the people they conquered as racially inferior, and so had no moral qualms about depriving them of basic needs. All that mattered were the needs of the so-called master race. Systematic exploitation led to widespread shortages, with what little food there was available doled out in ever diminishing rations.
Freedom from fear. Nazi rule, both in Germany and in the occupied territories, was based on fear. Entire populations were deliberately kept in a state of permanent fear to make it hard for them to resist. Most people were too frightened to challenge the regime and its atrocities, knowing full well that if they did, they could end up being sent to concentration camps or even summarily executed. To be sure, there were isolated acts of brave resistance, but the vast majority of people kept their heads down, too frightened as they were to challenge the Nazis' brutal, repressive rule.

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