Episode 74 - Nazi Guards & Malice
Humans can be cruel for practical reasons. Power. Money. Pecking-order. But how do we justify malicious acts when there’s no tangible reward? What if it’s just malice for malice’s sake.
In the 1400’s Vlad the Impaler staked 20,000 defeated Ottomans outside the city of Targoviste. The act itself was barbaric in the extreme. It horrified the enemies of Romania - having to walk under a forest of twitching, staked bodies - and it cemented Vlad as the boogeyman so effectively, Dracula would eventually be based on him. And yet...Vlad’s cruelty had a purpose. He was trying to hold political power.
On today’s show, we want to look at malicious acts that have no purpose. We want to tackle the dark part of the human drive for violence. Why do children throw rocks through windows? Why do we enjoy seeing car crashes or injuries on Youtube? Why did the Nazi guards inflict so much cruetly and horror on their captives? Prison guards need to appear tough so the prisoners don’t riot. But why in Auschwitz, where guards knew the prisoners couldn’t threaten them? Why act malicious toward another human, when there’s nothing in it for you?
History Links:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/28/the-art-of-witness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo_Levi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postnik_Yakovlev
https://www.ranker.com/list/wild-things-done-by-ivan-the-terrible/machk
Science Links: