Totalitarianism From Total Domination

Totalitarianism from Total Domination

In the essay "Total Domination," written by Hannah Arendt; she discusses Nazism in the form totalitarianism as "True Terror". If not for the survivors of the cruel brutality of totalitarian states, it would almost be impossible to believe it ever happened.

What is Totalitarianism? Totalitarianism is a form of government in our political system, which gives absolute power to one ruler (dictator) who cannot be restricted by any type of constitution or law. The rise of totalitarianism governments started before WWII, but after the Great Depression when fascism became an ideology of society. Socialist leaders told the people what they wanted to hear. These leaders not only took advantage of their powers, but became totalitarian dictators of communism and Nazism states. In 1933 Hitler became the dictator and ruler of Germany. Hitler was known for his totalitarian government, which referenced his act based on Darwism. Hitler's theories on racism was to cleanse them of the lower class, to filter out the weak and to brutally punish those for the "good of humanity and the survival of the fittest" (see Darwin's "Natural Selection," (897). On the other hand, Soviet Union's justification in its totalitarianism government derived from a scientific method by Karl Marx (see Marx's "Communist Manifesto," (453) in the power of classes. Soviet Union believed in two types of classes, progressive and non-progressive. In the form of totalitarianism governments Soviet Union was considered progressive and if you are not a communist you were considered a non-progressive class that would not amount to anything. The non-progressives were considered a waste of human beings and need to be vanquished or completely eradicated.

During the early and mid of the 1900's, Nazism took Western Europe by storm leaving a trail of concentration camps. Nazism became known for their totalitarian ways by invoking something so horrible, survivors of that time still feel shaken up by just a slight mention of totalitarianism. Germany's mission was to destroy anything or anyone who opposed it. Hitler knew he had to do something to keep the people from finding out what happening in the concentration camps. He could not let them believe he was a horrid dictator who instills pain and torture onto them. Hitler mentions "In order to be successful, a lie must be enormous" (284). Germany felt if it can do something that was just so far-fetched and something so ridiculous that their enemies would not even flinch or act upon would be a great ideology. This became known as "The Big Lie" (283). Hitler felt with a rhetorical story and distorted information that he told the people, no one in there right mind would ever believe him and find out the truth behind his horrid ways. His big lie became so huge the people who survived the concentration camps were not easily believed.

Why concentration camps? The words "Concentration Camp" comes from the Britain's concentration camps of the Second Anglo-Boer War. Nazis were thrilled to have these concentration camps. The SS guards who were under the direction Germany maintained control of 1200-1500 concentration camps across Europe. Once Germanys totalitarian government took over, these camps became known as extermination or death camps with millions of prisoners. Arendt mentions, "The terror and torment of concentration camps demonstrate "that everything is possible" even though it might seem impossible to reduce a person to a thing" (280). The purpose of these extermination camps was to eradicate as many prisoners as possible; a good example would be the Jews. Hitler's obsession to kill all Jews was made it possible inside these extermination camps. As a totalitarian state the camps had no judicial system. They believed in their own way of living and their purpose inside these camps was to wipe out or brutally destroy all prisoners. Inmates of extermination camps consisted of large numbers of Jews, Polish, Soviet Union and numerous other ethnic groups. These prisoners were enslaved, starved, tortured and killed. Hitler's mission was genocide. He would kill millions of prisoners by gassing them all at once, just to make room for other prisoners. In Arendt's explanation of the concentration camps a great definition would be "A slaughter house inside a death camp".

The horror that was lurking inside the depths of death camps horrified the prisoners. The horror that was going on would even make a creature crawl. Death in the prison camps was one of the many reasons why they called these camps extermination camps. Prisoners would die while at the concentration camps due to starvation with the lack of food, extreme labor conditions, freeze to death or it would get extremely hot during the summer and dehydration would kick in with little or no water. Nazis believed they had that ultimate power by being totalitarian state in which no one would question them. They were to treat humans beings (Anyone other than Nazis) to a point where they would lose conscious understanding of reality by torture or by ridicule.

"Individual liberty and freedom are erased by the terror of total domination" (281). Camps were meant to make you feel your life was worthless. Total Domination was used as a focal point to destroy humanity. Totalitarian governments