April 21st, 2009
WWII Lesson in Standing Up to Tyranny
World War II Lessons for Bullied Targets and Co-Workers
What saying “no” to demonic tyranny looks like
The Holocaust ravaged European Jews. No greater illustration of tyranny on an incomparable scale can be considered than the elimination of an entire race of people across Europe. The Nazis attempted to eradicate the Jews in every country they occupied during World War II.
Nazis invaded Denmark in 1940. The Danes had an active resistance movement. It was a late-war decision to deport Danish Jews to concentration camps.
A Hero:
The German naval attache to Denmark, Georg Duckwitz, leaked the Nazi plan to begin deportation.
The People Unite:
The local population had not cooperated with the Nazis. When they learned of the plans to purge Danish Jews, they began an intense campaign to evacuate their neighbors and relatives to safety in Sweden. They were shuttled in small fishing boats carrying only about 20 people at a time. The fisherman met larger Swedish ships in the channel between the two countries.
The Simple Motivation: The Shining Danish Example
Preben Munch-Nielson from Snekkersten, a small fishing village, who was 17 when the Jews were evacuated, is one such person. Preben was a courier in the resistance. He himself had to take refuge in Sweden in November, 1943 until his return in May, 1945 at the war’s end. His account can be found at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.
In Preben’s own words …
“You can’t let people in need down. You can’t turn the back to people who need your help. There must be some sort of decency in a man’s life and that wouldn’t have been decent to turn the back. So there’s no question of why or why not. You just did. That’s the way you’re brought up. That’s the way of tradition in my country. You help of course … could you have remained your self-respect if you knew that these people would suffer and you had said ‘No, Not at my table?’ No. No way. So that’s not a problem — you just have to do it. And nothing else.”
Tyranny Thwarted:
In October, 1943, the Gestapo began hunting Jews. 7,200 of the 7,800 Danish Jews and 700 of their non-Jewish relatives were escorted to safety. Citizens who became refugees were hidden in homes near the shore and led to boats under cover of darkness. Only 51 Danish Jews perished in Nazi camps. When the Danish Jews returned home after the war, their homes were waiting for them, having been maintained by their neighbors. Life resumed. The Nazis had failed.
What has this got to do with Workplace Bullying?
Bullying situations have been described as “mini-holocausts.” This is not meant to insult survivors and family members of those lost in the Holocaust. Death is death. However, many bullied Targets feel as though they have been imprisoned by cruel tyrants, too. Many of the group dynamics mirror the relationship between Nazis and the locals in the invading countries.
- terrorization to instill fear, to subjegate people
- tyrants outnumbered by normal, peace-loving people, task is impossible without help
- tyrants divide the group, pitting colleagues against each other (akin to Jewish Councils)
- collaborators overestimate safety of siding with the tyrant (all are eventually hurt)
- victims cannot understand the betrayal of colleagues
- government administrators fell under the influence of the tyrants, sealing the victims’ fate
- displays of courage and a refusal to give in to fear can successfully stop the tyrants
- stifling the tyrant requires a simple ethical principle — to do the right thing on behalf of a fellow human being, regardless of politics of the time
Attention Co-Workers, stand up to the bully like the Danes!
Tags: compassion, danes, nazis
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Bullying Tutorials, Social Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
