ABSTRACT
The Nazi Holocaust in a sense is unique, by virtue of the magnitude of its grasp and the relentless persecution of the Jews in the hope of eradicating them from the face of the earth. However in quality, it probably exemplifies the essential features of what the authors may call the pogrom mentality. Apocalyptic movements tend to homogenize their members psychologically, members who were not necessarily homogeneous to start with. Most likely the movement starts with a leader who provides the myth, the illusion that promises relief from distress, to a small number of followers to whom the myth appeals. In Nazi Germany and in other totalitarian cultures, children were subjected to propaganda in books prepared for them. In addition to mythic propaganda, pogroms require more immediate stimulation. While the authors know of individual clusters of pogroms of the past, the psychosocial background against which they occurred can only be guessed at.
