May 19, 2003

HUMANIZING HITLER

I probably wouldn’t have been interested in the TV docu-drama “Adolf Hitler: The Rise of Evil,” because I usually find these historical recreations to be pretty disappointing. They’re either so anxious to be dramatically appealing that they are careless with the facts, or they’re ruthlessly factual but dull.

What teased me into watching Sunday’s episode (May 18) was a news item last week about two CBS affiliates in Texas that were refusing to show the program. Their reason intrigued me: they were concerned that a dramatic portrayal of this monster’s life might “humanize” him and make him attractive to young people today who might be inclined to racial hatred, causing them to act out.

They didn’t have to worry. The way Hitler was portrayed was as a person who was thoroughly hateful, even when he was a child. It seemed almost comical to hear family and friends refer to him by the nickname “Addie,” only to receive a cold, emotionless stare in response. Bending over backwards to keep their anti-hero from being likeable, the film’s creators made him into a character I couldn’t believe in as real.

However, I kept watching, because the challenge of the Texas TV stations stayed in my mind: Should we “humanize” a person who ended up doing such inhuman things?

In the film, one of the German leaders, who was alarmed, during the young Hitler’s rise to power, by his ability to mesmerize a crowd through a speech, remarked to an associate: “He’s not human. He’s studied people to appear human.” Maybe that’s what the film makers choose to believe and what they want to accept—that Hitler was sub-human (a beast) or super-human (a demon).

What’s hard for us to face is that Hitler was profoundly human! In a discussion group shown after the movie, a rabbi observed of Hitler and the other Nazis who orchestrated the Holocaust: “They were human. They were real people who did horrible things.” Our discomfort with this is that Hitler’s humanity is continuous with our humanity. There is the inescapable suggestion that such radical evil could possibly flow from us.

We can’t interview Hitler to discover how much his humanity has in common with our humanity. But an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer will do as a substitute. Here is a man who lured a series of victims to a ghastly death. Not satisfied to kill them, Dahmer dismembered their bodies, preserved certain parts by freezing, and ate vital organs as a way of making his victims an eternal part of himself. He did this over and over again and would still be singling out victims if he hadn’t been caught.

A couple of years back, before he himself was bludgeoned to death by a fellow-prisoner, Dahmer did a lengthy prison interview for a documentary. It was shocking to watch it—shocking because he was so much like me. He had no horns or fangs. His eyes were not narrow slits radiating evil; they were blue, soft, and compassionate. He spoke with humility and remorse. And he showed a great deal of intelligence and self-awareness.

Most surprising and incongruous, he shared his testimony of Christian faith. He had been raised to believe the gospel, but it was not until he was in prison that he truly accepted the Lord, under the influence of a Baptist prison chaplain. His witness of his conversion was very convincing.

How can this be? He was a monster! I don’t understand it at all. Like Hitler’s humanity, Dahmer’s humanity was capable of great evil. Did Hitler’s humanity also have another side to it, a side capable of honoring God and respecting other people? It’s hard to imagine, since his words and actions were so harsh and insensitive. But he was human.

You don’t have to be either sub-human (a beast) or super-human (a demon) to do great evil. Your humanity itself is an adequate explanation. Consider these Biblical passages:

“They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on humanity to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.”
(Psalm 14:1-3)

“The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it?”
(Jeremiah 17:9)

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
(Romans 3:23)

Based on these Biblical passages, it’s clear that we have a confused idea about what salvation is. We think that we are saved from things out there, influences and people who might pollute us and tempt us to evil. Actually the saving we need is from things in here, the defiled and defiling forces within us. Jesus said:

“Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile . . . . It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:14-15, 20-23)

And James added:
“Those wars and conflicts among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your own lusts that are at war within you?” (James 4:1)

So the truth about salvation is that we are saved from the Hitler within each one of us.

“How can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”
(Hebrews 2:3)

–Pastor George Van Alstine