How Holocausts Happen: The United States in Central America

Douglas Porpora's How Holocausts Happen is a simple, short, and invaluable historical lesson. Beginning with a pithy description of the social and political conditions of the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany, the book moves on to a sociological discussion of Hannah Arendt's theory of the "banality of evil" and then into a longer history of European and (mostly) US activity in Central America. The violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua in the 1970's and 1980's is discussed at longer length. A central lesson is that people can easily be indifferent to the use of oppressive and murderous violence by their own governments. While some might find the use of the Nazi parallel to US policies cliched or overwrought, the fact is that the Third Reich in Germany is an essential benchmark for understanding abuse of power by governments and the failure of people to stop such abuses, simply because most people are aware of the general history of the Nazi episode. Countless other historical parallels could be drawn to horrendous violence and historical crimes which communities allowed themselves to commit, but it is difficult to think of one that would not be hopelessly arcane and mysterious to most readers. The Nazi parallel is therefore good for shaking naivety out of people, and Porpora uses it intelligently to describe the indifferent kind of citizenship in a society that power often hopes to exploit, but also the braver kind of citizenship of people who will not be indifferent to crimes on the historical scale.

This very acute work tells two tales, that of the Holocaust, and of the imperialism of the United States in Central America. Although some might disagree with the author's Holocaust interpretation it is well reasoned and documented. But his basic point is unsettling: We say 'never again' to the Holocaust, yet we barely register what has happened in Guatemala, El Salvador in the past generation. If we wonder at the reason Germans were passive during the era of Hitler, we should find an example in our own behavior.

This powerful book is an indictment of U.S. intervention in Central America. Unlike the numerous accounts of the CIA involvement in the wars against democracy, however, Porpora focuses on American public's reaction - or non-reaction - to the genocidal policies of our "allies" in Central America. He draws strong parallels between the US in the 1980-90's and Germany in the 1920-30's and demonstrates that it is the moral indifference of the general public that allows evil to flourish, and that ultimately it is the general public that is responsible.