This topic is so huge, and I am so humbled at the prospect of entering into the discussion of it. This is just such a horrifying thing and it is incomprehensible to me, how people can act like this towards other people, and still call themselves human.
So all I will really add to the discussion is a thank you to Xaxis for posting this little bit of information.
Xaxis wrote:
My uncle is one of those Danish Jews who were evacuated to Sweden. He survived the war because some very brave people risked their lives to secure his safety, and he was able to return to his family after the war and live a full life.
Compared to the millions and millions of lives that were lost in this terrible war 8000 people don't seem like a whole lot, but what these brave people did for my uncle and for thousands of other Jews restores my faith in humanity. There might be hope for the human race after all, if we never allow ourselves to forget that these horrors took place. And if we remember that even though some very strong and very persuasive people gain too much power and too much control over too many people, it is still possible to fight back, in however small a way. And I pray that if such a thing should ever happen again that there will be brave people like these who will fight for those who are persecuted, even at the risk of their own lives.
I realize that this is not a response to the original question of this thread. So I will just add this: I know that Samarin thought he had good reason for doing what he did. But I don't think that his actions can be justified. What he did is just as sick as what was done to the Jews in world War II. This was the work of a madman so obsessed with power and what he thought was a worthy cause. But no amount of good he might have been able to do for his people would justify eating another human being. Who was he to say that his life was more important than the other mans life?
