gical heritage that permitted the development and accession to power of the Nazi government in Germany were unique, as were the sociological conditions of the day (App, 1974, p. 6). The relevant aspects of German socio/ psychological heritage were (1) the apparent need of German society for a scapegoat on which to place the blame for its problems, and (2) the historical casting of the Jews in this role. Anti-Semitism was not the exclusive property of the Germans, but it had, throughout the centuries, played a major role in the sociology and psychology of German society (Bendersky, 1985, p. 67).
The Jewish population in Germany was never large. It was, however, visible. Their religion was different. At times, their dress was different. In some instances, their physical appearance was different. In short, the Jews made a convenient target. Associations with ancient Christian prejudice made them easy for many Germans to hate. When they became prominent in German society, it was more than many gentiles were willing to accept. The historical perception of the Jews by the German gentiles provided the base from which the NAZI atrocities emerged, and provided a social environment that could be manipulated by Hitler and the NSDAP to permit them to gain governmental power. The German populace could have stormed into the streets to stop the Nazis, as the peoples did later in Denmark and Bulgaria. The Germans, however, did not storm into the streets to stop the Nazis. Rather, they tended to provide increasing support for the Nazis, until it really was too late to stop them.
The sociological conditions in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s were also major factors in explaining the behavior of the German people during that period. William Shirer (1984, p. xiii) said of that time that the "status quo in Europe was . . . being undermined by the onset of Depression, with its massive unemployment, failing b...