"...conformity was an essential component of belonging.

the western tradition of universalism, humanity, and individual responsibility based on a guilt culture was replaced by a shame culture that elevated loyalty to and standing within the group to be the new moral fulcrum of German society.

The shame culture, making conformity a prime virtue, impelled ordinary Germans in uniform to commit terrible crimes rather than suffer the stigma of cowardice and weakness and the "social death" of isolation and alienation vis-à-vis their comrades. This dynamic was intensified by several other factors.

Nothing makes people stick together better than committing a crime together," Kühne noted."

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