During a brutal raid on his home by the Gestapo in September 1942, Victor Klemperer refused to remain silent.
He explicitly invoked his combat service, his wounds, and his loyalty to the Fatherland to reason with the officers. He recorded his exact words in his journal
“I stood in the field for three years; I am a German; I have done my duty.”
The Gestapo officer’s response captured the systematic rejection of this argument
“Shut your mouth! You are a Jew, a piece of dirt, less than dirt! Your service means nothing to us.”



- Winston Churchill, perpetrator of genocide and paragon of western values