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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On Tyranny, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Collapse of American Democracy
Tyranny and the Consolidation of Power
Political Action and Civic Responsibility
History and Memory
Summary
Analysis
When politicians demand obedience, professionals must insist on acting ethically. Hitler convinced German lawyers that the law was a political tool that he could use however he wanted, including in the service of war and genocide. He had lawyers running concentration camps where physicians experimented on prisoners and businessmen profited from forced labor. All these people abandoned the normal ethical rules underpinning their professions, which must be enforced and strengthened in precisely the circumstances when governments say they should be abandoned. Otherwise, by “just following orders,” professionals end up committing and participating in horrific acts of violence.
Hitler’s ability to manipulate ordinary, successful, and educated professionals is just as disturbing as these professionals’ willingness to dismiss the moral consequences of their behavior by claiming to be “just following orders.” Like Milgram’s electroshock experiment, this shows how people easily adapt to new situations and power structures. Authoritarians know this, and they exploit it in order to use the power of organized groups (like professional associations) for their own self-interest. Again, although citizens’ widespread support for the Holocaust has largely been erased from contemporary narratives about its horrors, it is essential for people to confront the true evil that normal people committed—none of this seemed out of the ordinary at the time, and there is no reason to think that contemporary people would realize if they end up participating in equally horrific and historic acts of hate and violence.
Themes
