IFRT Members Community (Open)

Thank you for sharing this!

My spouse studied this era in history and wrote his dissertation on business ethics related to American businesses that stayed in or did business with Nazi Germany. We have a lot to learn from history and we have agency to refuse to participate.

Community is the antidote to totalitarianism. Coming together across the differences that divide us makes all of the difference. 

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Sarah Gilchrist
Associate Librarian
American University
She/Her/Hers
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Original Message:
Sent: Jul 07, 2025 03:57 PM
From: Frieda Afary
Subject: Historian Timothy Snyder on immigrants & concentration camps

In his latest blog post, Timothy Snyder, historian of the Holocaust writes the following: 

"We should remember what drew I.G Farben into Auschwitz: profit. But there are of course precedents for extreme exploitation in American history, including but not limited to the history of chattel slavery. And slavery is not entirely illegal in the United States. The Thirteenth Amendment allows slavery if only as punishment for a crime. The people described as "undocumented" or "denaturalized" (and other categories sure to be invented soon) are portrayed as criminals."

"The government is putting before us the temptation to cooperate in fascist dehumanization on a grand scale. But that does not mean we must do so. This is an area where actions by individuals, by civil society, by the professions, and by companies can be decisive."

Read the blog post:

https://snyder.substack.com/p/concentration-camp-labor?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=310897&post_id=167518650&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=dsq7q&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email