Saturday, April 23, 2005

a view of progress

Harry Elmer Barnes in 1934 wrote a review of The Inquisition. by A. Hyatt Verrill in the The American Journal of Sociology that compared the negative view of Hitler’s Germany with the barbarity of the Inquisition.

“If, however, one turns for a moment to the Inquisition of the Middle Ages and early modern times, he discovers such a staggering record of savagery and blood lust as to give a decided impression that we have made headway toward tolerance and decency even in present-day Germany.”


Ah the idea of progress. Of course it was in a journal of sociology. I wonder how Harry Barnes felt when the images from the concentration camps reached America?

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