How did normal society function in Nazi Germany? Were there still luxuries and regular socializing?
For most Germans life was normal under the Nazis until the war. The German economy rebounded from the Great Depression in a very short period of time under the Nazis. Businesses that were not Jewish-owned thrived and unemployment dropped drastically. Profits soared and labor costs declined. Big German companies such as IG Farben, Thyssen, Krupp, Flick, Siemens profited greatly from their association with the Nazis. Independent trade unions, however, were abolished and wages actually became lower. The wealthy continued to enjoy luxuries, even more so as profits from their investments increased. Hitler was able to attract foreign investment and German industries and financial institutions enjoyed growth and prosperity. The Nazi rearmament program and huge amounts of government spending helped German industry. Early on, however, leftist leaders including Social Democrats, communists and trade union leaders were either murdered or rounded up and sent to the first Nazi concentration camps such as Dachau and Buchenwald. Dissent was not allowed. Within a few months after taking power the Nazis had eliminated all political opposition by destroying all leftist parties and by incorporating other right-wing political parties into the Nazi party. Newspapers and other media outlets were controlled. Liberalism in politics, the arts, literature and music was denounced as degenerate and not in keeping with Nazi ideals. Later, other groups were specifically targeted for persecution such as Jews and homosexuals. Jewish businesses were “Aryanized” and sold to others at rock bottom prices. People were later put into concentration camps. During the war slave labor from the concentration camps was used by several of the big German industrialists in order to help the Nazi war effort. Some of these industrialists were put on trial, after the war, as war criminals. There is a huge amount of literature available about the Nazi reign. It is not possible to cover many areas of life in Germany under the Nazis in a YA answer.
Is Hydra a Nazi organization?
They were, but after the War they gave up.As has been mentioned, they we the party’s science division.When looking back on the events of the war, Arnim Zola concluded the whole “German master race” thing didn’t really work and also concluded Hitler’s plan was was a pretty dumb idea since it brought most of the world down on Central Europe. It was brash, it was blatant, it was frankly backwards.They gave up on being Nazis before the war even ended. Which was beneficial for them as thanks to a paradigm shift in thinking, HYDRA was able to expand into the Soviet Union, something that would have been impossible if they remained as a Nazi group given Hitler really didn’t like Communism.The modern HYDRA is an organisation that doesn’t care what your genes say and any Aryan heritage you may have is none of their interest. So no, they’re not Nazis. They haven’t been Nazis since the War.
Are scientific advances always good for society?
No. Usually, I would say yes, but not always. While scientific research helps people do even more good, it also causes more destructive ability. Warfare becomes more advanced, and more deadly in the wrong hands. Another example could be the internet. While some people use it for gathering information and expanding their knowledge, other waste lots of their time on it.
How does religion and culture of the society affect the development of scientific culture, science activities and science literacy?
There are several rules in science, some are laws, and some are just ethical standards held by science institutions:Do not test things on humans until you have tested on an animal patient.Do not test on humans unless the human in question has given permissionDo not conduct experiments that may lead to directly harming other humans without their permission. (making a weapon does not fall in this category)Do not test on animals unless you have assessed that such tests may lead to results beneficial to science.Apply proper research before putting hypothetical science into practical practice in real world situations.Dispose of waste products safely.many scientists have failed to abide by these and the result is usually to be banned from funding or support. Such bans usually lead to difficulty for the scientist to do such research.These ethical standards have been broken several times in history:Nazi Germany scientists in Jewish concentration camps[1]Japanese Scientists in Manchuria China[2]United States of America in Australia and America(oh yes, you read that right![3] [4] )Russian Scientists in the USSR[5](if you are wondering… that man was an American citizen that America tested mustard gas on[6].)There was something all similar with these experiments… they were all conducted during a time of war (or cold war in the case of USSR) when the governments in question were able to cover up such violations of ethical violations.The horrible thing?Some of those experiments produced fantastic results, many of those results we still use today.The reality is that our culture, religion, and sense of justice usually stop such experiments taking place, but during war time certain people find ways to hide such actions from the general population for their own benefit based upon the argument that it would save lives of soldiers…. you know, by killing them.We should treasure our culture, religion and values… they protect us from the monsters of war…At least we hope they do.Footnotes[1] Nazi human experimentation - Wikipedia[2] Unit 731 - Wikipedia[3] Secret World War II Chemical Experiments Tested Troops By Race[4] Mustard Gas Experiments - Townsville Area[5] Poison laboratory of the Soviet secret services - Wikipedia[6] Rollins Edwards, survivor of secret WWII mustard gas experiments and Summerville black leader, dies
How can oppression be defined and why is it harmful to society?
Oppression is something that comes to people both sub consciously and consciously. Things we feel but don’t decipher and things we are cognizant of in our daily lives. Many kinds of oppression are hidden from us but we feel and sense them to some degree. Other kinds of oppression are very openly real. Oppression is harmful to us all in a society to the degree that we know about it and to the degree that it limits our happiness and freedom consciously. A unhappy or unfulfilled society is by definition a harmed society. Secrets harm society in that secrets very easily, and often are, a theft of truth. Secrets kept for the wrong reasons are for sure! Lies and secrets kept for bad reasons are oppressive. They are part of oppression. They are bad for society. Of course more vigorous forms of oppression are more obviously bad for individuals and society. In Nazi Germany I think the hidden and sub consciously felt oppressions directed towards Jews, and others, became quite openly consciously experienced by their targets resulting no longer in not just hidden hatred but in huge losses of life. I think that the collective hidden sub consciousness of Germans towards Jews was released by Hitler. I think great psychic and emotional stress on the German people after WW1 created a mentality that releasing hidden (mostly, as far as mass murder anyway) wishes to exterminate problems rather than live with them came out in the open to be acted upon in all it’s horror and cruelty. Very bad for Jewish society at least. And in the long run it turned out to be very bad for German society too.