Physics in Nazi Germany

It is disturbing how those living under the Nazi regime, in particular Heisenberg were able to support the Nazis while not personally holding a deep prejudice against Jews. There was quite an amount of double-think necessary to rationalize supporting the Nazis for many Germans. From the readings it seems that Heisenberg exhibited quite a bit of this. He demonstrated that he was not a heartless man who didn't care about the plight of others with several of his actions. His trip to the Netherlands is an excellent example of this. He helped the professors and universities to no benefit to himself, yet at the same time he justified the German occupation and war in general. Heisenberg was able to justify this by his fear and hatred of communism and the Russians, believing that a German dominated Europe was a lesser evil to that of a Soviet dominated one.

Heisenberg's theory on resistance in the Third Reich is revealing about the though processes of Germans under the Nazis. Heisenberg believed that active resistance was staying in the system, keeping influence, and using it to influence important matters. Open resistance which would have lead to him being arrested or sent to a concentration camp was futile in his eyes. This explanation comes off as somewhat of a self-justification, but even so it does reveal how those such as Heisenberg could justify their support of the Nazis. There is probably an element of truth in his explanation though, Heisenberg was able to accomplish more by working within the system, the problem is that when a large number of people adopt a similar position it changes the whole dynamic. Open resistance by one individual may have been futile, but that assumes that a more active resistance couldn't have been organized with others.