Review Of Andy Andrews 'How Do You Kill 11 Million People?'
633 Words3 Pages
“The truth doesn’t cost anything, but a lie could cost you everything” is a statement that resonates after reading How Do You Kill 11 Million People? by Andy Andrews (Honesty, 2013). This book discusses how a small percentage of people in power can deceive an entire population. Furthermore, Andrews emphasizes the importance of citizens to be able to recognize what is occurring, check the facts, and take a stand. In Nazi Germany during World War II, Adolf Hitler misled an entire nation to push his political agenda. Hitler publicly acknowledged his deceit by proclaiming, “How fortunate for leaders that men do not think. Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it” (Andrews, 32). At the height of Hitler’s power, only 8.5 million, less than 10%, of the population supported him (Andrews, 32-33). Interestingly, a small percent of Germany’s population was powerful enough to execute horrific acts without resist from the majority of the nation. Similarly, the 311 million United States citizens are controlled by a small group of 545 politicians who enforce and push laws that…show more content… How Do You Kill 11 Million People describes how one village decided to ignore the Holocaust. The railroad that carried the millions of Jews and other minority groups to the death camps ran through villages. It is described that the villagers could not stand to hear the train whistle blow because they knew that the screams and cries of agony of the people crammed into rail cars followed (Andrews, 39). They tried to distance themselves from this reality by gathering together and singing hymns at the top of their lungs to drown out the cries of the condemned (Andrews, 40). The villagers decided to ignore these cries for help and act like there was no Holocaust; they refused to acknowledge the truth and instead created an illusion by singing over the