" There were fearful consequences to the open tolerance of brutality: the depravity would “spread like an epidemic.” Surprisingly quickly the like-minded and the deviant personalities come together, as is the case in Poland, in order to give full vent to their animalistic and pathological instincts. Eventually, Blaskowitz said, “only the brutal will rule. "

― Nicholson Baker , Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, The End of Civilization