'The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy'

[Eurytus]

It's like we sit around today and judge Nazi Germany, without stopping to wonder how we have behaved had we lived back in that day and in that state.

I think that gassing people to death and burying them in mass graves or burning their remains is something that is not too hard to judge to be honest.
Whether we as individuals might have felt coerced to participate in such acts had we lived in that time, or whether we might have been caught up in the fervour that surrounded the propoganda that supported such a regime is somewhat irrelevant.

Can we make a judgement call from our current, detached postion as to whether such behaviour is right or wrong. I think we clearly can.