Fascism, ‘licence’ and genocide: From the chimera of rebirth to the authorization of mass murder

Abstract

Is it a simple coincidence that the escalation, radicalization and extension of aggressive ‘eliminationism’ in interwar Europe unfolded in tandem with the rise and diffusion of fascism?1 Nobody can deny that the most extreme case studies (i.e. Nazi genocide, persecution and elimination of Jewish and Romany communities across Axis-occupied Europe, annihilation of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia, etc.) were authorized, supervised and executed by state authorities that displayed ‘fascist’ leanings, if not a fully fledged fascist physiognomy. Even the collaborationist regimes installed in the aftermath of invasion by Axis forces (e.g. in Croatia in 1941 and Hungary in 1944, etc.) depended on the support of indigenous ultra-nationalist elements that in most cases had already flirted with fascism in ideological and/or geopolitical terms. Together they often precipitated, fulfilled and even exceeded whatever demands were made by the Nazi authorities in the direction of eliminating Jews, Romanies and others.