--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The road to Auschwitz was built by hate…" description: "\"The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.\" — Ian Kershaw" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aec/ian-kershaw-35887_auschwitz_the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate_535776.jpg" --- # The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with… ![“The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.” quote by Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aec/ian-kershaw-35887_auschwitz_the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate_535776.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aec/ian-kershaw-35887_auschwitz_the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate_535776.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aec/ian-kershaw-35887_auschwitz_the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate_535776.jpg) > “The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.” [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Hate creates the infrastructure of genocide, while societal indifference allows it to persist. **In simple terms:** Hate builds, indifference sustains. Key Takeaway Combat indifference with active empathy. Themes genocide indifference hate memory Mood somber reflective Type historical educational When to use this quote - education curricula - community dialogues - policy advocacy - museum exhibits Key Concepts moral responsibility social psychology Questions to Reflect On - How can we turn awareness into action? - What role does personal responsibility play? A Different Perspective Indifference can be hard to recognize and confront. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Auschwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/auschwitz/) [Auschwitz Built](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/auschwitz-built-4490362/) [Built](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/built/) [Hate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hate/) [Hate Paved](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hate-paved-4490364/) [Indifference](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indifference/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Israel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/israel/) [Paved Indifference](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paved-indifference-4490363/) [Road Auschwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/road-auschwitz-2775026/) ## Related quotes > [“Elie Wiesel is right: the road to Auschwitz was being paved in the earliest days of Christendom. But another conclusion now is equally evident:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-e-stannard/elie-wiesel-is-right-the-road-to-auschwitz-was-being-paved-in-the/) [David E. Stannard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-e-stannard/) > [Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they’re only animals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-adorno/auschwitz-begins-wherever-someone-looks-at-a-slaughterhouse-and/) [Theodor Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-adorno/) > [Auschwitz is outside of us, but it is all around us, in the air. The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/primo-levi/auschwitz-is-outside-of-us-but-it-is-all-around-us-in-the-air-the/) [Primo Levi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/primo-levi/) > [I remember, when I was in university I studied history, and there was this one major historian of the Third Reich, Ian Kershaw. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sacha-baron-cohen/i-remember-when-i-was-in-university-i-studied-history-and-there-was/) [Sacha Baron Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sacha-baron-cohen/) > [There is no question in my mind that we live in one of the truly bestial centuries in human history. There are plenty of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-chargaff/there-is-no-question-in-my-mind-that-we-live-in-one-of-the-truly/) [Erwin Chargaff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-chargaff/) > [“In February, 1943, eight months before she was murdered in Auschwitz, the German painter Charlotte Salomon killed her grandfather. Salomon’s grandparents, like many Jews,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-bentley/in-february-1943-eight-months-before-she-was-murdered-in-auschwitz/) [Toni Bentley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-bentley/) > [“I once conjured up this image of Hitler. I imagined that he didn’t kill himself and that he was kept in a kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-haybittle/i-once-conjured-up-this-image-of-hitler-i-imagined-that-he-didn-t/) [Glenn Haybittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-haybittle/) > [There is more to Jewish history than Auschwitz.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/romain-gary/there-is-more-to-jewish-history-than-auschwitz/) [Romain Gary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/romain-gary/) > [“I am keenly aware that the security we enjoy is frail, and could easily be disrupted. Secretly, a nagging fear gnaws at me: what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-waterman/i-am-keenly-aware-that-the-security-we-enjoy-is-frail-and-could/) [Daniel Waterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-waterman/) > [Eighteen months before I was born, my mother was in Auschwitz. She weighed 49 pounds. She always told me that God saved her so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-von-furstenberg/eighteen-months-before-i-was-born-my-mother-was-in-auschwitz-she/) [Diane von Furstenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-von-furstenberg/) > [My own interest in Kafka's letter came about when I was writing an article on Peter Ginz, the boy novelist held in Terezin, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-cartwright/my-own-interest-in-kafka-s-letter-came-about-when-i-was-writing-an/) [Justin Cartwright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-cartwright/) > [No sane person wants hell to exist. No sane person wants evil to exist. But hell is just evil eternalized. If there is evil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/no-sane-person-wants-hell-to-exist-no-sane-person-wants-evil-to-exist/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [“I remember that one Holy Week, the magazine I got every Thursday, Anteojito , came with a free poster depicting the Stations of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcelo-figueras/i-remember-that-one-holy-week-the-magazine-i-got-every-thursday/) [Marcelo Figueras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcelo-figueras/) > [We need creativity. We need more poetry after Auschwitz.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rithy-panh/we-need-creativity-we-need-more-poetry-after-auschwitz/) [Rithy Panh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rithy-panh/) > [I stated that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are 'among the most unspeakable crimes in history.' I took no position on just where they stand on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/i-stated-that-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-are-among-the-most-unspeakable/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) ## More by Ian Kershaw > [Hitler was no inexorable product of a German 'special path', no logical culmination of long-term trends in specifically German culture and ideology. Nor was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/hitler-was-no-inexorable-product-of-a-german-special-path-no-logical/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [Hitler frequently demonstrated diffidence and unease in dealings with individuals which contrasted diametrically with his self-confident mastery in exploiting the emotions of his listeners…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/hitler-frequently-demonstrated-diffidence-and-unease-in-dealings-with/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [Following a meeting with Hitler, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, a man who had 'courageously criticized the Nazi attacks on the Catholic Church' - went…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/following-a-meeting-with-hitler-cardinal-michael-von-faulhaber-a-man/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [“In each case the individuals made history-although,to adapt the thought of Karl Marx,not under circumstances of their choosing”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/in-each-case-the-individuals-made-history-although-to-adapt-the/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [The repeated claim before the 'seizure of power' - that the NSDAP, as a national social-revolutionary movement, and not simply another political party... would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/the-repeated-claim-before-the-seizure-of-power-that-the-nsdap-as-a/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [Hitler was unapproachable and impenetrable even for those in his close company.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/hitler-was-unapproachable-and-impenetrable-even-for-those-in-his/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [Hitler was never a socialist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/hitler-was-never-a-socialist/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [Without the changed conditions, the product of a lost war, a revolution and a pervasive sense of national humiliation, Hitler would have remained a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/without-the-changed-conditions-the-product-of-a-lost-war-a-revolution/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [ Within the Nazi Party, the beginnings of a personality cult around Hitler go back to the year before the \[Munich\] putsch... Outside these small… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/within-the-nazi-party-the-beginnings-of-a-personality-cult-around/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [“I should like to think that had I been around at the time I would have been a convinced anti-Nazi engaged in the underground…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/i-should-like-to-think-that-had-i-been-around-at-the-time-i-would/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [Hitler was highly secretive - not least about his personal life, his background, and his family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/hitler-was-highly-secretive-not-least-about-his-personal-life-his/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) > [In the election campaign of 1930, Hitler seldom spoke explicitly of Jews. The crude tirades of the early 1920s were missing altogether. 'Living-space' figured…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/in-the-election-campaign-of-1930-hitler-seldom-spoke-explicitly-of/) [Ian Kershaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) [Explore all 13 Ian Kershaw quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/) ## More Auschwitz quotes > [I stated that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are 'among the most unspeakable crimes in history.' I took no position on just where they stand on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/i-stated-that-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-are-among-the-most-unspeakable/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [We need creativity. We need more poetry after Auschwitz.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rithy-panh/we-need-creativity-we-need-more-poetry-after-auschwitz/) [Rithy Panh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rithy-panh/) > [“I remember that one Holy Week, the magazine I got every Thursday, Anteojito , came with a free poster depicting the Stations of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcelo-figueras/i-remember-that-one-holy-week-the-magazine-i-got-every-thursday/) [Marcelo Figueras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcelo-figueras/) > [No sane person wants hell to exist. No sane person wants evil to exist. But hell is just evil eternalized. If there is evil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/no-sane-person-wants-hell-to-exist-no-sane-person-wants-evil-to-exist/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [My own interest in Kafka's letter came about when I was writing an article on Peter Ginz, the boy novelist held in Terezin, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-cartwright/my-own-interest-in-kafka-s-letter-came-about-when-i-was-writing-an/) [Justin Cartwright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-cartwright/) > [Eighteen months before I was born, my mother was in Auschwitz. She weighed 49 pounds. She always told me that God saved her so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-von-furstenberg/eighteen-months-before-i-was-born-my-mother-was-in-auschwitz-she/) [Diane von Furstenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-von-furstenberg/) > [“I am keenly aware that the security we enjoy is frail, and could easily be disrupted. Secretly, a nagging fear gnaws at me: what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-waterman/i-am-keenly-aware-that-the-security-we-enjoy-is-frail-and-could/) [Daniel Waterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-waterman/) > [There is more to Jewish history than Auschwitz.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/romain-gary/there-is-more-to-jewish-history-than-auschwitz/) [Romain Gary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/romain-gary/) > [“I once conjured up this image of Hitler. I imagined that he didn’t kill himself and that he was kept in a kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-haybittle/i-once-conjured-up-this-image-of-hitler-i-imagined-that-he-didn-t/) [Glenn Haybittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-haybittle/) > [“In February, 1943, eight months before she was murdered in Auschwitz, the German painter Charlotte Salomon killed her grandfather. Salomon’s grandparents, like many Jews,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-bentley/in-february-1943-eight-months-before-she-was-murdered-in-auschwitz/) [Toni Bentley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-bentley/) > [There is no question in my mind that we live in one of the truly bestial centuries in human history. There are plenty of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-chargaff/there-is-no-question-in-my-mind-that-we-live-in-one-of-the-truly/) [Erwin Chargaff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-chargaff/) > [I know that elections must be limited only to those who understand that the Arabs are the deadly enemy of the Jewish state, who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meir-kahane/i-know-that-elections-must-be-limited-only-to-those-who-understand/) [Meir Kahane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meir-kahane/) > [“It was, unbelievably, not the most depressing thing we had ever seen: a bride, ripped from her own wedding, separated from her groom, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/it-was-unbelievably-not-the-most-depressing-thing-we-had-ever-seen-a/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [“He sounded chilly. “I’m sure she is.” Allegra was trying to back off, but she was annoyed that he had taken her father’s part,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-steel/he-sounded-chilly-i-m-sure-she-is-allegra-was-trying-to-back-off-but/) [Danielle Steel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-steel/) > [Auschwitz was one of the wealthiest places in the world. Everyone who was deported there had been in such a hurry that they were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-lasker-wallfisch/auschwitz-was-one-of-the-wealthiest-places-in-the-world-everyone-who/) [Anita Lasker-Wallfisch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-lasker-wallfisch/) [Browse all 168 Auschwitz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/auschwitz/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ian Kershaw" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate-but-paved-with-indifference/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Auschwitz" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate-but-paved-with-indifference/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aec/ian-kershaw-35887_auschwitz_the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate_535776.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aec/ian-kershaw-35887_auschwitz_the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate_535776.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aec/ian-kershaw-35887_auschwitz_the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate_535776.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.” — Ian Kershaw", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ian Kershaw", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-kershaw/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The road to Auschwitz was built...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate-but-paved-with-indifference/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-kershaw/the-road-to-auschwitz-was-built-by-hate-but-paved-with-indifference/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```