“The Nazis were ‘convinced that evil-doing in our time has a morbid force of attraction,’ Bolshevik assurances inside and outside Russia that they do not recognize ordinary moral standards have become a mainstay of Communist propaganda, and experience has proven time and again that the propaganda value of evil deeds and general contempt for moral standards is independent of mere self-interest, supposedly the most powerful psychological factor in politics.”

Part 3, Ch. 1 § 1.
The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)

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Hannah Arendt 85
Jewish-American political theorist 1906–1975

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