A successful war effort requires all hands. Everyone must act to eradicate the enemy during wartime. Further problems arise when the enemy does not look loathsome. Workers are instructed to interpret the slaughter of defenseless human beings as good. National and local leadership attempt to persuade the people that the intrinsic value of their own humanity is somehow different from and dependent upon the destruction of other segments of the population.
Dire consequences follow deviation from the national platform.
Unspeakable horrors are reinterpreted. Hatred and torture are understood as necessary steps toward meeting national objectives. One must choose to support the war effort or risk losing everything. Ordinary persons find themselves doing the most extraordinary things. Then something snaps.