The Holocaust and Night

Elie Wiesel wrote Night to tell the world about his experiences in the Nazi death camps. While his story will be the focus of our study over the next few weeks, there are many other facets of the Holocaust that must be examined in order to understand the enormity of this crime.
In the series Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State, the evolution of one of the camps, Auschwitz is detailed. The first episode, Surprising Beginnings examines the increase in violence against all opponents of the Nazi state between early 1940 - mid 1941. Here we learn that initially, Auschwitz came into being to house political prisoners and Soviet POWs, not Jews.
There is a definite difference between the thoughts of the prisoners and those of the perpetrators. One perpetrator, for example, justifies his actions in this way: "Because my hatred towards the Jews is too great. I admit my thinking on this point is unjust. . . .But what I experienced from my earliest youth . . . what the Jews were doing to us — well that will never change. That is my unshakable conviction."
What kinds of messages about other people do we learn from our parents? How important are these messages in determining how we behave as adults? How can you know when you are a child that something you learn is wrong or misinformation?