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It is a violation which has obsessed the tyrants of the twentieth century. They do not want simply to kill their opponents, but to liquidate them, to deny that they have ever existed.
Helen Dunmore
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the extreme lengths to which tyrants go to erase their opposition and deny their existence.

Helen Dunmore's quote sheds light on the destructive mindset of tyrants in the twentieth century, emphasizing that their goal extends beyond mere physical elimination of opponents. Instead, they seek to obliterate the very memory and existence of those who oppose them, highlighting not only the brutality of their actions but also the deep psychological impact of totalitarian regimes that strive to reshape reality itself by denying others' identities.

Themes

TyrannyOppressionMemoryExistenceViolence

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion on authoritarian regimes, this quote could highlight how historical tyrants sought to erase their opposition.

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Quote by Helen Dunmore | QuoteProject