The Holocaust
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The Holocaust
Adolf Hitler is certainly the most well known person that was involved in the brutality of the Holocaust, himself being responsible for the largest genocide in history. It was Hitler that created and headed the Nazi party. Him, his associates, and other leaders of the time (both allies and enemies of Hitler) shaped this horrific event that changed the face of history.
The main issue of the Holocaust was the way the Jews were persecuted in Germany, which then spread through surrounding countries in Europe. Concentration camps were constructed where astonishing numbers of Jews were enslaved or brutally murdered. Citizenship, jobs, and countless other rights were stropped of Jews as the pro-Aryan Nazi party gained power. Over sixty-three percent of the Jewish population in Europe was murdered during this very small time frame, and many of those who survived fled to any country that would take them in.
The rest of the world did not take much interest in what was going on in Germany until Hitler’s troops started to invade other countries. Eventually Germany declared war on the United States, allied with Japan, Italy, Hungary, and Romania. Many of the countries that had already been invaded by the Germans sided with the United States, and for years the war, later to be known as World War II, continued in Western Europe. Finally, after far too many lives were lost, the Nazi party began to lose ground. Hitler, their leader, new then that defeat was inevitable and committed suicide. From then Germany lost all it’s power and was conquered by the rest of the world.
Just like after World War I, Germany had outstanding repercussions to pay for after this war. Their government, their society, everything they had was no longer their control. Jewish people, along with everyone else that Hitler declared unfit, are still struggling for their civil rights. To this day not everyone wants to except that everyone is not exactly like themselves, and that is why learning about the Holocaust is very important, so we can make sure history does not repeat itself.
The Holocaust was a terrible period in European history that will not, and should not, ever be forgotten. Millions of lives were lost and many more lost their homes, jobs, places of worship, families, and even their civil rights. These events began after World War I, when Germany was faced with massive reparations, catapulting the country into a deep depression. The Jewish communities became Germanys scapegoats for loosing the war, and from then on they lost all regards are human beings. Still, it wasnt only the Jews who were persecuted, Communists, homosexuals, Catholics, mentally and physically handicapped people, Soviet POWs, patients of psychiatrists, Polish intelligentsia, Jehovahs Witnesses, beggars, homeless, alcoholics, unemployed people, and anti-Nazi clergy were also targeted, along with anyone else who dared to speak against the Nazi party, and their idea of the supreme Aryan race, with fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes.
The Nazi party was created when Adolf Hitler rose to power in the German Workers Party. He then changed the name to the National Socialist German Workers Party, which in German was abbreviated as Nazi. Many people know very little about the history of Nazism in Germany, and see it as something that was always bad, and always hated. The same goes for the swastika, the symbol used on the Nazi flag, which actually is an old Sanskrit word, often used in Hindu art and temples, meaning happiness, pleasure, good luck, and blessed form. Only after World War II did people see the swastika as a symbol of hatred and corruption. Just like this symbol, the Nazi party was formally well liked. They gained popularity by appealing the needs to Germans in the pit of a depression. As the party grew larger they created good health systems, drastically lowered the unemployment rates, and built many roads and dams that benefited the country.
Hitler was an excellent public speaker, and that is why he managed to gain so much power so quickly. He could talk to enormous groups of people and immediately have them not only agreeing with whatever he said, but rallying for him as well. His two biggest accomplices were Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, or SS. The SS was “an elite guard created to serve as bodyguard to the Fuhrer that later expanded to take charge of intelligence, central security policing action, and extermination of undesirables…” (Williamson). It was these three men that were mainly responsible for the outbreak of anti-Semitism in Europe, and the tragic war crimes that were committed over about two decades.
“Few Germans probably knew specifically of the actual mechanics of death camps–factories created to murder people on an assembly line-basis in gas chambersвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ (Williamson). It’s true that many German citizens who were not subject to persecution were blind to some of the horrific events taking place around them. Some were in denial, some couldn’t stand to see what was happening, and others just didn’t care. It was pretty difficult to live in Germany at this time and not be aware of what was happening, but the extent of it did escape some people. The way that that Nazi power gained popularity and trust was such an innocent process that by the time there were troops posted at every corner and Jews had been stripped of everything they held dear, it was too late. Before anyone realized what was happening, Hitler was dictator of Germany, and slowly starting to spread his influence, along with his growing army, to other surrounding European countries.
Eventually the rest of the world could no longer ignore the massive amount of power that Hitler had in Europe, and saw he had no plans of stopping. Allied with Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, Adolf Hitler led the Axis powers into World War II. For years this war was fought in Europe, with thousands more unjustly dying. Finally Germany’s troops began to crumble, and on April 30th, 1945 Adolf Hitler, a man who lived as a dictator and died a coward, took his own life. Eight days later, without the leadership of their president, Germany surrendered.
Although the war ended decades ago, the horrific events will never be forgotten, especially not by those who endured them. The stories of Jewish refuges and those who escaped or were rescued from concentration camps are still shared to this day. Elmer Reis, and American soldier, describes his experiences in the Ohrdruf camp. “It was revolting, said Reis…What I saw, it just shook my boots. It was awful” (Nolan). When these troops came into this