The Holocaust was a genocide during World War II in which the Nazi’s murdered six million European Jews; two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe. Hitler had the attention of making jews “unwanted”. The Holocaust was not an accident in history, people made choices that authorized discrimination and prejudices, hatred and ultimately a mass murder occurred. The Nazi’s expressed a lot of anger and frustrations towards the Jews. One of the most horrific times in history was when the Nazi’s chose one group of people to hate, every Jew and fugitive was tracked down. The Holocaust was organized state-sponsored persecution of six million Jews by the Nazi regime. Mass killings of Jews became commonplace; Reich Main Security Office at the time was told to murder Jewish civilians.[1] The Nazi’s never showed restraint, they only slowed down when there were fewer Jews to kill. The Holocaust affected Europe through the Germans abuse of power, unfair treatment and the many people killed in the act.
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During Hitler’s rule of the Nazi Party, he implemented anti-semitism as an official policy. Anti-semitism is hostility or prejudice against Jews.[2] This form of anti-semitism has been found to be one of the most grotesque forms. It has been thought out to what evidence Adolf Hitler was dangerously anti-semitic. In both of his two-volume autobiography Mein Kampf, oppressed in 1924, and his second unpublished book, written in 1928. Other groups revolted against Hitler’s racial perception. Through his eyes, only the Jews were seen as plotting against the country. Hitler’s wording used in these books is aggressive and bloodthirsty.[3] Hitler did not develop the idea of hatred towards the Jews. In Europe, Jew’s had been victims of persecution and discrimination since the Middle Ages due to religious reasons.[4] Christians believed that the Jewish faith was an irregularity that had to be stopped. Jews were forced to convert to Christianity. If they didn’t, they were not allowed to practice certain professions. When the Holocaust took place religion played a less important role. This was replaced by assumptions about the differences between races. Even though most Jews converted to Christianity they were still considered to be different because of their bloodline.
March 22, 1933, was when the first official Nazi concentration camp opened in Dachau. The people in these camps were subject to terrible conditions such as lack of food and water, brutal treatment from Nazi guards and unsanitary conditions which lead to mass outbreaks of infectious diseases.[5] This was followed by a boycott of Jewish businesses and the public burning of books published and written by Jews and others not approved by the country. The way that the Germans could identify a jew was if they had three Jewish grandparents. If they only had two Jewish grandparents, they themselves had to identify as a jew.[6]
A month before the1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, the Nazi’s let up its anti-Jewish attacks and removed the “Jews Unwelcome” signs from public places to appease people competing for the games.[7] Hitler did not want to see any international disapproval of his government to result in the transfer of the games to another country.[8] The Nazis didn’t allow German Jewish athletes to participate in the Olympics. In 1937 to 1938, the Nazis stepped up the persecution of Jews and the government set out to ruin Jews by “Aryanizing” all Jewish businesses.[9] All Jewish workers were laid off, and the ownership of most Jewish businesses was taken over by Germans who bought them from the Nazis at lower prices.[10] Jewish doctors were not allowed to treat non-Jews and many hospital staff were not allowed to work in German facilities and Jewish lawyers were not permitted to practice law.[11]
On November 9-10 the Nazi’s attacked Jewish people and their property. This event was called Kristallnacht, the name Kristallnacht refers to the abundance of broken glass left in the streets after this attack.[12] Over 1,000 Jewish synagogues and over 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, and approximately 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and taken to concentration camps.[13] The violence of this event led on until the next day but in some places even longer. After Jews were expected to pay for all the damage that had been done from Kristallnacht.[14] They were forced to pay for what the Germans had done. This was followed by Jewish children being expelled from schools and the yellow star. Jews that lived in Poland had to sew the Star of David on their clothes so they could be easily identified[15] The Warsaw ghetto was Established by German Authority in 1940.[16] 400,000 Jews were imprisoned in a 1.43km2.[17] The Nazi’s planned to take inmates from Warsaw to the Treblinka extermination camp. 750 people in Warsaw resisted deporting to Treblinka; they did this from smuggling various weapons.[18] Inmates themselves for four weeks until the Nazis shot them or sent them to death camps.[19] April 30th, 1945 Hitler committed suicide when he was faced with a defeat.[20] Shortly after this on the 7th of May 1945 German’s surrendered to the war in Europe.[21]
The Holocaust was a turning point in history, it will forever be etched in the minds of people. The way that the Jews were treated cannot be reversed. It is a terrible reminder of the constant recurring possibilities of the way people feel towards others when driven by false ideologies and racism.[22] Racism has been an ongoing problem throughout human history. There have been many genocides in history but the brutality of the Holocaust highlighted how human beings can treat each other in such horrible ways. We still need to shed light on the Holocaust and take necessary precautions though educating people. This is something that should not be repeated in the future and we need to draw attention to the struggles that the victims faced. The United Nations wanted to avoid another conflict like World War II and to stop the terrible abomination of the Holocaust from ever occurring again. The United Nations established the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.[23] They created a list of human rights that all countries could agree on. The Human right that the holocaust goes against is don’t discriminate; these rights belong to everybody whatever they’re differences.[24] The Holocaust led to the further importance of human rights.
We can not change what happened seventy-six years ago in Germany, with all the education we are provided with of the Holocaust, human rights legislation and anti-racist programs, anti-semitism is still alive and endangering many lives.[25] The world will never be the same due to the devastating effects of the Holocaust. The virus has now mutated, causing the same effect towards other faiths. Through the abuse of power, unfair treatment and the many people killed in the act, the Holocaust affected Europe. The Holocaust can be forgiven bet never forgotten. There can be no doubt as to the most successful ideology of modern times. Anti-Semitism came and is here to stay.
Bibliography
- . Economic Antisemitism, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Economic_antisemitism&oldid=895273214 (accessed May 9, 2019).
- “Holocaust Timeline.” https://www.historyonthenet.com/holocaust-timeline-and-overview (accessed May 1, 2019).
- “What is the Legacy of the Holocaust?” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/what-is-the-legacy-of-the-holocaust-16993.html (accessed Apr 25, 2019).
[1] The Roots of the Holocaust. Accessed April 17, 2019. http://www.projetaladin.org/holocaust/en/history-of-the-holocaust-shoah/the-roots-of-the-holocaust.html.
[2] “Antisemitism.” Wikipedia. March 31, 2019. Accessed April 20, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism.
[3] “Why did Hitler Hate the Jews?”
https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/why-did-hitler-hate-jews/ (accessed Apr 20, 2019).
[4] Ibid
[5] Responsibility for the Holocaust, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Responsibility_for_the_Holocaust&oldid=885559878 (accessed Mar 14, 2019).
[6] Ibid
[7] “The Nuremberg Race Laws.” https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-race-laws (accessed May 9, 2019).
[8] Ibid
[9] “”Aryanization”.” https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/aryanization (accessed May 1, 2019).
[10] . Economic Antisemitism, 2019)
[11]A Timeline of the Holocaust (1933 – 1945). Accessed April 26, 2019. https://www.jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/General/TimeEng.html.
[12]“Kristallnacht.” Wikipedia. April 24, 2019. Accessed April 26, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht.
[13]“Kristallnacht: November 9-10.” The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education. Accessed April 26, 2019.https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/kristallnacht/kristallnacht-november-9-10/
[14] “Holocaust Timeline.” https://www.historyonthenet.com/holocaust-timeline-and-overview (accessed May 1, 2019).
[15] Ibid
[16] Ibid
[17] Ibid
[18] “Holocaust Timeline.” https://www.historyonthenet.com/holocaust-timeline-and-overview (accessed May 1, 2019).
[19] Ibid
[20] Ibid
[21] Ibid
[22] “What is the Legacy of the Holocaust?” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/what-is-the-legacy-of-the-holocaust-16993.html (accessed Apr 25, 2019).
[23] “What is the Legacy of the Holocaust?” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/what-is-the-legacy-of-the-holocaust-16993.html (accessed Apr 25, 2019).
[24] “United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Summary: Youth for Human Rights Video.” https://www.youthforhumanrights.org/what-are-human-rights/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/articles-1-15.html (accessed May 6, 2019).
[25] “The Journal.” Accessed April 25, 2019. https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/20120405-aftermath-brochure.pdf.
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