Responsibility for the Holocaust
The Holocaust was a terrible incident that occurred from 1933 until 1945 that led Hitler to destroy an entire generation of Jews. This genocide of the Jews could only have taken place due to several reasons – both long term and short term. Some long-term reasons had existed for many years, even centuries. There had always been people in Germany and Europe who hated the Jews. Hitler’s racist ideas and Nazi propaganda increased this anti-Semitism. Certain short-term reasons are what caused the Second World War which helped Hitler with his plan, as it brought millions more Jews under Nazi control and provided the Nazis with the opportunity to carry out their ‘Final Solution’. Finally, twentieth century industrial methods gave the Nazis modern technology and the ability to mechanise death.
Firstly, the Holocaust was made possible because anti-Semitic – meaning against Jewish – ideas had existed in Germany and Europe for many centuries. This long-term reason originally started when Christians detested the Jews and their ideas because they had the wrong assumption that Jews had killed Jesus. This was the initial sign of picking out the Jews for something they knew nothing of. Following these untrue rumours, the Jews were the victims of the belief that they sacrificed children as part of their faith. This is maybe why them and their religion were hated so much. During the middle ages, the Jews were blamed of causing the Black Death. We know now that the Black Death was set off by rats and the town’s unclean ways. The Jews had been the scapegoats so often that, when the First World War was lost, the Jews were in the perfect position to be singled out and have their religion tested once more.
Another long-term reason which made the Holocaust possible was Hitler’s racist ideas and the propaganda that targeted the Jews. He came into power in the 1920s and became leader of the Nazi Party, who were a small but extreme party. Hitler’s strong, charismatic leadership is why he attracted the attention of the Germans and they began to listen to him. In Hitler’s earlier years, he lived as a tramp in Vienna and noticed how certain Jews stood out to him – different dress, language and religion. He did not think that they belonged to a pure German race he called Aryans. He also observed that the Jews were doing significantly well with their life – they had good jobs and were high up in the German community – but Hitler was determined to remove them from society. His first step to doing this was to stereotype the Jews and brainwash Germans into thinking that they are deformed communists, evil money-grabbers and fat, rich, hunchbacked men was to send out propaganda, exaggerating their features. Children in Primary school were taught spot these features and to stay well away from them. This isolated the Jews and made them feel ashamed. Next Hitler passed a series of laws during the years when he had power. Some of these include: Aryan and non-Aryan were forbidden to play with each other, excluding Jews form clubs, banning them from running a business, attending state schools and only allowing them to buy groceries between 4pm and 5pm. These rules were unfair and never should have been allowed. Hitler and the Nazis were not treating them as if they were humans.
The major turning point and a short-term reason for the Holocaust taking place was the outbreak of World War Two in 1939. When the Nazis invaded Poland, and later Russia, millions more Jews came into their control. They had tried various methods of killing them, one of which was ordering Einsatzgruppen, an action squad, to round the Jews up and kill them, by shooting them into a pre-dug ditch. However, this was proving to be too expensive (as the process needed one bullet for every victim), too time consuming and it was having a mental strain on the soldiers, as they saw the look of terror on the Jews faces before killing them. Hitler was then forced to come up with a more economical way of mass murder, so he devised The Final Solution. Because of the war, civilians got more used to taking orders to keep themselves safe, so that when Hitler started directing orders, that weren’t necessarily helping the war effort, people just followed them anyway, to make sure that they were being protected. It was also the perfect cover, as people inside and out of Germany wouldn’t care if the Jews went missing because they were too focussed and the war that was taking place.
In addition, another short-term reason is the recent and modern technology developed in the past years. The Holocaust could not have happened on the same scale without new knowledge of designs and machines. The Jews were first transported onto trains, which ran along specially constructed railway lines. They had the skill to make these the way that they wanted and where they wanted. They normally positioned ghettos near railway lines so transporting them would be made easier. They also had the ability to mechanise death. Instead of exterminating each Jew (or other undesirable such as gypsies or homosexuals) individually, they could make gas chambers which were cheaper and more time efficient. It was simple for the soldiers: tell the victims that they were going to take a shower and then shut the door. They didn’t know until too late.
The final reason why this catastrophe was possible was the lack of opposition. The Germans did not do more to stop the Holocaust because of fear. They knew that if they spoke out about their ideas or got in Hitler’s path, they would also be killed. So, everyone in the country didn’t make a stand because they knew at least now that they would be safe. The allies were just as concentrated on the war effort as the Germans were and at that time the Holocaust didn’t seem as important or worthwhile as it turned out to be. They must have been shocked when they discovered the concentration and death camps because they realised the horrors that had been going on and that the rumours were true.
Hitler’s views were based on anti-Semitism being alive for centuries. Nothing could have been possible without the new technology developed and the war is also a key factor. There is one quote written by Ian Kershaw which sums the Holocaust up very well, “The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.” Indifference is not caring and it is human nature to simply walk by and be glad that it’s not you but sooner or later it will happen to you and no one will be able to help you.[1]
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