the germans vs. the jews
In some respect I understand the people denying the Holocaust. The whole ordeal just seems too outlandish to be true. Why would one people commence hating their neighbours in such a manner? And why did they pick the Jews? What made the average German man lift himself to a higher rank than the Jewish man and how could ordinary Germans co-operate with Hitler's genocide in such a mind-numbing manner? Quite honestly it all baffles me. The crimes are so inhumane that is hard to understand how ordinary people could take part in the shootings, gassings and deliberate starvation of innocent human beings. Is it possible that Hitler and his perpetrators are exclusively the ones to blame? Meaning that they built on the anti-Semitic foundation existing in Germany and led people to the point where they could in the name of their fatherland accept and commit genocide. Just thinking about it sends shivers down my spine. It seems however almost too simple to declare that Jews were the targets of the Holocaust solely because Hitler hated Jews and blamed them for all the problems in the world. While all this is somewhat true of course, I would like, for the sake of mankind, to find a reason that runs deeper.
When Hitler came to power, Germany was populated with more Jews than any other country in Western Europe. Unlike the Jews of Eastern Europe, German Jews considered themselves different from other Germans only in the religion they practiced. This assimilation of Jews into German life caused wide acceptance of the Nazis' racism. The Jews were merchants and scholars and professional people who went to the same schools and gathered in the same places as other Germans. After the First World War the Jews had been strong supporters of the Weimar Republic, which of course had failed to lift Germany from the economic swamp it had fallen into. The inflation in 1923 and depression of 1929 only made things even worse. Some leading capitalist families managed to escape these problems, and the eyes of the angry general public were trained on pointing out especially the Jews. Hitler blamed the Jews for the loss of World War I and made it the focus of his political campaigns. The combination of religious anti-Semitism and political anti-Semitism with patriotism led many German people to accept Hitler's message The reality of the extermination was not immediately apparent to the average German. It was something taking place far away and they knew very little about it, other than the fact that it was happening. Many were actually more worried about the horrors of war directly affecting their own lives. The almost unbelievable crimes of the Holocaust probably meant very little to the average German. It was something they tolerated but most likely did not understand. The Germanic peoples, now identified as "Aryans," were superior to all other races and had the right to rule over everyone. Hitler and the other Nazis claimed that other races, such as
Some topics in this essay:
World War,
,
Aryan Jews,
Europe United,
Martin Luther,
Weimar Republic,
Hitler Hitler,
Jews German,
Nazi Germany,
Aryans Germanic,
world war,
average german,
hatred jews,
nazi philosophy,
loss world,
jews easy,
loss world war,
religious anti-semitism,
german people,
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Approximate Word count = 1175
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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