The killing of Jews in the Holocaust was one of the greatest crimes recorded in history. The Nazis did it by having total control over the command of the National Socialists; the active cooperation of a large part of the German population; and the partnership of like-minded governments and people in the occupied territories. The disastrous loss of civilized standards in Germany took place after the delayed political crisis of the 1920s.
After the defeat in the First World War, Germany became a democracy. The enormous costs of the war caused uncontrolled increase. Unemployment rose to over five million. Large parts of the population lived in fear of falling back into 19th-century shortage. But above all it is the Jews who are being blamed. The German worker was being ruined by the Jewish Capital and threatened by the Jews that want to turn him into a slave.
The Nazi party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler gained more votes in every election. It promises to restore honor to the Germans, to renew political order and to bring back work and bread. .
The Nazis pursue their political aims with aggressive violence. In 1930 - twelve years after it's founding - the parties that supported the republic lost their majority. Right-wing parties take over the government and begin to take apart the democratic system. .
In the elections of 1932, National Socialists became the strongest party. The votes of the National Socialists are now needed to form the next government. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler is named chancellor. In February, his democratically elected government passed a law suspending civil rights and political freedoms. In March, the government is empowered to rule without parliament, to pass laws and govern by decree. Germany becomes a dictatorship ruled by Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Immediately after assuming power in 1933, the Nazis made the removal of Jews from Germany one of their top priorities.
