Category: Holocaust

Analysis of Primary Sources

Testimonies of Jewish Victims of Nazi Medical Experiments conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. From Personal Statements from Victims of Nazi Medical Experiments. Web.

The date of production for this article is not indicated. However, it is updated frequently depending on the information obtained from different victims of Nazi medical experiments. The information is usually produced by the Conference on Jewish Claims Against Germany. It gives a detailed analysis of the major atrocities and experiments conducted by different Nazi doctors. It used personal testimonies and evidences to deliver the intended information. The purpose of the message is to ensure more people understand the pains encountered by many victims of the Holocaust. This source provides useful information regarding the atrocities, experiments, and goals of the Nazi regime.

“Medical Case: US Prosecutor Details Illegal Experiments.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web.

This source gives a detailed analysis of The Medical Case during the Nuremberg Trials. The source was produced between 1945 and 1946. The information is retained and maintained by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The information is also produced and availed to more people by the museum. This source indicates clearly that most of the experiments by the Nazis were inhumane. It uses primary evidence from witnesses to deliver accurate information. The source is relevant to understanding the major issues associated with various Nazi medical experiments.

“Victims of Medical Experiments Testify during Medical Case.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web.

This source gives a critical analysis of the major testimonies presented by many victims during the Nuremberg Trials. The information is maintained by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The provided information is available to many visitors to the website. According to the testimonies, most of the experiments conducted by the Nazi regime were inhumane and painful. The documented testimonies are used to make the information meaningful to the viewer. Readers can use the source to understand some of the major issues associated with various Nazi medical experiments.

“Verdict Announced in Medical Case.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web.

The events detailed in this source took place after the First World War in 1946. The video was taken during the Nuremberg Trials and is maintained by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It shows the verdict announced in one of the medical cases. According to the source, the experiments conducted by the Germans were unethical, inhumane, and unprofessional. The verdict is used to represent such atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. This source is therefore meaningful towards analyzing and denouncing the medical experiments undertaken during the days of the Third Reich.

“Nazi Medical Experiments — Photograph.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web.

This 1946 photograph details the pains encountered by many victims during the holocaust. The photograph shows a person in a compression chamber. The prisoner must have died after losing consciousness. The experiment was being undertaken to determine the specific altitudes at which crews could surviving without the use of oxygen. This photograph is maintained and produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The photograph is used to deliver primary information to the reader. The source is relevant to understanding the heinous experiments conducted by the Nazi regime.

“Nazi Medical Experiments — Photograph.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web.

This source was produced in 1944. The photograph shows a Gypsy victim undergoing a Nazi medical experiment in an attempt to make seawater potable. Although the source is unknown, the photograph is preserved and shared by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It gives a detailed analysis of the deadly experiments conducted from 1940 to 1945. The source can be used to understand most of the evil deeds committed during the Nazi regime.

Medical Experiments of the Holocaust

Introduction

The common opinion held by scholars and historians is that the Holocaust was one of the greatest insults to human freedom¹. Many people belonging to different racial groups were murdered during the period of the Holocaust. Millions of lives were destroyed thus changing the world forever. One of the notorieties of the Third Reich surrounded the medical experiments conducted by different Nazi doctors. For centuries, the medical profession had been revered because of its ability to save lives and support the health needs of many societies. Unfortunately, the Nazi regime violated the confidence and trust that had been placed in the profession for centuries.

The use of these researches for modern scientific studies is something that has resulted in numerous ethical dilemmas². Different scholars and scientists have been divided regarding the use of various medical documents from such medical experiments. This discussion gives detailed analyses of the medical experiments of the Holocaust. The paper begins by identifying some of the major medical experiments pioneered by different Nazi doctors. The most notorious doctors and their respective goals have also been outlined in the paper. The ethical dilemma in using the ideas and knowledge gained from these medical experiments is also presented in the discussion.

Medical Experiments

Specific experiments conducted

The Third Reich provided abundant opportunities and resources that made it possible for different physicians to conduct gruesome experiments on prisoners in different concentration camps. Most of these deadly experiments were conducted without the knowledge or consent of the targeted subjects. Such unethical experiments were conducted by the Nazi regime to pursue various goals. The most astounding thing is that such experiments were supported by different Schutzstaffel (SS) leaders³. These suicidal experiments were conducted by various physicians who reported to such SS leaders. Most of these experiments revolved around genetics, drugs, sterilization, hyperthermia, and twins.

Genetic Experiments

The main goal of the Third Reich was to establish a pure race known as the Nordic or Aryan Race⁴. The regime wanted to have a pure race characterized by people with blonde hair and blue eyes. This goal forced the Nazi leaders to undertake numerous genetic researches to understand the major causes of defects. The other goal was to use the findings to refine the master (or Aryan) race⁵. One of these notorious physicians was Josef Mengele who conducted numerous genetic researches on Gypsies and twins. Twins were killed and their body organs eventually used for various genetic studies.

Drugs

The second category of experiments focused on different ways to test and develop drugs for various illnesses. Most of the experiments were aimed at producing better medicines for German soldiers in different fields. In various concentration camps such as Buchenwald, Dachau, and Sachsenhausen, Nazi physicians tested different compounds for treating diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, typhoid fever, and typhus⁶. Jews and other prisoners in such concentration camps were subjected to various medical compounds to establish their effectiveness. Another site known as Ravensbrueck Camp was specifically used to graft bones⁷. Most of these bone-grafting experiments were aimed at testing the effectiveness of newly-developed sulfanilamide drugs.

Hyperthermia

Different Nazi scientists executed a wide range of experiments to establish the potential treatment for various conditions such as hyperthermia. Numerous experiments were conducted on prisoners to find out new methods that can be used to make seawater potable ⁸.

Parachuting

The Nazis also conducted various experiments to determine the maximum altitude for parachuting to safety. The German Experimental Institution for Aviation (GEIA) used low-pressure chambers to conduct such high-attitude experiments to achieve this goal. The main objective was to ensure German soldiers were aware of the maximum altitude to parachute to safety from damaged crafts⁹.

Sterilization

Several experiments were also conducted to advance the regime’s goals of an Aryan race. Sterilization experiments were undertaken at Ravenbrueck and Auschwitz by different Nazi doctors. The doctors tested a wide range of methods in an attempt to develop cheaper and reliable methods for sterilizing different races such as the Jews, Gypsies, and other inferior groups¹⁰. According to the Third Reich leaders, such races possessed genetically inappropriate and undesirable traits.

Goals of the experiments

Furthering Third Reich’s goals

As mentioned earlier, most of these human experiments were conducted to further the Third Reich’s goals. To begin with, the regime wanted to get rid of different races that were believed to be inferior. The Nazis wanted to establish a pure and superior race. Various sterilization experiments were therefore undertaken to achieve this goal. The mass sterilization of different races would result in a single superior race¹¹. Adolf Hitler, the dictator of the Third Reich, was ready to establish the inferiority and inappropriateness of the Jews in the society. Most of the medical experiments and researches at Strasbourg University were aimed at supporting the idea that the Jewish race was inferior. Similar experiments conducted at Auschwitz were intended to understand how various races reacted to several contagious illnesses.

Supporting the military

Historians also believe that Adolf Hitler wanted to win the Second World II. To achieve this goal, helpful measures were critical towards supporting every German soldier. The experiments were therefore used to develop and test the effectiveness of various drugs for diseases such as typhus and tuberculosis¹². Most of these contagious diseases affected the superiority and performance of the German military. Parachuting experiments were also conducted to offer useful data to the military.

Advances in science

Many historians and researchers believe strongly that most of the experiments conducted during the Nazi regime were unscientific. It is also agreeable that the data is unethical. However, the researches and experiments conducted by these scientists presented new ideas that can be used in the advancement of modern science. Most of the ideas and lessons learned from these experiments have the potential to support the needs of more societies and even save lives¹³. Most of the issues and advances observed during the Nazi regime have therefore led to new developments in science. The important thing is that scholars and scientists should use the information to pursue new scientific targets. However, they should do so without subjecting human beings to unnecessary torture. Despite the ethical issues surrounding these experiments, the medical advancements of the Nazis have been observed to deliver numerous benefits to the world of science.

Doctors

Doctors during the holocaust and their goals

German doctors and physicians conducted numerous medical experiments that violated every aspect of medical ethics. Most of these doctors conducted unethical medical experiments in an attempt to pursue the goals of the regime. The first doctor was named Carl Clauberg. His main goal was to come up with non-surgical methods of mass sterilization. Some of the physician’s experiments included the introduction of chemical irritants into the genitals of women¹⁴. Most of the experiments led to the death of the targeted subjects.

Josef Mengele

Nicknamed the Angel of Death, Josef Mengele performed numerous experiments that led to the discovery of water cancer. His initial experiments were conducted to understand the pathology and physiology of water cancer¹⁵. He also conducted various experiments on twins and people with various physical disabilities. He also performed comparative analyses of various body organs¹⁶. These studies were conducted to understand the potential causes of various human disabilities including dwarfism.

Horst Schumman

Horst Schumman was another doctor who performed dangerous experiments. The main goal of such studies was to come up with new sterilization techniques that would ensure the Nazis destroyed the biological aspects of every conquered nation. The doctor exposed men’s testes and women’s ovaries to powerful X-rays¹⁷. The continued exposure to such rays produced burns on the buttocks, groins, and bellies of the subjects. The scientists eventually proved that surgical castration was the most appropriate and certain method for destroying the biological abilities of every single population.

Johann Kremer

Johann Paul Kremer was interested in the changes that take place during and after death. His study focused on the final hours before death. The doctor wanted to understand the behaviors of various organs during the process of dying. The other notorious doctors of the Nazi regime included August Hirt and Bruno Berger. These two scientists selected prisoners for their experiments. Berger collected the corpses of different prisoners who were murdered in the gas chambers and sent them to Hirt¹⁸. The skeletons from the corpses were used for different anthropological analyses. Most of the targeted prisoners were Jews and Poles. The main goal of these experiments was to demonstrate the strength and superiority of the Nordic race.

Victims

Groups of people

The Holocaust was a state-sponsored and systematic annihilation of approximately six million Jews¹⁹. After gaining power in 1933, the Nazis wanted to establish a society occupied by pure Germans only. According to these leaders, the Germans formed a superior race that faced numerous threats from various minority groups. For instance, the Jews were believed to be inferior. The Jews were also seen as a threat to the success and dominance of the Nordic community. This fact explains why the Jews were heavily targeted by the Nazis.

During the time of the Holocaust, the Germans also targeted several groups that were perceived to be inferior. The Roma (or the Gypsies) were also attacked and exterminated during the Holocaust. The Nazis also wanted to get rid of every disabled person in the society. Historical records have also proved that the Third Reich targeted the Slavic peoples. The Slavic peoples included the Russians and the Poles²⁰. The regime used different approaches to persecute more groups based on various ideological, political, and behavioral arguments. The targeted groups included homosexuals, socialists, and communists²¹. These groups were also targeted for various medical experiments.

Targeted groups

Jews and the handicapped

From the very beginning, the Germans believed that the Jews were a major threat to the success of their society. That being the case, the Jews became the prime targets of the Third Reich’s racism. By 1945, over six million Jews had been killed by the Nazis. The agenda also targeted and killed almost 200,000 Gypsies. The other groups killed include the physically and mentally handicapped patients. The total number of such victims was around 200,000²². Such individuals were murdered using the infamous Euthanasia Program.

Soviets, political dissidents, and homosexuals

Throughout the early 1940s, Nazi tyranny was spread across the continent thus perpetuating great atrocities. The Nazis and their collaborators murdered very many citizens across the region. For instance, the Nazis killed over two million Soviets. Most of these Soviets were prisoners of war or captives. According to different historians, most of these individuals died of mistreatment, neglect, disease, or starvation. Many prisoners were required to do forced labor in different states occupied by the Nazis²³. Most of these prisoners were forced to live in poor conditions. As well, the Nazis continued to kill various groups such as homosexuals, religious dissidents, and political opponents. Most of these groups were subjected to various inhumane experiments. The ultimate goal was to gather relevant data and information that could be used to further the concept of a master race in German.

Testimonies of tested subjects

The website presents various testimonies and statements from victims of the medical experiments conducted by the Nazis. One of the tested subjects indicated how different experiments were performed on her ovaries and uterus²⁴. The subject also explained how her ovaries shrank after several experiments done by Dr. Hirsh. Another subject explained how SS German Shepherd dogs were allowed to bite people during such deadly experiments. Most of the victims faced numerous health problems and eventually died because of cancer.

Testimonies from different people have explained how the Nazis gave their subjects all sorts of medicine thus making them nauseous²⁵. Most of the subjects became infertile and others deaf. Historical records also show clearly that majority of the tested subjects died shortly afterward thus being unable to narrate the facts of their ordeals.

During the Nuremberg Trials, several victims of the regime’s medical experiments narrated their stories about the atrocities faced during the period. One of these survivors was Jadwiga Dzido. Several medical procedures were inflicted on her in one of the Nazi’s concentration camps²⁶. Some of the medical procedures included injections of highly potent bacteria²⁷. Such dangerous experiments were performed by physicians such as Fritz Ernst Fischer and Herta Oberheuser. The other victim of the experiments conducted by the Nazis is Wladislava Karolewska. The Polish lady testified as a witness during the Nuremberg Trials in 1946.

Ethical dilemma in using knowledge gained from these experiments

The end of the Second World War led to new trials at Nuremberg to charge and prosecute individuals who had committed various crimes against humankind. The trials of various Nazi doctors exposed the atrocities conducted by different SS leaders and their accomplices. Many experts have argued that different Nazi doctors murdered in the name of medical research. However, modern medical professionals still believe that the move to condemn such doctors might be a complicated choice.

The biggest ethical issue arises when it comes to the use of the medical research obtained from the Nazi regime. Modern scholars have outlined useful medical literature from most of the experiments conducted by the Nazis. As well, some published works by different SS doctors have also been characterized by quality data. Scientists who plan to use this research have faced numerous social responsibility issues. The abuses observed in such research works have led to numerous questions²⁸.

The biggest question has been whether modern scholars can use data extracted from these studies²⁹. Some scholars have argued that such data should be censored. However, absolute censorship might not be the best decision. This might be the case when the information obtained from such studies is used to save lives. Every society should, therefore, consider the major benefits that might be obtained from these researches and medical experiments.

Scientists today argue that the best move is to ensure more people use this information while at the same time condemning the evils committed by the Nazi regime. It would be necessary to have a clear analysis and knowledge of the scientific value of this data. The available information should be aimed at promoting scientific studies that have the potential to improve the welfare of mankind. Once the data and information has been used, it would be appropriate for the author to condemn the horrors associated with the Third Reich. This approach will deliver a moral aberration in the world of medical science.

Whenever using data from various medical experiments conducted by the regime, the researcher should be ready to expose every immoral practice associated with it. Future medical scientists will be aware of the evils promoted by the Nazi doctors. This approach will ensure the beneficial aspects of the information are used to support human welfare³⁰. At the same time, researchers will outline the evils associated with different Nazi doctors and ensure they are never replicated in the future.

With this kind of understanding, doctors can use the insights gained from such experiments to perform various surgical procedures. For instance, individuals close to death can donate specific body organs to various recipients. As well, the ideas gained from such experiments explain why future scientists should be ready to prevent suffering. Scientists should be sensitive to address the needs of different subjects. The data obtained from various experiments performed by the Nazis can play a crucial role in saving more lives³¹. However, societies should embrace the best strategies to ensure the information obtained from such experiments is used ethically.

Concluding Remarks

The medical experiments performed by different Nazi physicians explain why scientists should act ethically. Most of the doctors performed fatal experiments that affected the lives of the targeted subjects. Such experiments were also done without the approval of the targeted prisoners. Hitler’s dictatorial regime used such experiments to gather new data for improving its superiority. One of the targeted goals was the promotion of its racial agenda. As well, such experiments were undertaken to deliver new insights that could be used to empower the German military. Individuals who want to use various scientific findings from such experiments should, therefore, be ready to condemn the malpractices of the above physicians.

Bibliography

Baumslag, Naomi. Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005.

Caplan, Arthur. When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust. New York: Springer Shop, 2012.

Cohen, Baruch. “Nazi Medical Experimentation: The Ethics of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments.” Jewish Virtual Library. 2016. Web.

Dyal, Elizabeth. “Nazi Medical Experimentation: Should the Data Obtained be Used.” Open SIUC 1 (2001): 1-22.

Personal Statements from Victims of Nazi Medical Experiments. “Testimonies of Jewish Victims of Nazi Medical Experiments conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.” Web.

Spitz, Vivien. Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans. Boulder: Sentient Publications, 2005.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Medical Case: US Prosecutor Details Illegal Experiments.” Web.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Nazi Medical Experiments — Photograph.” Web.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Nazi Medical Experiments — Photograph.” Web.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Verdict Announced in Medical Case.” Web.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Victims of Medical Experiments Testify during Medical Case.” Web.

Weindling, Paul. “Human Experiments and Nazi Genocide: A Problematic Legacy.” Review of Bioethics 1 (2007): 4-19.

Footnotes

1. Naomi Baumslag, Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005), 82.
2. Baruch Cohen, “Nazi Medical Experimentation: The Ethics of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments,” Jewish Virtual Library, 2016. Web.
3. “Verdict Announced in Medical Case,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016. Web.
4. Vivien Spitz, Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans (Boulder: Sentient Publications, 2005), 28.
5. Arthur Caplan When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust (New York: Springer Shop, 2012), 36.
6. Naomi Baumslag, Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005), 65.
7. Vivien Spitz, Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans (Boulder: Sentient Publications, 2005), 33.
8. “Verdict Announced in Medical Case,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2016. Web.
9. “Victims of Medical Experiments Testify during Medical Case,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2016. Web.
10. Baruch Cohen, “Nazi Medical Experimentation: The Ethics of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments,” Jewish Virtual Library, 2016. Web.
11. Naomi Baumslag, Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005), 89.
12. Elizabeth Dyal, “Nazi Medical Experimentation: Should the Data Obtained be Used,” Open SIUC 1 (2001): 12.
13. Arthur Caplan, When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust (New York: Springer Shop, 2012), 37.
14. Caplan, Bioethics, 37.
15. Baruch Cohen, “Nazi Medical Experimentation: The Ethics of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments,” Jewish Virtual Library, 2016. Web.
16. “Nazi Medical Experiments — Photograph,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2016. Web.
17. “Medical Case: US Prosecutor Details Illegal Experiments,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016. Web.
18. Naomi Baumslag, Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005), 56.
19. Baumslag, Murderous Medicine, 12.
20. Vivien Spitz, Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans (Boulder: Sentient Publications, 2005), 19.
21. Spitz, Doctors from Hell, 21.
22. Paul Weindling, “Human Experiments and Nazi Genocide: A Problematic Legacy,” Review of Bioethics 1 (2007): 9.
23. Naomi Baumslag, Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005), 89.
24. “Victims of Medical Experiments Testify during Medical Case,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016. Web.
25. “Testimonies of Jewish Victims of Nazi Medical Experiments conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany,” Personal Statements from Victims of Nazi Medical Experiments. Web.
26. “Nazi Medical Experiments — Photograph,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016. Web.
27. Vivien Spitz, Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans (Boulder: Sentient Publications, 2005), 43.
28. Baruch Cohen, “Nazi Medical Experimentation: The Ethics of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments,” Jewish Virtual Library, 2016. Web.
29. Arthur Caplan, When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust (New York: Springer Shop, 2012), 36.
30. Elizabeth Dyal, “Nazi Medical Experimentation: Should the Data Obtained be Used,” Open SIUC 1 (2001): 12.
31. Paul Weindling, “Human Experiments and Nazi Genocide: A Problematic Legacy,” Review of Bioethics 1 (2007): 9.

Introduction

The period during the Jewish holocaust (1941-1945) can be described as one of the saddest in the history of man kind. During that period, Jews in several parts of Europe were isolated, tortured and killed on orders of the Nazi regime. This paper seeks to use primary written accounts and photos to analyze life at the Kovno, Warsaw and Lodz Ghettos, which existed during this period.

Kovno Ghetto

Kovno is the Russian name for the Lithuanian capital of Kaunas. The city had about 45,000 Jews. Prior to the establishment of the Ghetto, the Russia’s Red army had been defeated by Lithuanians followed by the arrival of the German troops². The initial captures and shooting of Jews were carried out by the ‘Lithuanian partisans’ who had been hired by the Gestapo. This group of Lithuanians were against communism and inclined towards Germany. The Lithuanian and the Jewish community were divided because the Lithuanians felt that the Jews had supported the Red Army ².

Due to the continued capturing and shooting of the Jews at the forts, Rabbi Shapiro felt that the Jews should be separated from the Lithuanians to live into the Ghetto and thus a seven member council was appointed to lead the Jews ². Dr Elchanan Elkes was appointed the leader of the Council; in some of the pictures used for this anaylsis, Jews can be seen entering or transferring their belongings into the Kovno Ghetto.

After settling in the Ghetto, the Jews were ordered by Nazi to wear the Star of David on their chests; this can be ascertained by group of children in one of the pictures analysed can be seen with the Star of David on their garments. Five thousand Jews who were able to work were issued with the Jordan card, Jordan was the superintendent of Jewish affairs in Kovno ². The ghetto had a Jewish police force of about 300 officers who were unarmed and were used in the everyday running of affairs in the ghetto.

A week after the Jews had been sent into Ghetto, a German Commandant named Kolovski was appointed to lead the Ghetto. The Jews in the Kovno ghetto were thereafter subjected to poor living conditions. They were crowded in houses with inadequate food and without other basic necessities. The ghetto was fenced using a barbed wire and was always monitored by the German and Lithuanian Guards. The hardship conditions led the Jewish community into smuggling supplies into the ghetto ².

The Jews who fell into the category of skilled artisans were subjected to forced labour in various places of work outside the ghetto. The Jewish council also created some workshops for the less skilled, children and the elderly inside the Ghetto. The ghetto had also some underground schooling that took place without the knowledge of the German authorities.

The Jewish were subjected to inhuman killings in what was referred to as the ‘actions’. The so called actions were characterized by the rounding up of thousands of Jews, and taking them to the fort where they were shot to death.

The first of action happened when the German commandant who was incensed shootings at his residence ordered the rounding up of members of one block, took them to the forts and shot them. Only those with the Jordan card survived in that block. The ghetto had two parts separated by a wooden bridge, in another action all inhabitants of the smaller ghetto were killed either by shooting or burning to death; this included a hospital with all the patients and staff. In another action that is described as the ‘great action’, residents numbering to 12000 were rounded up and driven to the forts where they were killed ².

Towards the end, the ghetto was transformed into a concentration camp. Children and the elderly people were transferred to other places where they were probably killed. Those who hid in the bunkers were found driven to the forts and killed, thanks to the betrayal by the threatened Jewish police.

Out of the 45,000 individuals who had been admitted at the ghetto when it was established, only about 500 of them survived following the recapture of Kovno by soviet forces ².

The Warsaw Ghetto

The ghetto in Warsaw was established in 1940 by the German Authorities. All the Jews in Warsaw and the neighbouring areas were then rounded up and driven into the ghetto. The Warsaw ghetto occupied a relatively small area (4sq km) and housed more than 400,000 Jews ².

Just like several other ghettos in Poland and elsewhere, the Warsaw Ghetto was administered by a Judenrat, which can be described as a council of Jews. In the Warsaw Ghetto the Judenrat collaborated with Germans to commit atrocities on fellow Jews ².

Life in the Warsaw Ghetto was very difficult; the Jews there lived in the poorest of conditions. Some photos analysed show children dying in the streets due to starvation. Up to 100,000 inhabitants of the Ghetto are thought to have died from starvation and diseases such as typhoid ³. The Jews in the Warsaw ghetto engaged in illegal smuggling of food and other products into the ghetto for their survival.

Despite all the problems, life in the Warsaw ghetto was characterised by a rich culture complete with a functioning secret education system¹.

Deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazi forces begun in July 1942 whereby thousands of Jews would be assembled at the Umschlagplatz (assembling point) and then loaded into train carriages that transported them to Treblinka². Any resistance to deportation was dealt with ruthlessly; in one of the photos, hundreds of Jews are seen marching to a freight train to be transported to the Treblinka death camp.

As described in the documents, it’s important to note that the Jewish police, more than their polish or German counterparts manning the Warsaw Ghetto, were very instrumental in ensuring that the Jews got onto the train carriages to be transported to the Treblinka camp. They often solicited for bribes, sexual favours and other forms of exploitation to protect one from being transported to the Treblinka. Later, after around 300,000 people had been deported, the remaining residents learned that all the deported residents had actually been executed². The remaining residents loathed the Jewish policemen for taking part in the deportations. The Jewish police were later marginalized both in the Ghetto and outside where they were mobbed by poles for betraying their kinsmen.

On learning that they have been foolish all along by easily accepting to be deported, the remaining residents at the Warsaw ghetto decided to put up a resistance ³. The resistance which occurred as a surprise to the authorities had some gains but was defeated with the arrival of thousands of German troops. The ghetto was burned down, most of the residents shot and others transported to the death camps; one photo shows German troops burning buildings while two others show arrested Jews being assembled for transportation to the death camps ².

Lodz Ghetto

The Lodz ghetto was established in 1940 by Nazi with an initial population of 164, 000 Jews. The ghetto was disconnected from the outside world by German security forces that guarded it behind perimeter walls reinforced with barbed wire ². The Jewish council at the Lodz ghetto was headed by Rumkowski. Unlike other council leaders in other Ghettos, Rumkowski exercised a lot of power and was instrumental in ensuring that the Ghetto survived much longer compared to others through hard work; one picture shows him riding on a horse carriage in the ghetto ¹.

The Lodz Ghetto had a tighter security and no smuggling was undertaken as compared to other Ghettos. The Jews depended on the Germans for food and other needs. Starvation was rife in the ghetto and together with other ailments, its thought to have caused the deaths of up to 40,000 people ³.

Rumkowski served under Hans Biebov who was the Nazi officer in charge of the Lodz Ghetto. Under the stewardship of Rumkowski, the Lodz ghetto was transformed into an industrial complex producing many types of products for Germans; one picture shows Jewish workers wearing yellow stars and busy working in a garment factory.

Similar to other ghettos, the Lodz ghetto was overcrowded by the incoming Jews from other areas.

The first deportation was carried out in 1941, and this was overseen by Rumkowski who selected criminals and other unwanted elements for the deportation¹. Several other people we deported in the coming months. Rumkowski was made to believe that the deported Jews were going to work on farms, but later it became clear to him and other members of the ghetto that the deported were often killed. Thus he often stressed that the Jews at the Ghetto should work harder to enhance their survival. Twenty thousand children were later deported to the death camps in one of the most controversial deportations ever handled by Rumkowski; One of the pictures analyzed shows children lined up to board a truck during the deportation, another pictures shows the children being driven on wagons to assembly points ^2. The deportation of the children ended the schooling activities in the ghetto.

The Ghetto survived through to 1944 due to its economic importance to the Germans. However, it was later liquidated when the German forces got wary of the advancing Soviet forces. Rumkowski and his family were among the last groups to be deported to Auschwitz for execution. Nine hundred people who were left behind to clean the ghetto managed to survive after they were rescued by the Soviet forces ³.

Conclusion

As seen from the above analysis, all the three ghettos had this in common. Poor living conditions, indiscriminate killings and torture from authorities. The Warsaw ghetto was the largest and the least organized and its inhabitants were liquidated faster than the others. The Jews in the Lodz ghetto were virtually separated from outside world as they worked in the ghetto and were confined using stringent security measures. A smuggling economy thrived in both the Warsaw and the Kovno ghettos. The Jewish police in the Warsaw ghetto have been described as having played a major role in the demise of their kinsmen. A common trend that is seen in all the ghettos is that they were meant to be temporary holding areas before executing the Jewish population.

Reference List

1. Adelson, A & R Lapides, Inside a Community under Siege, Penguin Books, New York and London, 1989.
2. Berenbaum, M, Witness to the Holocaust: An Illustrated Documentary History of the Holocaust in the Words of its Victims, Perpetrators, and Bystanders, HarperCollins, New York.
3. Niewyk, D, Fresh Wounds: Early Narratives of Holocaust Survival, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London, 1998.

The Nazis perceived Internationalism in the context of the Holocaust to be a global perspective primarily held and advocated by Jews who were using it as a method designed to dominate the whole world. Racial anti-Semitism is prejudice against Jews as an ethnic group rather than against their religion. It came to its most extreme phase in the Jewish holocaust during World War Two.

The Wannsee Conference of January 20^th 1942 was a meeting of Nazi government officials held to notify departmental managers of units handling issues relating to Jews that Reinhard Heydrich had been given the task of spearheading what became known as “Final solution to the Jewish question”. It was held at held in Wannsee in Berlin, Germany.

Kristallnacht (German for Crystal Night) was a set of pogroms targeting Jews in parts of Germany and Austria in November 1938 that was caused by the assassination of Ernst vom Rath, a German diplomat, by Herschel Grynszpan, a Jew. The Heydrich Order, issued by Reinhard Heydrich, a senior Nazi Germany official, was a proclamation on Kristallnacht in which he instructed security agencies and Nazi party officials on how to carry out the pogrom.

Adolf Otto Eichmann was a leading German Nazi organizer of the Jewish Holocaust during the Second World War. He was appointed by Reinhard Heydrich to oversee the mass movement of Jews to concentration camps. He escaped Germany for Argentina after the war and lived there until 960 when he was captured by Israeli Mossad agents and tried in Israel.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was a resistance launched by Jews residing in a Warsaw Ghetto against German occupiers on January 18, 1943. The 25-point program was a political manifesto first proposed by the Austrian Nazis known as the Austrian National Socialist Party in 1918, followed by the German Nazis, known as the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in 1920. It had far reaching economic effects on Nazi Germany.

Despite the rabid anti-Semitism that had been growing in Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s, many Jews remained in the country they called home because they could not afford to emigrate. Having suffered and survived numerous pogroms at the hands of Europeans in the 200 years leading to World War Two, many assumed that the Nazi phase was a transient stage in a generally hostile country. A number of middle-class and rich Jews left or were forced out of Nazi territory (Germany and Austria), before the Holocaust but most remained and suffered a horrible end.

After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 up to the Wannsee conference of 1942, almost one million Jews were exterminated by German security forces carrying out a Nazi plan to expel or decimate the Jewish population.

This genocide was being perpetrated in an uncoordinated but concentrated manner that ensured racial anti-Semitism was maintained. However, the Wannsee conference chaired by Reinhard Heydrich proved to be the turning point as far as the “final solution” was concerned.

This plan to exterminate European Jews was the brainchild of Heinrich Himmler and was given impetus by the meeting. From that point on the genocide was carried out on an industrial scale with concentration camps and gas chambers being employed to quicken the process that was to stop only at the end of the war.

The Nazi movement is a revolutionary movement that was associated with the mass murder of Jews and Communists in an attempt to restore the reputation of Germany at the international level. The movement gained momentum during the 1929 global depression. The suppression of Jews was meant to bring cultural and national renewal to the Germans.

The appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor marked the beginning of the Holocaust. Hitler soon established a dictatorship regime that abolished all political parties and alienated Germany from the rest of the world. The Nazis’ ability to wield power and carry out the Holocaust is attributed to three factors.

To begin with, Hitler had some very enthusiastic supporters. Secondly, the many people who seemed less enthusiastic got along with the conditions of Hitler’s regime. The third factor is because few people had both the desire and courage to resist the Nazis.

The Nazi regime under the leadership of Hitler was very powerful because of the enthusiastic supporters of the Nazi party. Some of Hitler’s supporters were not even aware of the gravity of their actions at that time. The Holocaust was fueled by the Anti-Semitic propaganda that was being spread by Hitler’s supporters.

The Anti-Semitic propaganda was meant to create a rift between the Jews and the native Germans. The propaganda was able to manipulate the Nazi party supporters to burn the Kronenberg synagogue in 1938 (Mayer 20). After the disbandment of all political parties by Hitler’s regime, all politicians were forced to join the Nazi party or completely retire from politics.

The supporters who were behind the Anti-Semitic movement were commonly known as the SA policemen (Mayer 20). Karl-Heinz Schwenke is a notable Anti-Semite crusader during the Hitler regime.

Schwenke started spreading the Anti-Semite propaganda even before the Nazi party took over power from the previous government. Schwenke believed that the high inflation rate that was being experienced in German at that time was caused by Jews and this had led to him losing his business (Mayer 115).

Schwenke was an ardent supporter of the Nazi party, and he demonstrated this when he blatantly refused to support his son’s marriage because the bride’s father was not a member of the Nazi party (Mayer 21). Bruno Lipstky is another fanatic Hitler supporter who insisted on marching with the Nazi party members although he was a disable (Mayer 120).

The Anti-Semitic propaganda spread by supporters of the Nazi party was based on economic concepts and not necessarily political. Klingelholfer, who was a loyal party member claimed that the polices of the Nazi party were not racial but entirely political (Mayer 132).

The Hitler regime and its supporters always rejoiced at the suffering of Jews. Johann Kessler, one of Hitler’s loyal supporters rejoiced when a synagogue where Jews used to worship was completely burned down. Kessler considered this as the type of change that Hitler and his Nazi party had promised to them (Mayer 34).

The Hitler regime was not that popular during its initial stages but many Germans had no choice but get along with it. Germany suffered an economic depression after the First World War which led to many people losing their jobs while young people were unable to access meaningful employment.

This difficult economic situation led to Gustavo Schwenke becoming an SA policeman for money in the year 1932 (Mayer 114). Heinrich Wedekind was a baker who joined the Nazi party in order to maintain a relationship with his wife and two children. The other reason why Wedekind joined the Nazi party was to save his bakery business at that time. Wedekind later found a perfect excuse to quite the SA movement (Mayer 37).

Herr Damm is another opportunistic supporter who joined the Nazi party in order to get a job. Damm became a member of the Nazi party in order to in order to secure a job in the party offices (Mayer 90). Since it was risky to engage in open rebellion against Hitler’s regime, some people joined the Nazi party because they had no other option.

Rosenthal, a bank director then is an example of this group of people (Mayer 79). Another party member who was forced to join the Nazi party is Willy Hofmeister. Hofmester was a police officer who was forced to join the party by the Police Chief (Mayer 99). Other people later joined the Nazi party because everybody was doing it.

Hitler’s regime was so powerful that no one had the desire and courage to resist it. The Nazis increasingly became brutal to anyone who engaged in open rebellion. This was attributed to the fact that Hitler and his party had come to power through militarism.

Anyone who tried to oppose the party together with its policies was instantly killed by Hitler’s security forces or ardent supporters. Many people who were opposed to the Anti-Semitic movement imitated by the Nazi party were force to flee the country because their lives were in danger. Ernst von Weizsackker was a minister in the previous government who was against the Nazi doctrines.

Weizsacker ordered the killing of millions of Jews as a way of racial cleansing (Mayer 86). Herr Simon joined the Nazi party as a way of getting rid of Communists whom he hated so much. Heinrich Hildebrandt is a high school teacher who joined the Nazi party although he was against their ideologies and policies (Mayer 35).

Hildebrandt was influenced to join the Nazi party by his father who was an old army colonel. His father’s aim was to keep him at his possession (Mayer 35). The Nazi regime was widely feared in Europe and the rest of the world because of its brutality.

All German citizens were forced to join the Nazi party either willingly or unwillingly because the consequences of rebellion were very severe (Mayer 35). Under Hitler’s leadership, Germany became a one party state.

In the height of the Second World War, Hitler ordered the persecution and extermination of all the Jews across the world. This decision was arrived at after realizing that deportation was proving to be costly. It is the overwhelming support that Hitler received form the Nazi Supporters and international allies that enabled him to wield a lot of power.

In conclusion, Hitler is still being remembered in history as one of the most brutal and evil leaders that the world has ever seen. The Anti-Semitic movement initiated by Hitler later degenerated into a Holocaust. Hitler and his supporters were able to carry out the Holocaust because of the immense power wielded d by the Nazis.

The Nazi party had a fanatical following across the country and this provided Hitler with a perfect opportunity to carry out his mission of suppressing Jews and Communists in Germany and the rest of the world. All the German citizens were forced to comply with the Nazi doctrines that aimed at eliminating Jews and Communists from the face of the earth.

Works Cited

Mayer, Milton. They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1955. Print.

Hitler was one of the most notorious dictators the world has ever seen. He engineered the most horrific activities in the history of humankind, the holocaust. The rise of the Nazis to power in 1933 led to the establishment of thousands of concentration camps, which were centers of mass murders of Jews. Most Germans supported the ideology that led to the persecution of the Jews.

The Nazis viewed the Jews as a foreign race that was in an eternal battle for dominance with the Aryans. Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, is a clear illustration of his contempt towards the Jews. The book regards the Jews as an inferior race that should not take part in Germany’s political, cultural, and intellectual life.

The book, which was a best seller, during his time as Germany’s leader, brainwashed Germans into conforming to his ideas. Therefore, Hitler had millions of ardent followers who were willing to persecute Jews. In fact, there is no record of coercion of civilians by the Nazis to persecute Jews.

Civilians did so out of their own free will. Even German intellectuals conformed to the Nazi ideology. Doctors used Jews as guinea pigs for undertaking various medical tests (Fishel, 1998).

During the holocaust, there was institutionalization of persecution of the Jews. All institutions helped in the persecution of the Jews. The intellectual society did not raise a finger to prevent the mass murder of the Jews. In fact, it aided the mass murders. Dr. Josef Mengele was one of the most notorious intellectuals who supported the persecution of the Jews.

Dr. Mengele carried out medical experiment using human subjects from various concentration camps. Some of the experiments included testing of drugs, surgeries, and amputations. This inhuman treatment inflicted great suffering to the people. In most instances, it culminated in the death of the human subjects. This is despite the fact the medical profession requires doctors to obtain consent from the patients before using them in undertaking any experiments.

Dr. Mengele killed and dissected most of the patients who did not die from the experiments (Fishel, 1998). However, not all intellectuals supported Hitler and his ideologies after he ascended to power. Hitler gained the support of the intellectuals gradually. When Hitler ascended to power, he attacked several groups that had opposed him gradually and systematically.

Hitler first attacked members of parties that did not support him. Afterwards he attacked intellectuals at universities. Hitler then attacked prominent church leaders. Finally, Hitler turned to his main targets, the Jews. Hitler attacked each of the above groups as minority groups (Zassenhaus, 1974). Gradual attack and isolation of the groups reduced the resistance of the groups.

These groups were the only institutions in the society that were capable of mobilizing people against Hitler’s ideologies, which advocated for mass murder of Jews. Therefore, removal of these obstacles facilitated the propagation of Hitler’s ideologies by the masses.

During the holocaust, pogroms were common within the regions that were under the control of the Germans. Pogrom refers to mob attacks by civilians against Jews. Pogroms usually led to the killing of Jews and destruction of property and religious centers of the Jews. Authorities usually condoned the persecution of the Jews during the pogroms.

Pogroms may also target certain ethnic groups in the society. In the Nazi Germany, pogroms were very common. Civilians killed thousands of Jews in the streets of various towns. Various scholars trace the beginning the holocaust to an anti-Jewish riot in 1938 – Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass). During the riot, civilians attacked Jews and vandalized their property.

The riots led to the killing of nearly 100 Jews. In addition, the Nazis sent approximately 30,000 Jews to various concentration camps. The Jews stayed in the concentration camps for several weeks. The government granted the Jews freedom on condition that they would transfer their property to the Nazis or if they proved that they would emigrate in the near future. During the pogrom, civilians destroyed approximately 7,000 Jewish businesses and more than 1,600 synagogues.

The riots took place simultaneously in Germany and Austria. The major cause of the pogrom was the assassination of a German diplomat by a Jewish minor in Paris. The Nazis took advantage of this event to instigate civilians to undertake widespread persecution of Jews (Zassenhaus, 1974). The fact that the Nazi party could mobilize people to undertake widespread persecution of the Jews is a clear indication that many people prescribed to the ideals of the Nazi party.

Not all pogroms occurred at the hands of the Germans. Citizens of other countries also persecuted Jews. One such pogrom was the Iasi Pogrom, which was one of the deadliest pogroms during the holocaust. The pogrom occurred in Romania. It resulted in the death of more than 13,000 Jews. Civilians, police, and military officials carried out the mass murder of the Jews (Frank, 2001).

Between June and July of 1941, the Nazis and Ukrainian police organized two large pogroms in the Ukrainian city of Lwow. The pogroms resulted in the death of approximately 6,000 Jews. The pogrom was a retribution for the alleged collaboration of the Jews with the Soviet government. Poland was one the regions that had the largest number of Jews in Europe.

As a result, there was widespread persecution of the Jews by both the civilians and the Nazis. The holocaust resulted in the death of more than three million Jews in Poland. The Jedwabne pogrom, which occurred in July 1941, is one of the many pogroms that took place in Poland. During the pogrom, non-Jewish Poles burned more than 300 Jews in a barn house.

The non-Jewish Poles undertook the killing of the Jews under the supervision of the police (Herzog, 2006). In Lithuania, anti-Jewish pogroms in Kaunas resulted in the killing of approximately 3,800 Jews and the burning of Jewish settlements and synagogues. The Nazis and the Lithuanian police led the anti-Jewish pogroms in Kaunas (Fishel, 1998).

In all the pogroms that took place in various parts of the German territory, the Nazis did not use coercion to instigate civilians to kill Jews. Civilians killed Jews out of their own free will. In addition, the Nazis did not impose punishments on people who did not take part in the killings. Most attacks involved unarmed Jews and heavily armed civilians.

The police usually supervised the killings of the Jews by the civilians. This made it difficult for the Jews to defend themselves. However, the number of the Jews killed by civilians during the anti-Jewish pogroms is only a small fraction of the total number of Jews who died during the holocaust. Millions of Jews died in the extermination camps.

References

Fishel, J. (1998). The holocaust. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing.

Frank, B.G. (2001). A travel guide to Jewish Europe, Third edition. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing.

Herzog, D. (2006). Lessons and legacies vii: The holocaust in international perspective. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

Zassenhaus, H. (1974). Walls: Resisting the third Reich- one woman’s story. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Wistrich gives us the reasons why the Nazi party in Germany made Jews the target of their collective rage. It was believed that the Jews were especially inclined toward communism and indeed many of the communist leaders were Jewish in origin. Hitler believed that Marxism was a tool employed by the Jews in a plan to impose their domination upon the whole world¹.

While it is true that Karl Marx was ethnically Jewish, and many Marxist and communist leaders, such as Trotsky were also Jewish, there does not exist any evidence to suggest that they were also inclined toward Judaism as a religion. On the contrary Communists were inclined to hate all religion, regarding it as a tool employed by the upper class in order to perpetuate their rule over the lower classes².

The Nazis held the Jews responsible for Germany’s defeat in the First World War. They charged Jews with war profiteering and political and moral corruption.

Hitler rejected parliamentary democracy as a system of rule because it allowed minorities, such as the Jews, to have disproportionate influence in running the affairs of the country³. The Nazis and other populist political movements in Germany believed that the Jews had undue influence in the country through their prominent positions in the media and the financial system⁴.

Lewis takes a look at Anti-Semitism throughout the ages. He points out that in the medieval period, European attacks on Jews were based on Christian theology; Jews were accused of Deicide and were targeted by the Christian communities in which they lived, as enemies of Jesus Christ.

During the renaissance, the role of Christianity in society was considerably reduced; this however did not mean an end to the hostility against Jews. Anti-Semitic rhetoric in the post-renaissance period focused on Jewish ethnic and racial differences with the non-Jewish population⁵.

According to Hobbes, the state of nature is that of constant warfare and strife among different entities. Being a product of nature, Humans are subject to the same impulses and motivations which drive animals to make war upon one another.

Accord to Hobbes peace and order among Humans can only be established by Human governments within the confines of collective entities or nations. This order is imposed through coercion and through limits placed on the freedom of action of individuals. Also a shared set of norms and values is a necessity for establishing peace.⁶

According to Hobbes, at the level of different nations there cannot be permanent peace; nations can only be perpetual conflict with one another though the intensity of the conflict may be reduced. This is because at the international level there exists no supreme force that may coerce nations into adopting a certain standard of behavior. Different nations have different norms and hold different sets of values⁷.

According to this theory, it is simple to understand why the Jews faced hostility wherever they reside. It is the very fact that Jews thought of themselves as a separate nation with a separate agenda and different set of collective interests, and held on to a different set of norms and moral values than the non-Jewish communities in which they resided, which repeatedly made them the target of collective hatred.

Different prevailing ideological currents of the times made the rhetoric applied different; however the underlying conflict always remained the same.

I believe that it is quite possible for two or more ethnic communities to live peacefully in a single nation. This however is only possible if the two ethnic groups regard think of themselves, primarily as members of the same nation.

In situations where two or more ethnic communities living together in a country consider each other to be members of different nations, there is bound to be conflict between them. A laissez faire liberal democratic system is inadequate in preventing concentration of power within a minority of the population, which is why we need to have restrictions on influence peddling and the creation of media monopolies etc.

Bibliography

Hitler, Adolf. “Nation and Race.” In The Holocaust: A Reader, edited by S. Gigliotti and B. Lang, 68-81. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.

Lewis, Bernard. “Anti-Semites.” In The Holocaust: A Reader, edited by S. Gigliotti and B. Lang, 17-41. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.

MacIntyre, A. A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the Twentieth Century. New York, NY: Routledge, 1998.

McLellan, David. Marx Before Marxism. London: Macmillan, 1980.

Wistrich, Robert S. “From Weimar to Hitler.” In The Holocaust: A Reader, edited by S. Gigliotti and B. Lang, 44-67. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.

Footnotes

¹ Wistrich, Robert S. “From Weimar to Hitler.” In The Holocaust: A Reader, edited by S. Gigliotti and B. Lang, 44-67. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.

² McLellan, David. Marx Before Marxism. London: Macmillan, 1980.

³ Wistrich

⁴ Hitler, Adolf. “Nation and Race.” In The Holocaust: A Reader, edited by S. Gigliotti and B. Lang, 68-81. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.

⁵ Lewis, Bernard. “Anti-Semites.” In The Holocaust: A Reader, edited by S. Gigliotti and B. Lang, 17-41. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.

⁶ MacIntyre, A. A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the Twentieth Century. New York, NY: Routledge, 1998.

⁷ MacIntyre

History scholars have always favored orthodox ideas over the unorthodox ones. This means there is a likelihood that scholars who front unorthodox ideas can easily be ignored regardless of whether those ideas are valid or not. Over the years, there have been unorthodox books that have managed to infiltrate the mainstream scholarly world and achieve some recognition.

Examples of books that lean towards unorthodox research, claims, and findings are the books written by revisionists or deniers of the Holocaust. Deborah Lipstadt’s book “Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory” is written as a response to these unorthodox claims.

Lipstadt, a university professor offers a rebuttal to the Holocaust deniers by providing credible research in her book. Throughout the book, the author refrains from treating her work as sacred history but presents facts that are devoid of emotions. Her attack on deniers is well researched and presented in a coherent manner.

Lipstadt’s book presents opposition to the deniers’ fascist-apologist propaganda. Lipstadt’s book focuses its attack on the research methodologies that most scholarly Holocaust deniers use. The book exposes how deniers participated in the fabrication of historical materials and twisted various truths to further their denial agendas¹. According to the author, the lies that are often used by deniers have the capacity to bring down nations if they are accepted².

Lipstadt’s analysis focuses on the patterns and methods that are employed by Holocaust deniers. The book is divided into chapters that focus on the history and methods that are used to distort the truth and the memory of the Holocaust. The term ‘historical revisionism’ is used to refer to the objectives of Holocaust deniers.

There are chapters that are dedicated to the statements, activities, and literary works of various deniers. Some of the Holocaust deniers whose work is explored in the book include Arthur Butz, Austin App, and Mark Weber. In addition, the author extends her criticism to the “Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust” and the “Institute for Historical Review”³.

The author does not waste time in launching her attack on revisionists and deniers of the Holocaust history. This helps the readers to understand the author’s stand right from the start. However, the author is able to use valid points in her work. For instance, the author uses the case of one of the experts whose opinion is usually cited by the deniers’ literature. Engineer Fred Leuchter is one of the people whose expert opinion was sought to ascertain the presence of gas chambers in Nazi concentration camps.

The author reckons that Leuchter’s services were sought and paid for by a neo-fascist group. Luechter’s final report indicated that gas chambers did not exist in concentration camps⁴. However, after being investigated Leuchter was found to be a fraud. He did not possess any engineering degree and his earlier attempts to work with the United States government had been denied. Even though this has been proven, revisionists and deniers still cite the report he compiled denying the existence of gas chambers.

The lack of credibility in the research that is usually cited by Holocaust deniers poses a great obstacle to their claims. The revisionists are desperate to cling to any resemblance of research in spite of its questionable credibility. This is one of the author’s chief claims. “Denying the Holocaust” calls the reader’s attention to the misleading research that is often used by revisionists and deniers.

One of the most interesting angles in this book is the investigation as to what was the deniers’ agenda. According to the author, the deniers sought to whitewash the activities of Hitler and his Nazi administration by blaming the Allies and their ‘Jewish advisors’⁵. The book claims that deniers often group the latter groups for pressing Japan to attack Pearl Harbor and Hitler to invade France and Poland. These claims seem to justify the activities that took place during the Holocaust including the mass murders⁶.

In addition, this argument is structurally weak and it is only perpetuated because it suits the deniers’ agenda. By agreeing to such an argument, it would be possible to legitimize the existence and operations of the Nazi. While it might be remotely possible to downplay the Holocaust, appropriating Nazi’s activities is almost impossible. The author seeks to highlight the ridiculousness of revisionists’ claims using this angle. The argument is also strong enough to draw the reader’s attention to the ineptitude of the deniers of the Holocaust.

Modern scholarship is more tolerant of unorthodox research. However, due to this fact most people are continuously getting involved in the fabrication of research findings as long as the end result looks scholarly⁷. The deniers of the Holocaust usually employ such tactics according to Lipstadt. The author reckons that holocaust deniers are able to lace lies with scholarly jargon managing to make the lies look like truth.

Nevertheless, the author is not against all unorthodox research. Instead, she requests history scholars to be vigilant when navigating through some of this unorthodox research. The author specifically takes issue with the popular revisionist view that the victims of the Holocaust were “aggressive conspirators”⁸. The author mentions both Daniel Irving and David Dukes as the chief deniers of the Holocaust and Hitler admirers.

By mentioning specific people in her book, the author manages to give her readers faces and views that they can associate with the Holocaust denial. The readers are able to explore the standpoints of the mentioned individuals and contrast them with their own views. Most writers often refrain from mentioning specific names of their detractors, as they fear that their work might look like a personal attack.

However, Lipstadt does not abide to this decorum. Nevertheless, her solid research is able to keep the book from looking like a personal attack. The author mentions particular individuals with the aim of attacking their individualistic standpoints. For instance, the author notes that none of the forefront revisionists is actively involved in anti-Semitic shenanigans⁹.

These personalities only act as inciters to their less informed counterparts. The continued exploration of the leading personalities in the revisionist movement helps the author prove her point. Readers are able to see how the personal traits of the revisionists are applied to the grand lie that is the denial of the Holocaust.

“Denying the Holocaust,” offers readers a rich and factual history of revisionism and Holocaust denial. The author highlights the earliest instances of Holocaust denial. One of the earliest cases of denial happened in the 1940s when Paul Rassinier refuted the number of the Jews who perished in the Holocaust¹⁰.

Rassinier’s denial attempts were mostly verbal, as he did not launch any major literary attack on the legitimacy of the Holocaust. Most of the other deniers who came after Rassinier continued perpetrating his brand of falsehoods using articles and pamphlets. Most of the Holocaust denial that happened before the 1970s was very similar to racism because of its anti-Semitic undertones.

However, revisionism was upgraded in the 1970s when the publication of revisionist literature began in earnest. Some of the most notable Holocaust denial materials include the 1973 pamphlet “The Six Million Swindle”, the 1974 pamphlet “Did Six Million Really Die?”, and the 1977 booklet “The Hoax of the Twentieth Century”¹¹. The latter publications were structured in a scholarly manner and they managed to gain some recognition in the mainstream Holocaust history.

These publications also acted as trailblazers for the subsequent revisionist publications. The history of Holocaust denial reveals an interesting development. Initially, all revisionist publications were informal in nature¹². However, this changed in the 1970s when the need to disguise revisionist literature as research arose.

This change in tactic warrants some investigation. One possible reason for this change was the fact that the challenge on revisionism was on the rise during the 1970s. The backlash against anti-Semitism was also increasing and the anti-Semitic revisionists sought refuge in their scholarly publications. The other possible reason why revisionism was on the rise was that many materials that supported the existence of the Holocaust were being discovered around this time.

A question that is common in the debate between Holocaust historians and revisionists is how revisionists are able to stand against such overwhelming evidence. There is a lot of evidence supporting the Holocaust and it is therefore prudent to assume that there is no way anyone can be able to deny its existence.

However, numerous revisionists, Holocaust deniers, Nazi apologists, and anti-Semites constantly challenge the authenticity of the Holocaust¹³. The author of “Denying the Holocaust” tries to solve this puzzle. The answer to this puzzle lies in the fanatical nature of the deniers. Deniers use a wide range of tricks and falsehoods to avoid getting off the fanatical revisionist bandwagon. Lipstadt gives examples of some of the tricks used by deniers.

For instance the author notes that deniers “simply discount Jewish testimony out of hand as lie or fantasy; exculpatory testimony from the Nazis themselves is said to have been coerced by the triumphant Allies”¹⁴. Any documents that are discovered as proof of the Holocaust are often dismissed as forgeries or paraphrased to suit the deniers’ agenda.

Sometimes the deniers’ attempts can be borderline ridiculous as exemplified by the claim that some of the remains that were discovered in Nazi’s concentration camps were victims of typhoid and cholera¹⁵. Nevertheless, the ridiculous nature of revisionists raises the question whether writing a full-length book disputing them is a worthwhile venture. It seems like the deniers are their own undoing and Lipstadt’s book just flatters their efforts.

Although Lipstadt’s book seems like an unnecessary engagement with racist propagandists, the book is a strong tool against the denial movement that seems to be on the rise. “Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory” divulges the deniers’ intentions and tactics to the readers while maintaining its historical and scholarly stature.

There are several reasons why this book is a positive contribution to Holocaust history. While the book might seem pointless at first, it serves as an antidote to the increasing denial on the Holocaust.

Bibliography

Gilbert, Martin. The Holocaust. New York: Hill & Wang, 2005.

Lipstadt, Deborah. Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. New York: Free Press, 1993.

Footnotes

¹ Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. (New York: Free Press, 1993), 42.

² Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. (New York: Free Press, 1993), 9.

³ Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, 159.

⁴ Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, 224.

⁵ Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. (New York: Free Press, 1993), 84.

⁶ Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, 226.

⁷ Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. (New York: Free Press, 1993), 159.

⁸ Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, 197.

⁹ Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, 54.

¹⁰ Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. (New York: Free Press, 1993), 187.

¹¹ Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, 102.

¹² Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, 21.

¹³ Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust. (New York: Hill & Wang, 2005), 67.

¹⁴ Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. (New York: Free Press, 1993), 111.

¹⁵ Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. (New York: Free Press, 1993), 205.

Overview

The Holocaust is considered the worst genocide that human civilization has ever experienced. It occurred during the reign of Adolf Hitler over Germany and saw the death of approximately six million Jews among other individuals who were targeted by the Nazi regime due the difference in ideology and perspective towards life and other issues (Gross 5). Examples of these individuals and groups include homosexuals, followers of the Jehovah Witness religious domination, and individuals with physical disability and mental impairments. More specifically, this paper will critically analyze the Jew community as the victims of the Holocaust. To achieve its objective, the paper will expound on why the Nazi government targeted the Jews, why did these attacks come during this specific period, the role that average German citizens played and the overall experiences of Jews as victims of the Holocaust.

Jews as the Victims of the Holocaust

Jews had always been victims of violent crime and persecution in Europe for several decades prior to their victimization during the Holocaust. Anti-Semitism thoughts resulted to the stereotyping of Jews as individuals and as a community as large all over Europe. For instance, during the 1800s, Jews were persecuted in Europe as a result of their religious beliefs. In Nazi Germany however, Jews were persecuted for anything else rather than their religious beliefs (Gross 6). The Nazi government believed that the Aryan race was the most supreme race all around the world. As such, it needed to be maintained pure and flourish at the expense of other races and social groups. With this in mind, the Nazi government viewed the Jew community in Europe as a competing race. It is as a result of this fact that the Nazi government, first indirectly and later on directly, commences targeting Jews in Nazi Germany as well as other territories that Germany occupied in Europe during the Nazi era.

Prior to the reign of the Nazi government in Germany, the Jew population was estimated to be around nine million. At the end of the reign of this government, the Jew population was estimated to be approximately three million. Over two-thirds of this population had died in one way or the other as a result of the brutal treatment of the Nazi government. As asserted earlier, the Nazi government had developed the propaganda that the Aryan race is the strongest in the world. Using Social Darwinism as the basis of their argument, they believed that they will flourish by taking advantage of vulnerable populations and outcompeting rival ones. The Jews happened to be their rival race and as such, it was the role of the Nazi government to ensure their total elimination. A strategic elimination process was thus developed by the Nazi government to ensure the total elimination of the Jew population not only in German occupied Europe but all around the world since the Nazi government had the hopes of ruling the world at some point. The elimination process that was put in place saw the death of approximately six million of Jews by the end of the Second World War.

The Holocaust Era

Several scholars have tried to expound on the question of why the holocaust occurred during this particular time. A number of theories have been advanced to try to explain and answer this question. It is however believed that power was valued by most developed nations during the late 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th century. As a result of the advancements that the world had been experiences from the scientific and industrial revolutions, nations were in a quest of seeking more raw materials, labor, and market for finished products. After gaining power, the Nazi government embarked on a process of increasing its superiority in Europe. After ensuring that its armed forces were well trained and equipped, Germany started expanding its borders by attacking nations such as Poland, Denmark, France and so forth resulting in the commencement of the Second World War.

In the course of their conquest, German forces singled out Jew populations in the newly captured territories and transported them to concentration camps where they were stripped off their belongings and divided into different groups based on their age, sex, and abilities. There are those who were immediately killed after arriving at the concentration camps while others were made to work under extreme condition until they died. The expected lifespan of Jews in the concentration camps was approximately nine months. By eliminating the Jews, the Nazi government believed that the Aryan race would flourish and achieve total dominance of Europe and the world at large.

The German Population During the Holocaust

Hitler rose to power duty to the political influence he had in Germany after the First World War shaping up Europe during this era (Gross 3). He clearly preached out his ideology to the general German population. His book, Mein Kamf (translated as My Struggle), clearly stated his ideology to the masses in Germany. Average Germans who were supporters of Hitler and his Nazi government used this book as a blueprint of their approaches towards life. Therefore, average German citizens played a critical role in victimizing Jews during the Holocaust. The belief that they were a better race as compared to other races all around the world was deeply engraved in most German citizens. Additionally, most of them had developed resentment and hatred towards Jews.

The Nazi government formulated policies and laws that has negative impacts on Jews either directly or indirectly. On the onset, these laws indirectly targeted Jews establishment all over Germany and included boycotts as well as making it difficult for them to practice their professions or seek employment. These laws were implemented by the average Germans who boycotted business premise of Jews, refused to employ them or to defend Jews in the fight for their rights of practicing their profession in Germany. Additionally, the tension between the Germans and their Jew counterparts grew stronger with time especially in social contexts. Finally, the Hitler Youth and other Nazi groups directly expressed their resentment towards Jews through their parades and activities all around Germany. These acts further segregated Jews and increased their instances of victimization.

Experience of Jews during the Holocaust

Despite the fact that the Nazi government targeted various populations and groups during its reign over Germany, the Jew population experienced the most suffering. The Jews suffered social, political, and economic humiliation and frustration during this Era. The establishments of Jews were destroyed, their careers ended, and the entire community segregated from the rest of Germany and other territories that Nazi Germany occupied during this Era. In Poland, for instance, Jews were concentrated in Ghettos where the standards of living were very low. Starvation, poor sanitation, and death were very common. Additionally, the Jews were denied the chance to vacate Germany despite the fact that they had passports that could enable them move out of German occupied territories. Instead, they were arrested and falsely persecuted (Gross 26). In the end, they were all directed to concentration camps where they were executed in a precise and orderly manner (Gross 96). From a critical point of view, one can easily conclude that Jews did not have any rights nor enjoy the rule of law in Nazi Germany.

Works Cited

Gross, Tan. Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland , New York: Princeton University Press, 2001. Print.

In ancient times there was no justification needed to annihilate a tribe or an ethnic group. Tribal leaders and warlords committed genocide because it was a strategic thing to do. But in the 20^th century the idea of destroying the lives of millions of people based on an ideology was considered absurd. Political leaders require justification to declare war against another state. This claim is strengthened by the outcome of the First World War where the loss of lives and property convinced global leaders and ordinary individuals that war benefits no one. It is therefore interesting to point out that a few decades later Hitler was able to mastermind a global conflagration that engulfed Europe and Asia. Aside from that, Hitler was responsible for the murder of millions of European Jews. These dastardly acts were made possible because of his hatred, frustration and ideology.

It was one of the most atrocious acts in human history but surprisingly the German people were silent and many supported Hitler and the Nazi political party. There were two main factors that contributed to this complicity. First, the German people were humiliated in the aftermath of World War I. Secondly, Hitler developed an ideology based on Darwin’s theory, that there is a hierarchy when it comes to human beings and at the to of the hierarchy are the Aryan people whose descendants were the German people (Wistrich, 2001). Hitler strengthened his argument through the publication of a booklet entitled Mein Kampf.

Before going any further it is important to point out the kind of mindset that the German people had back then that made it easier for Hitler to convince them to join him in a quest to reclaim lost glory and to annihilate the Jews. All can be traced back to the aftermath of the First World War. The victors comprised of the alliance of Great Britain, France, and the United States defeated the combined forces of Germany, Austro-Hungary, Turkey and Italy (Bartov, 2003). But it was Germany that took the brunt of the war because millions of German soldiers died in the said conflict (Keegan, 1998).

Aside from the military defeat Germany had to endure the economic hardships that came as the direct consequence of broken lives and resources destroyed on and off the battlefield (Keegan, 1998). Furthermore, the victors of the said war demanded that Germany must pay for leading the conflict and this demand can be satisfied by giving up territories conquered prior to World War I people had to contend with severe economic losses. Adding insult to injury Germany was forced to give up military expansion and the victors demanded that the German government must give up conquered territories prior to World War I (Grenville, 2011).

The German people were extremely unhappy with the armistice (Keegan, 1998). The young men and the soldiers criticized the decisions made by their political leaders. It was more than national pride on the line. There were many young soldiers who were angry at the treatment that they received from foreign governments and one of them was a young corporal named Adolf Hitler. Hitler saw action in the First World War and in the aftermath of the global conflict he began to contemplate how to bring Germany back to its former position in the world stage (Grenville, 2011). Hitler desperately wanted to make Germany great once again (Bosworth, 1994).

Hitler saw the dominance of foreign powers as a major factor in the suffering of the German people. But aside from global political arena he also saw another reason why the German people are suffering. Hitler believed that the Jews are to blame for much of Germany’s problems (Bartov, 2003). Hitler’s desire to eliminate the Jews can be very difficult to understand for an outsider and for those who live many decades after the Holocaust. But a deeper examination of the social and political factors of that period will reveal why Hitler had no misgivings when it comes to giving the order to kill six million Jews (Bauer, 2002).

Hitler began to develop a message of hope and hate. He provided hope by creating a vision of a new Germany while at the same time he made the general public believed that the Jews were contemptible people. Hitler made great speeches, exclaiming that Germany lost many of their sons in the battle field. In one of his speeches Hitler appealed to the emotions of the listeners and he said that they must honor the sacrifice of 2 million Germans who died in the war (Keegan, 1998).

After convincing Germany and the world that his rhetoric was both political and nationalistic in nature, Hitler began to expand the coverage of his ideology by pointing to the Jews as the enemy in their midst (Bauer, 2002). The emotionally-charged speeches as well as the pervading economic hardship in Germany created a slippery slope for Hitler and his supporters. They could never recover the moral compass that they lost in the process. Hitler and his followers were overwhelmed by their fanatical zeal and their hatred. They were blinded by their ideology so much so that when it was time to pull the trigger on a hapless Jewish man, woman and child, there was no hesitation on the part of the soldier that carried the order.

It is important to revisit the past in order to prevent the repetition of certain atrocious acts. By remembering the holocaust and the events that preceded the murder of European Jews one can develop awareness in order to eradicate prejudice that can lead to genocide. However, it is also important to figure out the relevance of historical facts. Thus, this study is not only a review of history but an attempt to understand how people in the 21^st century come to view Hitler and his actions.

The data for this study was collected from a sample population. In this research, the criterion for inclusion was the age of the respondent. All the respondents must be at least 30 years old. The reason for this is to make sure that the respondents are well informed. This would also help ensure that most of the respondents went to college and therefore aware of important historical information such as Hitler and the Holocaust. If this is not the case then the researcher would not be able to account for error in the research because the respondents may not have a clear understanding regarding the significance of Hitler’s actions.

In this study specific questions were developed and then used to collect data from respondents. For simplicity of data analysis, the research questions were designed in the form of multiple choice questionnaires. The respondents were asked to choose one question from a list given to them. A digitized version of the questionnaire was sent via Blackberry cell phone.

Some of the challenges encountered during this research process included but not limited to non-responsiveness of the targeted participants. Some of the targeted participants did not answer the electronic survey forms given to them. This outcome interfered with the data analysis process. As a result the proponent of the said research had to use certain statistical tools to account for missing data. At the same time, the researchers encountered problems when it comes to the time constraints of the study because the targeted participants did not immediately submitted the answers the electronic forms that they were supposed to answer.

In this study, 68 respondents were surveyed and all of them were able to respond to the questions; however not all of them answered all the questions asked in the questionnaire. There were five questions listed in the survey. There were 3 questions that were answered by all the respondents while there were 2 questions that were not answered by one respondent in each case. Based on each question that was listed in the research survey form these were the responses. The first questions intended to measure the respondent’s general perception and opinion regarding Hitler who was the subject of the said study.

The majority of the people surveyed or 54% responded by saying that Hitler was a genius. There 20% of the respondents who said that Hitler was crazy. There were 32% of the respondents who answered that Hitler was misunderstood. This implies that majority of the respondents, as much as 80% must have approved of Hitler’s actions since it is only 20% who believed that he was crazy. The rest have chosen to describe him favorably as a genius while others said he was merely misunderstood. It could also probably mean that people misjudged Hitler based on this data.

The second question asked respondents if Hitler should be forgotten. In reply, 88% answered no while only 10% said yes. This is expected and is consistent with the answers provided in question 1, because the majority of the respondents think that Hitler was a genius. It is therefore not surprising to see the results showing the same respondents who believed that Hitler must not be forgotten.

The third question asked the respondents their opinion regarding the idea that Hitler should be a role model. The answers of the respondents were consistent with the data collected for questions 1 and 2. There were 65% of the respondents who said yes, while 35% answered no. This makes sense when one considers that if majority of the respondents thinks Hitler is a genius and should be remembered, then they will also want him to be a role model. The fourth question asked the respondents to give their views on whether Hitler’s actions were good or bad. Majority of them or 48% of the respondents said yes while the rest were split between saying no and not sure. This is also consistent with the previous feedbacks. Finally, the study asked respondents to list their sources of information regarding Hitler and majority of them or 60% of the respondents pointed to mass media as their main source of information. This is expected since mass media is the most common source of information among many people.

Discussion

This study is an attempt to understand Hitler’s worldview in order to explain the reason why he paved the way for the Holocaust. It was pointed out that he was motivated by a patriotism that burned with fanatical zeal. Hitler was willing to attack and destroy the hurdles that separated him from his goal: the rise of a German Reich populated by a pure race – the Aryan Race (Wistrich, 2001). However, it is impossible to provide a clear explanation if the researcher simply focuses on the aftermath of the First World War. His anger and frustration reaches far beyond his time in the military. It is imperative to go back to his early years as a young boy growing up in Austria (Wistrich, 2001).

It must be pointed out that before he reached adulthood, his father and mother died and he became an orphan (Wistrich, 2001). As a consequence he was forced to live and work in the city. It was during this period when he experienced a major cultural and social shock as he transitioned from an idyllic life in the country and the fast-paced life of the city. He experienced poverty and believed that certain groups of people were responsible for the economic hardships that many Germans experienced during that period. His struggles became the inspiration for the Mein Kampf and when he was old enough he wrote the following in the said booklet: “What was – and still is – bound to happen some day, when the stream of unleashed slaves pours forth from these miserable dens to avenge themselves on their thoughtless fellow men? For thoughtless they are!” (Hitler,1939, p.1). He wanted to build a new tomorrow for his fellow citizens.

Hitler was convinced that Germany could be great again. Hitler also believed that the territories lost in the armistice signed after the war can be recovered by the German national government. He also believed that to secure the future of Germany, its people must destroy anything that threatens to enslave them (Hitler, 1939). However, much of his hatred was reserved for the Jewish people because Hitler was fully convinced that they were the main reason why Germans were poor, weak, and lacking national pride (Wistrich, 2001).

In the mind of Hitler, the annihilation of the Jews can be justified if one can perceive their existence not as a moral dilemma but a practical economic and scientific problem that can be dealt with in a businesslike manner (Wistrich, 2001). Hitler used the ideas that were made popular during this period and this was the idea that came from social Darwinism theory (Bosworth, 1994). In essence, this theory explains how human beings can be classified into different categories. According to this theory the respective race that a person belongs to dictates his physical characteristics and his behavior tendencies (Wistrich, 2001). As a result, these characteristics are inherited and greatly affected their thought process.

Hitler went on to say that there are some groups of people that are weak. Thus, in a world governed by the survival of the fittest their eradication can be justified (Bartov, 2003). In addition, Hitler also believed in the superiority of the so-called “Aryan” race from which the German people descended from. Hitler went a step further that ethnic cleansing is justified and in effect, Hitler and his supporters were “conducting a demographic restructuring and resettlement because they could not share their living space with Jews” (Bartov, 2003, p.84).

Hitler detested the Jews because even if they were an inferior race they still manage to infiltrate and control much of German society (Wistrich, 2001). Hitler made the declaration that Germans must do something to rectify this error because if they fail to act they will be under the control of what he called the “Jewish menace” (Hitler, 1939). Hitler was uncomfortable and unhappy with the rise Jewish influence within Germany and he wrote: “Among them there was a great movement, quite extensive in Vienna, which came out sharply in confirmation of the national character of the Jews: this was the Zionists” (Hitler, 1939). Hitler convinced his followers and a great number of German people regarding the true nature of the Jews and he wrote:

The cleanliness of this people, moral and otherwise, I must say, is a point in itself. By their very exterior you could tell that these were no lovers of water, and, to your distress, you often knew it with your eyes closed. Later I often grew sick to my stomach from the smell of these caftan-wearers. Added to this, there was their unclean dress and their generally unheroic appearance (Hitler, 1939, p.1).

Hitler made an exclamation point when he wrote in the Mein Kampf that Jews are not Germans (Hitler, 1939, p.1). Hitler’s patriotism led him to formulate a belief system that encouraged his supporters to destroy the status quo (Wistrich, 2001). The status quo of that period was comprised of the corrupt and weak politicians of Germany and its allies (Hitler, 1939). Hitler was particularly concerned with the fact that the Jews were able to intermarry with the members of the Aryan race giving them qualities that would have been lacking if they were unable to intermarry with the German people (Hitler, 1939).

Hitler proposed a new government, a new nation, a new beginning where all the citizens of the new German nation are from Aryan stock (Wistrich, 2001). Hitler believed that the eradication of the Jews would purify the German race. A nation populated by people from the Aryan race can be a powerful force in the planet. Hitler believed that in this manner he can build a mighty army that can rule the whole of Europe and even the world (Hitler, 1939). It is therefore crucial to implement the first phase of his plan and that is to remove every trace of Jewish blood in Germany.

Conclusion

Mass murder was a tool for dealing with the political struggles in Germany during those turbulent times in German history. The Germans were confronted with serious economic and political issues. They needed someone to get them out poverty and hopelessness. Hitler presented himself as a savior to the German people. However, Hitler could not solve all these challenges. He, therefore, created a villain. He said that the German people should blame the Jews for their sufferings. Hitler convinced his followers that the extermination of the Jews would solve their problems. Hitler killed the Jews in order to secure his political interests.

References

Bartov, O. (2003). Germany’s war and the holocaust. New York: Cornell University Press.

Bauer, Y. (2002). A history of the holocaust. New York: Franklin Watts.

Bosworth, R. (1994). Explaining Auschwitz and Hiroshima. New York: Routledge.

Grenville, J. (2011). A history of the world from the twentieth to the twenty-first century. New York: Routledge.

Hitler, A. (1939). Mein Kampf. Web.

Keegan, J. (1998). The first world war. New York: Random House.

Wistrich, R. (2001). Hitler and the Holocaust. New York: The Modern Library.

Introduction

Background Information

The holocaust is one of the saddest tragedies in human history. The event was a result of the various policies formulated and implemented by the Nazi Party in Germany.¹ Some of those plans were intended to create a society of what the authorities referred to as a pure race. As such, elements (including parts of the population) that were considered to be blemishes on the race were to be eliminated. The development led to many deaths among the Jews, who were affected significantly by these policies.

The current paper is written against this background. In the paper, the author examines the holocaust on the basis of whether or not its occurrence could have been avoided. Schweizer is a figure of authority in this field. The scholar argues that the event was a result of the racial imperialism championed by the Nazi Party in the country.² In line with this, the author of the current paper examines Nazism and the policies the party propagated as the leaders advanced the concepts of racial imperialism.

The author of the current paper holds the opinion that racial imperialism was the main factor behind the holocaust. It is a fact that long term planning for ‘asocial’ and other races were made by the Nazi regime. However, even if these discussions were never held, the deep rooted race ideology characterising the Nazi party would have led to the same conclusions that resulted in the holocaust. The eugenics programmes of Nazi Germany show that many people shared in this perspective of breeding a better society. The barbarism of war just created a channel to make the transition, which culminated into the holocaust. Adolf Hitler and his cronies supported this ideology and other anti-Semitism sentiments. Spero supports the historical roots of these sentiments. Spero states that, “The so-called modern anti-semitism of the nineteenth century rose on ancient foundations”.³

As such, Hitler was just taking on something that was already ongoing. On ascending to power, the leaders executed their initial plan of exterminating the Jews. The holocaust was inevitable. The only question was when and how to make the killings a social acceptable norm in the society.

Nazism and the Nazi Party

Nazism is regarded as a political ideology that was practiced in Germany in the 20^th century. It is also referred to as National Socialism.⁴ According to Schweizer, Nazism was not restricted to the Nazi Party.⁵ On the contrary, the policies that defined this concept were practiced by in other countries in Europe. The ideology was especially popular in countries with a populous ethnic German community. One can draw parallels between Nazism and other political schools of thought, such as fascism. Both are criticised as extreme forms of political and social management. Nazism concept is best understood from the theories of Darwinism and racial hierarchy.

The Nazi Party advanced the opinion that the adherents came from a superior race. According to Schweizer, these people believed that they were part of the Aryan race, which was superior to all other ethnic groups in the region.⁶ In terms of preferred economic systems, Nazism was totally against materialism. Schweizer points out that the Nazis did not buy into capitalism and communism, which they tied to the Jews.

The policies of the Nazi Party were tailored to whip up anti-Semitic sentiments among the populace. However, Schweizer cites the Jewish influence in Europe as some of the reasons why the general public bought into the anti-Semitic sentiments.⁷ With respect to the racial supremacy advocated for by the leaders, the Nazis were not comfortable with the idea of power resting in the hands of an ‘inferior’ race. Ceteris peribus, which are acts of aggression against Semites, were bound to occur.

The horrors experienced during the holocaust are indications of the fact that the actions of a given group of people are largely informed by their political inclinations. Some scholars hold that the deep seated hatred for the Jews was the major cause of the acts of terror committed by the Nazi regime. The chronology of events that led up to the holocaust will be outlined in this paper.⁸ The critical analysis of these events will reveal that the situation was inevitable.

Factors Leading to the Holocaust

An Overview

The occurrence of a particular event is brought about by a number of factors. In light of the thesis statement outlined for this paper, it is apparent that the inevitability of the holocaust was a result of the belief that the Nazis were superior to other races. To this end, Nazism is regarded as a contributing factor to the unfortunate historical event.⁹ The element of racial imperialism is regarded as yet another factor that brought about the holocaust. The inevitability of this occurrence is justified on the basis of these two factors.

The Nazi Party and Nazism

As already mentioned, Nazism is a political ideology developed by members of the Nazi Party. Gregor is of the opinion that the founders of the philosophy sought to create some sense of nationalism around the socialist practices of the time.¹⁰ Nazism was born out of the ideas that the party wanted to use to counter an earlier doctrine referred to as “Volksgemeischaft”. The early movement was intended to blend Marxism and Socialism. However, National Socialism was advanced with the intent to abolish some ‘unfair’ practices of the Volksgemeischaft. Such inequalities included, among others, the class struggle witnessed in the country.

The Nazi Party was founded in 1919 as the German Workers’ Party. The main philosophy of the union was anti-Semitism and German nationalism. According to Diner, the anti-Semitism was first evident in 1920. It was made apparent by the leaders’ push for the formation of a ‘Greater Germany’.¹¹ Part of the requirements for the creation of the entity was that no Jew would be granted citizenship in the new country. When Adolf Hitler took over the leadership of the party, he sought to broaden its appeal to members of the public. The anti-Semitism and anti-communism sentiments became the core philosophies of the party.

Part of the activities of the union included a purge of groups or people who did not subscribe to its fundamentals. The groups that were targeted included the Jews, perceived political opponents, and any other entity that was described as ‘undesirable’.¹²The leadership of Germany and the Nazi Party was consolidated under Hitler upon the death of President Hinderburg. The regime brutally crushed any political dissidents and persons declared as enemies of the state. The move led to the holocaust where swathes of Jews were killed.

The acts of terror committed against the Jews were not an abrupt occurrence. Stackleberg and Krukones point out that the Nazi Party had indoctrinated its adherents with the idea that they were a superior race.¹³ The eugenics programs implemented by the Nazis are a clear indication of the fact that many people supported the creation of a ‘pure’ society. The barbaric nature of the war created way for the holocaust. Hitler and other central figures of the Nazi party supported this movement. As a result, the holocaust became inescapable part of the German history. The leaders made efforts to ensure that their campaigns were socially acceptable.

There are a number of scholars who indicate that the intolerance of the Nazi Party set the stage for the acts of terror committed against the Jews and other minority groups in the country. Stackleberg and Winkle, for instance, indicate that even after the war and the defeat of the Nazi, pockets of individuals who harboured the idea that they were superior to others remained.¹⁴ Given the existence of such belief systems, individuals who perceived themselves to be above others were motivated to commit atrocities against their ‘enemies’. Such are the grounds on which Nazism is considered as a factor that led to the holocaust.

Human nature dictates that individuals feel good when they are exalted above others. They can achieve this status by fighting to get into leadership positions or other areas of significant authority. The Nazi Party had succeeded in whipping up nationalist emotions among the citizens. Consequently, an aggravated assault on individuals who were considered to be enemies of the state was expected. Stackelberg and Winkle indicate that the Hitler regime had succeeded in making Germans believe in the need to exterminate Jews and other elements that advanced communism and capitalism.

Racial Imperialism

The notion of racial imperialism is derived from the Darwinian theories picked up by the Nazi Party. As already mentioned in this paper, the Nazis believed that theirs was a better and highly advanced race. Perry, Berg, and Krukones point out that the German Nazis drew their political ideologies from the European notions of racism and imperialism.¹⁵ The same was evident in the scramble for Africa by the Europeans. Across the entire European continent, there was the understanding that the native race was above the rest. The racial superiority complex was more pronounced in the Nazi Party than in other areas of the European political landscape.

The idea of being better than others was perhaps a justification for the atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jews during the holocaust. Baranowski points out that the whole of Europe was characterised by incidences of violence.¹⁶ Colonisation of Africa and the destruction of the Ottoman Empire are indications of other ‘evils’ committed by the Europeans. In all these cases, the atrocities were justified along the lines of Europeans being superior to other races.¹⁷ To this end, the holocaust was seen as similar to other acts of violence committed against other races. The same supports the idea that the holocaust was bound to occur.

In the mid 19^th century, racial ideologies had expanded to as far as America. A historical analysis reveals that the philosophies bordering on imperialism were deeply engraved in the European culture. Considering the political ideals of the Nazi Party, it is apparent that racism was a core element of this movement. As such, racial imperialism is seen as a norm among the Nazis.¹⁸ The occurrence of the holocaust was just one of the many acts of aggression that were premeditated against the Jews.

The promotion of racial supremacist ideals among the Nazi was inspired by the party’s claim to the Aryan race. The doctrines supporting the alleged superiority of the Aryans advocated for ‘racial hygiene’. At the height of the Nazi regime, this sanitisation was achieved through forced sterilisation.¹⁹ According to Lower, the Nazis came up with a mechanism of exterminating elements regarded as sub-human.²⁰ Such activities were carried out to ensure that ethnic Germans retained their superior genes. In light of this, it becomes obvious that the holocaust could not be avoided.

The racial imperialism propagated by the Nazis specified the groups of people targeted for extermination. In addition to the Jews, there were other groups that bore the brunt of the Nazi brutality. Lower indicates that homosexuals, Russians, Poles, the disabled, and Gypsies were also considered to belong to an inferior race.²¹ The attempted annihilation of these ‘lesser’ groups was legitimised through legislations.

The Nazi regime established a race for the ethnic Germans. The new group was referred to as the Aryan Master Race. Lower argues that based on the assumptions that they belonged to a higher group than other people, the Nazis came up with a system of grading races. The grading system followed the two extremes of belonging to Ayran and non-Aryan races. The Germans, English, Dutch, and Scandinavians were at the top of this Aryan race.²² Persecution of the Jews and people of colour was carried out since they had no German blood. In addition, it was believed that they lacked a sense of entitlement. To many Germans, the holocaust was a means through which the so called sub-humans were to be eliminated from the society.

Qualifying the Inevitability of the Holocaust

The factors outlined in this paper indicate that the resentments against the Jews were brought about by the various ideologies propagated through Nazism. In addition to the racial imperialism and other schools of thought held by the Nazis, the holocaust is largely associated with anti-Semitic sentiments. According to Stackleberg and Winkle, anti-Semitism was not a creation of the Nazis.²³ Antipathy against Jews can be traced back to the times when the Romans invaded Judea and plundered the temple. The attacks on the Ottoman Empire forced the Jews to occupy pockets of Europe as a minority group. Spero supports this assertion when they say that “after the destruction of the national framework, (…) the Jews found themselves a minority, albeit among other minorities, in a multinational empire”.²⁴ It was easy to alienate and discriminate this group as a minority.

Anti-Semitism was also experienced during the crusades. At the time, Christians exhibited intolerance towards people from other religions. Jews are some of the groups targeted in these crusades.²⁵ The Nazis were merely enhancing the anti-Semitism beliefs they had inherited from the preceding empires and governments. In any society, the majority often prefers to be in control of the resources. However, in cases where the minority group is in control of elements of power, the majority are consumed by envy. In the case of the Jews, their economic success was one of the reasons why the Nazis hated them.²⁶ The racial hatred against the Jews from time immemorial pre-empted the holocaust.

The holocaust was an inevitable occurrence owing to the military might of the German regime. Adolf Hitler had a ruthless army that carried out ethnic cleansing. With the help of the anti-Semitism feelings mentioned earlier in this paper, the military power was enough to execute a ruthless onslaught against the Jews during the holocaust.²⁷ The years leading up to the Second World War were characterised by conflicts. The aggression by the British against the Germans, for example, triggered a number of chain events that led to the holocaust.²⁸ The development justifies the assertion that the event (the holocaust) could not be avoided.

Whenever there are cultural and religious differences in a society, intolerance is bound to occur. The environment in Nazi-led Germany was full of intolerance towards the Jews as already discussed in this report. Morgan and Pollock shed more light on this by mentioning that the holocaust was advanced on the basis of the two elements.²⁹ The Jews were perceived to subscribe to an alien religion. Consequently, it became necessary to ‘purge’ the Great Germany of elements that do not conform to the cultural and religious requirements of the society. The holocaust was expected given the Nazi’s intolerance of the materialist way of life exhibited by the Jews. The Jewish culture was obviously not in conflict with that of the Nazis. The situation laid the grounds for an all-out attack on the Jews, which led to the holocaust.

Conclusion

The holocaust was inescapable in the years leading up to the Second World War. The main reason behind the occurrence of the horrific event was the anti-Semitism feelings that existed in the region. It is noted that religious imperialism was fuelled by the anti-Semitism doctrines advanced by the Nazi Party.³⁰ The sentiments were supported by the conflicts that prevailed at the time. As a result, a major aggression against perceived sub-humans was inevitable. Further research on the inevitability of the holocaust is required. Addressing this topic in an insightful manner will go a long way in preventing the occurrence of similar incidences in the future.

References

S. Baranowski, Nazi Empire: German Colonialism and Imperialism from Bismarck to Hitler (New York, 2010). Web.

J. Bendersky, A History of Nazi Germany (second edition, London, 2000). Web.

D. Diner, Beyond the Conceivable: Studies on Germany, Nazism, and the Holocaust (California, 2000). Web.

R. Geary, Hitler and Nazism (second edition, London, 2000). Web.

N. Gregor, Nazism (Oxford, 2000). Web.

K. Kwiet & J. Matthaus, Contemporary Responses to the Holocaust (Westport, 2004). Web.

W. Lower, ‘Nazi Empire: German Colonialism and Imperialism from Bismarck to Hitler by Shelley Baranowski (Review)’, Journal of World History 24:2 (2013), pp.474-77. Web.

M. Morgan & B. Pollock, The Philosopher as Witness: Fackenheim and Responses to the Holocaust (Albany, 2009). Web.

M. Perry, M. Berg & J. Krukones, Sources of European History: Since 1900 (second edition, Boston, 2010). Web.

S. Schweber & G. Ladson-Billings, Making Sense of the Holocaust: Lessons from Classroom Practice (New York, 2004). Web.

K. Schweizer, ‘Nazism, the Wehrmacht and Collective Memory’, The European Legacy 17:3 (2012), pp.393-98. Web.

S. Sheehan, The Holocaust (Mankato, 2007). Web.

S. Spero, Holocaust and Return to Zion: A Study in Jewish Philosophy of History (Hoboken, 2000). Web.

R. Stackelberg & S. Winkle, The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts (London, 2002). Web.

Footnotes

1. K. Schweizer, ‘Nazism, the Wehrmacht and Collective Memory’, The European Legacy 17:3 (2012), pp.393-98.
2. Ibid.
3. S. Spero, Holocaust and Return to Zion: A Study in Jewish Philosophy of History (Hoboken, 2000), p. 270.
4. Ibid, p.394.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. N. Gregor, Nazism (Oxford, 2000).
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. D. Diner, Beyond the Conceivable: Studies on Germany, Nazism, and the Holocaust (California, 2000).
12. R. Geary, Hitler and Nazism (second edition, London, 2000).
13. R. Stackelberg & S. Winkle, The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts (London, 2002).
14. M. Perry, M. Berg & J. Krukones, Sources of European History since 1900 (second edition, Boston, 2010).
15. Ibid.
16. S. Baranowski, Nazi Empire: German Colonialism and Imperialism from Bismarck to Hitler (New York, 2010).
17. J. Bendersky, A History of Nazi Germany (second edition, London, 2000).
18. Ibid.
19. W. Lower, ‘Nazi Empire: German Colonialism and Imperialism from Bismarck to Hitler by Shelley Baranowski’, Journal of World History 24:2 (2013), pp.474-77.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. R. Stackelberg & S. Winkle, The Nazi Germany Sourcebook (London, 2002).
24. S. Spero, Holocaust and Return to Zion: A Study in Jewish Philosophy of History (Hoboken, 2000), p. 267.
25. Ibid.
26. S. Schweber & G. Ladson-Billings, Making Sense of the Holocaust: Lessons from Classroom Practice. (New York, 2004).
27. K. Kwiet & J. Matthaus, Contemporary Responses to the Holocaust (Westport, 2004).
28. S. Sheehan, The Holocaust (Mankato, 2007).
29. M. Morgan & B. Pollock, The Philosopher as Witness: Fackenheim and Responses to the Holocaust. (Albany, 2008).
30. Ibid.