The Holocaust: The Salem Witch Trials And The Holocaust

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People are often afraid of what they do not know. The Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust were both times when fear overwhelmed the world; hysteria played a major role because it caused most of the horrific events to occur. During the times of the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust, fear drove people to act rashly based on fear of the unknown.

The Salem Witch Trials took place in February of 1692 to May of 1693 (Brock). These trials were a series of several hearings and prosecutions between the people in Salem Massachusetts (Brock). Within this time, 24 people were executed because they were believed to have been involved in witchcraft in some way (Brock). This is when hysteria began to flood Salem when the thought of witches prowling through the town arose (Brooks). Because of the increase of hysteria, many people began to blame others and point fingers at anyone who could have been considered remotely out of the ordinary (Brooks). Another reason that many people were accused was due to the fact that the person who was originally accused wanted to get the spotlight off of themselves (Brooks). …show more content…

Germany’s dictator at the time, Adolf Hitler, thought that the Jews were the cause of the defeat of Germany in 1918 (“Mass Hysteria Holocaust”). Hitler was able to convince a large amount of people that all of the Jews needed to be oppressed and killed by anyone who knew of them (“Mass Hysteria Holocaust”). He believed that the only worthy humans were those with blue eyes and blonde hair, eliminating most Jews (“The Voices of Victims”). Nazis began to collect many Jewish people in concentration camps, killing them off as if they were cattle (“Mass Hysteria

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