On January 30th, 1933, Adolf Hitler became a dictator of Germany, which marked the start of the twelve year massacre, the Holocaust. The Holocaust lasted until May 8th, 1945, when Europe won World War II. During the event of the Holocaust, six million Jewish followers were murdered; nearly two-thirds of the European Jewish population and one-third of all the Jewish population in the world. The Nazi Party not only targeted the Jews, but communists, Marxists, and anyone who stood up to, or posed a threat to the Nazi’s plan. Despite World War II raging through Europe, the victims eliminated were not casualties of war, but subjects of Germany’s attempt to obliterate the European Jewish population; a plan Hitler titled, the “Final Solution.” The Holocaust, though terrifying and unfair, impacted the world an enormous amount and effected history greatly.
Following Germany’s defeat in World War I, the republic suffered from economic instability, high unemployment, and political differences began to undermine the government. With ambitious intentions, the Nazi Party took advantage of the political turmoil to gain electoral leverage. The Nazis provoked conflict with the communists, organized heinous propaganda campaigns against the weak Weimar government and the Jews, blaming them for Germany’s troubles. A tool used for the spread of the Nazis’ propaganda was Der Strümer (The Attacker), the weekly Nazi newspaper. A quote at the bottom of each issue proclaimed, “The Jews are our misfortune!” Another feature of Der Strümer was the cartoons of Jews where they were caricatured at hook-nosed and apelike.
In addition to political influence, the Nazis built a vigorous police and military force made of many organizations. Such as, the...
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The Holocaust is considered the largest genocide of our entire world, killing more than 600,000,000 Jewish people during the years of 1933-1945. The memories and history that have filled our lives that occurred during the Holocaust are constantly remembered around the world. Many populations today “think” that constant reminders allow for us to become informed and help diminish the hatred for other races still today. These scholars believe that by remembering the Holocaust, you are able to become knowledgeable and learn how to help prevent this from happening again. Since the Holocaust in a sense impacted the entire human race and history of the world, there are traces of the Holocaust all across our culture today. As I continue to remember the victims of this tragic time period I think of all the ways that our world remembers the Holocaust in today’s society. Through spreading the word, works of media and memorials across the world, I am continually reminded of the tragedy that occurred.
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Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 and his sudden control over Germany sparked a new age of reform within the new “Nazi-state” (Hunt 848). As Nazism became a major aspect of everyday life in Germany, Hitler plotted against his enemies and those he blamed for Germany’s defeat in World War I: the Jewish race. In his biography, Mein Kampf, Hitler discusses the artistic, social, and technological superiority of Germany (“Aryans”), why he believes the Aryans are the ultimate dominant human race, and he makes many anti-Semitic remarks against the Jews. (Lualdi 224). In 1935, the “Nuremberg Laws” were enacted to deny Jewish Germans of their citizenship; this ultimately led Hitler to carry out his “Final Solution,” in which he hoped to fully exterminate the Jewish race from all of Europe (Hunt 864). After gathering the Jews from their “ghettos” and forcing them into concentration camps all across Europe, Hitler and his Nazi advocates began one of the most destructive and horrifying genocides in history, known today as the Holocaust. Only after being introduced to the conditions of these concentration camps, the hatred and abuse put towards the Jewish, and the gruesome lifestyle they were trapped into living can one understand why the Holocaust affected so many as it did. What exactly were the conditions of these camps, and how did a few lucky survivors prevail while their friends and families perished?
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