Genocide Dbq Analysis

With the millions of murders that occurred during the time of the Holocaust, there would have to be a name for this heinous crime. The Nazis were always remembered for the killing of over six million European Jews, but at the time, there was no name for this wicked act. After the war, many of these Nazi war criminals were convicted of an act called genocide, a word that did not exist before 1944. Genocide is the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. Genocide occurs because of many factors that trigger this cruelty. Although there are many reasons that can be considered to result in genocide, the three main reasons that result to this mass slaughter, are caused by the authority that leads

After concluding that many World War II criminals blamed their actions on obedience, a scientist named Stanley Milgram performed an experiment. The experiment was to test a regular man’s willingness to follow orders, even if it meant to possibly kill someone. With a little encouragement from the authoritative position, “The study revealed that two-thirds of the time, the participant was willing to deliver potentially life-threatening shocks… simply because they were receiving orders from an authority figure” (Doc A). This shows how the majority of people will do anything, under two conditions, if they have an overlooking figure encouraging them what to do, and as long as they are not the ones taking the blame for their actions. It is quite interesting that a little persistent nudge can go a long way, especially if the subjects are not being held accounted for their actions. Additionally, Nazi soldiers were notorious for their cruelty, and their reasoning for that: they were just following orders. The Wehrmacht Oath of Loyalty forces soldiers to state that they, “shall render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler” and every soldier should, “give [their] life for this oath” (Doc D). The Nazi soldiers lived by this oath, and if anyone of them were to disobey Hitler or any order under authoritative command, they would be severely punished. Making this oath forces soldiers to

When Hitler was in reign, he set up a “Hitler Youth” program. This taught the children of Germany to “become aggressive and merciless, and to not trust anyone but Hitler.” Also, “ it was drilled to them their whole life to obey Hitler, that Jews were horrible… and that it was their responsibility to become a Nazi” (Doc E). This is the greatest example of how propaganda manipulates people to think a certain way about someone or something. Hitler used his power to manipulate the youth to do his bidding and started with the youngest of the group, so they can grow up and do anything for him. This creates a mindset in their premature mind that Hitler is the boss and nobody will stand in his way. The Rwandan genocide also proved how propaganda can encourage people to do things that would seem evil in anyone else's eyes. When Rwanda was falling apart, “the government was propagandizing that the Tutsis were the root of all these problems… this created a ‘kill or be killed’ mentality in which… people were driven to killing… through extreme fear” (Doc B). This shows how propaganda inspires people to do hostile things. It was very easy for the government to influence the people through fear because of the country's collapse, so this inspired people to get rid of the threat. Once again, this shows how people would rather kill the enemy than risk their