Introduction
During the Holocaust, Jews lost the meaning of life (Michalczyk 177). They were considered useless and a burden to the Germans (Michalczyk 177). This was continuously beat into their minds not only mentally but also physically (Michalczyk 177). Some were able to beat these thoughts though (Michalczyk 177). They did this by holding on to what Hitler was trying to destroy: their religion (Michalczyk 177). Jews kept religion and faith in their daily lives during the Holocaust because it brought them purpose and hope in order to try and survive.
Background
Why Jews?
Jews got stuck being blamed for everything in Germany. According to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jewish religion was considered a race during the Holocaust. The museum also states, that was what Hitler stuck on the German people (USHMM). Hitler thought that people’s characteristics and personalities determined the social make up. He also believed those characteristics would be passed down to further generations (Hitler). With his rational mind he said this would make for uncleanly future generations. This is one of the reasons why Hitler looked into the ‘Final Solution’ and eventually put it in full swing (Hitler). In Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, he states “the discovery of the Jewish virus is one of the greatest revolutions that has taken place in the world. “ Quotes like this one didn’t just brain wash Germany’s people but some of the Jews thoughts as well. Some lost all hope in their religion and gave up.
What is Judaism?
Judaism is a religion where they believe in one God (Rich). Most are beyond loyal to their God and work hard to please him said Rich. Many follow the 13 Principles of Faith and believe that they were the Laws ...
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If Hitler and the Germans weren’t so concerned about killing the Jewish people, why would they kill? millions of them for no reason? The evidence shows “Nazi racial doctrine defined Jews as ‘race defilers’ who schemed to destroy the Master race through intermarriage and seduction” (Judge and Langdon, Connection A World History, 793). This idea was obviously just an excuse to the Germans; the German leader hypnotized them all. They went through ridiculous, unnecessary actions, just so they can kill innocent people.
Throughout time, history has proven that through conflict and poor living conditions, it can be quite simple and painless to put all the blame on someone. Adolf Hitler was able to blame people such as the Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, mentally ill, etc. This seemed like an easy answer. All the problems in the world were the result of these types of people. Once Hitler was able to persuade the majority of Germany that this racist thought was true and that they should be afraid and very concerned about being taken over by these people.
Adolf Hitler wanted the Jewish race to be destroyed forever. But he didn’t just stop at beliefs. Even if you were a Christian, Catholic, Atheist, etc., you were still in danger. You were still in danger because if you looked Jewish to him then you were swooped up and taken hostage in a concentration camp.
In the Summer of 1941, Adolf Hitler started exterminating Jews and other non-Aryans, as a part of his plan to create a perfect Germany and to carry out his ‘Final Solution’ to the ‘Jewish Question’. Before exterminating 6,000,000 Jewish people, Adolf Hitler had already performed several actions which singled out the Jew as an evil person and one who should be killed. In 1923, Hitler was caught while trying to overturn the Bavarian government and was imprisoned for 5 years. In prison, he wrote the famed autobiography, Mein Kampf, in which he stated his first publicly known anti-Semitic beliefs and his ‘Final Solution’ to the ‘Jewish Question’. While imprisoned, there was a worldwide depression as economic markets crashed worldwide. This would help Hitler because once out of prison he would use this to help gain power both for the Nazi’s and for himself politically by promising better things to come in the future. In 1933, while preaching in front of a large Nazi crowd, Hitler used the Jews as scapegoats for Germany’s loss in World War One. “If at the beginning of the War and during the War twelve or fifteen thousand of these Hebrew corrupters of the people had been held under poison gas, as happened to hundreds of thousands of our very best German workers in the field, the sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain.'; Many people were upset at the loss, and blaming the Jews made many people anti-Semites. Once he was named chancellor in 1933, Hitler preached about creating a Germany for true German people and a more centralized Germany. This included eliminating those who were non-Aryans and/or non-German. He would later detail about what a true German was in the Nuremberg Laws. He stated that Jews were not really Germans but instead, they were non-Aryan, and they were malignant tumors.
The Holocaust started in 1939. In that time period the Germans and the Allied Forces were in war. When they were in war the Germans took all Jews (except the ones in hiding) to multiple concentration camps and death camps. When they were sent to concentration camps they were ordered to take off all their jewelry, gold teeth and clothes. They were provided with stripped pajamas with numbers on them so they can be recognized by their number and not by their names. They were also tattooed on their left forearm with the same number that was on their stripped pajamas. Everybody’s head had to get shaved BALD. After everybody got to get concentration camps they were forced to go into the hard labor imme...
The Holocaust was when Germany killed huge numbers of Jewish people. They would bring them to their death camps and starve them to death or work them so hard that they collapse under their own weight. I feel that we should remember the Holocaust because so many Jewish people died and that we need to learn from this experience and improve from it so we would not have another Holocaust and for the people who had to go through the death camps during the Holocaust.
The Jewish people were targeted, hunted, tortured, and killed, just for being Jewish, Hitler came to office on January 20, 1933; he believed that the German race had superiority over the Jews in Germany. The Jewish peoples’ lives were destroyed; they were treated inhumanly for the next 12 years, “Between 1933 and 1945, more than 11 million men, women, and children were murdered in the Holocaust. Approximately six million of these were Jews” (Levy). Hitler blamed a lot of the problems on the Jewish people, being a great orator Hitler got the support from Germany, killing off millions of Jews and other people, the German people thought it was the right thing to do. “To the anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial purity and community” (History.com Staff).
Those of half and quarter Jewish descent remain largely forgotten in the history of the Third Reich and genocide of the Holocaust. Known as Mischlinge, persons of deemed “mixed blood” or “hybrid” status faced extensive persecution and alienation within German society and found themselves in the crosshairs of a rampant National Socialist racial ideology. Controversially, these people proved somewhat difficult to define under Nazi law that sought to cleave the Volk from the primarily Jewish “other”, and as the mechanization toward Hitler’s “Final Solution” the Mischlinge faced probable annihilation. The somewhat neglected status of Mischlinge necessitates a refocusing on German racialization as well as reconsideration of the implications wrought by the alienation and ultimate persecution of the thousands of half and quarter Jews subjugated in Nazi Germany.
The Holocaust is a very important time in history. With many other time periods and events, the Holocaust was quite gruesome. Five to six millions Jews were killed, making it a mass genocide. The topic of teaching the Holocaust to middle school students is a controversy that has been argued for a longevity. Many think the subject should not be taught, but there is the big question: Why not? The Holocaust should be taught to middle school students, especially eighth graders, with the thought that it was very real, the other advantages learned, and the things the teachers need to know.
Judaism, the religion of the Jews, is one of the oldest religions in the world. Judaism, in fact, is the oldest of the three major religions that believe in a single God. The other two, Christianity and Islam, have been strongly influenced by Judaism, which is a big part of western civilization today. In the beginning, Jews were a tribe, a band of nomads, more than likely shepherds that may have died out if they would have remained merely shepherds. Jews were one of many “nations” to be found in the ancient Near East.
Beginning in 1933, Hitler and his Nazi party targeted not only those of the Jewish religion but many other sets. Hitler was motivated by religion and nationalism to eradicate any threats to his state. It was Hitler’s ideology that his Aryan race was superior to any other. Hitler’s goal was to create a “master race” by eliminating the chance for “inferiors” to reproduce. Besides the Jews the other victims of the genocide include the Roma (Gypsies), African-Germans, the mentally disabled, handicapped, Poles, Slavs, Anti-Nazi political parties, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Homosexuals. In Hitler’s eyes all of these groups needed to be eliminated in order for his master race to be a success.
The holocaust is a incredibly difficult for some people to discuss with others depending on their extent of connection to the event. It is believed to be the worst genocide known to man by many people. This explains discomfort many people experience when discussing the subject. People debate if the absolutely horrific events of World War II will be forgotten as generations pass. Survivors have many different ways of never forgetting the events that happened to them. Some people feel that it is better to completely wipe these events from memory because they do not want to remember what happened to them, while others want to tell all of society of tragic events hoping to prevent similar events from occurring in the future. Many people debate which method is best to never
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