The Holocaust: The Creation Of The Holocaust

The Holocaust began in 1933, prior to the start of World War II, it ended with the conclusion of the War in 1945. Between 1939 and 1945, the world witnessed terrible atrocities across Europe and Asia. Although there is a multitude of events that display the malevolent nature of humankind, one event stands above the rest “The Holocaust”. “Final Solution” was a term Hitler used to refer to his plan to annihilate the Jewish people (USHMM, 2015). The Holocaust is perhaps the most significant event in World History since 1815 due to the tremendous loss of life, the brutality of the tactics used to kill, and the justification for the killings. There were over 6 million Jews and about 6 million other selected groups of people tortured and killed

To convince the German people to support the war, Hitler launched one of the most effective propaganda campaigns the world has ever witnessed. Joseph Goebbels was Hitler’s right-hand man and chief propaganda minister. With Goebbels help, Hitler was able to depict the undesirable as a threat to the idea of an Aryan super race, thus providing justification for extermination. Hitler believed that Germans who married Jews, Roma, Africans, or Slavs were ruining the German bloodline, which put them at the forefront of his targeted population for destruction. Hitler’s hate for the Jews was so intense, he believed that not only did Jews in Europe needed to be eradicated, but Jews of the world had to suffer the same fate. With the assistance of Goebbels, Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat, claiming they would bring economic ruin and eventual military defeat to the German army (Cesarani,

As of with any war, the biggest tragedy associated with combat is not necessarily the number of military casualties, but the innocent men, women, and children caught in the crossfire. On top of the great loss of life during the Holocaust, it is important to note, the tremendous loss of intellectuals due to the eradication of free thinkers. As every dictator has ever done, Hitler knew that truly free thinkers that rejected the state as a legitimate entity were the most dangerous threat to state power, therefore, they were quickly silenced. Due to the aforementioned circumstances outlined in this paper, the Holocaust had one of the most lasting effects on mankind since 1815, and the political, social, economic, and most importantly, human effects are still being felt today. As George Santayana said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, therefore, we must ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust remain at the forefront of the human