Why did measures against the Jews escalate in Nazi Germany

Why did measures against the Jews escalate in Nazi Germany?

There are two views as to the why the measures against the Jews

escalated in Nazi German.

The intentionalists believe in the fast fading view that Hitler had

intended to commit genocide from the very beginning and he couldn’t

carry out his plan until Germany had enough power to do so. They also

believe that Germany was a monolithic state with one man at the top

and everyone obeying his orders, “the road to Auschwitz is straight.”

This view is fast becoming discredited by another group called the

structuralists.

The structuralists argue that Hitler didn’t have a plan to commit

genocide, he didn’t know what he was going to do about, “the Jewish

problem” until 1941 when their complete extermination was ordered.

Germany was a polycratic state with several people and organisations

with power. He improvised on what to do and the orders were

interpreted in very different ways by his subordinates, “the road to

Auschwitz is twisted”. This view is now widely believed over the old

theory. The result of all this was chaos and inefficiency, with all

the leaders fighting with one another to find the best solution. The

Nazi leaders could not have had a consistent “master plan” to kill the

Jews in this chaotic state.

The structuralist argument begins with the nature of the Nazi State.

The Nazi party had adopted a policy of “working towards the Fuhrer”.

Hitler did not like doing work and rarely gave direct orders, he

usually gave vague orders to his subordinates as to his wishes. This

would now become an, “Order from the Fuhrer” and all his subordinates

would compete with each other to find a solution that would please

Hitler. Thus, they would come up with more and more ideas that would

get more and more radical. This process is known as Cumulative

Radicalisation. This was why things were radicalising in Germany.

The Nazi State encouraged violence against the Jewish population and

because of this they were driven out of their professions.