When I visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I was sickened to learn of horrifying Nazi activities intended to improve the Aryan race and to learn about the human body.� While many people are aware that the Nazis had these goals, most are uninformed of the means used to reach them.� I was also ignorant of the extent of their attempts to establish themselves as ideal specimens of the human race.� They used many unforgivable methods to accomplish these aims, some of which were revealed to me during my visit to the museum. The Nazis attempted to create a master race through both vicious and less cruel means.� Before my visit to the museum, I was unaware that the Nazis had a program for forced sterilization for those who had genetic disorders or any traits that were undesirable to be passed down hereditarily (Holocaust Museum).� These included the mentally ill, the blind, the deaf, those with severe physical abnormalities, serious alcoholics, and Germans that were half-African (Holocaust Museum).� The sterilization of these people was legalized by the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring, which took effect in 1933 (�Deadly Medicine�).� Cases were heard by courts, but the vast majority of cases ended in the order to sterilize (�Deadly Medicine�).� It is estimated that 300,000 Germans were forcibly sterilized by Nazi demand (Holocaust Museum).� Similar programs were in effect elsewhere in the world, including the United States (�Deadly Medicine�).� A law was implemented in Virginia allowing forced sterilization of �feebleminded� people, and it was judged legal by the Supreme Court (�Deadly Medicine�).� Euthanasia was also used by the Nazis to eliminate these people, even children (�Deadly Medicine�).� Parents of the euthanized children were told that they had died from other causes, even though the children were murdered in hospitals (�Deadly Medicine�).� Less severe methods of creating a perfect race included the Nuremberg Laws, which outlawed marriages between Jews and Germans, and the encouragement of large Aryan families with the �Honor Cross of German Motherhood,� where mothers of four or more were given medals (�Deadly Medicine�).� I was stunned to learn the extent of the Nazis� actions that were intended to create a perfect race, and I was sickened to think that the Nazis might have committed further crimes such as these that are still unknown to the public. The Nazis also performed cruel medical experiments on Jewish prisoners, both living and dead.
In the years between 1933 and 1945, Germany was engulfed by the rise of a powerful new regime and the eventual spoils of war. During this period, Hitler's quest for racial purification turned Germany not only at odds with itself, but with the rest of the world. Photography as an art and as a business became a regulated and potent force in the fight for Aryan domination, Nazi influence, and anti-Semitism. Whether such images were used to promote Nazi ideology, document the Holocaust, or scare Germany's citizens into accepting their own changing country, the effect of this photography provides enormous insight into the true stories and lives of the people most affected by Hitler's racism. In fact, this photography has become so widespread in our understanding and teaching of the Holocaust that often other factors involved in the Nazi's racial policy have been undervalued in our history textbooks-especially the attempt by Nazi Germany to establish the Nordic Aryans as a master race through the Lebensborn experiment, a breeding and adoption program designed to eliminate racial imperfections.
...ny brought in Africans to help fight the war and some of these Africans married German women and had children. These children were labeled as ‘Rhineland Bastards.’ ‘Hitler said he would eliminate all the children born of African-German descent because he considered them an “insult” to the German nation’ (Non-Jewish Victims). The Nazi Party set up another secret group to ‘sterilize’ the children in hospitals. They would pull kids out of school and sometimes, without their parents’ knowledge. In all, there were only about 400 children ‘sterilized’ throughout the holocaust.
As early as age thirteen, we start learning about the Holocaust in classrooms and in textbooks. We learn that in the 1940s, the German Nazi party (led by Adolph Hitler) intentionally performed a mass genocide in order to try to breed a perfect population of human beings. Jews were the first peoples to be put into ghettos and eventually sent by train to concentration camps like Auschwitz and Buchenwald. At these places, each person was separated from their families and given a number. In essence, these people were no longer people at all; they were machines. An estimation of six million deaths resulting from the Holocaust has been recorded and is mourned by descendants of these people every day. There are, however, some individuals who claim that this horrific event never took place.
...he human depravity one can imagine. Even though Genocide did not begin with the Holocaust, Germany and Adolf Hitlers’ heartless desire for “Aryanization” came at the high cost of human violence, suffering and humiliation towards the Jewish race. These warning signs during the Holocaust, such as Anti-Semitism, Hitler Youth, Racial profiling, the Ghettos, Lodz, Crystal Night, Pogroms, and Deportation unraveled too late for the world to figure out what was going on and help prevent the horrors that came to pass. The lessons learned from all of this provide a better understanding of all the scars genocide leaves behind past and present. In spite the ongoing research in all of these areas today, we continue to learn new details and accounts. By exploring the various warning signs that pointed toward genocide, valuable knowledge was gained on how not to let it happen again.
The Nazi slaughter of European Jews during World War II, commonly referred to as the Holocaust, occupies a special place in our history. The genocide of innocent people by one of the world's most advanced nations is opposite of what we think about the human race, the human reason, and progress. It raises doubts about our ability to live together on the same planet with people of other cultures and persuasions.
The holocaust is the saddest thing I have ever heard about. With the Nazi's and other Germans blaming everything on the Jews to mass murders of the Jews and others. The Germans killed more than one million people altogether. The German leader was Adolf Hitler. So once everyone started to realize what was going on, they said, "hey jail time."
There is no doubt that the Holocaust is one of the best remembered and most studied genocides in human history. There are very few who would be puzzled by the mention of the Holocaust in today’s world as it’s impacts have been immense and lasting. Many lives were lost during this time, and many atrocities occurred- torture and persecution were pushed past the boundaries of most people’s imaginations. Throughout modern history, the Holocaust has been documented over and over again as the worst genocide- and perhaps even the worst crime- in human history. Many historians have even said it was a unique occurrence that is unparalleled by other crimes in human history. This being said, it is not difficult to argue this statement when observing and analyzing the many components of the Holocaust and of other horrible crimes that have happened.
Eighteen million Europeans went through the Nazi concentration camps. Eleven million of them died, almost half of them at Auschwitz alone.1 Concentration camps are a revolting and embarrassing part of the world’s history. There is no doubt that concentration camps are a dark and depressing topic. Despite this, it is a subject that needs to be brought out into the open. The world needs to be educated on the tragedies of the concentration camps to prevent the reoccurrence of the Holocaust. Hitler’s camps imprisoned, tortured, and killed millions of Jews for over five years. Life in the Nazi concentration camps was full of terror and death for its individual prisoners as well as the entire Jewish society.
Fuel…. Flame…. Fire…. Inferno…. Ash…. Historically, the word holocaust meant a religious rite in which an offering was completely consumed by fire. In current times the word holocaust has changed to a darker more tragic meaning and refers to more than a religious sacrifice. During World War II, a fire raged throughout Eastern Europe. Guns, bombs, and military groups did not ignite this fire. This fire burned intensely in the hearts of men -- sparked by centuries-old prejudice. One man, Adolf Hitler, took this flicker of hatred and fanned the flames. Hitler energized and stoked the embers, spreading them throughout Eastern Europe causing widespread destruction in the pursuit of a perfect Aryan nation. Although the Holocaust is measured over the course of twelve long years, it does not begin with the mass murder of innocent victims. Michael Berenbaum, a survivor of the Holocaust believes, "Age-old prejudice led to discrimination, discrimination to incarceration, incarceration to elimination" (Altman 1). Thus, the progression of prejudice in the Holocaust began as a flicker of hatred in the heart of a leader and became a blazing inferno consuming the lives of the men, women, and children who crossed its radical path.
Why didn't the non Jewish people fight for their friends, family, and acquaintances? If the non Jews would have collaborated then they would have had capitulate from the Nazis. Were they scared, or were they afraid that they could not do anything? Well, if enough of the non Jews had fought back they could have helped the Jews out of the Concentration camps and all of the torture that they were being put through. One reason that the non Jews should have fought back was if they were in the Jews predicament then they would want help too. The non Jews could have been triumphant. The non Jews should have had an aspiration for saving their friends. Hitler was putting them through the worst possible treatment. I know that I would want help. I would help it is the right thing to do and that the Jews have a right to believe what they want. Everybody has the right to believe what they want.
The Holocaust All throughout history, Jews have been persecuted. The Jews were blamed for killing Jesus and the idea of anti- Semitism has been around centuries before Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Adolf Hitler led the Nazis to power in 1933 promising to make Germany powerful and respected by the rest of the world. He promised to fight Communism, to find jobs for the six million unemployed workers in Germany, to restore law and order, and to get rid of the “Jewish influence” in Germany. Hitler’s speeches were full of hatred for the Jews and this encouraged his followers to attack Jewish people.
The Nazi’s perpetrated many horrors during the Holocaust. They enacted many cruel laws. They brainwashed millions into foolishly following them and believing their every word using deceitful propaganda tactics. They forced many to suffer doing embarrassing jobs and to live in crowded ghettos. They created mobile killing squads to exterminate their enemies. Finally, as part of “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question”, they made concentration and killing camps. Another thing the Nazi’s did was to use eugenics as another mean to micromanage the population. What is eugenics, you might ask? It’s the field of scientific study or the belief in genetically improving qualities, attributes and traits in the human race and/or improving the species as a whole—usually done by controlled/selective breeding. Those with positive, desirable, and superior traits are encouraged to reproduce and may be given monetary incentives by the government to have large families. Those with negative, undesirable, or inferior traits may be discouraged from having offspring. They may be sterilized, or undergo dangerous medical procedures or operations with high mortality rates. I chose this topic because it appealed to me and seemed interesting. In the following paragraphs, the tactics, methods, and propaganda the Nazi’s used will be exposed.
The Holocaust was the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis through an officially sanctioned, government-ordered, systematic plan of mass annihilation. As many as six million Jews died, almost two-thirds of the Jews of Europe. Although the Holocaust took place during World War II, the war was not the cause of the Holocaust. The war played a role in covering up the genocide of the Jewish people. How could this have happened? The answers can be found by understanding how violence of this magnitude can evolve out of prejudice based on ignorance, fear, and misunderstanding about minority groups and other
The Holocaust is the history of continuing mourning and dismay. It seemed to be no ignition of concern or sympathy to lighten up this dreadful history. The Holocaust was the extermination of six million Jews and millions of other people that fell into the “undesirable” category, including blacks, gypsies, and homosexuals, by the Nazi Party during World War II. By 1945, two out of every three Jews were killed: 1.5 million children were murdered. Holocaust survivor, Abel Herzberg said,” There were not six million Jews murdered; there was one murder, six million times.”
"Victims of the Nazi Era: Nazi Racial Ideology." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. .