History And Political Leaders During World War II

The chapter on Nazi medical experiments in Chalmers’ book is one of the most fascinating chapters because it examines the different types of techniques that the Nazi’s used to sterilize men and women. Chalmers explains that women were particularly subject to medical experiments because the Nazis were obsessed with destroying inferior races and wanted to perfect the art of sterilization so no more undesirable elements would be born (Ibid 123). However, both men and women were subject to Nazi medical experiments like medical injections, X-Rays, and chemicals, which resulted in burnt skin, abnormalities, and death. Among these experimentations many chemical companies, doctors, and University professors supported the experiments being done on

In the book Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning tackles the question of why German citizens engaged in nefarious behavior that led to the deaths of millions of Jewish and other minorities throughout Europe. The question of what drove Germans to commit acts of genocide has been investigated by numerous historians, but unfortunately, no overarching answer for the crimes has yet been decided upon. However, certain theories are more popular than others. Daniel Goldhagen in his book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, has expounded that the nature of the German culture before the Second World War was deeply embedded in anti-Semitic fervor, which in turn, acted as the catalyst for the events that would unfold into the Holocaust. It is at this

Most of us have heard of the Nazi party’s horrific, genocidal regime on destroying the Jewish race, but what events led up to their dire judgement? In this study I aim to uncover the events, reasons and changes which led to the Holocaust and the further changes in the treatment of the Jewish race by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

If I had been asked when eugenics began in practice, I would likely have pointed at Nazi era Europe prior to seeing Edwin Black’s presentation. However, at the conclusion of his speech I found myself shaken by the fact that eugenics was in practice in California before and during Nazi power. I had thought of California as, in the past, a brave frontier, and at present, a shining beacon of

Adolf Hitler is very much known for his barbaric deed and responsibility of the Holocaust-- possibly the most disturbing and most horrifying event to be recorded in history. The holocaust systematically killed over six million Jewish people, including over 1.5 million children that were victimized through a number of arguments that many believed was the cause for the destruction. It is difficult to conclude an overriding reason why the holocaust happened, although it is argued, however, that the imminent effect of the psychological state of mind of Hitler, along with the German citizens at the time, had a massive effect on what happened and what could have been prevented. Hitler’s anger and the country’s general

The world is well aware that the acts of the Nazis were atrocious. This is not something one has to affirm, and is due, in large part, to an understanding of World War II and Hitler’s attempts to achieve “Aryan” purity. Germans have taken responsibility and shown remorse for their government’s actions. The United States’ role as leaders in the eugenics movement of the early 1900’s remains unknown by most Americans, even to many American scholars. The American eugenics movement, is at least partially responsibility for Hitler’s actions, at it laid

In the 1930’s in Germany, people of all ethnicities were faced with hateful laws, which were prejudice and discriminating. Hitler’s idea was to exterminate as any people that did not fit the superior German race. People who didn’t fit Hitler's expectations were treated with no respect and were condemned of what they owned. As a result, people lived in poverty and were soon moved to different concentration camps. Inside of the concentration camps people suffered from intense hunger, extreme sorrow for family members that were killed by Nazi Soldiers or died from diseases in the camp, forced labor, and further agony.

Throughout history, the field of eugenics, a termed coined by Francis Galton in 1883, is believed to have played a significant role in improving the genetic quality of the human populace in the context of World War I through the set of beliefs and practices. Eugenics is the experiment of giving the more suitable and more desirable races “a better chance of prevailing” speedily over the less desirable (3). Eugenics employed theory in World War I as well as the aftermath of the war. After ww1 germany sought help from whatever they could find a...Many individuals believed that by having a stronger population they would be better prepared for war. Better breeding involved using the known scientific principles of heredity, which in turn explains why the field of eugenics was appealing simply by determining the physical, physiological, and mental traits rationally employed to improve social problems. The weaker individuals are unfavorable to the general

The Nazi German State with the influence of Nazi physicians had politicized biological causes in every aspect of life in Germany. It began by the sterilization of unfit Germans so that they would not procreate(sterilization law), it was evident in physical education to strengthen both mind and body (Mein Kampf)and took off with the medicalization of Jews. This speculation of “racial degeneracy” became “scientifically” justified in 1935 by Dr. Edgar Schulz of the Office of Racial Policy claiming in his article that Jews had higher rates of “insanity, feeblemindedness, hysteria, and suicide” than non-Jews. This was not blamed on the structure of society but rather blamed on the belief that Jews were an impure mix of Negro and Oriental” blood. These claims of racist science, would, along with medicine be used to justify the extermination of Jews (198). In other words, the classification that began with those who were inferior to the Aryan race and/or deemed unfit, feebleminded, or racially impure led to state intervention of family planning through the use of sterilization. Furthermore, Nazi physicians would blame biological causes on Jews as a form of dehumanization because they were seen as diseased, yet no one spoke up nor defended the Jews during this transition of power, leaving them vulnerable to

“In April 1940, Hitler decreed that operation T4 would begin, namely the euthanasia of the mentally ill and the handicapped; this was the first chapter of the Nazi genocide.Sterilization and euthanasia were used to maintain the purity of the ‘community of people’, while extermination of the Jews - although itself seen as a process of racial purification - was essentially a fight against an enemy who was perceived as a threat to the survival of Germany and the Aryan race” (Minerbi, Alessandra).

From January 8th, 1933 to May 8th, 1945 one of the world’s largest genocides in history occurred. More than seventy years ago the lives of millions were taken by Dictator Adolf Hitler and his officers. More than six million European Jews as well as members from other groups such as the gypsies and homosexuals lives were taken. In 1933 the Jewish European population stood at over nine million people. And by 1945 the Nazi regimen had killed two out of every three Jews as a part of what they called “The solution” in order to get rid of the “inferior race.”

During the beginning and middle of World War II, there were a lot of political debate regarding the war. People like, Harry S. Truman, and Winston Churchill, were some of the most politically persuasive figures during this time of the World War. Three weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill approached the United States Congress to ask to join forces and initiate military tactics against the Japanese and German forces. The following four years in April 1945, Harry S. Truman took office as president of the United States, after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Three months after Truman took office, he ordered the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan. Till this day, the dropping of the atomic bomb is one of the most

The Holocaust, defined as “the systematic annihilation of six million Jews (and other non-Germans) by the Nazi regime” began with the rise of Nazi Germany (“A Historical Summary”). Adolf Hitler is viewed as the main catalyst, using many different systems to implement his twisted views. One of the systems used was the implementation of several laws and policies that stripped basic human rights, as well as social and political rights from persons who were considered non-German living in Nazi-occupied Europe. These laws included the forbidding of marriage between a German and a non-German, the stripping of citizenship from anyone who was a non-German, and—widely regarded as the cruelest and most sickening of them all—a policy referred to by the Nazis as “The Final Solution”.

In essence, the sterilization, which occurred during Hitler’s dictatorship was the final implementation of the racial hygiene movement. While sterilization had taken place in the late nineteenth century and continued into the Weimar Republic, the legalization of policies like the, Law for Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring, allowed for the national eradication of inferior genotypes. When the NSDAP rose to power, they simply applied the pseudoscientific claims of eugenists, racial hygienists, and social darwinists, to government policy. With the support of leading eugenists and racial scientists like Ploetz and Grotjahn, the NSDAP easily incorporated the concept of racial hygiene, specifically sterilization, into both the law and

In the tumultuous period leading up to World War II, a series of laws were devised in Nazi Germany that subjected the Jewish people to prohibitory and discriminatory forms of treatment. Although the Jewish people only accounted for 503,000 of the 55 million occupants of the country, Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship preached the incorporation of anti-Semitism into law and practice in order to quell the people he considered to be the enemy of the country.