When Hitler decided to use the Jewish as an escape route to blaming them for problems and ruining Germany’s reputation, it would be common to assume that no one would support him or his Nazi party. Unfortunately, this was not the case. It is very hard for me personally to grasp how it is possible that the German people could simply go along with the persecution of Jews and how they were going about it. However, I think that the bystanding and acceptance might have occurred mainly because of the idea of a “Master Race.”
When Hitler gave his speeches, he made quite sure to stir up all sorts of pride, emotion, and nationalism within the Germans. One of his tactics was to make everyone he was speaking to felt somewhat special. By making them
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People started to look up to him and feel gratitude at what he has accomplished for them. I don’t know if this is the case, but Germans may have simply turned the other cheek because it was easier that way. Life was getting better for them, so what was the difference if they stood up for them? One of the last reasons that I think the German people may have gone along with the persecution of Jews was because it gave them too an easy escape as to blame them for the happenings and horrible post-war world in Germany. Overall, in my opinion, the main reasons that the Germans may have gone along with the Nazi’s persecution against Jews was to make it easier for them and to avoid conflict, prove to themselves and others they were the true Aryan and master race, and lastly, to find someone to blame just as Hitler had done.
Section 3: Question 8: In 1938, a young Jewish man named Herschel Grynszpan murdered a German officer living in Paris as revenge for something the Germans had done to his father. This sparked an attack on Jews living in Germany. It became known as Kristallnacht which means “Night of the Broken Glass.” German troops and the SS raided and stormed homes that had belonged to Jews. It was the turning point and beginning for one of the worst times in history… The Holocaust. When Hitler initially began persecuting Jews, he would take over cities and begin to starve the Jews that were now forced to live in the cities or ghettos.
Hitler had shown unwillingness to tolerate the Jews and once he was appointed Chancellor, he started to take elimination measures like deportation, forced emigration, and isolation to enforce his belief. He took advantage of Germany’s weakness in World War One, then used it as an opportunity to blame the Jews for Germany’s defeat. Hitler’s political party was the largest political party in Germany thus allowing them to draw very large crowds to gatherings. He had very good oratory speeches with hand gestures that easily manipulated people to adhere to his views. Hitler constantly targeted the Jews because he knew people believed in these speeches. People in Germany were already anti-semitic but Hitler made it worse by constantly consuming them in his speeches. From the way he spoke about the Jews, we could clearly see the possibility of genocide. Hitler wanted Germany to be free of any humans that anyone other than his ideal master race so he personally selected bodyguards to be part of a group called the SS. Hitler was responsible for ordering the SS to carry out the extermination of anyone who did not fit this ideal. The SS handled oppositions using force and as a result of which people were forced to give into the idea of violence. Sometimes people purposely went along with this Holocaust ideal due to the fear of getting killed. These terrors allowed the holocaust occur
The hatred towards Jews was nothing new in that time. Throughout history Jews have been prosecuted and blamed for many of the world's problems, and Germany was the same. The treaty of Versailles was incredibly harsh on Germany as it extinguished the nations power and reduced its presets on an international scale. The Germany people especially hated the treaty of Versailles and they needed someone to blame, so lo and behold the hatred of Jews began in Germany. The TOV was signed and approved by Jewish politicians so many German peopled blamed Jews for the TOV. During the 1930s, many Jews where doctors, lawyers and bankers which
Hitler was obsessed with the racial superiority he believed the German peoples had over all other inferior peoples. He wanted to rule the world, but in order to carry out his solution, he needed to convince the German people to listen to him. Perhaps Hitler would never have been able to do what he did had World War I never occurred. As Resnick said in his book, The Holocaust; After World War I, Germany was trying to rebuild and recover…Both the Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression severely afflicted Germany. "In many respects, these terrible conditions made Hitler's rise to power possible." (Resnick p. 15) People in desperate situations will listen to anyone offering a way out. Hitler offered not only a way out of Germany's turmoil, but also someone to blame for it; he pointed at the Jews.
Hatred towards Jewish people was very common in Europe at the time and was known as Anti-Semitism. The societal practice of rejection and persecution of Jews had very little protest from the German people. Societal
Due to the “trauma of war, defeat, and revolution, [and] the political radicalization of German Society,” Hitler’s message was able to have an attentive audience (Kershaw 2010:47). The Jewish Holocaust was able to begin because the Germans needed a scapegoat after the humiliation of the end of World War I. Jews were heavily target because Hitler had a repulsion towards them that grew rapidly which resulted in him linking Jewish people with all of the evils he perceived. Without World War I, Hitler would not have been able to flourish. Germans were especially humiliated by the stipulations of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 (Hantke and Spoerer
Kristallnacht happened on the evening and early morning of November ninth and tenth of 1938. It is also known as the “Night of Broken Glass”. The name Kristallnacht comes from the sight of glass on the streets from the windows of synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses and homes being broken. This is because of the anti Jewish pogroms. Pogrom is a Russian word meaning to wreak havoc or to demolish violently. German officials said that Kristallnacht was a spontaneous outburst of violence in regard to the assassination of Ernst von Rath. Two days before Kristallnacht occurred, a 17 year old Polish Jew named Herschel Grynszpan shot Ernst vom Rath.
Adolf Hitler came to power over Germany in January of 1933. He hated Jews and blamed them for everything bad that had ever happened to Germany. Hitler’s goal in life was to eliminate the Jewish population. With his rise to power in Germany, he would put into action his plan of elimination. This is not only why German Jews were the main target of the Holocaust, but why they were a large part of the years before, during, and after the Holocaust. Hitler’s “final solution” almost eliminated the Jewish population in Europe during World War II. At the end of the war and along with his suicide, the Jewish population would survive the horror known as the Holocaust and the Jews would eventually find their way back to their homeland of Israel
Over the course of the two days on November 9th and 10th in 1938 the Nazi Reign seized the Jewish life and greatly impacted Jewish life for the years to come. Kristallnacht, also known as “the Night of Broken Glass”, primarily stood for the Nazi party destructing Jewish lifestyles. The Nazi Regime burned down the Synagogues, destructed schools and businesses. Also Kristallnacht implemented the Nuremberg laws and the beginning of concentration camps. Kristallnacht was a significant event that led to a domino effect on Jewish path in history. Kristallnacht was the stepping-stone in which Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Regime was firstly implementing violent acts upon the Jews. Kristallnacht greatly changed living conditions in Germany and helped implement the Final Solution in the time span from 1939 to 1945.
After the loss of World War I, German citizens longed for a sense of unity. Many citizens (including Hitler himself) wanted revenge against Jews because the had supposedly lost the war for the Germans. Hitler gave them what they wanted and initiated the persecution of Jews. What the citizens didn’t know was that Hitler was committing genocide against the Jews and he was using his propaganda to hide
Adolf Hitler was a very impressive man in some people’s eyes, but his life took one major roller coaster before he gained the power that he had. As a young child Hitler seemed to not want to join the military, but once he, did he found a path leading to his future. Hitler worked his way through the war and seemed to start gaining power. Once Hitler was at the top, he started to terminate people by sending them to concentration camps scattered around the country, quickly killing thousands. Hitler’s great power, massive number of soldiers, and unwillingly hate for the Jewish race, caused one of the biggest world crisis’s throughout the world war’s. The people of Poland and many surrounding countries seemed scared of Hitler’s great power, but
Germans were drawn to Hitler’s promises and his pro-German rhetoric after many Germans felt cheated by the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles placed all the blame of World War I onto Germany, and that lead to resentment on behalf of the Germans. That is why Hitler was able to gain so much support, because he advocated for extreme German nationalism in a time in which the Germans were feeling neglected. This lead to people either turning a blind eye to the Holocaust, or just simply not realizing the magnitude of it due to their intense levels of
Hitler had a way with words, he was one of the best public speakers know to date, most said he spoke with such emotion, he was one of the few leaders at the time that could really rally a crowd. He was speaking to masses of people who were economically downtrodden after losing the first world war. People during this era were looking for someone or something to grab hold of, and Hitler appeared to the German people as such a trustworthy and upfront politician, that he became their “Savior.” Thus this horrific man wormed his way into the hearts and minds of an entire nation.
He buttered the German population by giving them hopes for a “better future”. He gave many promises to the people of Germany and some of them were: 1) Protection from communism 2) Reprisal of the Treaty of Versailles and the creation of a strong government 3) Jobs and protection for workers 4) Increase in the price of agricultural products {2}.He also promised that if he was chosen as the leader, he wouldn’t accept to abide by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Since he was the only hope for providence, the Germans turned to him. Soon, Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party and set his sights on gaining the overall power of Germany. He said that Germany was far more superior to any other country and that they should “stand up” and “be strong once more”. He wanted to join hands with Austria and Poland since this would give them (Germany) foreign support. Even though these countries were not willing to join with Hitler, he would simply invade them and conquer them. Even though this was against the terms of the treaty, Hitler didn’t care much since he was relentless. During 1921-1923, the Nazi Party grew as they gained more and more
Adolf Hitler being a leader, needed a plan to follow. “His initial vision was that Germany should take over Europe and that Britain could keep its empire” (Kitchen n.p.). To accomplish his vision, he first had to overcome the Treaty of Versailles. In order to gain public support, he convinced most Germans that he was the savior from the Versailles treaty (Last n.p.). This statement gave many people hope, bringing more followers to Adolf Hitler. A secret decision at the highest level decided that the insane, terminally ill, children, and the elderly should be gotten rid of (Wiesel n.p.). This was the majority of the people that were affected in the Holocaust along with the Jews. The Nazi doctors were involved with the plans and decisions of Hitler. This brought more followers to him because the doctors believed that they were contributing to the human society. This shows that not only citizens were supporters of Hitler but medical professionals were also his followers. Hitler was a “feel good dictator” that made sure Germans were well cared-for by the state, by giving them huge tax breaks (Cowen n.p.). This made Adolf Hitler look like a “warm-hearted” leader. These tax breaks and other social benefits intrigued most Germans to follow him. The motives of Adolf Hitler were used to get and lead his
Existed throughout European nations for centuries. Rulers placed legislation and restrictions on the Jewish community previously (E.g. Napoleon)