Hy3 Personal Sources Pack

“The War Against The Jews” by Lucy Dawidowicz explores a very dark time in history and interprets it from her view. Through the use of other novels, she concurs and agrees to form her opinion. This essay will explore who Dawidowicz is, why she wrote the book, what the book is about, what other authors have explored with the same topic, and how I feel about the topic she wrote about. All in all, much research will be presented throughout the essay. In the end you will see how strongly I feel about the topic I chose. I believe that although Hitler terrorized the Jews, they continued to be stronger than ever, and tried to keep up their society.

The efforts the Nazi party expended on carrying out their ‘final solution to the Jewish question in Europe’ involved changing the structure of a whole country’s economic, social, and military sectors; a mobilisation completed by many various competing and collating departments and agencies, all of which were expected by their superiors to show initiative in their operations. This mode of command lends plausibility to the theory that the ‘final solution’ of the holocaust was not necessarily a result of a direct command by the Führer (No records of any such order exist) but rather the culmination of the departments of the Nazi state vying for approval from their superiors by following the ideology to its ‘logical conclusion’ with Hitler’s approval. This could be seen to support Berghahn, as it was the confusion and rush to meet growing needs that drove the party to extermination over deportation. It also supports Kershaw, who

The danger of this approach is that statements, no matter how vociferous, still need to be contextualised. Through an analysis of the many pre-war anti-Semitic statements made by Hitler, no proclamations of intent to kill the Jews were found, thus rendering the Functionalist belief that the Holocaust was not a part of Nazi policy prior to the enactment of the Final Solution as unquestionably correct. While the content of Hitler’s famous autobiography Mein Kampf (1925) undeniably proves that Hitler possessed an extreme hatred of the Jews and planned to make Germany Judenrein (free of Jews), there is no indication that he intended to carry out this cleansing through murder. In a speech made in Salzburg on the 7th of August 1920, Hitler stated that “This Jewish contamination will not subside, this poisoning of the nation will not end, until the carrier himself, the Jew, has been banished from our midst.” It is important to note the use of the word ‘banished,’ a term which means exile and deportation, suggesting that the plan was not to murder, but to force emigration. In an interview with the New York newspaper Staatszeitung in 1933, Hitler confessed that ‘we (the Nazis) would willingly give every one of them (the Jews) a free steamer-ticket and a thousand-mark note for travelling expenses if we could get rid of them." In Hitler’s Table Talk of October 1941, he

“In my speech before the Reichstag on the first of September 1939, I spoke of two matters: first, since we are forced into war, neither the threat of weapons nor a period of transition shall conquer us; second, if world Jewry launches another war in order to destroy the Aryan nations of Europe, it will not be the Aryan nations that will be destroyed, but the Jews...Once the Germans Jews laughed at my prophecy. I do not know whether they are still laughing, or whether they are laughing on the other side of their faces. I can simply repeat — they will stop laughing altogether, and I will fulfill my prophecy in this field too.”

Horror struck on January 30, 1933, when Germany assigned Adolf Hitler as their chancellor. Once Hitler had finally reached power he set out to complete one goal, create a Greater Germany free from the Jews (“The reasons for the Holocaust,” 2009). This tragedy is known today as, “The Holocaust,” that explains the terrors of our histories past. The face of the Holocaust, master of death, and leader of Germany; Adolf Hitler the most deceitful, powerful, well spoken, and intelligent person that acted as the key to this mass murder. According to a research study at the University of South Florida, nearly eleven million people were targeted and killed. This disaster is a genocide that was meant to ethnically cleanse Germany of the Jews. Although Jewish people were the main target they were not the only ones targeted; gypsies, African Americans, homosexuals, socialists, political enemies, communists, and the mentally disabled were killed (Simpson, 2012, p. 113). The word to describe this hatred for Jewish people is known as antisemitism. It was brought about when German philosophers denounced that “Jewish spirit is alien to Germandom” (“Antisemitism”) which states that a Jew is non-German. Many people notice the horrible things the Germans did, but most don’t truly understand why the Holocaust occurred. To truly understand the Holocaust, you must first know the Nazis motivations. Their motivations fell into two categories including cultural explanations that focused on ideology and

In spite of the fact that it is a commonly known historical piece of the Holocaust, it’s authenticity has been questioned. Some conspiracies deny that it even happened at all. Through the analyzation of Hitler’s own violent anti-Semitism, powerful position, and ability to convey Nazi propaganda into action, one can see how he is the sole cause of the Holocaust.

In the pre-war years, the Nazi Party wanted to find a solution to the “Jewish question” – meaning what to do with them (“Final Solution” Learning). On July 31, 1941, Heydrich submitted the “draft of the measures he proposed to undertake ‘to implement the desired final solution of the Jewish Question’” (“SS”). In the fall of 1941, the Nazi soldiers implemented the plan and began to effectuate it by experimental gassings in the Auschwitz extermination camp and then moving forth to surrounding camps (“Final Solution” Learning). Between then and 1945, the top SS soldiers continued to give the orders to torture, mass shoot, gas (especially in constructed extermination camps), enforce murderous labor, and other means (“Holocaust”). The ideas, which were thought of by Himmler, Eichmann, and Heydrich, are what allowed for this brutality to cause such a large scale genocide. Despite the eleven million

What was Hitler’s role in the Holocaust? Studies of the Holocaust have provoked passionate debates. Increasingly, they have become a central topic of concern for historians particularly since the early 1970s, as the Holocaust studies were generally limited. However, one of the most intense debates surrounding the role played by Hitler in the ’Final Solution’. That is, whether and when Hitler took a decision to initiate the extermination process. Of course, this issue has caused incredible controversy and naturally such a contentious topic of debate has radically produced large amounts of new data and literature. Conflicting, an interpretation has caused further disparities between historians over Hitler’s role in the Holocaust. For this

Although the Final Solution was not carried out until the invasion of Russia, the emergence of Holocaust was primarily the product of Hitler’s intention to exterminate the Jewish race due to Hitler’s well-organized plan of genocide and strong influence over the German Nazis.

Hitler's plan was to devise an unequal system to implement the Holocaust. The creations of new laws within the legal

Hitler’s beliefs • Within Hitler’s beliefs, the Jews were a cause of danger to Germany and to humanity as a whole.(Smelser)

The holocaust was a traumatic event that took millions of lives. Hitler led the holocaust in an attempt to single out the Jewish race for genocide. He thought they were unclean. My history teacher said, at first he didn’t want to kill them but send them elsewhere. He wanted to ship all the Jews off to Madagascar (“Sanders”). Hitler strongly believed that Jews would be the downfall of the Germans. Hitler hated the Jews and blamed them for the loss of WWI. He called the plan to exterminate the Jews, the “Final Solution.” According to A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust it’s “A Nazi euphemism for the plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe” (“Resistance”). Hitler’s main goal before he died, his number one priority was the complete annihilation and genocide of the Jews.

(Hitler’s Book “Mein Kampf”) The Nazis claimed that the Jewish people and religion was the source of their downfall, and the genocide of the Jewish people was their only option.

On the 20th of January 1942, leading members of the Nazi party had met in Berlin to discuss how they could make the mass murder of all the Jewish people in Europe an organised and methodical procedure; this discussion would be known as ‘’the Final Solution of the Jewish Question’’. This essay will prove that the progressive development of German racial views and policies towards the Jewish people, did in fact led to the Final Solution, and ultimately an attempt at the mass genocide of the Jewish population all due to the absurd anti-Semitic mind sets of the German people.

For my research project, I have chosen to investigate Adolf Hitler and how he came to despise the Jewish race. My thesis question for this project is “What lead to Hitler’s desire to exterminate the Jews in Europe?”. For this investigation, two sources that have been of help to me are both Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler and World War II: a definitive visual history by Alison Sturgeon. The book Mein Kampf is an original source document written by Adolf Hitler and translated by James Murphey. Mein Kampf was published in 1995 by Franz Eher Nachfolger in Germany. Adolf Hitler was the dictator of Germany from 1934-1945. The purpose of this book is the provide insight into Hitler’s first hand thoughts and to share them with the public. In the author’s notes in Mein Kampf, Hitler says the following… “After years of uninterrupted labour it was now possible for the first time to begin a work which many had asked for and which I myself felt would be profitable for the Movement. So I decided to devote two volumes to a description not only of the aims of our Movement but also of its development. There is more to be learned from this than from any purely doctrinaire treatise.” Hitler wrote this book while incarcerated due to his attempt in overthrowing the German government in 1923. This source is valuable because it is a look into Hitler’s actual thoughts and this is important because my historical investigation requires a look into why Hitler wanted to exterminate the Jews in Europe and