What happened when Germany conquered its neighboring territories? They caused a whole war to take place. This paper will discuss the Holocaust; why it took place, what happened during, and the effects.
The investigation assesses the Nazi regime from 1933 – 1945 in regards to the totality of their actions. In order to evaluate the Nazi regime on whether or not they were more evil than other genocidal regimes, the investigation evaluates how the Nazis controlled their country. The investigation will start in the early years of the Nazi regime in how they set up their totalitarian government and how they expanded their control. Then the Holocaust will be looked at for how the Nazis treated those they were exterminating. Accounts from soldiers and Jewish people who lived through the Nazi control will be mostly used to evaluate if the Nazis were more evil than other genocidal regimes. Two of the sources used in this essay, “The Liberation of Dachau” by Chuck Ferree, and “Fate did not let me go” a letter by Valli Ollendorff are then evaluated for their origins, purposes, values and limitations.
Within Germany, a country torn between the rise of a totalitarian party that determined a superior race, Nazism, and the survival of the oppressed, young Germans face a test between a sense of self and society. Individuality would be suppressed within this new type of society, and being different would be the deadliest obstruction to life. The violations of the rights to life, religion, and speech are relived through the stories of the German youth that lived through this haunting time, whose name would be tarnished in their struggle to survive. In their fight, their morals would be challenged and influenced until the Nazi regime ended, and the violation of human dignity would leave them wondering if life was worth living after all. The Nazi Party grew under its leader, Adolf Hitler, which struggled not to use violence against those that disagreed with their views, starting with armed groups known as the Strum Abteilung, who pledged to be ready to sacrifice their life in the aims of the Nazi Party and absolute loyalty to their leader. Their cruel intolerance began by their strong nationalism and their hatred of democracy and communism, and they gained power through the economic depressions around the world, controlling the media by instilling fear and propaganda that influenced a strong belief in their leaders. This belief in the leaders would soon seem to override Church influence when the official body of the Church failed to do anything significant
It is extremely evident that Jews were the main target for dire judgmental opinions, but there was one man who had a passion for Germany; he believed he was the ‘saviour’ of Germany, this man served in the first world war, and it was then, near the end of the war, recovering from a war wound, when Germany was weak and crumbling, he made a vow to himself, that he would be the one, to make Germany strong, he was: Adolf Hitler.
Hans Mommsen’s book, From Weimar to Auschwitz, presented an interesting look at Hitler within the Nazi Party. The overriding themes in the chapter “Hitler’s Position in the Nazi System” were the stubbornness and charisma of Hitler and the chaos within the Nazi Party. The weak leadership of Hitler along with the inability to concentrate power to one position helped lead the Third Reich to be a very frenzied and unorganized government.
German narratives on the holocaust have changed since 1945 propelled by debates during that time along with political developments and distance from historical events. The German population tends to focus on their fate as to idolize their society’s behavior during the holocaust era. Germany’s students have trouble connecting German history to the holocaust.
Lewis,Kristen. “The horror of Nazi Germany.” Vol 62,Issues 8,Scholastic Scope,April 2014,Danbury,CT,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=95009588&authtype=geo&geocustid=s8475741&site=ehost-live&scope=site . Accessed 19 May,2017
Hitler and the Holocaust is a very informational novel written by Robert S. Wistrich that not only explains this horrible time in history, but also gives us a look into the mind of Hitler and Nazi ideology. This book is not just centered on Hitler and Germany as it my sound, antisemitism spread like a plague all across Europe even before the Holocaust took place. In this work, Wistrich is not making an argument, but is trying to find an explanation on why so many inhumane actions were allowed.
Nazi Germany was between the dates of 1933-1939. Throughout this essay, Conditions in Germany when Hitler came to power including the impact of the Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression and the weakness of the Weimar republic, will be discussed. The Concept of a Totalitarian State and how Hitler and the Nazi party developed in Germany through the use of force, controlled education, militarism, propaganda, economic policies, and no political opposition. Some of the Positives that came from Nazi Germany were increased prosperity including full employment and economic growth, regaining lost territories, increased national prestige and pride, and the hosting of 1936 Olympics. Some of the Negatives that came from Nazi Germany were Persecution of minorities, loss of personal freedoms, economic growth focused on the military, and expansionism as a path to war. This essay will re-state weather Nazi Germany was an overall positive or negative experience for people in Germany.
The following is a critique of the article “Good Times, Bad Times: Memories of The Third Reich” by Ulrich Herbert. In this critique, I will explore the themes of the article, discuss the main arguments, and address the significance of the author’s insight to the world of Nazi Germany.
The rise and subsequent take-over of power in Germany by Hitler and the Nazi Party in the early 1930s was the culmination and continuation not of Enlightenment thought from the 18th and 19th century but the logical conclusion of unstable and cultural conditions that pre-existed in Germany. Hitler’s Nazi Party’s clear manipulation of the weak state of the Weimar Republic through its continued failure economically and socially, plus its undermining of popular support through the signing the Treaty of Versailles all lead to the creation of a Nazi dictatorship under the cult of personality of Hitler. This clear take-over of power and subsequent destruction of any
When looking into the history of Germany and determining what led to the startling rise in Nazism in Germany and its detrimental effects on the social outcasts in Europe, it can be easy to deduce that the Nazi regime was one where Hitler walked in with his officials and took office by force. The truth is that, while the Nazi party is responsible for the atrocities that occurred before and during WWII, they would have not gotten far if it hadn’t been for the cooperation of the German people themselves. Life in the Third Reich provides proof through voting, youth programs and village life that the Nazi party rose into power with German support.
Herbert concentrates on the seemingly strange view held by both working-class and middle-class German citizens that the years during the Second World War were not actually bad. He asserts that most people in Germany did not associate the Third Reich with murder and terrorism, as is typical for people outside of Germany. Instead, these citizens saw the regime as being beneficial, it provided steady work and a sense of structure and stability that had been lacking in the years immediately following the
Therefore, this film is not only a testimony about the German past but also the German present. It displays the irrational annihilation of six young Germans at the end of WWII, summoning up a very agonizing recollection of Nazi Germany’s futile effort to turn back the Allied invasion by hurling teenage boys into the
The holocaust was a bleak and unrecoverable part of the history of the twentieth century that will always be remembered. Millions died for no reason except for one man’s madness. Although many people know why this war happened many don’t know when and what events lead up to this: the way Hitler came into power, or when the first concentration camp was established, and what city it was in, why Jews were hated so much by Hitler, and why the rest of the country also hated them as well as, and what the chronology of the Holocaust. These are some of the things I will explain in my paper.