Similarities Between Salem Witch Trials And The Holocaust

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of prosecutions of people who were accused of acts of witchcraft or of being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts through the time period of February 1692 through May 1693. This was a dark time in history as more than 200 prosecutions took place and at least 20 people were killed during this time of fear and hysteria. The accusations began as three girls Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne were accused of witchcraft from other young girls in the community. During this time period, fear of the Devil was common as people in Salem were very devoted to their religion and religious practices. As one of the accused girls, Tituba, confessed to working for the Devil and admitting to being a witch, this caused panic and hysteria as a massive witch hunt took place to find more of these witches. This confession was the main reason behind months and months of fear and mass panic as it triggered more accusations.

A modern day Witch Hunt that can relate to the Salem Witch Hunt and the Crucible due to condemnation of members of society, instinctual prejudice, estrangement of members of society, and mass hysteria is the Holocaust. To estrange members in society means to push people in society out of it. In the Salem Witch Trials, the people in society pushed the Witches out, and even pushed away the women and men they felt were going to be witches, so that they could look more like witches. In the Holocaust, the Jews were pushed out of society and because of that, they looked more suspicious to the human race.

== = The Salem Witchcraft trials started in 1692 resulting in 19 executions and 150 accusations of witchcraft. This was the biggest outbreak of witchcraft hysteria in colonial New England. The trials began because three young girls, Betty Parris, Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam began having hysterical fits, convulsions and terrifying visions after being caught engaging in forbidden fortune telling[1].

If one observes the past, they will notice that history is inevitable to repeat itself, and that throughout time there have been several events that shape how we live today. Two examples of those are the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism, both of which were a string of trials that charged people with being things they were not. The trials took place in Colonial Massachusetts from 1692 to 1693, while McCarthyism lasted from 1950-1957. The Salem witch trials involved accusations against alleged witches while the era of McCarthyism consisted of investigations held against alleged communists. Despite the two being over two hundred fifty years apart, they were still caused by the same basic reasons. The Salem witch trials and McCarthyism also had many resemblances. These included false accusations against citizens, unfair trials without any substantial evidence to prove a person’s innocence or guilt, and a widespread fear in the society against the people accused of the supposed crimes.

“He (Hitler) believed that a person’s characteristics, attitudes, abilities, and behavior were determined by his or her so-called racial make-up”(“Site”). As well as victims of the Holocaust, people of Salem were discriminated against based on ideas set by one person. The Holocaust was a genocide of innocent people based on the Nuremberg Laws set by Adolf Hitler. The Salem Witch trials began when a group of girls ruled, by Abigail Williams started accusing innocent people based on behavior and their status in Salem. A mass murder of nearly six million innocent Jews based on the opinion of one leader can be connected to Abigail Williams influences during the Salem Witch Trials. The connections between the Holocaust and the Salem Witch Trials began with the ruthlessness of leaders, the demise of innocent individuals, as well as the factors that led to these horrific events.

The Salem Witch Trials occurred in seventeenth century Massachusetts. The small Puritan town of Salem was first burdened with the accusations of witchcraft in January of 1692, according to the article “Salem Witch Trials” on “History.com.” The article also states that two local girls, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams, began having violent fits accompanied with bloodcurdling screams (“Salem Witch Trials). When the girls never healed, the town doctor, William Griggs, was called to the girls’ homes says the article “The 1962 Salem Witch Trials.”

The Salem Witch Trials and the Spanish Inquisition were both the outcomes of religious fears. These events in history share several similarities, including the way people were accused and punished. The witch trials and Spanish Inquisition were used to cleanse the people. In both cases the accused did not have fair proceedings which resulted in wrongly accused innocent people. Although the Spanish Inquisition was more gruesome due to the horrific torture prisoners went through they both resulted in many unjustified deaths.

The three main reasons for the persecutions of many innocent victims in Europe which last from about 1480-1700. Was, first, age, gender, and a persons class. Second, was the public opinion and peer pressure of people. And third, was very strong religious beliefs. The techniques of the witch hunts were the most helpless, or the ones that are blamed by somebody else ,in other words scapegoating . These techniques are the very same we used today in many political, economic, ideological conflicts. So we some what have witch hunts

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of accusations, trials, and executions based on the supposed outbreak of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. The trials began during the spring of 1692, and the last of them ended in 1693. It all started when two young girls, Abigail and Betty Parris, began experiencing violent convulsions and outbursts, which were thought to be brought about by witchcraft. Whether they were faking these symptoms, were afflicted with an actual sickness, or were experiencing them because of some sort of psychological reason is widely debated, though it is known that the sisters accused their maid, Tituba, of forcing them to participate in witchcraft with her. Some who theorize about the causes of the trials dismiss the Parris girls involvement in the beginning and instead attribute the outbreak of accusations to judgement upon the members of society who break social or religious rules, or who struck the upright members of society as ‘strange’ and ‘suspicious’, such as the homeless, the poor, and old or widowed women. The cause of the hysteria that went on in Salem after this is what is speculated by so many. There are probably hundreds of theories out there, but a few in particular are more widely known, accepted, and supported than others.

Does the Salem Witch Trials and The Holocaust Have Things in Common? During both of these times mass numbers of people were being killed and driven by fear in their own society. This fear became mass hysteria. Mass hysteria occurred in 1692 in the town of Salem and again “between 1933 and 1945, [when] more than 11 million men, women, and children were murdered in the Holocaust” (Lehnardt 1).

Have you ever heard of an event more iniquitous than the Salem Witch Trials, or on more devastating than the Holocaust? Although the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust occurred in completely different time periods, they are brought together by the fact that many people died horrifically, the killings were lead by tyrants, and both tragedies were ended by an insightful and generous being.

In the 1680’s and 1690’s there was mass hysteria in New England over supposed witchcraft. The most famous outbreak was in Salem, Massachusetts, hence the name Salem Witch Trials. In Salem, there were young girls who started acting strangely, and they leveled accusations of witchcraft against some of the West Indian servants who were immersed in voodoo tradition. Most of the accusations were against women, and soon the accusations started to shift to the substantial and prominent women. Neighbors accused other neighbors, husbands accused their wives, etc. and it kept going on for a while. There was this nature of evil and the trials didn’t end until nineteen Salem residents were put to death in 1692, more importantly before the girls

The evidence of witchcraft and related works has been around for many centuries. Gradually, though, a mixture a religious, economical, and political reasons instigated different periods of fear and uncertainty among society. Witchcraft was thought of as a connection to the devil that made the victim do evil and strange deeds. (Sutter par. 1) In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth century, the hysteria over certain causes resulted in prosecution in the Salem Witch Trials, European Witchcraft Craze, and the McCarthy hearings. These three events all used uncertain and unjustly accusations to attack the accused.

In this process essay the reader will learn how the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism are similar. Both situations ended up taking on a mob mentality. The Salem Witch Trials started in 1690s when the Trials began, and by the end, over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. The people had a strong belief of the devil and were very religious. The outside threats that were surrounding the people of Salem had created a fear and suspicion within the town. Eventually, the people in Salem realized their mistakes.

Factors for the Salem witch trials could have been a lot of things, like boredom or the need for excitement. However, I think they fall under mind over matter, when someone believes something it becomes real in their mind. Watching Tituba’s magic tricks caused the girls to believe in them, that followed by what actually made them act unusual initiated the hysteria. Probably the closest thing I can think of that might resemble the Salem witch trials, is the persecution of Christians in countries where the Bible is prohibited. Unfortunately, there are still countries where the leaders want to control everything even the religious beliefs of their populace.