The During The Nazi War Essay

The Holocaust was organized by Adolf Hitler and it targeted Jewish people. In the beginning, the Nazis only targeted their political opponents such as Communists or Social Democrats. These were the people that were sent to the first concentration camp. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 labeled anyone with three or four grandparents as a Jew and those with two Jewish grandparents as half-breeds. Under the Nuremberg Laws, Jews became routine targets for stigmatization and persecution (“History”). The Nazis portrayed Jews as a race and not a religious group. Religious anti-Semitism could be resolved by conversion, political anti-Semitism by expulsion. Ultimately, the logic of Nazi racial anti-Semitism led to annihilation (Berenbaum 1). “Kristallnacht” was a night in November of

Kristallnacht, or the "Night of Broken Glass", is one of the most crucial events in German, Jewish, and World History. Before, the Jews were simply assaulted and verbally abused. However, on the night of November 9, 1938, an unplanned and extremely violent action against the Jews occurred. In two days, over 250 synagogues were burnt down while the fire department did nothing to stop it, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were trashed and looted, Jews were murdered, Jewish cemeteries, schools, hospitals, and homes were looted by SS while the police attempted to preserve them but failed. Before Kristallnacht, Jews ' lives were not threatened. Historically Jews were not welcome by many countries which

So at this point in time Jews were very restricted. One Jewish teenager, Herschel Grinszpan, was living in Paris. His father was relocated by the Nazis to Poland. He decided that he was going to assassinate the German ambassador. He went to the embassy, but he was not able to locate his target. So he tried to assassinate Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath instead. Ironically, Rath was an anti-Nazi. Even though Rath was only a minor official, Hitler used propaganda to convince people that the act was an international conspiracy by Jews everywhere. Hitler made it seem as though Jews were attacking Germany itself. This is what led to Kristallnacht. The act of one Jew gave Hitler exactly the excuse he needed to hurt the Jews en masse and in public. It gave him the excuse for the government to condone mass destruction of Jewish property and businesses.

Kristallnacht changed Jewish lives dramatically in over just one night. Kristallnacht or better known as ¨The Night of Broken Glass¨ due to all the broken glass on the streets from the destruction for Jewish places was a horrible day in history with terror and destruction. Due to it Jewish lives were majorly affected.

30000 Jews were sent to concentration camps during Kristallnacht. The Nazi's came to power in 1932 as they were elected 608 seats in the German parliament. After this event, the Nazi's used fear and propaganda to slowly hypnotize and imbed their beliefs into the minds of every German citizen. However in November of 1938, the Nazi's showed everyone what they really believed in. during "the night of broken glass" or Kristallnacht. The Nazi's ransacked and destroyed many Jewish businesses while they also killed and captured many Jewish citizens . The purpose of Kristallnacht was to strike fear into Jewish communities, which in turn also sparked the beginning of the Nazi war machine that would sweep through Europe over the course of the upcoming years. To assess the significance of Kristallnacht I will look at the consequences, what caused it to happen.

Germany was believed to be the cause of World War one, which made other European countries want to severely hurt Germany’s military and economy so that Germany couldn’t achieve future aggressions. The peace treaty called the Treaty of Versailles did just that. On June 28, 1919, the major powers in Europe, other than Germany, negotiated Germany’s punishment for the war. Germany’s military was limited to 100,000 men, they lost many of their colonies, they were forced to disarm their troops from the Rhineland, and worst of all they were forced to pay for all of the destruction caused by the war, which totaled to about 40 billion dollars. The Treaty of Versailles crushed Germany; they were weak and desperate, until Nazi Germany came to power.

On the night of November 9th, 1938, chaos struck the German Reich and forever changed the lives of Jewish people living in Europe. This terror, known as Kristallnacht, ended late on November 10th. As a result, nearly 8,000 Jewish business and homes were destroyed, 200 synagogues were burned to the ground, and 76 were demolished. Innocent Jews were beaten, raped, and terrorized by Nazi officers in their own homes (Fitzgerald 72). As a result of this historic pogrom, over 100 Jews were killed and 30,000 were sent to concentration camps; most never to be set free (Fitzgerald 13). Earlier in the day on November 9th, newspapers and radio stations, controlled by Nazi propaganda, had reported that the Secretary of Legislation at the German Embassy in Paris had been shot and seriously

One of the most significant events that took place during the Holocaust was Kristallnacht; known as The Night of the Broken Glass for the shattered pieces of glass that littered the streets. On the night of November 9th, 1938, Nazi troops were ordered to disguise as ordinary civilians in order to give the impression that the perpetrators were angry members of the public. They outflanked Jewish neighborhoods, destroying homes, synagogues, shops, and businesses, encouraging ordinary Germans to participate in the breaking of glass by throwing Jewish possessions out of windows into streets. Many historians believe that night triggered the introduction of the Holocaust, as 91 Jews were killed in the attack and 30,000 arrested and incarcerated

The Holocaust of 1933-1945, was the systematic killing of millions of European Jews by the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazis) (Webster, 430). This project showed the treacherous treatment towards all Jews of that era. Though many fought against this horrific genocide, the officials had already determined in their minds to exterminate the Jews. Thus, the Holocaust was a malicious movement that broke up many homes, brought immense despair, and congregated great discrimination. The Holocaust was an act of Hell on earth.

Shops started posting signs reading “No Jews Allowed”, Jews were commonly harassed everywhere they went. In one attempt to rid the German Nation of Jews, Jews with Polish citizenship were rounded up, herded like cattle, and dumped off at the Polish border. The Poles kept them in no-man’s land in horrible conditions. Finally Kristallnacht came, riots across the country that destroyed Jews homes and stores, synagogues burned, and 20,000 Jews were arrested. Hitler the declared his extermination of Jews for his “pure” race.

The world we live in today is not the world we think. We go on with our everyday living and do not give much thought into how far we have come and how blessed we really are. The Nazi Doctors is introduced to readers as one of the worst killing projects that once took place. The author presents his readers with him investigating and interviewing different Nazi doctors and prisoner doctors that played a role in Nazi genocide. As you read the book, you begin to wonder how “inhuman” the Jews were treated and how these doctors just lacked mercy for kids and adults and how healers become killers, and after the fact some of these doctors showed no remorse. He does a great job covering the history aspect as well as the psychology aspect of the book.

Kristallnacht was a night of destructive terror that changed the lives of the Jewish population in Germany forever. Kristallnacht, also known as The Night of Broken Glass, was a demonstration against the Jews that was put into course on November 9/10, 1938. It was named “The Night of Broken Glass” due to its immense destruction of Jewish property that led to an excessive amount of glass on the streets. Kristallnacht was a life-changing event that affected all aspects of Jewish lives. One of the aspects of Jewish lives that was affected by Kristallnacht was their physical well-being.

Anti-Semitism was a key principal of Nazism and it was what drove Hitler to try and eliminate the whole Jewish race. After he came into power, he slowly began picking at the defenses of the Jews and began to weaken them so they would be easier to defeat. Another way that the Jews were put down was through anti-Jewish propaganda and this had a major impact on the German society as it conditioned them to see that the harm that was going to be done to Jews had a justified reason. A Jewish man did the assassination of Ernst Vom Rath and this gave the Nazi regime an immediate excuse to harm Jews and make Kristalnacht happen. The consequences were far worse than anyone could have expected. Many buildings and shops were completely destroyed and millions of deutschmarks worth of property was destroyed. Over 20,000 Jewish boys and men had been arrested and taken to concentration camps where they had to survive torture and horrible living conditions. Germany had gained negative publicity internationally because of Kristalnacht but the German population was too fearful for them to speak out. Kristalnacht was an event that scarred and destroyed the lives of many Jewish people living in Germany and tragic for Jews all over the world living at that

2). Even though this was not a violent treatment of the Jews, it was an attempt to bankrupt and dehumanize them of everything they had worked for their whole lives (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). As a result, Jews became a segregated people. They had to ride on buses and trains only in the seat that were clearly marked for them (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). Jewish children were allowed to be bullied at school in an attempt to keep them from coming to school. Hitler used this to brand the Jews as a lazy people (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). The Nuremberg Laws passed in 1935 gave even more power to the Nazis and took away more dignity of the Jews. The Jews were stripped of their German citizenship and marriages between Jews and non-Jews were not allowed (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). At this point, the Jews who could afford to pay a fine to leave the country were allowed to do so, but the ones who could not afford it had to stay behind and were not allowed to get food or medicine (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). Hitler’s campaign against the Jews escalated in 1938 with “Krystalnacht” – The Night of the Broken Glass (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). After a Nazi diplomat was found shot to death, Hitler began a seven day war of terror against the Jews (Jews in Nazi Germany pg. 2). Shops that were owned by Jews were destroyed and robbed, homes and synagogues burned

The Holocaust is most well-known for the organized and inhumane extermination of more than six million Jews. The death total of the Jews is this most staggering; however, other groups such as Gypsies, Poles, Russians, political groups, Jehovah’s witnesses, and homosexuals were targeted as well (Holocaust Encyclopedia: Introduction to the Holocaust). The initial idea of persecuting select groups of people began with Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. In January 1930, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany after winning over its people with powerful and moving speeches. From this point forward, it was a goal for both Hitler and his Nazi Party to rid the world of deemed “inferior” groups of people (Holocaust Encyclopedia: Timeline