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The Holocaust : A More Perfect Union

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We the people, in order to form a more perfect union Devan Shanker Mr. Perry Modern European History per 3 Although many recognize the Holocaust as one of the most catastrophic genocides in history, few acknowledge its underlying causes. Historians often attribute the combination of German aggression and foreign appeasement with the Nazi rise to power and success in completing the Final Solution. However, the power of the totalitarian regime originated from its domestic policy, allowing one man to manipulate the thoughts and actions of an entire nation. The Nazi indoctrination of Germany with propaganda provided the government with the political power necessary to unleash police terror upon dissenters and defamed minorities, which …show more content…

In addition, the perceived communist threat compelled Hindenburg to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree, nullifying all civil liberties and providing the Nazi Party with the freedom to use violence against any minority or dissenter without repercussion. Political propaganda elevated the status of the party while slandering opponents, providing the Nazi Party with sufficient influence to initiate the Final Solution. However, Nazi propaganda also deceived other nations about the intensity of persecution and militarization in Germany, delaying attempts at foreign diplomacy and military responses. The Nazi Party tailored propaganda to influence foreign perspectives of Germany and directed many of attempts, including the Theresienstadt masquerade, to depict the tolerable nature of life in concentration camps (“Propaganda, Nazi”). Meanwhile, propaganda films such as Triumph des Willens portrayed the German army as a peaceful assembly of workers fighting against the poverty and unemployment of the depression. Foreign propaganda made other nations disregard Nazi violation of the Treaty of Versailles, allowing Hitler to surprise Europe with a series of unstoppable blitzkrieg attacks and distract other nations from his plans for the Final Solution. Propaganda offered the Nazi Party social, political, and military advantages that brought it the political influence, popular support, and time required to implement

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