The Holocaust: The Cause Of The First World War

As the Soviet Union made their way for the camp, the camp began to evacuate its three main camps and 44 subcamps. “SS units forced nearly 60,000 prisoners to march west from the Auschwitz camp system” (“Auschwitz,” n.d.). Prisoners were transported to Germany concentration camps. The travels to these camps were unbearable, and many prisoners lost their lives during the travel or were killed if they could not keep up during the marches. These marches are often referred to as “The Death Marches.” “On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered [Auschwitz-Birkenau camps] and liberated around 7,000 prisoners, most of whom were ill and dying” (“Auschwitz,” n.d.).

There are so many remarkable people who have gone before us and shaped the world into what it is today. With the passing of yet another Veterans Day, people were reminded of the extraordinary sacrifices made by ordinary men and women who were unfortunate enough to have lived during times when their nations were at war. Many ordinary citizens lost their lives as a result of the war, just as soldiers did. While some survivors simply lived out their post war lives, others survived and influenced the world. One person who survived the atrocities of the Holocaust during World War II and used his experiences to improve social, political, and religious conditions throughout the world, is Elie Wiesel. Through the words of Elie Wiesel, the public can witness the evils of war, keep these memories alive in the collective recall of future generations, and take action upon witnessing injustices of its kind.

As we grow up our parents teach us how to be respectful and very well-mannered. They enforce the importance of saying, “Please, thank you, and excuse me,” when needed. Parents also insist we listen and respect our elders, because they have authority over the world since they have been here the longest. We were raised to comply with the demand of someone who had authority over us. According to Patricia Werhane (1), “In the early1960’s Stanley Milgram undertook his noteworthy study of human obedience to authority. Puzzled by the question of how otherwise decent people could knowingly contribute to the massive genocide of the Holocaust during World War II, Milgram designed an experiment that sought to cause a conflict between one’s willingness to obey authority and one’s personal conscience.”

Eleven million innocent people died and many did not know what they did or why it was happening to them (Rice 11). The Holocaust happened because of the Germans after World War 2 thought that the reason that their economy was falling down was because of Jewish people. The Holocaust followed the Ladder of Prejudice is a started with speech and moved its way up to “The Final Solution” also known as extermination. Hitler did not start with killing Jews. He killed Jews,Gypsies,homosexuals and many more religions or cultural people and Hitler also sent people to concentration camps if they spoke against the Government, then he moved to the Ladder of Prejudice, he used discrimination, physical attack and, extermination.

After WW2, there was a thing called the holocaust. There were many concentration camps all over Germany where many Jews were killed in different ways. It happened between WW1 and WW2, 1933-1945. My position on why this happened is that Germany was going through a rough time, so Hitler wanted their country to resemble power. Read on to learn more about the causes and ways the Holocaust could have been avoided.

During World War II, the world witnessed unspeakable acts of violence, particularly that of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a mass genocide primarily of, but not limited to, the Jewish population in Germany, and other countries that were controlled by Germany. From 1941 to 1945, the Jews were targeted and methodically murdered because of Hitler’s views of his Utopian society made up of an Aryan a race. Hitler fought to create this society through creating an anti-Semitic movement, his motivation and thirst for power and through his rituals of violence used to purge society of the undesirable races.

Nowadays, people tend to forget the morality of human beings. For instance, the people in today’s world are attracted to greed or power letting their mind and body rot them. However, are we doing a right in letting people like that win? It might not seem much or anything, but as history has shown us otherwise with World War II. Like letting a tyrant leader like Adolf Hitler take over different countries and bring in what is believed the most horrific discrimination ever known. Therefore, it is right to agree with Elie Wiesel a former target of the Nazi Final Solution that the moment race and religion are involved then that soon must become the center of the universe’s attention.

As Elie Wiesel was taken through the Holocaust as a result of being a Jew, he began to ask himself this: “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because he caused thousands of children to burn in his mass graves...Praise be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar,” (45). As many enter into wars and horrific events stemming from wars, they begin with strong and unwavering faith. As the war continues and nothing is relieved, people begin to question their faith as they lose sight of all hope. This loss of faith results in a shift in one’s mindset and point of view. As danger and violence seem to increase in wars, so does the struggle to maintain faith. As people continue on in horrible conditions for so long, they eventually reach a breaking point, causing them to abandon all hope, pride, or spirituality they have; because if their world is falling apart, being shattered, and becoming what seems to be unamendable, why has a leadership or a higher being not intervened? As wars continue to be waged throughout history, is has become apparent that the struggle to maintain faith is a theme seen universally as a result of dancing with violence, unsafety, and death.

Causes of the Holocaust The Holocaust took place for a number of reasons some of which were long term and others short term. The main reasons are; for centuries Germany had been an anti-Semitic country Jews were used as scapegoats for German problems. Also centuries of Nazi persecution caused the Holocaust in particular 1933 -1939 as well as Adolf Hitler and his racist views which influenced thousands of Germans.

When people elevate to the status of citizen in their respective country, it’s surely a momentous occasion. However, once the title of citizen is acquired there are certain responsibilities that must be fulfilled. Tim Holden said "The Holocaust illustrates the consequences of prejudice, racism and stereotyping on a society. It forces us to examine the responsibilities of citizenship and confront the powerful ramifications of indifference and inaction"(Holden). Holden’s quote has a specific point that is incredibly important which is confronting the consequences of inaction. Anger and revulsion can arise from a variety of epicenters, but one that undoubtedly protrudes is Adolf Hitler throughout World War II. Inaction can be a godsend, but definitely has a dangerous side which held true during the Holocaust and still holds true today.

Imagine your normal days turning into dreadful nights for such a heartless reason. In 1930 the hatred of Jewish people extended, laws were passed changing every Jew’s life into a terrifying life full of torture, sadness, and lack of education.

“Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.”- Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor. The largest mass murder in all of human history is known as The Holocaust, or in Greek, stands for “sacrifice by fire.” After rising to power in 1933, Germany’s Nazi Party planned a highly organized strategy of prosecution, murder, and genocide targeting Jews specifically due to their “race.” Leaving nearly six million Jews and five million Slavs, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Roma, disabled, and political and religious dissidents dead, The Holocaust was called the largest mass murder ever recorded in history, lasting for nearly twelve years.

Throughout the endless history, there were lots of important and influential event. For example the Dark Age, Enlightenment, Civil War, World War I and II and the Cold War. Over all of these event, there was one event that deeply influence the world and the Jews today, it was the Holocaust. Holocaust, a term that people use to describe the horrible event that happened during World War II which kill millions of innocent citizens. The Holocaust started at January 13, 1933, when Hitler became the leader of Germany. It continued until the V - E Day, which happened on May 8, 1945. 6 million Jews, and 5 million non-Jews were killed during the Holocaust. The causes and effect of the Holocaust was Hitler’s racism, poor economic conditions, and the death of 6 million Jews which led to the creation of the nation of Israel.

The Holocaust is one the most notable examples of the psychological phenomena known as groupthink. As a result of the human instinct to adapt to the people and their culture, individuals begin to think and act in a similar manner. When many different elements such as discrimination against racism come into play, groupthink occurs. Unfortunately, many disastrous events soon follow. The Nazi regime utilised anti-semitism to unify Germany, propaganda to control society’s way of thinking, and fear to oppress individualism and encourage collectivism. Anti-semitism, propaganda, and fear all contributed to the subconscious occurrence of groupthink, that ultimately set the stage for “The Final Solution”, the Holocaust.

The holocaust was a series of events that took place in Germany then throughout the rest of western Europe. Firstly Adolf Hitler was imprisoned for high treason after leading a failed coup d'etat on November 8th-9th 1923. During his incarceration he wrote a book called ‘Mein Kampf” or “My Struggle”. In the book he went on to say that the “Judes” or Jews were to blame for Germany’s problems and later went to create the Nazi party. Later on German occupation was to establish Jewish ghettos in Poland in October 1939. The purpose of this was to dehumanize and segregate Jews from the rest of German/polish civilians while they were designed to be temporary some lasted for days while others lasted for several years, because of the deplorable living conditions of which the Jews were subjected to many men,women, and children died mostly of starvation, disease, or deportation to a concentration camp or “death camps”. This brings us to the next set of events that makes the Holocaust the atrocity it is known as today, after being ripped from their homes Jews were forced to spend days or even weeks in train cars with little to no food or clothes, most people in the cars either starved or froze to death. Those that did make it to one of the 40,000 camps men and women were then separated and forced to work as slaves, dig their own graves, shovel other dead Jews only to later be burned, gassed, starved, or plain shot in the back of the head etc. this took place from 1933 to 1945. A Nazi