The Moral Dilemma Of Adolf Hitler

In The Perils of Obedience, Stanley Milgram introduces us to his experimental studies on the conflict between one’s own conscience and obedience to authority. From these experiments, Milgram discovered that a lot of people will obey a figure in authority; irrespective of the task given - even if it goes against their own moral belief and values. Milgram’s decision to conduct these experiments was to investigate the role of Adolf Eichmann (who played a major part in the Holocaust) and ascertain if his actions were based on the fact that he was just following orders; as most Germans accused of being guilty for war crimes commonly explained that they were only being obedient to persons in higher authority.

Synopsis – Hitler’s Willing Executioners is a work that may change our understanding of the Holocaust and of Germany during the Nazi period. Daniel Goldhagen has revisited a question that history has come to treat as settled, and his researches have led him to the inescapable conclusion that none of the established answers holds true. Drawing on materials either unexplored or neglected by previous scholars, Goldhagen presents new evidence to show that many beliefs about the killers are fallacies. They were not primarily SS men or Nazi Party members, but perfectly ordinary Germans from all walks of life, men who brutalized and murdered Jews both willingly and zealously. “They acted as they did because of

insane to torture the human race that way. Others praise him for attempting to exterminate

When Adolf Hitler first came to power in pre-WWII Germany, all of Germany was ready for a new Fuhrer to lead them into success and overcome the recent depression. Among his supporters was Adolf Eichmann, who began as just another German citizen, but transformed into something even he could not have imagined. “On trial are his deeds, not the sufferings of the Jews, not the German people or mankind, not even anti-Semitism and racism” (Arendt 5). Eichmann was tried for crimes against humanity, but before deciding for oneself whether he was guilty of this charge, we must question whether he was acting out of service to his country or out of his own self-interest. After reading deeper into the results and proceedings of the trial, it is only logical for one to conclude that although he may have joined forces with the Nazi party as a patriot, his motives for continuing to assist in carrying out genocide on an unimaginable scale was largely self-interest.

The Holocaust can be seen as one of the most devastating genocide that occurred in history and that is well known in many places worldwide. One may assume that those who played a part in the acts done by the Nazis in Germany may have been mentally disturbed and/or sick, evil people. However, the novel Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning provides another alternative to this statement. Browning provides the reader with the idea that anyone is capable of becoming a murderer, especially when the opportunity presents itself. In his book he attempts to prove this statement through multiple ideas and theories and also provides events which took place to analyze some of those ideas.

“Seventy-five years ago, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, and a 12-year reign of terror across Europe began. Could History repeat itself?” (Smith, 15). In the article, Hitler Comes to Power, by Patricia Smith, European Jews were punished because they were blamed for most of Germany's problems. After Germany lost World War 1, the citizens of Germany were desperate for help. So, they turned to Hitler hoping he could help improve their lives. Hitler coming to power was one of Europe's most horrible accidents of all time. His punishments for the Jews were unright, unnecessary, and prejudice. Hitler's actions affected the Jews and scared them for life... How would you react to a leader like Hitler? If your freedom was taken, what would you do?

WW2 took the lives of more than 72.4 million people, ("11 Facts About the Holocaust.") and killed more than two-thirds of all the people living in Europe at the time, ("World War 2 Statistics."). As part of their service to their country, the Nazis were commanded to perform horrific actions any reasonable person would question. These tortures included, “putting people’s hands in boiling water until the skin and fingernails came off...pulling teeth and cutting and twisting off the ears; running electric current through the victims…” ("Nazi Torture and Medical Experimentation.") “Prisoners were submerged in ice water to see the effects of hypothermia, injected with chemicals and poisons to test their effectiveness, sterilized, vivisected, and operated on without anesthetic,” (Smallwood). When many of these prominent Nazi soldiers were put on trial in Nuremberg, Germany, they argued they were serving their country, following orders from their superior. Here, we confront the thought-provoking question of whether it is just to obey your superior or serve your nation while breaking the moral code of humanity. These Nazis committed acts and imposed punishments upon their prisoners, that many have labeled as sinister, inhumane, unjust, and gruesome. But can we blame them for following the demands of their superiors and their country? Is it

A fact which we all have to emit is that humanity existence always creates conflicts and fighting which we call "WAR". In war, people kill each others for many reasons ---- resources, personal benefits, territories, powers, revenge, etc. In war, one becomes a hero for killing human lives and eventually he gets honored and well-known in people 's heart. The Holocaust, according to Germans, was the war between Germans and Jews. Approximately six million Jews included 960,000 innocent children died during Hitler 's regime called Nazism. Unlike the "hero(s)" whom people honor, the Holocaust was a hideous crime and the participants were bloody murderers. Today people are taught about the Holocaust

During this event, Hitler killed anyone that seemed to be against his goals and causes. Why not enjoy my life at the expense of others? Also, Hitler made it clear that his purpose was to spark

A common misconception about the Holocaust is that the world was naïve of the atrocities happening under the Nazi’s rule. The horrors of the Holocaust were not left undocumented. Unfortunately, many saw these malicious acts as insignificant to the global population; people only start sympathizing when the hindrance affects them. Hitler, with the help of his many allies, achieved to murder millions of innocent men, women, and children. After spending this semester studying the Holocaust, I have realized that the Nazis’ greatest ally was neither an individual nor a country; Hitler’s greatest ally was indifference.

Many people stood by and did nothing while Adolf Hitler killed millions. Some people might have not done anything because of the pure fact that they were scared for their lives, and for the lives of their families. Others may not have done anything because they agreed with Hitler. Some may of just of not cared what was going on as long as it did not affect theme.

In Schindler’s List the little girl in the red jacket who died during the Holocaust was a great symbol for innocence lost. During the Holocaust, mercy wasn’t granted to children which broke the innocence in the extermination process since to the Nazis they weren’t useful to work. Another example is in the quote from “Night”, “Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns” (6 Night). Unfortunately, even babies weren’t important and useful enough for Nazis and were, like many Jews in the Holocaust, subjected to murder with no innocence in consideration. Additionally, a critical example of the “Nuremburg Trials” is, “Very frequently women would hide their children under the clothes but of course when we found them we would send the children in to be exterminated” (291 Nuremberg). Again, the innocence lost in the Holocaust doesn’t pardon any prisoner, any child, any Jew. It was a hateful, wicked strategy to destroy the Jewish race and even the innocence of people and children would not stop Nazis plans of extermination in the Holocaust.

Hitler had the power to murder millions of helpless people.He had the authority to kill whoever, but hitler never killed anyone, only ordered the top SS too. He was responsible for the mass executions in Poland, and ordered the Nazis to go and massacre thousands of Jews, taking out most of the polish Jew population.”Hitler spoke at various occasions openly about the annihilation of the Jews in Europe. It can be ruled out that the massive preparations for the systematic murder of European Jews in extermination camps in Poland”"Adolf Hitler and The Holocaust." Adolf Hitler and The Holocaust. 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.Hitler developed the idea of the concentration camps and just handed over the part of killing the Jews to the top SS.This man was ambitious to the German people he was the figure they looked up to and voted for but in reality he was a coward. To have ordered so many helpless and harmless people to be murdered in cold blood, yet he didn't actually murder any Jews with his own hands. Even though he wasn't directly linked to the murders of all those people, he was still highly responsible for all the people who committed these

The Holocaust is essentially one of the most horrific and remembered acts of genocide within history, it’s estimated that “between 1941 and 1945, five to six million Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime, its allies, and its surrogates in the Nazi-occupied territories ” (Jones 2010, p. 233). A majority of these killings were implemented by the German Army, but the German Army was not solely responsible for these horrendous crimes. As there was a majority of seemingly normal citizens ordering and engaging in atrocious crimes. These citizens were recognised as policemen, camp guards, office workers, doctors and nurses, their crimes were horrific and were performed in seemingly normal environments or situations. A majority of these people had

On April 20, 1889, a demon was brought into this world. His name was Adolf Hitler. He was born in the family quarters of the Pommer Inn in Braunau, a small city on the Austrian border. The child was unhealthy and his mother, Klara, worried that young Adolf would not survive. Klara provided much love and attention to her baby, which Adolf would later take advantage of to get what he wanted (Smith 50). Despite his self-centeredness, Adolf held a deep bond with his mother which united them throughout his childhood. On the other hand, Alois, Adolf’s father, failed to play an important role in Adolf’s development. Alois spent the majority of his time away from the customs station with his friends