Brief Look At The Holocaust Essay Research

Paper

Nearly six million Jews were killed and murdered in what

historians have called “The Holocaust.” The word ‘holocaust’ is a

conflagration, a great raging fire that consumes in it’s path all that

lives. In the years between 1933 and 1945, the Jews of Europe were

marked for total annihilation. Moreover, anti-Semitism was given legal

sanction. It was directed by Adolf Hitler and managed by Heinne

Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann. There were many other

great crimes and murders, such as the killing of the Armenians by the

Turks, but the Holocaust stood out as the “only sysmatic and organized

effort by a modern government to destroy a whole race of people.” The

Germans under Adolf Hitler believed that the Jews were the cause of

all the German troubles and were a threat to the German and Christian

values.

Dating back to the first century A.D. the Jews and Christians

were always at war. The Jews were considered the murderers of Christ

and were therefor denounced from society, rejected by the

Conservatives and were not allowed to live in rural areas. As a

result, the Jews began living in the cities and supported the

liberals. This made the Germans see the Jews as the symbol of all

they feared.

Following the defeat of the Germans in WW1, the Treaty Of

Versailles and the UN resolutions against Germany raised many

militaristic voices and formed extreme nationalism. Hitler took

advantage of the situation and rose to power in 1933 on a promise to

destroy the Treaty Of Versailles that stripped Germany off land.

Hitler organized the Gestapo as the only executive branch and secret

terror organization of the Nazi police system. In 1935, he made the

Nuremberg Laws that forbid Germans to marry Jews or commerce with

them. Hitler thought that the Jews were a nationless parasite and were

directly related to the Treaty Of Versailles. When Hitler began his

move to conquer Europe, he promised that no person of Jewish

background would survive.

Before the start of the second world war, the Jews of Germany

were excluded from public life, forbidden to have sexual relations

with non-Jews, boycotted, beaten but allowed to emigrate. When the war

was officially declared, emigration ended and ‘the final solution to

the Jewish problem’ came. When Germany took over Poland, the Polish

and German Jews were forced into overcrowded Ghettos and employed as

slave labour. The Jewish property was seized. Disease and starvation

filled the Ghettos. Finally, the Jews were taken to concentration

camps in Poland and Germany were they were murdered and killed in

poisonous gas chambers in Auschwitz and many other camps. Despite the

harsh treatment of the Jews, little Germans opposed this.

When the news reached the allies, they all refused and put

down any rescue plans to aid the Jews. American Jews were warned

against seeking any action for the benefit of the European Jews

although Zionists managed to save small groups of young Jews and

brought them to Palestine. The Vatican condemed racism in general but

did hardly anything to stop the German actions.

The victories of the Germans in the early years of the war

brought most of the majority of the European Jews under the control

of the Nazi’s. The Baltics, Ukrainee’s and white Russians gladly

joined the Nazi’s. France and Italy sent 100,000 Jews to Germany but

refused to send any of it’s Jews. Holland and Belgium were Anti-Nazi’s

and refused to co-operate with Germany. Denmark protected it’s Jews

from Germany and Norway sent it’s Jews to Switzerland for protection.

Unaware that they will be gassed, the Jews kept quiet until

the last moment. When their fate was clear, the first Jewish uprising

came in April 1943 in Warsaw Ghetto, when more than 60,000 pitifully

armed Jews decided to resist. The battle took 28 days before the

heavily equipped German forces put down this violent uprising.

Individual Jews also resisted by joining partisan groups. Jewish

resistance, however, was mainly spiritual.’The Jews prayed, wrote,

observed festivals and also refrained.’

The war in Europe ended on May 8th, 1945. The following years

tended to heal a few wounds, but the damage caused to the Jews of

Europe could not be fully repaired.’A great deal of the Jewish culture

and learning perished. Deep mental scars plagued the survivors and

their children.” An aspect of human cruelty was exposed more brutal

than the civilized world could admit.’ In Israel, the Holocaust day is

celebrated on Nisan 27, the date that marked the Warsaw Ghetto

uprising of 1943. Although the Germans had lost the war, they won

their war on the Jews of Europe.

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END NOTES

1.) Rossel, Seymor. The Holocaust, Toronto: Canada. 1981 edition.

2.) Britanica Publishing Company. Britanica Vol.6, Toronto: Canada.

1984 edition.

3.) Americana Publishing Company. Americana Vol.14 Washington:

America. 1988 edition.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Seymor Rossel. The Holocaust, Toronto:Canada. 1981 edition.

Britanica Publishing Company. Britanica Vol.6, Toronto:Canada. 1984

edition.

Americana Publishing Company. Americana Vol.14, Washington:America.

1988 edition.