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The holocaust is an atrocity to human intelligence and human dignity. It overshadows all other events in history in terms of organized crimes. The question of how it happened and why no one stopped still prolongs today. Many believe that it was caused by racial intentions, and a belief of a superior race. All these theories are compounded into one simple solution. Adolf Hitlers upbringing instilled anti-Semitism attitudes, which lead to the Holocaust.
Hitlers childhood was the main influence in the uprising of his feelings towards Jews. His family and religious beliefs affected the way he perceived Jewish people. As a result when he became the leader of Germany Hitler perceived anti-Semitism as a daily practice, thus he began to instill his beliefs in the people of Germany. This eventually led to the mass murder of Jewish people in Europe. The source of Hitlers anti-Semitism can be traced back to his childhood. Hitlers grandmother was employed in a Jewish merchant's household in Graz.
When she returned to the Austrian village of Braunau she gave birth to her son who she named Alois (Hitlers father) For the next fourteen years she received child support payments from the family in Graz. Many people immediately assumed that the Jewish merchant was the father of Alois. The Hitler family immediately denied the claim, however it was impossible to assert that a Jewish merchant would pay child support for so long without a good reason. This represented a dilemma for the Hitler family because they had to live with the disgrace of a half Jewish child. For Alois the suspicion of him being of Jewish descent was unbearable since he lived in an anti-Semitism environment.
Therefore the only thing he could do to take out his anger was to beat his son Hitler. Alois would beat Hitler ruthlessly everyday. These daily beatings had a devastating effect on Hitler. In an attempt to exorcise his childhood fears, his son nurtured the manic delusion that it was up to him to free not only himself of Jewish blood but also all Germany and later the whole world.
In addition when Hitlers mother died of cancer, his hatred for Jews escalated. Hitler was convinced that a Jewish doctor was responsible for his mothers death. Furthermore Hitler aspired to become an artist, but he his work was always rejected. He immediately assumed that a Jewish professor rejected his artwork. Also when Hitler was clearing snow for the townhouses in Vienna he became convinced that only Jewish people lived in those beautiful houses. From these events that took place in Hitlers childhood it is clear that he blamed all his problems on the Jews.
Thus he began to usher all his problems to the solution of anti-Semitism. Hitlers mother was a devout Christian. As a result her son was brought up with the same beliefs. Hitler claimed to be a devout Christian.
Hence there is link between Hitlers anti-Semitism and his Christian beliefs. I happened to be exploring the historical origins of the anti-Semitic New Testament passages that Hitler in his private papers acknowledged as having been his source and inspiration for the Holocaust. In his private papers Hitler credited different passages as a direct influence for his hatred of Jews. An important passage is John 8: 44 Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
From this theory Hitler formulated the idea of Jews carrying Satan blood in them. Also another important passage is Luke 19: 27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay [them] before me. This parable influenced Hitler to take stern actions upon those who he found would harm him. Another significant passage is John 2: 14 - 17 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise This passage gave Hitler reason to believe that Jews real God was money. Furthermore in Genesis 3 the story of Adam and Eve gave further proof of Jewish evil.
Hitler believed that the snake represented Jewish people since they were the descendant of Satan. He believed that the snake poisoned the Aryan and caused the first dispute between Aryans and Jews. Further proof of Hitler Aryan theory is shown in Deuteronomy 7: 3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. This shows that Hitler perceived that Aryans are not meant to mate with Jews, and it is considered a sin. Hitler studied these passages and used them for inspiration. For Hitler these passages laid the foundation for the war against the Jews.
When Hitler was named the chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933 he began to instill his ant-Semitic beliefs on the streets of Germany and in the laws of Germany. During its first months in power the Nazi Party instigated anti-Semitic riots and campaigns of terror On April 7, 1993 a law was passed that allowed the German government to dismiss Jews from German civil service. Later on September 15, 1935 two laws were passed. One of the laws stated that only people of German blood were allowed to be citizens, thus Jews werent allowed to be citizens. The second law forbids Germans from marring Jews. These laws were the first step in separating the Jews from current society in Germany.
Furthermore the violence against Jews reached a peek on November 9, 1938 when Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) occurred all over Germany and Austria. On this day Nazi mobs, killed 90 Jews, burned 267 synagogues, and looted thousands of Jewish business. The night of broken glass was the first indication of the complete removal of Jewish people in Europe. It also set the stage for the beginning of the Holocaust.
Hitler didnt publicly announce his plans for the removal of the Jews until January 30, 1939. In my life I have often been a prophet and today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will be not the Bolshevization of the world and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe. When World War Two began the Nazis started to use concentration camps. Mainly Jews, Gypsies, Russian prisoners of war and disabled people were put in theses camps.
People in the concentration camps lived inhumane conditions. They were forced to do labour and if they werent able to work anymore they would be killed by gassing, shooting and fatal injections. The prisoners were given little food and forced to live and sleep in filthy, overcrowded bunks where disease ran rampant. Thousands of prisoners in concentration camps died simply of exposure, starvation, or disease. Over six million people most of them Jews died in concentration camps.
When Germany invaded Poland they moved all the Jews in Ghettos. The Ghettos hold similarity to prisons, they separated the Jews from the rest of the society. In the Ghettos Jews faced overcrowding, lack of food and brutality from Nazi guards. Thus the Nazis refused to allow enough food into the ghetto to keep the Jews healthy, forcing them to survive on a bowl of soup a day. Soon, 300 to 400 persons died each day in the ghetto from starvation and disease. In all three million Jews in Poland died.
The invasion of the Soviet Union brought the next eradication of Jews. He called for the annihilation of the Bolshevik leadership, thus laying the foundation for the extermination of what Hitler considered to be the biological source of Bolshevism: the Jews of the USSR. In the Soviet Union mass shootings were organized by the Einsatzgruppen (action squads). These squads followed behind the army and killed all the Jews in the villages in towns. All male Jews must be shot. Drive the female Jews into the swamp.
The numbers of Jews that dead in Russia were one hundred and seven thousand. The extensive murdering of Jews continued, with no end in site. Consequently the anti-Semitism of Hitler had reached the minds of all Nazis. Near the end of the war Hitler made it clear that even if he won or lost the war all Jews must be killed in Europe.
As concerns the Jewish question, [Hitler] is determined to make a clean sweep. He had prophesied to the Jews that if they once again brought about a world war they would experience their own extermination. This was not just an empty phrase. The World War is there, the extermination of Jewry must be the necessary consequence. On January 20, 1942 the Wannsee conference took place in Berlin. In this conference the Hitler adopted the idea of the Final Solution.
The final solution intensified the killings of Jews, The Wannsee Conference was an important signpost in the evolution of the policy of extermination because it was there that the participants were instructed to coordinate efforts for the extermination of the Jews. Death camps were built all over German occupied countries. In these camps Jews were systematically killed in gas chambers, As noted below, several methods were utilized. In the earlier camps, exhaust fumes from truck engines, or tank engines, were pumped into sealed gassing vans, sealed railroad cars, Jews that were unfit for physical labour were killed first, and then Jews who survived the labour were killed because they showed physical stamina.
The major camps were Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau, Chelmno, Sobibor, Belief and Majdanek. In these camps over 3. 5 million Jews died. Overall six million Jews died in the holocaust. These deaths were caused by Hitler and his beliefs. When the war ended Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945. His anti-Semitic viewpoints lead Germany on a path of murder.
It was first time in history that people died purely on the basis of racism and not on the basis of economic or territorial gain. The killings were all organized and efficient, and represent the brutality of the Nazi regime. Overall the Hitler and Holocaust remains a dark spot in history. Bibliography 1.
David Bankier, B. A. , M. A. , Ph. D. Holocaust, " Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2005 web 2. Alice Miller, The Childhood Trauma October 22, 1998 web dispatches / alice miller 2.
html 3. Eric Zuesse, Why the Holocaust Happened 2001 web the holocaust. html 4. David Bankier, B. A. , M.
A. , Ph. D. Holocaust, " Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2005 web 5. Nancy Smith Analysis of the Holocaust 2000 Library Reference Search web 6. The History Place, The Warsaw Ghetto web 7. The Holy Bible Revised Standard Version.
Philadelphia: Westminster, 1952. 8. Gerhard L. Weinberg, B. A. , M. A. , Ph.
D. Hitler, Adolf, " Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2005 web 9. Unknown, Appendices The Holocaust Chronicle 2002 Publications International, Ltd. web 10. Ben S. Austin The Nazi Death Camps web 11.
The Moderns Readers Bible Richard G. Goulton New York: Macmillan, 1928
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Research essay sample on Concentration Camps Anti Semitism
