The Holocaust: How It All Started
Like other anti-Semites, Hitler blamed the Jews for the defeat of Germany in World War I, and he also blamed the Jews for Germany's economic crisis after the war, among many other things. After the war ended, Hitler joined the National German Workers’ Party, which then became the Socialist German Workers’ Party, also known as the Nazis. After being imprisoned, Hitler wrote the memoir and propaganda tract “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle), in which he predicted a European War that would result in “the extermination of the Jewish race in Germany.” He was obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the “pure” German race that he called “Aryan,” and he wanted the race to expand. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was named the head of Germany, and after the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler named himself Germany’s supreme ruler. The Nazi Party took advantage of this and conducted violent propaganda against Jews, who they blamed for all of Germany's problems.
Main Events:
- January 30, 1933: President Hindenburg names Hitler the head of Germany (Chancellor). This an important event because it's when Hitler became very well known by many people in Germany. Germans began to notice him and Hitler took advantage of this to convince them that the Jews were the cause of all of Germany's problems and help him exterminate the Jewish population.
- March 20, 1933: The first concentration camp was opened in Dachau. Many of the first people to be imprisoned were Communists. This is an important event also because its when all the humiliation and suffering of Jewish and Communist started. They realized the black truth of what they what was really happening.
- 1944-1945: The Allies liberated prisoners from the concentration camps, this was the day Jews had hoped for since the beginning.. their liberation. In 1945, Hitler committed suicide with his newly wedded wife, and the war ended. Germany had finally surrendered.
Who Was Involved:
Millions of people were victims to Hitler's wrath starting with Jews. There were also gypsies, homosexuals, people with disabilities, Jehovah's Witnesses, African Europeans, and political enemies. Every one of the was tortured by the Nazis just because they didn't meet the German standards.
The Conflict Ends
‘The Holocaust lasted for twelve years’, but by the time it ended enough damage had been done. Drawing near to the end of 1944, the Allies: U.S., Britain, France, and the USSR, were closing in on Germany and pushing them back into their own territory. In January of 1945, Auschwitz, the largest Nazi camp in charge of the most deaths was liberated! After the war was announced over and Hitler declared dead, over 200,000 holocaust survivors were without a home in Europe, and about 11,000,000 people had died. For many years after the war, many people tried to deny that the Holocaust ever exited. They claimed that concentration camps, such as Auschwitz, were not the extermination camps they proved to be! Recently leaders in the Middle East still claim that what was the Holocaust was nothing at all. They deny it! Still, people aren't convinced. Though anti-semitism is not as prevalent today, it still remains in certain parts of the world. It never ended with the Holocaust, just like racism against black and white after segregation was put an end to in America. The feeling still lingers in the air.