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Before that it was traditionally defined as, by the Encarta English dictionary as “1. complete destruction by fire: complete consumption by fire, especially of a large number of human beings or animals 2. total destruction: wholesale or mass destruction of any kind 3. burnt offering: a sacrifice that is totally consumed by fire”. The Holocaust is a chapter in human history that will live in shame along with slavery, treatment towards Native Americans, the Japanese internment camps, the Armenians and the execution of hundreds of thousands Russians by Stalin. To fully understand how such a catastrophic event could ever happen in a country as civilized as Germany one must learn the background of this event. It was the 1914 the break of The Great War (World War 1) which involved the Triple Entente which consisted of Britain, France, and Russia (later in the war the United States) against the Triple Alliance which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. World War I was caused by four main reasons: 1. Militarism-Before the start of WWI, Britain had a power navy so Germany felt they had to do the same. France also competed for a larger army, the more one nation built an army the more the others felt obligated to do so. 2. Alliances- For Twenty years, the nations of Europe had been making alliances. It was thought the alliances would promote peace. It promoted peace by protecting others in case of a war, making it foolish for one country to wage war on another. 3. Nationalism- Nationalism led European nations to compete for the largest army and navy, or the greatest industrial development. 4. Imperialism- Both France and Britain had many colonies in Africa and Asia. Now Germany and Italy decided they wanted a colonial empire too. The outcome of the war was devastating for Germany. They lost the war and had to sign a treaty known as the Versailles Treaty. The treaty was embarrassing to Germany because it made the German border smaller, forced Germany to pay war damages, allowed an army of only certain number and other penalties forced on Germany. This treaty put Germany into poverty and severe economic depression. People spent their life savings on a loaf of bread. When WWI broke out, Adolf Hitler, Then in his mid 20’s, hoped to join the army to fight. Being rejected for the Austrian Army Hitler was delighted because he wanted to be a German. He wrote to the King of a large State in Southern Germany and later was assigned to the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment which was composed of student volunteers. Hitler was wounded several times throughout the war and at the end of the was his rank was Lance Corporal. In the summer of 1919 Hitler became member #7 of a small group called the German Worker’s Party. The party had no goals or plans, it was just against the government. Soon after joining this group he became their leader. Within two years of joining this group Hitler turned it into a large group and changed the name to the National Socialist German Workers Party. The work Nazi Came from the first two words of the German name, NAtional soZIalist. All kinds of people jointed Hitler's group such as war veterans, poor students, monarchists, unhappy workers, struggling shopkeepers, anti-Semites, anti-Catholics, anti-Liberals, anti-Socialists and anti-Communists. On Feb 25th, 1920 Hitler created a program called the twenty-five points. It was designed to appeal to everyone and it was a list of 25 demands such as “2. We demand the end of the Treaty of Versailles. 4. Only those of German blood can be citizen. No Jew... 6. Only citizens can vote. 16. We demand a healthy middle class. 24. We demand religious freedom, in so far as any religion does not work against the state.” On November 8th 1923, at the largest beer hall in Munich, Hitler was going to try to overthrow the government in one shot. The attempt failed and landed him and Rudolf Hess in jail for 8 months for treason. In prison Hitler wrote a book which he wanted to call, Four and a half years of struggle against lies, stupidity and cowardice but changed it to Mein Kampf (my struggle). This book would become the bible to the nazi faith. (“when Hitler came to power every couple would receive a copy of his book, children would get it on their birthdays as gifts... Never in the history of literature has so bad a book be bought by so many and read by so few.”) Hitler became chancellor of Germany on January 30 1933 and by March had full control of all of Germany. He called it the third Reich (which means empire). The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire, the second was the empire founded by Otto Von Bismarck and the third was Hitler's which was suppose to last for a thousand years. Hitler always had a hate for the Jews, this was present at the formation of the Nazi party in 1919, it was present in Mein Kampf and it finally really effected the Jews in September 1935 with the creation of the Nuremberg laws. They were laws modeled after the Jim Crow laws and they stripped the Jews of civil liberties and rights.. They contained rules such as “. Marriages between Jews and nationals of German or kindred blood are forbidden...Jews are forbidden to hoist the Reich and national flag and to present the colors of the Reich....”. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and when WWII broke out there was a question that confronted Hitler “what to do with the Jews?”. The answer came in 1933 with the creation of the first concentration camp, Dachau Prior to WWII there were literally hundreds of camps in Germany for Communists, democrats, socialists, political criminals, homosexuals and, of course, Jews. Death rates were so high from malnutrition and disease. When the Nazi’s took over countries such as Poland, France, Holland and other European countries, camps started to be built in Nazi occupied territory. Two types of camps were created. Death Camps and Concentration camps. Although deaths did occur at concentration camps, it was not their function, they were used for slave labor while death camps were camps that their main purpose was to gas large amounts of people then burn them to dispose of the corpse. Hitler had an elite guard at war known as the SS. They were headed by Heinrich Himmler, who was also responsible not only for starting, but also controlling all of the death camps and put over six million Jews to death. Throughout Germany and Nazi occupied territory sections of cities were setup where Jews had to move out of their homes immediately, leaving all their possessions and move to the ghetto. The ghetto was sealed off where you could not leave without permission from the Nazi’s. In the ghetto’s Jews had to wear a star of David patch so the distinction was clear. Life in the ghetto was terrible. Numerous families shared one room, food was scarce, disease was common. After living in the ghetto for a while they were transported to concentration camps. The Jews were packed into cattle cars with little room to breath, no food or water and travel days to their destination. Upon arrival, they were told to leave their belongings. After they were determined whether they were useful or whether they would die. Afterwards they were bathed, their heads were shaved, and were given prison clothes. Life in the camp was terrible. 1. Awakening: You awake to find that you are still alive and are cold and hungry. You slept on a bed of lice-infested straw in a cramped area. 2. Breakfast: You are served a substance, which is called “coffee,” but is revolting. You are also served a piece of bread, which will be your only solid food for the day. The breakfast line is an opportunity for the officers to humiliate you in the way they see fit. 3. Roll Call: You go to a central location in the camp to make sure you are accounted for, but you know that part of the motivation in this action is to humiliate you. 4. Work: You go with others to the work area. You hope to find a tool that will allow you to work faster so that you will not be accosted by an officer. If you cannot find a tool, you will have to use your hands and it will be an arduous day. 5. Lunch: You are served cold soup, which is almost inedible. You eat your bread or ration it for a later time, as it is scarce. 6. Evening Roll Call: You are brought to the central area again for the same roll call. 7. Afterwards: As you lay in your bed, you are grateful to have survived another day. *copied and pasted from website* Gassed on Registered Prisoners Total Nationality Arrival Total Died Survived Deaths Jews 890,000 205,000 95,000 110,000 985,000 Poles 10,000 137,000 64,000 73,000 74,000 Romany 2,000 2,000 21,000 2,000 21,000 Soviet POWs 3,000 12,000 12,000 ------- 15,000 Totals 905,000 400,000 202,000 198,000 1,208,000 *(http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/holocamp.html) Upon entering the concentration camps many didn't know they existed or what they were. They found dead corpses, some almost dead, rooms with shoes, clothes, and their belongings. Many accounts of the camps that were recorded claimed they though it was a POW camp. Little did they know that upon getting closer there would be a horrible stench of human flesh burning. Upon arrival at one camp a soldier said he was used to seeing dead German or American soldiers but not what he saw. He said “...I went around there I saw for the first time literally hundreds of bodies that had been shot and they were dead...they were striped, dressed in stripped clothes, their head was the largest part of their body, their eyes all sunken back, they were ashen white, almost a blue color also, their ribs would protrude their arms the size of broomsticks, legs the same, and we didn’t know – I didn’t know who they were.” This was all outside of the camp. When they walked by the gate they saw hundreds lying there. They all thought they too were dead until they started to move, that's when they entered the camp and saw the horrible site. He said it was a sight that sickened him and one that he will never forget. Most accounts upon liberation of camps are similar. The world didn't know about the Nazi’s dirty little secret and through the race to Berlin the allies slowly uncovered it. The world was appalled by this. This led to the creation of the Nuremberg trials prior to the defeat of the Nazi’s. On October of 1945, United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union issued 4 indictments against 21 men for war crimes. The indictments were: *Count 1 -CONSPIRACY to commit crimes alleged in the next three counts. Count 2 -CRIMES AGAINST PEACE including planning, preparing, starting, or waging aggressive war. Count 3 -WAR CRIMES including violations of laws or customs of war. Count 4 -CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY including murder, extermination, enslavement, persecution on political or racial grounds, involuntary deportment, and inhumane acts against civilian population *indictments were copied and pasted from a website* Some of the defendants included, Herman Goring, Rudolf Hess, Hans Frank, Albert Speer and Hans Fritzsche. Most of the defendants were either sentenced to death by hanging or imprisonment. Because we know that Heinrich Himmler started and was in charge of the death camps we don't know for certain if Hitler even knew much about the camps or even if he really committed suicide in his bunker. My answer to both is yes. We must also remember the holocaust is by far the worst act of the 20th century but probably not in the history of the humans. If you would have told anyone about the holocaust before it happened it would have not been believed. You would have gotten a response something like “Germans are too civilized to do a thing like that”. A lot of people always say or ask “ Its still their fault, they should have said something or tried to stop it, its just as much their fault as Hitler’s and his top governmental officials that it happened”. As Americans we must understand some things. Not every country had as many freedoms as ours does, not every country has it where you can express you opinion as easily than ours or make a stand. If a person or group of rebellious Germans would have even spoken a single bad word about Hitler or the nazi's they would have either been killed or sent to a camp. Even if it was a fraction of the Nazi army they would have been other soldiers sent in to crush them. The German people are also brought up to do what they are told with little questions Not to mention when you become a soldier you have to take an oath or loyalty to do what you are told even if it conflicts with you morals or beliefs. Every soldier of almost every army takes this oath. American soldiers didn’t question their superiors when they dropped the bomb on Japan, or when they were ordered to shoot native Americans or to put the Japanese in camps during WWII, because they took an oath to the united states of America. This does not excuse what happened. The holocaust is something that should not be forgotten but remembered and taught to the next generations. It is one of those events that will live on as long as the human race does. Bibliography: Bibliography Hitler and Nazism By Louis L. Snyder 1967, Bantam Books NY, New York The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer 1950, Ballantine Books, Toronto Canada. Word Count: 2335
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