tions around the world were well aware of Hitler's concentration camps but they chose not to care, they remained silent. As Elie Wiesel stated in his novel Night, "How could it be possible for them to burn people, children, and for the world to keep silent?" (Wiesel, 30). Millions of victims could have been saved if other countries had opened their doors to Jewish refugees (Totten, 149). The world was busy dealing with their own economic problems, they simply weren't concerned about the fate of the Jews in Europe. This was due to existing anti-Semitism and simple indifference. During the Depression, when Hitler rose to power, poverty, and unemployment were rampant. Nations were afraid that the influx of refugees, especially Jewish ones would only 5magnify their own economic crisis. These nations did not raise their immigration quotas, or even offer refuge to the Jewish people during the war. If they had, millions of innocent lives could have been saved (Ayer, 13). The same indifference and Anti-Semitism existed in Germany during World War II. Ordinary Germans who had nothing to do with the Holocaust might have heard rumors about the crimes against the Jews in Eastern Europe, but they were more preoccupied with staying alive and making ends meet in an increasingly difficult wartime situation. The Jews quite literally were out of sight and out of mind. By the time the German people became fully aware of the validity of Hitler's goal, he was unstoppable (Totten, 142). As Elie Wiesel so accurately stated, "Germany will forever bear the mark of the nation's crime" (Altman,43). All these factors combined made the Holocaust of the Jews during World War II possible. Helping the Jewish people during World War II wasn't really a choice but rather a matter of decency (Schneider, 1). Humanity chose not to help their fellow humans in a time of need.The Holocaust in Germany during World War II is extremely similar to the ethnic cle...
