Research Essay
Why the Jews?
The Holocaust was the time between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945 when around eleven million people were persecuted and killed. Of these eleven million, an estimated six million were Jews. When digging deeper into the subject of the Holocaust and the genocide of Jews, we wonder, Why the Jews? Why not Muslims or Christians? Why did Hitler want to wipe out the Jewish race? After much research, it is clear why the Jews were chosen. The Jews were singled out and killed for their religion and beliefs, their occupations, their role in World War I, and their previous roles in history.
The Holocaust, according to United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, was“ [a] state- sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.” Merriam Webster defines holocaust as, “Sacrifice by fire.” The German authorities believed that they themselves were “racially superior.” This meant Jews and other groups were believed to be “racially inferior.” These Germans, who were mostly known as the Nazis, came to power in January 1933. Although the Nazi ideas were horrible and seem confusing to us when looking back, they had a plan. The Nazi’s overall plan was known as the “Final Solution.” The “Final Solution” was basically to eliminate the Jewish race. This idea of the “Final Solution” led to the systematic mass slaughter of Jews and other people that were judged as inferior by the Nazis (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
The Holocaust was a form of genocide. According to Merriam Webster, genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.” April 1st, 1933 was the start. The Nazis announced that they would be boycotting all Jewish-run businesses. Later, in 1935, the Jews were excluded from their public life. Relationships between Jews and Germans were forbidden. The night of November 9th, 1938 was known as “Night of Broken Glass.” The Nazi’s broke windows of Jewish run businesses, burned down synagogues, and brutally attacked Jews. Jews were taken prisoners and sent to concentration camps. In 1939, the Jews were required to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing. Jews were ordered to live in “ghettos”; areas in big cities with limited food, water, and space. Coming into the 1940s, the Nazi’s film, The Eternal Jew, depicted Jews as rats. This movie made many comparisons, one being a crowd of Jews and rats in a sewer. The Jews were looked at as “unworthy of life” and inferior according to “HISTORY”. These events, including “Night of Broken Glass”, wearing of the yellow Star of David, and The Eternal Jew film are a few of the many events that began the Jews shallow thought process of their own lives and race. At this point, the Germans were getting exactly what they wanted by making the Jews feel inferior and proving to the Jews why their race was a disgrace. Alfred Rosenberg, a German Official, states his beliefs about what would make Germany a better place: “Germany will regard the Jewish question as solved only after the very last Jew has left the greater German living space... Europe will have its Jewish question solved only after the very last Jew has left the continent” (Rosenberg). The Jews previous place in history was the wood that fired the Holocaust in Nazis’ eyes.
The Nazis will forever be looked at as horrible people for what they did during World War II, but shockingly, they were just following in the footsteps of their ancestors. The Nazis used an available and easy target. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states, “Targeting Jews had deep roots in history.” Discrimination against the Jews dates all the way back to 167 CE when the Jews were accused of “killing Christ,” because they did not follow in the belief that Jesus was the Messiah. Europe has a long list of attacks on the Jewish population, long before World War II. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, in Mainz, Germany, a German leader persecuted his own Jewish population in 1012 CE. Every single Jew was kicked out of the city by the Roman emperor. The Jews were discriminated a lot, even during the World Wars.
After World War I, the Nazi’s just went along with a belief that already existed. The Jews were an easy target so they were blamed for much that went wrong in Germany including the defeat in World War I. Germany was showing hatred towards the Jews because the Jewish-bankers of Germany were thought to have sold out the country during World War I. The Jews were also a very easy target for this accusation since they were money lenders. Through time, thoughts of the Jews were distorted in the minds of many Germans. The Jews were thought to have caused most of mankind’s problems. This was because they were “sub-humans.” After blaming the Jews for most of the country’s major problems, the Nazis came to the conclusion that they were the most superior people in the world and that the Jews were nobody. The Nazis had the opinion that the Jews were not a part of the master race. As a result, the Nazis wanted to eliminate the Jewish race. The German Official Robert Lay preached his plan to wipe out the Jewish race in his speech to the public; “We swear we are not going to abandon the struggle until the Last Jew in Europe has been exterminated and is actually dead. It is not enough to isolate the Jewish enemy of mankind-the Jew has got to be exterminated” (Ley). The Jews were persecuted because of their heritage. Anyone who had Jewish grandparents or was married to a Jew was considered a Jew. The Jewish people were an obstruction to the “master race.” The ‘master race” were the Germanic or Aryan people. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Aryan people are the Indo-European people who began to migrate into the Indian subcontinent around 1500 BC.” So, everyone that was not Aryan was inferior, including the Jews. The Jews started to see themselves as habitual criminals who would never be rehabilitated and were hopelessly corrupt and inferior because society did not look at them as people and they were constantly being blamed for the worlds’ problems. The Jews view of themselves was horrible because they were being discriminated for their heritage. No one can control their heritage, so the whole idea of the Jews being sub-humans because they had Jewish ancestors was wrong. Rena Kornreich Gelissen states her feelings in her book, “Rena’s Promise,” where she portrays her own experience as a young Jewish girl in the concentration camps. In her book, Rena explains the shame she felt while in the concentration camp “We are in prison. Our only crime is that we were born” (Gelissen 73).
As two children fighting over the last piece of candy, the Nazis believed the Jews goal was world domination but the Nazis wanted to dominate the world themselves. The Nazis came to a conclusion that it was their job to eliminate all the Jews since the Jews were a threat to the Aryan. When looking back on history, the Nazis believed that it was all a fight between the races. The Nazis continued to make the Jews feel like a disgrace until the Jews themselves started to believe the Nazis opinion. An example of this was the film, The Eternal Jew, and the labeling of the Jews themselves with the yellow Star of David. The Nazis had no sympathy for the Jews and never thought about what life might be like for the Jews. Oskar Schindler, a German Official expresses his disbelief in the Nazis plan. Although Schindler was a German, he saw the terror and disrespect that came with living the life of a Jew. Oskar explained the Nazis disrespect for other human beings in his book, “Schindler’s List.” Schindler explains his view when the Jews are being thrown out of their apartments, “As families were routed out of the apartments, they were separated forcibly into two lines without regard to family considerations” (Schindler 128).
In conclusion, many factors added to the Nazi’s hatred of the Jewish people. These factors include Christian anti-semitism which depicted Jews as “Christ-Killers,” and political anti-semitism which depicted Jews as a threat to society. Anti-semitism was the hatred or discrimination against the Jews only because of their heritage. Because the Jews were persecuted so much in previous history, the Nazi’s were doing what they believed history was telling them to do. The Nazi’s believed that their job was to wipe out the Jews because history made it clear that the Jews were a problem. The Holocaust was a living nightmare that has affected the lives of so many Jews both past and present all because the Jews were singled out during this time of war for their religion and beliefs, their occupations, their role in World War I, and their negative presence in history.
Works Cited
"Common Questions about the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/question/>.
Gelissen, Rena Kornreich, and Heather Dune Macadam. Rena's promise: a story of sisters in Auschwitz. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 1995. Print.
"Holocaust - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/holocaust>.
"Holocaust FAQs." Holocaust Museum Huston. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. <https://www.hmh.org/ed_faqs.shtml>.
Keneally, Thomas. Schindler's list. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982. Print.
Novi, Meadows. "The Holocaust." ThinkQuest : Library. Oracle Education Foundation, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215466/the_holocaust.htm>.
Stein, Stuart. "Statements by Hitler and Senior Nazis Concerning Jews and Judaism." HLSS - Social Sciences. N.p., 4 Mar. 2000. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. <http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/statements.htm>.
"The History Place - Holocaust Timeline: Statistics of the Holocaust." The History Place. The History Place, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-statistics.htm>.
“Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal”, Vol.3, Nuremberg, 1947, p. 35 & 36. Print.
The Holocaust was the time between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945 when around eleven million people were persecuted and killed. Of these eleven million, an estimated six million were Jews. When digging deeper into the subject of the Holocaust and the genocide of Jews, we wonder, Why the Jews? Why not Muslims or Christians? Why did Hitler want to wipe out the Jewish race? After much research, it is clear why the Jews were chosen. The Jews were singled out and killed for their religion and beliefs, their occupations, their role in World War I, and their previous roles in history.
The Holocaust, according to United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, was“ [a] state- sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.” Merriam Webster defines holocaust as, “Sacrifice by fire.” The German authorities believed that they themselves were “racially superior.” This meant Jews and other groups were believed to be “racially inferior.” These Germans, who were mostly known as the Nazis, came to power in January 1933. Although the Nazi ideas were horrible and seem confusing to us when looking back, they had a plan. The Nazi’s overall plan was known as the “Final Solution.” The “Final Solution” was basically to eliminate the Jewish race. This idea of the “Final Solution” led to the systematic mass slaughter of Jews and other people that were judged as inferior by the Nazis (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
The Holocaust was a form of genocide. According to Merriam Webster, genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.” April 1st, 1933 was the start. The Nazis announced that they would be boycotting all Jewish-run businesses. Later, in 1935, the Jews were excluded from their public life. Relationships between Jews and Germans were forbidden. The night of November 9th, 1938 was known as “Night of Broken Glass.” The Nazi’s broke windows of Jewish run businesses, burned down synagogues, and brutally attacked Jews. Jews were taken prisoners and sent to concentration camps. In 1939, the Jews were required to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing. Jews were ordered to live in “ghettos”; areas in big cities with limited food, water, and space. Coming into the 1940s, the Nazi’s film, The Eternal Jew, depicted Jews as rats. This movie made many comparisons, one being a crowd of Jews and rats in a sewer. The Jews were looked at as “unworthy of life” and inferior according to “HISTORY”. These events, including “Night of Broken Glass”, wearing of the yellow Star of David, and The Eternal Jew film are a few of the many events that began the Jews shallow thought process of their own lives and race. At this point, the Germans were getting exactly what they wanted by making the Jews feel inferior and proving to the Jews why their race was a disgrace. Alfred Rosenberg, a German Official, states his beliefs about what would make Germany a better place: “Germany will regard the Jewish question as solved only after the very last Jew has left the greater German living space... Europe will have its Jewish question solved only after the very last Jew has left the continent” (Rosenberg). The Jews previous place in history was the wood that fired the Holocaust in Nazis’ eyes.
The Nazis will forever be looked at as horrible people for what they did during World War II, but shockingly, they were just following in the footsteps of their ancestors. The Nazis used an available and easy target. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states, “Targeting Jews had deep roots in history.” Discrimination against the Jews dates all the way back to 167 CE when the Jews were accused of “killing Christ,” because they did not follow in the belief that Jesus was the Messiah. Europe has a long list of attacks on the Jewish population, long before World War II. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, in Mainz, Germany, a German leader persecuted his own Jewish population in 1012 CE. Every single Jew was kicked out of the city by the Roman emperor. The Jews were discriminated a lot, even during the World Wars.
After World War I, the Nazi’s just went along with a belief that already existed. The Jews were an easy target so they were blamed for much that went wrong in Germany including the defeat in World War I. Germany was showing hatred towards the Jews because the Jewish-bankers of Germany were thought to have sold out the country during World War I. The Jews were also a very easy target for this accusation since they were money lenders. Through time, thoughts of the Jews were distorted in the minds of many Germans. The Jews were thought to have caused most of mankind’s problems. This was because they were “sub-humans.” After blaming the Jews for most of the country’s major problems, the Nazis came to the conclusion that they were the most superior people in the world and that the Jews were nobody. The Nazis had the opinion that the Jews were not a part of the master race. As a result, the Nazis wanted to eliminate the Jewish race. The German Official Robert Lay preached his plan to wipe out the Jewish race in his speech to the public; “We swear we are not going to abandon the struggle until the Last Jew in Europe has been exterminated and is actually dead. It is not enough to isolate the Jewish enemy of mankind-the Jew has got to be exterminated” (Ley). The Jews were persecuted because of their heritage. Anyone who had Jewish grandparents or was married to a Jew was considered a Jew. The Jewish people were an obstruction to the “master race.” The ‘master race” were the Germanic or Aryan people. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Aryan people are the Indo-European people who began to migrate into the Indian subcontinent around 1500 BC.” So, everyone that was not Aryan was inferior, including the Jews. The Jews started to see themselves as habitual criminals who would never be rehabilitated and were hopelessly corrupt and inferior because society did not look at them as people and they were constantly being blamed for the worlds’ problems. The Jews view of themselves was horrible because they were being discriminated for their heritage. No one can control their heritage, so the whole idea of the Jews being sub-humans because they had Jewish ancestors was wrong. Rena Kornreich Gelissen states her feelings in her book, “Rena’s Promise,” where she portrays her own experience as a young Jewish girl in the concentration camps. In her book, Rena explains the shame she felt while in the concentration camp “We are in prison. Our only crime is that we were born” (Gelissen 73).
As two children fighting over the last piece of candy, the Nazis believed the Jews goal was world domination but the Nazis wanted to dominate the world themselves. The Nazis came to a conclusion that it was their job to eliminate all the Jews since the Jews were a threat to the Aryan. When looking back on history, the Nazis believed that it was all a fight between the races. The Nazis continued to make the Jews feel like a disgrace until the Jews themselves started to believe the Nazis opinion. An example of this was the film, The Eternal Jew, and the labeling of the Jews themselves with the yellow Star of David. The Nazis had no sympathy for the Jews and never thought about what life might be like for the Jews. Oskar Schindler, a German Official expresses his disbelief in the Nazis plan. Although Schindler was a German, he saw the terror and disrespect that came with living the life of a Jew. Oskar explained the Nazis disrespect for other human beings in his book, “Schindler’s List.” Schindler explains his view when the Jews are being thrown out of their apartments, “As families were routed out of the apartments, they were separated forcibly into two lines without regard to family considerations” (Schindler 128).
In conclusion, many factors added to the Nazi’s hatred of the Jewish people. These factors include Christian anti-semitism which depicted Jews as “Christ-Killers,” and political anti-semitism which depicted Jews as a threat to society. Anti-semitism was the hatred or discrimination against the Jews only because of their heritage. Because the Jews were persecuted so much in previous history, the Nazi’s were doing what they believed history was telling them to do. The Nazi’s believed that their job was to wipe out the Jews because history made it clear that the Jews were a problem. The Holocaust was a living nightmare that has affected the lives of so many Jews both past and present all because the Jews were singled out during this time of war for their religion and beliefs, their occupations, their role in World War I, and their negative presence in history.
Works Cited
"Common Questions about the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/question/>.
Gelissen, Rena Kornreich, and Heather Dune Macadam. Rena's promise: a story of sisters in Auschwitz. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 1995. Print.
"Holocaust - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/holocaust>.
"Holocaust FAQs." Holocaust Museum Huston. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. <https://www.hmh.org/ed_faqs.shtml>.
Keneally, Thomas. Schindler's list. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982. Print.
Novi, Meadows. "The Holocaust." ThinkQuest : Library. Oracle Education Foundation, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215466/the_holocaust.htm>.
Stein, Stuart. "Statements by Hitler and Senior Nazis Concerning Jews and Judaism." HLSS - Social Sciences. N.p., 4 Mar. 2000. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. <http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/statements.htm>.
"The History Place - Holocaust Timeline: Statistics of the Holocaust." The History Place. The History Place, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-statistics.htm>.
“Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal”, Vol.3, Nuremberg, 1947, p. 35 & 36. Print.