HOLOCAUST Essay -- Essays Papers

HOLOCAUST As tensions mounted up until the point of World War II and the war stormed through Europe, another battle silently raged. Not only did Hitler and the Nazi party wage war on countries throughout Europe, they also assaulted and purged entire innocent groups. The Holocaust began in 1933 and reached its height in WW II, while coming to an end with the war in 1945. Hitler used the Holocaust as a mechanism to rid his "racially superior" German state of any "inferior" groups (especially Jews) that would be of some threat or sign of inferiority to Germany. As a result of the Holocaust, millions of men, women, and children of various national, ethnic, and social backgrounds died or had their lives impacted forever. In 1933 Adolph Hitler became the Chancellor of the German government, and he and his Nazi regime came into power. At this time, Hitler also instated the Nazi racial ideology. These ideas emphasized that the Germans or Aryan race was superior to the non-Aryan peoples who were not part of the German heritage. Those who were not racially pure were on different levels. Most Slavic individuals were considered "subhuman" as were those who led unconventional lifestyles or were physically or mentally impaired. At the bottom of the list were the Jews who were considered to be a non- human race. The Holocaust began in the year of 1933. Although it effected diverse groups, the Jews received most of the abuse from the Holocaust. In 1933, there were approximately nine million Jews living in the 21 countries that would be occupied by Hitler and the Nazis during WW II ( The Holocaust). Hitler s... ...gled them into neutral territory. By the end of World War II approximately six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, along with hundreds of thousands of Slavs and 250,000 mentally and physically handicapped. The Holocaust left many innocent slaughtered and those who escaped with a lasting imprint of oppression and murder. The impressions of the Holocaust continue to effect these groups and our societal outlook even today. WORKS CITED - Bartoszewski, W. The Warsaw Ghetto. Boston: Beacon Press, 1987. - Bauer, Y. A History of the Holocaust. New York: Franklin, 1976. - Fleming, G. Hitler and the Final Solution. Berkley: University California Press, 1982. - The Holocaust: An Historical Summary. http://www.ushmm.org/misc- bin/add. (28 February 1998).