Holocaust - Ideologies and inaction

What are the consequences of INACTION?

The nazi regime

Hitler was appointed chancellor of germany in 1933. His rule marked the beginning of the transformation of germany into a fascist, entirely anti-semitic and totalitarian regime.

• His rise to power and breakdown of parliament was due to the traction gained by the Nazi party in the 1930’s as well as the economic depression of the 20’s and social/political instability due to the TOV.

• He explicitly stated his goal was the "annihilation of the Jews".

Hitler’s Ideology and justification

Hitler believed in radical racial ideologies such as that of social darwinism, and the “racial purity” as well as “superiority” of the Aryan master race over that of the “untermen­schen” or “subhumans”. The Nazis idealized the Aryan as a tall, blonde and white coloured, blue-eyed individual who were a race destined to rule a vast empire – lebensraum.

The Nazis promoted racial antisemitism. It did not matter whether a person practised the Jewish faith. The Nazis believed Jews belonged to a separate race and had distinct and impure “Jewish blood”.

He followed the theory of anti-semitism and applied inhumane racial theorems to german society, targeting social sectors which were deemed "degenerates" or "asocials" who did not fit the "national community" and needed to be eliminated from the gene pool through discrimination, extraction and displacement to preserve the “master race” or the Aryan race.

WW2 - A catlyst

The declaration of war after Hitler invaded poland and annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia, as well as Hitler’s idea of Lebensraum, led to a general coverage of the framworks that were required to obtain the “final solution” . A global conflict at the scale of WW2 enabled a radical environment for Hitler’s Germany to fuel hatred and antisemitic sentiment towards the Jews and a “us vs them” sentiment in the german people.

The chaos of war provided secrecy, and the existing military infrastructure (trains, camps) was repurposed for deportations to extermination camps, a process formalized by the Wannsee Conference.

Nuremberg Laws

1935 – First step towards the systemic targetting of the jewish identity.

A set of systematic constitutional laws formed under the nazi regime to carry out the persecution against Jews. They were explicitly racist in nature and had several critical consequences:

• Deprivation of Rights: They lost their political and human rights, rendering them vulnerable and without recourse. Further brought on by the public sentiment surrounding the persecution, particularly among non-Jewish Germans.

• Legal Institutionalisation of Persecution: The laws provided a legal framework for the ongoing persecution of Jews, making their mistreatment official state policy.

• Systemic Persecution: Using law was an effective method for imposing Hitler's racial and antisemitic ideals, leading to systemic persecution and widening the perceived gap between Jews and "pure" Germans, thus reinforcing the idea of Aryan superiority.

SPECIFIC LAWS:

Reich citizenship law: Stripped the jewish people German citizenship - legally seperating the community from the nation entirely. Forging and widening the perceived gap between Jews and "pure" Germans, thus reinforcing the idea of Aryan superiority.

Law for “the Protection of German Blood and German Honour”: forbade marriages and extramarital sexual relations between Jews and "German or related-blood" people to prevent "racial contamination"

Kristallnacht / “night of the broken glass”

The event in late 1938 acted as a societal reminder and immediate catalyst for the rising anti-jewish sentiment and the deprivation of the right to exist for jews in Hitler’s germany. It was promoted by Hitler’s government, especially minister of propaganda :Joseph Goebbels -

Nazi storm troopers (Hitler Youth, the SS and SA) - who allowed the destruction and arrested as many Jews as the jails could hold.

By the end of the night, close to 100 Jews were dead, more than 900 synagogues were burnt, nearly 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed, cemeteries and schools were vandalised, and 30,000 Jewish men had been deported to concentration camps.

Euthanasia campaign (Nuremberg statute)

In 1939, following the general anti-semitic and discriminatory dogmas of the Nuremberg Laws, Aktion 4, or the nazi euthanasia campaign, was launched to target disabled persons or the “mentally ill”.

This resulted in the murder of 6000 disabled infants, children, and teenagers through starvation or lethal injection.

“The final solution”

1942 -

Post Wansee conference, wherein the efficient handling of Jewish Germans was discussed to carry forward the “annihilation”. This would be known as the holocaust.

Concentration camps are prepared for deportation with dual roles, like that of Auschwitz-Birkenau, which dealt with both labour and extermination.

The operational efficiency of these camps is described as an "assembly line of mass murder,"

Auschwitz-Birkenau

The largest Nazi camp was created in 1941. Specifically used for the extermination of Jewish as well as Sinti and Roma peoples. Auschwitz II had four gas chambers on its premises. 

RESULT

Over 6 millions jewish individuals and 5 million non-jewish persons were eradicated as a result of the holocaust - a genocide that was unfathomable in its scale and impact on not only germany but the entirety of europe.

In little more than a decade, Hitler’s Nazi germany had murdered 2 out of every 3 jewish persons in europe as state policy.