World War II: The Holocaust - Essay Sample

Introduction

Holocaust is derived from the Greek word "holokauston" which means a burnt sacrifice offered to God. In this context, it refers to the mass sacrifice of the Jews and other genocides that took place during this period as well. Adolf Hitler activated the Holocaust in Germany when he ascended to power in 1933 and spread across Europe as anti-Semitism escalated during World War II. During World War II, the mass genocide did not target the Jews only but also the Russian prisoners, Polish, Gypsies and Ukrainian people as they were grouped into the inferior race category. The Germans were not left out either as Hitler's axe also targeted the mentally ill, handicapped, homosexuals, some labor unions members and political as part of the Holocaust. Holocaust would finally come to an end when Hitler's Nazi rule was defeated by the allied powers (History 1).

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The source of Hitler's hostile kind of prejudice against Jews is not clear. Hitler, born in 1889, served in the German army in World War I (WWI) although he was born in Austria. Just like other anti-Semites in Germany, he believed that the Jews were the source of their defeat during World War I that ended in 1918. Soon after the war ended, Adolf joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (formerly National German Workers' Party) commonly referred to as Nazis by English Speakers. His role in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch led to his imprisonment for treason. While there, he wrote a descriptive propaganda tract "My Struggle" (Mein Kampf) in which he anticipated a European war that would execute the Jews in Germany.

Hitler advocated for the dominance of the pure German race that would provide a room for development, and after his release, he capitalized on the weakness of his opponents to raise the status of his party. This also provided him with an opportunity to ascend to supremacy, and on January 30th, 1933 he was named Germany Chancellor. In 1934, after President Paul von Hindenburg died, Hitler become self-proclaimed Germany supreme ruler.

Adolf Hitler as an anti-Semite Nazi leader regarded the Jews as an alien, inferior race that threatened to the racial purity of the Germans and needed to be wiped out. He constructed the first concentration camp near Dachau, Germany. This led to constant persecution of the Jews during Nazi rule by Hitler. After years of this rule, Hitler continued to escalate the Holocaust under cover of World War II in which he constructed various mass killing concentration camps.

The Holocaust was not the only time the Jews were persecuted. Adolf Hitler was not the first person to start anti-Semitism in Europe; he only accelerated this hatred during his reign. The hostility dates far back to the times when the Romans destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and forced the Jews out of Palestine. However, enlightenment between the 1600s to 1700s led to religious tolerance. Also, during the 19th century, Napoleon and other rulers in Europe implemented laws that ended restrictions on Jews. The feeling of anti-Semitism endured but more evidently in racial matters than religious ones.

The Jews were treated as outcasts and persecuted due to their participation in Judaism (laws governing specific way of living). Rulers perceived this as resistance against their rule. Therefore, dictatorial rulers denied Jews the right to practice their laws and codes.

When Hitler constructed concentration camps, the Jews were excluded from public places and offices. They were made to register their properties while others were taken away from them. The Jewish patients were only supposed to be attended by Jewish doctors. Besides, the Jews were not allowed to use public transport (buses, trams or cars).

When the first solution was implemented in September 1941, Jews were required to have clothing with a yellow Star of David so that they could be identified and targeted easily. They were relocated into ghettos and later transported to concentration and extermination camps. Others were sent to transit and prisoner-of-war camps. The ghettos in Poland were surrounded by barbed wires and high walls manned by Jewish councils. There was overpopulation, hunger and poverty in these places hence acted as breeding grounds for diseases like typhus. Besides, the Nazi officials under the Euthanasia Program selected people with mental illnesses and disabilities and gassed them to death. The program was ended in 1941 after large protests from German religious leaders, although there was killing of people with disabilities continued secretly. Approximately 275000 handicapped people across Europe had been killed by 1945 (History 3). Thus, it is correct to say the Euthanasia Program acted as a pilot for the Holocaust in hindsight.

The beginning of 1941 saw millions of Jews around the world, European Gypsies being transported to concentration camps (the Polish ghettos). The invasion of the Soviet Union by the Germans brought warfare brutality to a higher level. There were mobile killing units which killed Soviet Jews during the German occupation in the region.

In the concentration camps, events and life were horrific. Jews and other prisoners were made to do hard physical work and sometimes tortured until they died. There was no medical support in these camps. Prisoners slept with no pillow or mattresses in groups of three or more people in every wooden bunk.

Experiments for mass killing methods were carried out in several concentration camps (for example Auschwitz). Prisoners were asked to undress to take a shower but instead sent into chambers where they were gassed to death with Zyklon-B pesticide. Huge orders for the gas were placed soon after.

Despite the ongoing manslaughter, the Nazis' tried to keep the operation a secret. However, the eyewitnesses reported the matter to the Allied government (who were later criticized for not responding urgently). By the end of the War in 1945, when the Nazi leadership was defeated by Allied Powers, Hitler blamed the war and urged the Germans to keep his strict merciless racial laws before committing suicide the following day. The official surrender was made on May 8, 1945.

Conclusion

The Holocaust condemned the oppressed, majorly the Jews, the fullness of life. The oppressed were starved, tortured, killed and other human rights violated. They were forced out of their homes; their property was taken away and being treated without respect and dignity. Survivors of the Holocaust until today cannot fully recover from the ordeal. Some found it difficult to return home while others were denounced by their non-Jewish neighbors. Others chose to remain in refugee camps across Europe. These people still have physical, mental and emotional scars. Although the German government acknowledged its responsibility and made payments for individual Jews and Jewish people, the persecutions of millions of Jews and other oppressed groups will forever remain a tragic memory.

Works Cited

History. "The Holocaust." A&E Television Networks, February 4, 2019, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust