Information Concerning the Holocaust

The Holocaust

Adolf Hitler or the Führer (the word Fuhrer is the German word for master or ruler, or someone in another position with the same amount of power or authority) as the Nazi Germans called him, came to power over Germany in the year of 1933; the same year that World War II started which was really just a continuation of the First World War. His objective was world domination and to make Germans the master race by killing off all races, people, or persons that were not what they were or like them, so that all other races would be slaves to the Germans. The Modern meaning of the word “holocaust” refers to the mass execution of the Jews and any other races deemed inferior or any person considered a threat. The Holocaust lasted twelve years from 1933 to 1945. This was the same amount of time the war of World War II lasted.

The word holocaust originated from the Greek word “holoskaustos” which originally meant completely burned. “This word was historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar” (history.com, 2009). It now means or refers to the killing and persecution of the Jews from the year 1933-1945 by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis of Germany in World War II. The war which lasted for the United States from the day Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese which was on “December 7, 1941 just before 8 a.m.” (history.com, 2009) all the way up until the year of 1945. But the World War II officially started when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis of Germany took and invaded Poland in the year of 1933. The Reason that the United States declared war on both the Japanese and The Germans was because Adolf Hitler had already formed an alliance with Japan to fight the United States as a combined force.

Through the twelve years that the World War II lasted roughly six million Jewish casualties, five million non-Jewish casualties, and one and a half million children casualties took place by means of gas chambers in death camps throughout Europe, and by starvation and malnutrition and many were worked to death with hard labor in horrible conditions. “The first victims of the Holocaust were people with disabilities” (maine.edu, 2015) probably because they could not help with the war effort, fight in the war, or do most forms of typical day to day work. Over all the disabled were killed off because in Hitler’s point of view had nothing to offer and could not contribute to the country they were just a hindrance to Hitler and counterproductive to his two main goals of making Germans the master race of the world and dominating the world for the Germans so that every other race would bow down to Adolf Hitler and his people.

It is one thing to take over land and the native people of that land but it is another to take it over and making an example out of them to show your superior power and capabilities by brutally beating, torturing, scrutinizing, and unjustly killing in cold blood. Hitler did this by exterminating certain groups of people and races by millions that were "impure" in his eyes. Hitler did this in the Second World War His methods of putting people to death were harsh, cruel, and inhumane (if there is a humane way to kill another human being). Nothing that he or the Nazis did to the Jews or any of the other victims that were unfortunately targeted then later victimized anywhere remotely humane. One very horrifying way they put many people to death simultaneously was burning people in crematories or casting their bodies while they were alive in an open fire pit so that they would burn to death in the hot coals. "The bodies of the victims were consumed whole in crematoria and open fires" (Berenbaum, 2014). The Nazis also destroyed thousands of Jewish businesses, cultural sites, and arrested Jews and sent them to death camps to be enslaved and ultimately killed sooner or later after enduring the punishment that the Germans had in store for them. "On the evening of November 9, 1938, carefully orchestrated anti-Jewish violence “erupted” throughout the Reich. Rioters burned or damaged more than 1,000 synagogues and ransacked and broke the windows of more than 7,500 businesses. The Nazis arrested some 30,000 Jewish men between the ages of 16 and 60 and sent them to concentration camps" (Berenbaum, 2014). They also burned all works of composition that were considered to be Non Germanic or against what the Führer had said and believed. This was an effort to keep people from reading what they considered to be false teachings and having nothing to detract from what Hitler thought that people should believe. Kristallnacht is the Germanic word that refers to November 9, 1938 as one of two names "The Night of Broken Glass" or "Crystal Night." It was called this because they broke out windows of approximately 7,500 presumably Jewish owned businesses in addition to raiding and destroying them. They also burned some businesses and Jewish cultural sightings to ever further exterminate and purify themselves of the inferior Jewish race.

The Holocaust was a prime example of sinful human nature that caused a lot of upheaval and a world full of unneeded chaos and corruption for twelve years. The Holocaust really caused a lot of innocent human casualties for little to no reason at all. It was all because people and races were deemed inferior buy an irrational, power hungry, control freak that wanted everything in this world to be in his control. He was playing the role no one has the right to play: "God." The only ruler that judges every living soul and the only one who has the right to give life and take it. Just because someone is not like you, the same race, or is different in any way does not mean you have the right to kill them and others alike.

References:

History.com Staff (2009) The Holocaust. Retrieved on 20 February 2015 from:

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust

ushmm.org (2015) Introduction to the Holocaust Retrieved on 20 February from: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143

maine.edu (2015) 30 Facts about the Holocaust Retrieved on 20 February from:

http://students.umf.maine.edu/brooke.burton/public.www/UnitSite/facts.html

Bullock, Alan/ Bullock, Baron (2015) "Adolf Hitler" Retrieved on 20 February from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power

History.com Staff (2009) Pearl Harbor Retrieved on 20 February from: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor

John Graham, Royde-Smith (2015) World War II Retrieved on 20 February from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/648813/World-War-II

ushmm.org (2014) Victims of the Nazi Era: Nazi Racial Ideology Retrieved on 20 February from: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007457

Michael, Berenbaum (2015) Holocaust Retrieved on 20 February from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/269548/Holocaust