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Which is one major reason the Holocaust is considered a unique event in modern European history?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Because it was the first time in history that humans (Nazis) performed a genocide on over 6.5 million Jews (including gypsies, Polish and anyone who fought against the Nazi order.)
Presumably, the question means unique in a way other than happening to specific people at a given time in a particular region. In other words, I assume it means something like: Has anything similar happened to other groups, especially peoples?
If that is what's meant, I would say Yes, there have been comparable genocides. The most obviously compable genocide is that of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish government in 1915-1917 (continued in 1922).
Unfortunately, there have been genocides throughout human history, including ones that were more successful in wiping out their target.
However, what makes the Holocaust unique is that it was the first (and, thankfully, so far the only) case where the full institutional effort of an industrialized nation was put to the purpose of genocide.
Genocide in human history has been a haphazard affair. Often, while it was the official policy of a government or ruler to kill certain groups, the actual task of performing that action was seldom organized. It such a policy had never before become an institutionalized part of a government. That is, the uniqueness of the Holocaust is that the genocide policy was not just decided upon, but incorporated into the actual German nation's government, in the same manner as one would have a Department of Transportation or similar formal structure.
The Holocaust harnessed the innovations of industrial organization as pertains to government, and used that organization to carry out a genocide in an ultra-efficient manner never before seen. The terror of the Holocaust is that such efficiency of mass-murder is possible, when using the very organs of the state itself to carry it out.
To be explicit: the uniqueness of the Nazi Holocaust is that it harnessed the organizational and mechanical innovations of the Industrial Revolution to genocide into a institutionalized, formalized, planned, and executed government bureaucracy. The Holocaust's "product" was Death: designed, regulated, planned, manufactured, mass-produced, and sold to its victims using all the advancements of the Industrial Revolution.
The Horror of this industrialization and efficiency was that it required relatively little effort and materials to accomplish mass murder. Total estimates of the number of people (primarily SS) actually involved directly in the Holocaust is only a few thousand. The mechanization and organization of the Holocaust meant that those few thousand people were able to exterminate over a thousand times their number of victims in a couple of years. This works out to a single SS (or other perpetrator) being able to effictively kill several hundred people per year by working in the extermination system. This meant that the Holocaust required a relatively small portion of the country to participate (something far easier to accomplish than getting a large portion of the army or population involved), it was far easier to hide that it was occuring, and the killings could continue for very extended time periods, all of which are radically different than any other genocide in human history.
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago- The Holocaust was carried out on ideological grounds. Most previous genocides were carried out because a people or tribe was thought to be a 'nuisance' or 'in the way' (of some development of other).
- In other cases the extermination process has usually stopped when the victims ceased to be 'a nuisance'. In the case of the Jews, their crime in Nazi eyes was their mere existence.
- The Nazis knew perfectly well that the Jews were harmless, but chose to see them as a threat.
- The Holocaust was carried out with industrial efficiency and fanatical ideological zeal.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoThe genocide was planned in great detail and required the cooperation of many people.
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Why do people still talk about the Holocaust today?
The holocaust is relevant because it shows how insidiously modern people can be taken in a manupulated by their leaders into performing unspeakable crimes. We should be vigilent abut this in our own society and make sure the checks and balances and our rights and freedoms aren't being eroded.
What was the hollocust?
The holocaust was the mass murderig of mainly jews but also people like disabled people or homosexual people, they wre put into consentration camps and starved,beaten and made to work, many people died, some went into the rich peoples houses as slaves and could be beaten when ever. The holocaust was lead by Hitler in the 2nd world war there are still survivors of the holocaust today, eg. I know the first soldier who went into Auschwitz as the holocaust ended to help get people out. The holocaust was horrible. You can find out more by just googleing the holocaust hope this helped :)
Is the Final Solution the same thing as the Holocaust?
1. They were the same thing. The word the Holocaust only came into general use around 1980. The Final Solution was the Nazis' own term and was short for Final Solution of the Jewish Question (Endloesung der Judenfrage).___2. The Holocaust also refers to the other programs run to incriminate minorities. Action T4, for example, was an order to exterminate those with disabilities. The Marxists and homosexuals were similarly killed, just not under the title of Final Solution.____Definition 2 is at odds with that used by most professional historians of the Holocaust. See, for example, the definition of the Holocaust provided by Rciahrd J. Evans, Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge:'The standard work by the distinguished Canadian historian Michael Marrus, TheHolocaust in History, focused on, to use his own words, 'the Holocaust, the systematic mass murder of European Jewry by the Nazis'. Similarly, Sir Martin Gilbert, in his documentary compilation, The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy( London, 1986), concurred in referring to 'the systematic attempt to destroy all European Jewry - an attempt now known as the Holocaust'. Another author, Ronnie S. Landau, put forward a similar definition in his book, The Nazi Holocaust: 'The Holocaust involved the deliberate, systematic murder of approximately 6 million Jews in Nazi-dominated Europe between 1941 and 1945.'Richard J. Evans, Telling Lies About Hitler: The Holocaust, History and the David Irving Trial, Verso, London and New York, 2002, pp. 113-4In the US the term the Holocaust is used loosely, possibly in an attempt to justify Federal funds for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.What Hitler called the 'Final Solution' was (later called) the Holocaust. It involved imprisoning millions of Jewish people, separating the families, experimenting on them surgically with no anaesthetic, and so on. Certain groups of German soldiers were allowed to kill Jews anytime that they saw them, (and they killed a huge number, as well).
Who invented the idea of the holocaust?
The first recorded use of the word holocaust in the sense of genocide dates from 1942 but it was rarely used. It is said that Elie Wiesel popularized the word in its modern sense in the late 1950s. However, it didn't become widely used till the late 1970s following the first broadcast of the TV miniseries entitled Holocaust.
How did the new military technology affect the way European leaders thought about the war?
Many European leaders thought that these modern advances in military technology would result in a short war.
How did the Holocaust influence history?
In History, people remembers and influences the Holocaust to be a cruel, evil, torturous time for people, especially the Jews. The holocaust is a key part in modern history because of what happend, who did it and how they executed it.
What is history modern history?
There are three schools of thought concerning this: One is that modern history is from 1950 onward. Another is that modern history is from 1899 onward The final one is that modern history doesn't exist as something that is modern cannot exist in the past. Modern history is the considered the time after the "middle ages", beginning around 1500. Modern history is comprised of two eras, early modern through about 1800 and late modern which is followed by contemporary history. Most of this terminology is in reference to European and American history and their relationship with other continents. Modern History is only part of history. Modern history is from 1850 onward in some ways.
Is AP European History a World History?
No, AP European History is only based on European History with a little bit on the world. To get a complete view of World History, I suggest AP World History, which goes over history from way back into the modern world.
Who was considered the founder of the modern European and American movement for women's rights?
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Why is the Holocaust considered a unique event in the modern European history?
The Holocaust was carried out on ideological grounds. Most previous genocides were carried out because a people or tribe was thought to be a 'nuisance' or 'in the way' (of some development of other).In other cases the extermination process has usually stopped when the victims ceased to be 'a nuisance'. In the case of the Jews, their crime in Nazi eyes was their mere existence.The Nazis knew perfectly well that the Jews were harmless, but chose to see them as a threat.The Holocaust was carried out with industrial efficiency and fanatical ideological zeal.
The end of the European Renaissance is usually considered the beginning of which era?
Modern era
What has the author K Perry written?
K. Perry has written: 'Modern European history' -- subject(s): History
What has the author Michael Weston written?
Michael Weston has written: 'Kierkegaard and modern continental philosophy' -- subject(s): European Philosophy, History, Influence, Modern Philosophers, Philosophers, Modern, Philosophy, European
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What has the author Sally Marks written?
Sally Marks has written: 'The ebbing of European ascendancy' -- subject(s): History, Modern History
Why should kids learn about the Holocaust?
It is always good for anyone to know about the history of the world, and since it was such a big event in history, the time frame in which the Holocaust occurred cannot be overlooked, lest there be a major gap in history in the minds of today's teenagers.
Who was the first woman to modern European history to advocate opportunities and influence for women?
Christine de Pisan
