Was the Holocaust about Jews only?

Answer 1

Since about 1980 the term the Holocaust has generally been used by historians for what the Nazis called die Endloesung [der Judenfrage] - the Final Solution [of the Jewish Question]. In other words, in scholarly usage, it normally refers only to the Jews.

However, there were several groups persecuted by and massacred in large numbers by the Nazis on the basis of group identity and the term is sometimes used loosely to include them all. Please see the related question.

Answer 2

Answer 1

Yes it was Hitler hated mostly Jews

Answer 2

The Holocaust was about race, politics and ideology and had almost nothing to do with religion. Jews were persecuted as a race (or 'race'). I have no idea where this highly misleading notion comes from that it was some version or other of Onward, Christian Soldiers that got out of hand. It was nothing of the sort. Key evidence: Atheist Jews and Jews whose parents and grandparents had converted to Christianity were persecuted and murdered in exactly the same way as practising religious Jews.

Incidentally, the Holocaust wasn't a conflict, either. It was genocide.

Answer 3

The whole concept of calling the Jews a race it totally artificial. It was created by the Nazis so that they could say that it was a racial war, that there were degenerate genes within this race that meant that they had to be destroyed. Other characteristics of this race were physical like a large or hooked nose, long fingers and an arched back all preposterous.

The Holocaust was indeed about politics and ideology, but it had almost nothing to do with race. The Nazis did the same thing at the other end of the scale, to join the SS (pre-war) one had to prove one's lineage to show that one was of pure Germanic blood, or aryan, or whatever other word you want to call the artificial race that was so much better than the others.

[calling it a conflict, a war, a genocide or anything else is just semantics, ie. it does not matter which word you use to describe what happened, it does not change what happened]

The murder of the Jews was a religious war in the way that the intention was to destroy all of the people who practiced that religion. Whether the people who perpetrated this attempted genocide were irreligious or Christian does not matter, what matters is that the intention was to leave no one who would continue the faith or had any chance of reviving it. This was why the Nazis went after children and people who did not consider themselves Jews and even those who had no idea that their grandparents were Jewish.

Answer 4

In response to Answer 3, there is more than a semantic difference as concerns genocide and conflict. Let us look at the definitions of the terms "conflict" and "genocide". As to "conflict", a conflict requires two belligerent parties who mutually agree that it is their wish to see the other party cede them something (be it land, treasure, women, etc.). While the Nazi SS certainly fits the bill, the Jews did not since they were not belligerent and did not wish to see the German government cede them anything. Therefore, no conflict. In terms of the actual carnage and wanton destruction, the terms slaughter and annihilation are much more apt. Genocide is the intentional mass-murder of one ethnic, religious, social, or other group regardless of whether such people are armed or not, capable of fighting or not, pose an actual threat or not, or have ill will towards the government or not. There is only one belligerent force and one attacked force in genocide. Therefore, the Holocaust lines up far better with "genocide" than "conflict".

As concerns "religious", since the only side "fighting" were the Nazis, their perspective on the Jews is most relevant in this question and they viewed the Jews uncompromisingly as a race or ethnicity, not a religion. The Nazis, if they were interested in removing the practice of the faith (as opposed to an entire race or ethnic group) would have targeted only those Jews who kept the traditions, i.e. the Orthodox Jews (primarily from Eastern Europe) and the Conservative and Reform Jews of (primarily in Germany). However, the Nazis deported people who grew up as Christians because they had one Jewish grandparent. It was an issue of genetics, not religious practice. Some people who were deported for having "Jewish blood" were unaware that they were Jewish at all as many people were not open about being Jewish at that time in Europe (especially if they married non-Jews).

Answer 3

oohhhhh very much so the Nazis wanted all of the Jews of Europe to die so only the German-aryan ruled Europe the Nazis simpaly hated Jews :(

Answer 4

No, it was about race or what the Nazis regarded as race.