Holocaust

Millions of people were involved in the Holocaust. It affected the lives of almost all Jews in Europe (approximately six million were killed) as well as gypsies, homosexuals, and other minority groups. It was perpetrated by Adolf Hitler, Himmler, the SS and other Germans, and Europeans in occupied countries who collaborated with the Germans or looked the other way.

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The word involved is vague. It is common to divide those involved into three groups:

1. The victims
2. The perpetrators (the people who killed, and also those who transported the victims to killing centres and so on. This group can be extended).
3. The bystanders. That is the people who knew what was happening and did nothing about it.

The Holocaust was genocide. It was not some war, in which some were killed, some wounded and some taken prisoner.

There are no statistics of "Holocaust injured". Please see the related question below.

military: air force, navy force, armed force

mechanical, engineering, and manufacturing companies

they were replacements of men while the men were fighting.

Point being, life for Jews before the holocaust was hardly a bed or roses. They were often driven from their homes, their culture attacked, their property seized. They were forbidden entry into various cultural groups and occupations. Persecution was rampant through the USA, Britain, Russia, Austria and various other nations.

It should be noted that the leading German state, Prussia, was actually one of the most tolerant of the Jews in Europe. Jews held many important positions in that state and were important in their military. However, the new German state created in 1870 passed laws that restricted Jews in certain occupations such as teaching. Russia, meanwhile was still using state sanctioned attacks on Jews, called pogroms, where Jews were often killed by the hundred.

Hitler came to power in 1933 and began a program to further restrict the Jews in Germany. The list of occupations they could not hold was extended. Special taxes were passed on them. Many Jews decided to flee the country but many were denied this due to restrictions against them in other countries, including the USA.

Nazi brutality against the Jews continued until in a Jew in Paris murdered a German diplomatic official in 1938. This triggered an outpouring of rage in Germany against the Jews where the attacks grew similar to the pogrom policy of Russia.

When WWII started in late 1939, Germany was soon isolated by the British blockade. This led to the Nazis reaching the conclusion that the Jews could not be emigrated and must be killed. The holocaust began shortly after.

Rampant persecution in the U.S. and Britain? Oh, really? It's important to distinguish between *prejudice (and disadvantage)* and *persecution*.

One of the countries where politically organized anti-semitism was most vicious in the early part of the 20th century was France. There was persecution in Austria and, worst of all, in Tsarist Russia.

After 1918 antisemitism was particularly bad in Poland, Hungary and Romania.

Obviously, the situation in Germany - which before 1933 had had a reputation for being liberal, deteriorated when the Nazis came to power. As the previous answer indicates, the course of WW2 itself made fleeing from Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe increasingly difficult, almost impossible.

It's worth adding that after the Russian Revolution, some refugees from Tsarist Russia fled westward and brought their peculiarly nasty antisemitism with them. Before 1918 the Jews had been regarded as the bearers of liberalism; after 1918 they were widely seen as Bolshevists.

Last but not least, the Roman Catholic Church was experiencing difficulties adapting to the modern world and from about 1880 knowingly spread lies and conspiracy theories in some countries about 'Jews and freemasons'. It would be a mistake to underestimate the role of this 'churchy' antisemitism.

Incidentally, that claim about the British blockade is irrelevant. Other countries suffered severe shortages in World War 2, but did not murder minorities.

1. Many of the 'theories' about Hitler's hatred of the Jews, especially those claiming to be based on a single experience early in his life, are no more than fanciful guesswork.
2. The reasons given by Hitler in 'Mein Kampf' should be treated with caution. The book is not a reliable source.
3. In the last 30 years or so historians have generally distinguished between the ordinary prejudices of his background and time (Roman Catholic, Upper Austria, lower middle class, around 1880-1910) and the obsessive hatred that later became one of his hallmarks.
4. It appears that, contrary to what he says in 'Mein Kampf', Hitler's extreme antisemitism only arose towards the end of World War 1 or even later. (See Volume 1 of Ian Kershaw's two volume biography, Hubris, Penguin Books 1998).
5. There had been anti-Jewish prejudice of varying degrees of intensity in many parts of Europe and elsewhere for a long time. A distinctive feature of Hitler's antisemitism was that it was formulated as conspiracy theory. For many, especially in Bavaria, this went hand in hand with the 'stab-in-the-back' theory, that is, with the view that Germany had not been defeated on the battlefield but had been brought down by liberal, socialist and Communist subversives on the home front. In other words it was claimed that 'the Jews had caused Germany's defeat in World War 1'. Potentially, this made antisemitism explosive in Germany.
6. In much of Europe it was assumed that Jews were Communists. In many hardline right wing circles there was talk about a supposed 'Judeo-Bolshevist conspiracy'. This was highly inflammatory. Despite his ranting against Jewish businessmen Hitler saw the Jews as the 'biological root' of Bolshevism. (See the link below on the influence of emigres from Russia).
7. In Bavaria but not in other most parts of Germany a number of Marxists of Jewish origin had been prominent in the upheavals of 1918-1919. Most, like Ernst Toller and Erich Mühsam, for example, were idealistic utopians. They were notconspirators or traitors or anything of that sort. However, their origins were shamelessly exploited for propaganda purposes.
8. Many extreme German Nationalists (not only the Nazis) called the new German republic a 'Jewish republic' (though almost none of its leaders were Jews). There was a widespread tendency, not only in Germany, to equate the Jews with subversion and Communism. In many of his speeches Hitler often used the words Jews and Bolshevists almost interchangeably. He merged rabid anti-communism with equally fanatical antisemitism. To this he later added the claim that Jews were homosexuals, allegedly undermining the manliness and and fighting spirit of the German people. This combination was potentially a 'witches' brew'.

Against this background there are also many contributing factors and possible theories. Here is some further input:

• Jealousy. Some Jews were successful and held "visible" positions in Austria and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. In the Great Depression. Germany was hit the hardest by the worldwide economic depression, and successful Jews were envied.
• Some Germans believed that "Jewish bankers" were responsible for the Treaty of Versailles.
• Jews became a scapegoat for Germany's economic problems. (According to this racist sentiment, "international Jewish financiers had plunged the world into a war and the Depression for their business profit.")
• Hitler and many Nazis were influenced by the notorious anti-Semitic book called "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion."
• Hitler lived in Vienna from 1907 to 1913 and those were the most difficult years of his life. Hitler was trying to become an artist or to make himself a name in field of arts. He was twice rejected from the Vienna Academy of Fine Art. He claimed that the professors that rejected him were Jewish ... [However, none of the members of the selection panel was Jewish].
• The Nazis had a vision of an Aryan German race that specifically excluded Jews and many other groups of people.
• Here is an example of Hitler's anti-Semitic racism from a speech given in Munich in July 1922: "His is no master people; he is an exploiter: the Jews are a people of robbers. He has never founded any civilization, though he has destroyed civilizations by the hundred...everything he has stolen. Foreign people, foreign workmen build him his temples, it is foreigners who create and work for him, it is foreigners who shed their blood for him."
• Some say Hitler and the Nazis were opportunistic demagogues. Inciting hatred of the Jews was the means to an end. The Nazis used hatred of the Jews to unify the German people and create a new German empire. Nothing unites a people more than when they believe they are constantly under attack and fighting a common enemy. The Jews were convenient enemies. Christianity had traditionally blamed the death of Christ on the Jews. One can see in the Bible the statement that the Jews demanded the death of Jesus, and said, "let it be upon our heads and that of our children." This became an excuse to abuse the Jews for more than a thousand years. It was not until the 1960s that the Catholic Church stated that the Jews were NOT to blame for the death of Jesus. Antisemitism was deeply embedded in European and American culture.
• In the 1930s there was a lot of anti-Jewish feeling and resentment in the Western world. Many Jews who tried to escape the persecution in Germany were refused entry into the US and other European countries and also many countries further afield.
• Antisemitism has been rife throughout European history, largely because the Jews were a distinct, identifiable group, who did not integrate. (Those who really wanted to integrate converted.) Of course, many now see pluralism as a virtue, and a variety of ethnicities and religions as a positive thing. However, in the inter war period diversity was often regarded as divisive and "disloyal".
• Another key element of a dictatorship is fear, and a visible scapegoat experiencing the wrath of the state is a good way to keep people from stepping out of line.
• Hitler stated: "The war is to be a war of annihilation". His henchman Heinrich Himmler declared: "All Poles will disappear from the world. . . . It is essential that the great German people should consider it as a major task to destroy all Poles."
• The Jews did absolutely nothing to deserve the treatment they got. Like the Africans and the Indians the Jews were just picked for hatred and unjust things but again they did absolutely nothing!
• Since the 1870s the Jews had been the object of a new wave of demonization and conspiracy theories. On the whole this wasn't taken too seriously in Germany, but in Austria anti-Jewish conspiracy theories were spread by extreme right-wing politicians and also by the Roman Catholic Church, which knew perfectly well that these theories were rubbish. Young Adolf was a server (altar-boy) and may have been influenced by this.
• Well, there were more "sub-humans", as Hitler called those poor people, than he could handle. He had to find ways to kill them without making it too obvious. That's when the real Holocaust started [1941]! He built extermination camps, where he could kill many thousands of people at a time.
• Hitler blamed Germany's defeat in WWI on the Jews, and he hated them. When he took power he started rounding them up. He did the same when he started taking over other countries. He used the Jews, Poles, gays, gypsies, Russians and mentally challenged people as slave labor and then started to annihilate them in gas chambers. His reason - hatred. He classed the above mentioned people as sub human and basically in his Nazi world there was no place for the "sub human", only the 'Aryans'.
• To understand the Holocaust you have to understand the Darwinian biology of the time. There was a growing sense, particularly since Ernst Haeckel, that there were those in society who were 'biologically' inferior and that for a 'fit' world to survive and thrive, those who were 'unfit' should be done away with. Instead of letting nature take its course, there was a unspoken sense that humans could take matters into their own hands. I am obviously not supporting this twisted logic, but that is a key to understanding how a number of things converged to create the nightmare of the century. [However, 'biological inferiority' is subjective. In Britain, for example, many Social Darwinists, especially those active in education, were most impressed by the achievements of Jews in schools and universities and concluded that they were a 'superior breed' ... This view was to some extent echoed in Nazi conspiracy theories, which painted a picture of diabolically cunning Jews].
• Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's defeat in World War I.
• Not only did Hitler thank the Jewish doctor who treated his mother, apparently he allowed the doctor to escape Nazi Germany without repercussions. (Doesn't sound like he was too angry at the man).
• He didn't only kill Jews. He killed Communists, liberals, homosexuals, gypsies and many other groups, including millions of victims of warfare. Why he did is up for debate, but I'd guess a mixture of antisemitism and stereotypes of the as Jews as Communists, subsersives and all kinds of other things - as a means to an end. A common way to gain power is to spread fear and panic about an enemy (real or imaginary), stir up hatred and present yourself as the only person able to 'save' the country.

Of course, hatred does not in itself account for the Holocaust. How the Nazis moved from hatred and persecution to genocide is another matter. Please see the links.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Why_did_Hitler_and_the_Nazis_hate_the_Jews#ixzz1MCgk3DgC