However another point to consider was that the Jews were being used as scapegoats for German problems. The Germans believed that the Jews were attempting to destroy the ‘German way of life’ because they were said to be living off German wealth. For example after the First World War, Hitler and the Nazi party blamed the Jews for Germany having lost the war. In the 1930’s the Wall Street crash occurred and the Jews having an image of being well educated and very wealthy and selfish due to all their large important businesses they ran in Germany. Hitler portrayed an image of the Jews to the Germans as though the reason why some Germans are out of jobs is because the Jews have stolen their jobs and are invading Germany being ‘parasites’ and taking what belongs to ‘pure’ hardworking German people. Therefore when the economic situation in Germany was very low and the German economy was suffering from the depression, the Jews were blamed for having all the German money and for Germans being very poor and starving during the time of the depression in the 1930’s. Despite the fact the Jewish people were not particularly communist at all, due to Hitler being anti- communist, this was another act of using them as scapegoats. Anti - Semitism had been current in Europe for centuries, even since the days of ‘Christ’. Other religions blamed the Jews for ‘Christ’s’ resurrection and were regarded as ‘Christ killers’. As years and centuries have gone by, the Jews were still being blamed for unfortunate events that there wasn’t even evidence for.
Thirdly I would like to add that there had been centuries of persecution from the Nazis in particular; 1933-1939. In 1933 when Adolf Hitler cam to power he immediately began discriminating Jewish people. They were banned from working in public places such as broadcasting and teaching. Moreover also in the year of 1933, the first major act of discrimination was the Boycotting of all Jewish shops and workplaces; they were discriminated and identified with the Jewish Star of David. Then in 1935, all German Jews and other Jews had their citizenship taken away from them; they were to be regarded as their own race, an impure race that was not to be mixed with any others such as Germany. Jews were forbidden to marry or have any relationships between ‘pure’ Germans. Any jobs that were applied for by Jews they were refused and rejected. On April the 7th 1933 In Germany the non – Aryans were banned from practicing law and working in the civil services. Later they were to ban from a variety of professions including farming, art, literature, journalism, music and theatre. Between 1933-1939 over 1400 anti- Jewish laws were passed and enforced in Germany. However these acts of discrimination by the Nazi party became violent and soon enough the Jews were being persecuted and punished severely for no apparent reason. 1938 November 9-19th Kristallnacht ‘ the night of the broken glass’ when the Nazis began violently attacking Jews and destroying property. A total of 91 Jewish people were killed that night and many other were brutally beaten. The Nazis murdered Jewish refugees from a ship after being denied passage in Belgium, Cuba and the United States. Lastly in November 1938 a young Jew had killed a German diplomat in Paris and from that event, the Nazis used this as authoritative excuse to start an even more violent revenge on the Jews.
Finally we must take into account that Hitler was very responsible for the Holocaust taking place. Hitler having so many racist views and being a faultless example of an anti-Semitic German led the Nazi party into vast discrimination and violence. Hitler influenced the minds of Germans by creating anti – Semitic propaganda, where for example there would be two beetles fighting. It portrayed that the ‘pure’ Aryan race would be the stronger and would defeat the ‘impure’ pathetic Jewish race. German children were influenced by propaganda into hating Jewish children. A man like Hitler was perfect for helping to have the Nazis party to rule Germany. After all the current government wasn’t doing anything to fix the problem towards the ‘treaty of Versailles’, which aroused just after the First World War. Hitler convinced many audiences about his views, after all he was an excellent public speaker and delivered and displayed his points clearly. However despite the range of different audiences that he spoke to, he still manage to change is points to fit the required audience, and just like that more and more people were becoming familiar and convinced by his anti – Semitic views. Adolf Hitler promised to deal with the ‘treaty of Versailles’. Hitler’s anti – Semitism helped him into power in 1939, which was the second attempt to come to power from the last time when he had been arrested and escorted to prison.
Adolf Hitler and his followers and selected leaders for the Nazi party contributed towards the setting up of the concentration camps and soon enough the ghettos where the Jews were imprisoned and walled off from the city. The harsh death causing conditions of the ghettos. Diseases were spread; children were forced through walls, beaten to death. Shootings carried out by the SS. Hitler was in many cases what led to the Holocaust.
In conclusion, these were the main reasons for the Holocaust taking place. However I think that definitely the foremost important reason for the Holocaust ever happening was centuries of Europe being anti – Semitic. Despite the fact Adolf Hitler is very responsible for in which the ways he convinced so many Germans into hating these ‘impure’ innocent people, he was not entirely at fault for the holocaust happening. He was influenced very much by other anti – Semitic leaders, there could have possibly been another leader and public speaker who could have for filled the role that he did for the Holocaust.
By Julia Day