Why did the Holocaust happen?

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The Holocaust took place for a number of reasons some of which were long term and others short term. The main reasons are; for centuries Germany had been an anti-Semitic country Jews were used as scapegoats for German problems.

 Also centuries of Nazi persecution caused the Holocaust in particular 1933 –1939 as well as Adolf Hitler and his racist views which influenced thousands of Germans.

The Main reason for the holocaust happening was that Germany had been anti-Semitic for many centuries, and during those centuries the anti-Semitism had gradually got worse. Therefore because this was becoming a racial war, this was an opportunity for Germany to ‘cleanse’ itself of Jews like it should have done centuries ago. With Hitler being Anti-Semitic and a strong leader for the Nazi party, Anti-Semitism was influencing the minds of ordinary German civilians. Adolf Hitler had previously been in prison before he became ruler of Germany in his second attempt. During the time he was in prison, he wrote a book called ‘Mien Kamph’ his book was incredibly racist and anti –Semitic, Hitler expressed his hatred for the Jews and influenced his readers into hating these ‘impure’ people. Hitler’s main idea was to as he called it ‘cleanse’ Europe of these non- deserving people. Hitler despite having gained anti-Semitic views on his own from things he saw he also was influenced a lot by Neil Darwin. He based a lot of his racial arguments and views on this.

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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 ...

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