Explain why the Holocaust Happened

The statement that there was a widespread hatred of the ordinary Germans towards the Jews rejects the traditional belief that the Germans were pressured by terror. However, it is reasonable to state the Germans were encouraged and motivated by Nazi ideology constantly targeting the Jews, for propaganda played a rather big impact on the German citizens. Nonetheless, the popular resentment towards the Jews had still existed before the Nazis came into power. Source K supports this statement, for it presents Martin Luther’s strong resentment towards the Jew who rejected Christianity.  There was evidently a popular support for the mass murder of Jews, for Hitler would have not pursued the extermination of Jews if the "vast majority opposed" to the killing (Source A). This statement is supported by the fact that Hitler discontinued the euthanasia program when the public expressed opposition (Source D). Hitler and his party had also adjusted to the demands of the churches when they expressed dissatisfaction towards the Nazi regime. Nevertheless, the time played a big role in these events. Because the Holocaust occurred during a war, it was most likely that the public relied on its government to make decisions and thus did not express strong opposition or dissatisfaction.

        The beliefs of the functionalists are rather parallel to the mass support of the ordinary Germans. There is no recorded evidence that Hitler made any orders to exterminate the Jews. Thus, this belief supports the theory that the popular support of the Germans led to the occurrence of the Holocaust, which was “improvisation, rather than deliberate planning” according to the functionalists (Source H). The strong support for Nazi ideology was therefore evident, and many Germans willingly supported the anti-Semitic actions.  

        Some historians, such as I. Kershaw, claim that despite the widespread knowledge of the mass murder of the Jews, many were rather apathetic towards the condemnation of the Jews. In source F, Kershaw emphasizes the constant “passivity” towards the Jews, which contradicts the statement of Goldhagen. The apathetic attitude of the Germans is also presented through a poem by Marin Niemoller in Source L, which gives the sense that many simply did not care about what was happening to others. Also, in Source G, M. Housden argues that due to their indifferent attitudes, many Germans “conformed to the demand” of the racial policy, and this “played small parts in making a fundamentally flowed system function.” Thus, the occurrence of the Holocaust can be interpreted in another aspect, which supports the existence of the ordinary Germans’ indifferent nature towards the Jews.  

        The traditional belief that the ordinary Germans were pressured by the Nazi regime is rather unreliable, for there are evidences which support the mass support for the killing of Jews. To some degree, the indifferent attitude towards the Jews allowed the Nazi party to conduct the Holocaust. According to other scholars, such as Goldhagen, the Holocaust was approved and supported by the ordinary Germans who were motivated by the beliefs of anti-Semitism.  Thus, anti-Semitic actions were carried out legally and also widely accepted. The ordinary Germans who willingly approved of the Holocaust played a rather important role in the occurrence of the massacre.