The Genocide of the Jewish People 

The holocaust is not important and we should not be taught about it. This is wrong because during the holocaust six million people were murdered for their religious beliefs. There are many instances in history where a group of people struggled to achieve equality, freedom or equal rights. World War II started on September 1, 1939, and ended on September 2, 1945. The United States came into the war on December 8, 1941, after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Nazi Germany occupied over eighteen countries in Europe. The Holocaust also known as “The Final Solution” (Endlsung) took place during World War II. The shift in power has a wide range, from things that are barely noticeable such as glances and whispered words on the street to extreme life threatening situations such as the extermination of a group of people. The Holocaust in World War II was a significant event in the late 1930’s and early and mid 1940’s, it showed us the horrors of what people can do. It also showed us the mass genocide that has happed in the past and can still happen.

The Holocaust which was ordered by Adolf Hitler “was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. The Holocaust was an evolving process that took place throughout Europe between 1933 and 1945.”(Introduction to the Holocaust, Par. 1). The Holocaust was the genocide of Europen Jews. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany murdered an estimated six million Jews across German occupied Europe. This was around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population. The Jewish people in Germany and occupied countries were struggling to achieve freedom, equality, equal rights and the right to live. Jewish people were treated as second class citizens, they didn’t have rights before World War II, “In the first six years of Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship, Jews felt the effects of more than 400 decrees and regulations on all aspects of their lives. The regulations gradually but systematically took away their rights and property, transforming them from citizens into outcasts. Many of the laws were national ones issued by the German administration, affecting all Jews” (Anti-Jewish Legislation in Prewar Germany, Par. 1). Jewish people during the Holocaust died in horrible ways “Nearly half of the victims died of starvation or disease or were shot in ‘face-to-face killings reminiscent of colonial massacres.’ In the gas chambers, victims died in agony, but fanatics such as the SS did not do all the work. Ordinary civilians and soldiers participated with frightening enthusiasm.” (Stone, Par. 1). The Jewish people somewhat achieved the right to live because the United States and their allies (Great Britain and the Soviet Union) helped the Jewish people by winning World War II and stopping Germany. The Jewish people never clearly achieved their freedom, equality and equal rights. I chose the Jewish people struggling during World War II because I find World War II interesting and this is an extreme example of shift of power.

There were alot of people and organizations that were fighting for the Jewish people during the Holocaust. One set of people that helped fight was a small part of the German population and some people in other German occupied countries. They helped the Jewish people by hiding them in their homes. If they were caught hiding jewish people or other people that the SS (The Schutzstaffel) wanted, they were killed or sent to a concentration camp. The Jewish people themselves tried to fight back, by resisting the laws. Others spoke out against the laws and what the German government was doing. Some others tried to continue their businesses in secret without the German government knowing. Some Jewish people in the Concentration camps tried to escape to warn others to run away, they also helped each other in the Concentration camps, by giving food and information to each other. The United States of America got into World War II later than the rest of the Allied powers. They were one of the ones that helped freed the Jewish people from Concentration camps. The rest of the Allied powers militaries could not do this without the United States of America. The Allied powers had to remember that “The resisters had to believe in eventual victory, which could only be achieved through liberation by the forces of the Free World; and they had to have outside support from the same source.”(Messenger, Page 42). The United States of America’s soldiers was a big part of the reason some of the Jewish people got saved. Roland Nephi Wille, a US soldier “served a full-time LDS mission to California, and afterwards served his country in the European theater during World War II. He participated in the liberation of Russian and Polish POWs in Germany, as well as the freeing of thousands of Polish and Hungarian Jews from a concentration camp in Austria.” The Allied forces were the United States of America, Great Britain and the Soviet Union; they “formed a Grand Alliance that was the key to victory.”. They could not free the Jewish people without each other. They were somewhat successful; they stopped a lot of the murdering but a lot of Jewish people got murder, starved and beaten.

There were many organizations and people who were oppressing the Jewish people during the Holocaust. One set of people that oppressed the Jewish people was some or most of the German population. They turned their backs on their friends and family, they also turned the Jewish people into the SS. How many German population knew about the murder of Jewish people? Some say that “the German public initially understood that Nazi concentration camps were educative institutions for criminals. However, despite censorship, the German public eventually came to understand the likelihood of fatality if sent to a concentration camp. Prisoners began to appear in public spaces such as factories and city streets, and they often wore distinctive clothing with badges that signified their nationality and crime. The nature of concentration camps was made further obvious by the SS’s public displays of violence towards inmates. Numerous interviews with German people mention either a cruel or murderous incident between guards and inmates. Usually, the inmate was beaten to death or shot for either disobeying or being unable to work.”(Knowledge of the Holocaust, Par. 9). The German military and government also known as the Nazis had a big part in the Anti Semitism in Germany and around the world. They made a law that the Jewish people could not have business, go to certain stores, go to non jewish public places and they could not travel. They also made the Jewish people wear the Star of David to be easily identifiable. They also put them in Concentration Camps to die “After his father died of starvation, his mother, sister, and 5-year-old nephew were put on a train they were told would take them to a farm or resettlement. …He learned the trains were stopped about 10 minutes outside the ghetto and the occupants loaded into trucks with the poisonous exhaust fumes piped inside. ‘They were all gassed to death,’ he said. ‘And I didn’t know until after the war. Can you imagine? Sophisticated people designed something like that to kill innocent people.’”(Mester, Par. 8, 11-12). Italy was a long-time ally of Nazi Germany. Jewish people had lived in Italy for over two thousands of years, “In part under pressure from Nazi Germany and in part fearing that their “revolution” was not perceived as “real” in the Italian population, the Fascist regime passed antisemitic legislation beginning in 1938. This legislation covered six areas: 1. Definition of Jews 2. Removal of Jews from government jobs, including teachers in the public schools 3. A ban on marriage between Jews and non-Jews 4. Dismissal of Jews from the armed forces 5. Incarceration of Jews of foreign nationality; and 6. The removal of Jews from positions in the mass media. Although reflected in harsh language on paper, Italian authorities did not always aggressively enforce the legislation, and sometimes interpreted provisions for making exceptions broadly. Even in the internment camps, Jews of foreign nationality lived under bearable conditions: families stayed together and the camps provided schools, cultural activities, and social events.”(Italy, Par. 4-6). They were Successful in the anti Semitism and the killing of Jewish people “The Second World War had achieved its aim of eliminating the aggressive Fascism of Hitler, Mussolini and Japan, but, like its predecessor, it had not achieved a more peaceful world. If the First World War had eventually produced a polarization between democracy and dictatorship, then the Second World War evolved capitalism / imperialism verses Communism / self-determination.”(Messenger, Page, 301).

The holocaust in World War II was a hurredious event in world history because it was the genocide of a group of people based on there religion. The Holocaust was a turning point in history because this was one of the mass genocides in the world and it was one of the largest genocide in the world. The overview of what happened to the European Jewish people during the holocaust in World War II, who helped the Jewish people trying to get their freedom, equality and equal rights and who were the people trying to keep the Jewish people oppressed. This is important because World War II was a cataclysmic event that shaped the course of history. Its causes and consequences continue to reverberate in the modern world. If we do not look at and study history we will repeat the atrocities.

Works Cited Page

Wikipedia contributors. “Knowledge of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe.” Wikipedia, March 16, 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_of_the_Holocaust_in_Nazi_Germany_and_German-occupied_Europe.

Messenger, Charles, The Illustrated Book of World War II, Salamander Books Ltd, 1999

Mester, A. (2017, May 01). Holocaust remembered as anti-semitism rears its head: Service gains urgency as jews face increasing hostility. The Blade Retrieved from http://168.156.198.98:2048/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/holocaust-remembered-as-anti-semitism-rears-head/docview/1897697695/se-2

Obituary: WILLE, ROLAND: Salt lake telegram. (2009, Sep 02). Deseret News Retrieved from http://168.156.198.98:2048/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/obituary-wille-roland/docview/351776109/se-2

Stone, Dan “The Holocaust: An Unfinished History.” (2023). Kirkus Reviews, Xci(21) Retrieved from http://168.156.198.98:2048/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/holocaust/docview/2883233192/se-2

“The Big Three” WWII The National WWII Museum New Orleans https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/big-three#:~:text=In%20World%20War%20II%2C%20the,the%20war%20should%20be%20fought.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Anti-Jewish Legislation in Prewar Germany” Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust. Accessed on March 3, 2024.

“Introduction to the Holocaust.” Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust. Accessed on March 3, 2024.

“Italy” Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/italy Accessed on March 12, 2024.