The Holocaust was the most tragic event that took place during World War II. Millions of Jewish people were brutally murdered by Hitler’s Nazi regime. Life for the Jews in the ghettos was hard as there was a lot of overcrowding. That’s where they were sent before being shipped to concentration camps, according to Shubert & Goldstein (2012). In the concentration camps, they were starved, put to hard labor against their will or killed in gas chambers. What caused German soldiers and citizens to participate in the killings was the notion that Hitler bestowed in them that they were the superior Aryan race. Therefore the Jews could not live in their spaces. Most ordinary citizens were aware of the killings, and some even participated in shootings of Jews that were not sent to concentration camps or gas chambers (Shubert & Goldstein, 2012). Jewish leaders pleaded with the Western Allies to help their people escape the wrath of Hitler, but they all refused. They were probably afraid of his retaliation on them. Some Jewish people were able to escape the concentration camps, and some tried to resist the German Army, but they were not very successful. Historians are still searching for the “paper trail” of Hitler’s scheme against the Jews. There are not many documents that show his signature. The meeting outside of Berlin in January 1942 was the “start” of this reign of terror were all in attendance (except Hitler) agreed in the way they needed to get rid of the Jews. It is hard to imagine the brainwashing that occurred by Hitler to make the Germans believe what they were doing was right. The inhumanity is beyond comprehension in my eyes.

References

Shubert, A. & Goldstein, R.J. (2012). Twentieth-century Europe [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/