They Thought They Were Free - Essay Example

The Versailles Treaty punished the losing Germans severely. Weapons production of any kind was banned. A heavy monetary cost of the war was also levied against Germany. Many Germans were over taxed, unemployed, and morally defeated. Adolf Hitler was one of these Germans. He wanted to change Germany. Hitler did not get up and make a speech about killing six million Jews, or starting a war that killed twelve million more. He did not get up and promise a war that would devastate Germany forever.

Hitler promised a prosperous Germany. The promise of a good economy was the first bit that seduced the German people. The second seduction was national German pride. After the German loss during World War I, the German morale was at an all time low. Germans wanted a reason to believe in Germany. Hitler gave them those reasons. The pride, economic boost, and strong government helped the Germans regain a proud nation. The concentration camps, war, and death all came gradually. Heinrich Hildebrandt, interviewed by Mayor, explained: "What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security.

And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.” (1971:166). The evilness of the Third Reich came about gradually. The Nazis groomed the regular German citizens. As Major pointed out anti-Semitism was a way of life in Kronenberg since the Middle Ages. As the Race Laws started to take effect, many Germans including those in Kronenberg were not too upset. The isolation of the Jews had been a way of life for centuries.

Thus when Kristallnacht occurred on November 9, 1938 the people of Kronenberg probably did not realize what was really going on. Kristallnacht was also justified by the killing of a German diplomat in Paris, France by a Jew. The Germans really thought that the Jews were trying to attack them. They wanted a little retribution by burning the Synagogues and smashing Jewish business’ windows. The German people at this time did not think six million Jews would die as the result of this action. When SA Kuhling ordered the Synagogue to be burned, Sturmfurher Schwenke, an unemployed tailor, followed orders.

Not all of the Nazis, especially the leaders or SS were mentally stable. For example, Sturmfurher Schwenke had wet the bet until he was twenty-two years old (Major 1971:22). The Nazis put the brutal mentally off men in charge of other innocent civilians. People like Gustav Schwenke would not have balked at an order that made them feel important. The momentum then swept the other German citizens away. If World War II had not broke out, maybe the German citizens might have spoken out more. However Hitler and the Nazi government would use the war to justify everything.

Jews were resettled to prevent them from working with the enemy. The Americans did the same with Japanese Americans. It seemed logical. Even if Germans became uneasy they did