Germany and the Germans - Term Paper Example

The history of the Holocaust still echoes the horror of the Jewish genocide. In the most realistic terms, the holocaust or the “genocide or mass destruction of the Jews was the culmination of a decade of increasingly severe discriminatory measures.” (Holocaust Encyclopedia) Statistically speaking, the Holocaust took the lives of approximately six million European Jews during World War II. Started as a program of systematic state-sponsored extermination of the German-based Jewish population, the Holocaust also included the Nazi’s systematic murder of millions of people from other ethnic groups including Romani, Polish and Soviet civilians, people of non-German ethnic origin, homosexuals as well as people with various physical disabilities.

Hitler’s idea of the ‘Final Solution’ was articulated as early as in 1919. His anti-Semitic ideology is rooted deeply in racial connotations: “Hitler believed his race was pure…wanting to protect racial purity, he then thought about getting rid of all Jews throughout Europe, along with other races he believed to be sub-human, including Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally ill and disables people. Shortly after 1933, Hitler and his Nazi Party obtained power in Germany and tried to force Jewish emigration…Hitler having a great amount of power, along with his army, had almost total control over Europe.

The Nazis considered the “Jewish Question” no longer a German issue, but a European issue.” Coming back to the detailed discussion of the Holocaust, the persecution and segregation of the Jewish people was implemented systematically in various stages. After Hitler’s Nazi Party attained power in Germany in 1933, the anti-Jewish legislation was introduced and implemented, which was the dictator pharaoh’s first major step to racism. This followed with economic boycotts and the ugly violence of the Kristallnacht - all of these activities