The Jewish Declaration of War on Nazi Germany - Essay Example

Some have argued, that there were already Anti-Semitic feelings in Europe long before Hitler’s Regime and the international boycott by the Jewish community served as "the first shot fired in the Second World War" (Johnson 2001).

Even though it is true that the Jewish leaders, such as Rabbi Stephen Wise of the American Jewish Congress, were urged to forego these tactics, they did not relent and continued to boycott in hopes of destroying Germany’s economy, industries, and government (Johnson 2001). Despite the boycott, violent feelings, and insults spread about the Germans, it does not justify the brutal measures Hitler and his Regime took in retaliation. The mass effort to confine them in concentration camps or ship them out to Palestine in collaboration with the Zionists was underhanded, unjust, and malicious (Johnson 2001). Boycotting, printing newspaper articles, and declaring speeches against Hitler and his Regime was still nothing compared to what Hitler and his government did to the Jews. Boycotting goods in order to deal a blow to a country’s economy hardly warrants imprisonment in gas chambers, persecution, and violence carried out against millions. Could a simple headline really be equivalent to a shot that started WWII? The Jews were already targeted and persecuted in Europe and Hitler wanted them out of his country long before the boycott. The article and its interpretation as a holy war declared by the Jews was just a lame excuse in order to carry out the monstrous atrocities witnessed by many during The Holocaust.