Holocaust

10 Pages 2429 Words

The Holocaust is a term that is synonymous with genocide, the complete destruction of a sect of people, predominantly Jews in this case, simply for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. This was a dark period in the history of the world that tested the strength, spirit, and solidarity of a people. The Holocaust was marked by extreme physical violence, but it may have been the psychological torture endured by both survivors and victims of this horrific event that best signifies the impact it had on the Jewish community and the world. A devastating event that shattered a nation.

There are many different questions concerning the Holocaust that have arisen overtime. Debates have raged for decades arguing the intricacies of this single event. People have doubted, and continue to doubt, that there ever was a Holocaust. Scholars can not agree on when the Holocaust began, how long it lasted, or geographically where it occurred. Other questions that regularly appear include to what extent, if any, the Jews put up a resistance when faced with the impending force of Hitler and the Nazi regime. This paper will document facts that affirm the existence of the Holocaust, beginning with the birth and origins surrounding it. A look at concentration camps and their effects will follow, and concluding with a discussion on how the Holocaust has affected the Jewish community today.

The Holocaust began when Adolf Hitler came into power and implemented a plan to annihilate the Jewish population in an effort to, in his eyes, purify the German race and solidify the country. Hitler’s rise to power, and growing hatred for the Jewish community, was fueled by apathetic Germans in Berlin during World War I. On October 7, 1916 Hitler received a leg wound and was dismissed from the military temporarily in order to recover. While recuperating in Berlin, he witnesses first hand the lack of support the Germans had for their country fighting in World War I...