Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union drastically changed the course of World War II from that point on. Since nothing was changing on the Western front, Hitler turned to the East. He decided the time had officially come to create living space for the German people. His attack on the Soviets came as a surprise to Stalin, but later contributed to Hitler’s downfall. Hitler also ordered the killing or imprisonment of Jews, Communists, and people who were suspected of anti-German activity. When Hitler felt no hope was left to control what he wanted of Europe, he resorted to focus on his long-term Anti-Jewish goal of removing all Jews from Germany, thus creating the Holocaust. Hitler’s decision to move east came from his feelings that the war in
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Most victims were from outside of Germany. If the war in the Soviet Union would have gone Hitler’s way, the Holocaust would have either been prevented or pushed back to a later date. The Holocaust fed off of Hitler’s long-term goals. Instead of only ridding public life of Jews, they were finally beginning to be removed from Germany – and Europe – all together. What began as identification cards, exclusion from economic life, and yellow stars turned into the desire of mass murdering the entire Jewish “race”. The rationale behind the action of killing Jews is that it would free up food for Germans and their soldiers, and it would prevent partisan warfare. The mass killings of Jews at camps in the East made room for new arrivals, so the work could be continued at a constant pace. As the eastern empire became farther out of reach for Hitler, the urge to murder Jews and other undesirables grew. To Hitler, this is one thing he did have control of and could predict the outcome …show more content…
When the goal of creating living space for Germans in the east began to backfire on Hitler, the next best thing was to establish his Final Solution to the Jewish problem, and exterminate millions of people. If the war had gone according to plan, the Holocaust may not have happened how and when it did. This is also due in part to Hitler’s mistake, on his part, of fighting a war in the Soviet Union during the winter months, thus weakening the German army. An offensive war eventually turned in to a defensive war when the writing was on the wall for Germany. Hitler felt he had no where left to turn but to begin the Final
Most victims were from outside of Germany. If the war in the Soviet Union would have gone Hitler’s way, the Holocaust would have either been prevented or pushed back to a later date. The Holocaust fed off of Hitler’s long-term goals. Instead of only ridding public life of Jews, they were finally beginning to be removed from Germany – and Europe – all together. What began as identification cards, exclusion from economic life, and yellow stars turned into the desire of mass murdering the entire Jewish “race”. The rationale behind the action of killing Jews is that it would free up food for Germans and their soldiers, and it would prevent partisan warfare. The mass killings of Jews at camps in the East made room for new arrivals, so the work could be continued at a constant pace. As the eastern empire became farther out of reach for Hitler, the urge to murder Jews and other undesirables grew. To Hitler, this is one thing he did have control of and could predict the outcome …show more content…
When the goal of creating living space for Germans in the east began to backfire on Hitler, the next best thing was to establish his Final Solution to the Jewish problem, and exterminate millions of people. If the war had gone according to plan, the Holocaust may not have happened how and when it did. This is also due in part to Hitler’s mistake, on his part, of fighting a war in the Soviet Union during the winter months, thus weakening the German army. An offensive war eventually turned in to a defensive war when the writing was on the wall for Germany. Hitler felt he had no where left to turn but to begin the Final