How Did People Choose In The Course Of The Holocaust

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Choices made by individuals, groups, and institutions impacted the minority, mainly the Jewish community, in the course of the Holocaust between 1941-1945. During this significant event, citizens were separated and marginalised. They became members of 4 major groups such as perpetrators, bystanders, upstanders and the survivors/victims. Due to the betrayal and resentment that Germans felt towards their government after World War 1, people joined in with the Nazi Party who was part of the perpetrators and contributed regardless of being aware that it is unethical. People’s choices were influenced by the Nazis as they wanted to avoid being treated like the minority and to protect themselves. Although a particular group of people acted in accordance …show more content…
People decided to fight despite knowing what the outcome would be.

One example of an upstander who acted out to protect her family and other Jewish families was Elsa Holzer. Elsa Holzer was one of the 6000+ non-Jewish women who united and opposed the Holocaust which led to the The Rosenstrasse Demonstration that occurred between February 27 and March 6, 1943. Before dawn on February 27, the Gestapo, which is the official secret police of the Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe, began a massive act to arrest and deport Jewish people. The protest took place outside the Jewish local community building at Rosenstrasse (Rose Street) 2-4 in Berlin. This was considered to be a significant event in German history as it was the only group to stand up for the deportation of the Jewish community. Instead of divorcing her Jewish husband, Elsa made a choice to save her husband and kids from getting deported to one of 44,000 camps in Auschwitz to tolerate genocidal behaviours and undergo harsh conditions
…show more content…
Hitler secured the support of the army after German President Paul Von Hindenburg died. He played a major role in the holocaust as he was the key person on why people turned against their beliefs and principles to follow the NAZI Ideology. Hitler was able to manipulate, take control of the German community and make them swear a new oath of personal loyalty to him by using propaganda that was used through posters, media and commercials. He was able to secure the spot as a ‘Reich Chancellor’ (head of government) and reinforce the NAZI ideology which was used to brainwash people into supporting the NAZI Party and to segregate the Jewish community. The Nazi ideology includes using the Jews as their scapegoats, which led to antisemitism. Based on the NAZI Ideology, non-Jewish people, also known as ‘Aryans’ are superior to Jews, they defined “Jews” as a race and believed that their religion was irrelevant. The Nazi party classified Jews as their main target to annihilate, their strategies to annihilate the Jewish community included persecution, imprisonment and intense labour. They did not only target the Jews but also disabled people, homosexuals, and Jehovah’s witnesses, also known as Christians, due to their conscientious opposition towards the Nazi regime

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