The term “degenerate” was coined during the Third Reich as a way to describe the physically, mentally, or socially unfit within Nazi Germany. The prime example of that comes to one’s mind is the exclusion and attempted extermination of the Jews during Hitler’s reign. Exclusion within Germany is not solely limited to members of the Jewish faith however. While it is true that the Jews were the most ostracized group during the Third Reich other so called “degenerates” such as the Sinti and Romas, homosexuals, physically and mentally handicapped were all persecuted alongside any other “asocial” Germans who did not conform to the new Nazi German Volk. In this paper I will delve into the ostracized groups and describe why they were persecuted and
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The persecution of the Jews within Germany has its roots well before the Nazis came into power, specifically in the immediate aftermath of World War One. Many Germans could not come to terms with their country’s defeat after World War One causing many to buy into the idea that German was betrayed by an enemy within. The argument that Germany was “stabbed in the back” by a sect of their own people lead to sporadic anti-Semitism among the German populace and was eventually exasperated in 1920s by the text, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was fabricated and claimed that a Jewish was taking over the world. The Nazi Party capitalized on the anti-Semitic attitudes of some Germans as well as a plethora of other more important issues of the time. Once coming into power in 1933 the Nazi Party immediately began trying to ostracize any member of the Jewish …show more content…
Around 1,000 ghettos in German-occupied and annexed Poland and the Soviet Union alone, some big examples being Warsaw and the Lodz ghettos. The inhabitants of these ghettos were exposed to deplorable conditions, many starved or died of diseases, others were murdered outright by German soldiers. In many cases mass shooting were carried out within the ghetto leaving the victims’ bodies in mass graves. (Burleigh and Wippermann. 100-106). Mass shooting within ghettos became more and more prevalent because it was seen as the answer to the “Jewish Problem”, however this “Final Solution was not effective enough and Jews were instead carted off to concentration camps such as Buchenwald or death camps such as Treblinka. Once inside these camps Jews were either immediately gas with the deadly “Zyklon B” or forced to work in conditions that were designed to break their spirit and ultimately kill them (Burleigh and Wippermann. 105). The main reason why all of the Jews who were shipped to these camps were not immediately killed on arrival was so they could be used as a labor force to help out German war effort. Though these Jews did work they were forced to live off of barely any food and were still prone to starvation, diseases, and execution daily just like they were
The persecution of the Jews within Germany has its roots well before the Nazis came into power, specifically in the immediate aftermath of World War One. Many Germans could not come to terms with their country’s defeat after World War One causing many to buy into the idea that German was betrayed by an enemy within. The argument that Germany was “stabbed in the back” by a sect of their own people lead to sporadic anti-Semitism among the German populace and was eventually exasperated in 1920s by the text, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was fabricated and claimed that a Jewish was taking over the world. The Nazi Party capitalized on the anti-Semitic attitudes of some Germans as well as a plethora of other more important issues of the time. Once coming into power in 1933 the Nazi Party immediately began trying to ostracize any member of the Jewish …show more content…
Around 1,000 ghettos in German-occupied and annexed Poland and the Soviet Union alone, some big examples being Warsaw and the Lodz ghettos. The inhabitants of these ghettos were exposed to deplorable conditions, many starved or died of diseases, others were murdered outright by German soldiers. In many cases mass shooting were carried out within the ghetto leaving the victims’ bodies in mass graves. (Burleigh and Wippermann. 100-106). Mass shooting within ghettos became more and more prevalent because it was seen as the answer to the “Jewish Problem”, however this “Final Solution was not effective enough and Jews were instead carted off to concentration camps such as Buchenwald or death camps such as Treblinka. Once inside these camps Jews were either immediately gas with the deadly “Zyklon B” or forced to work in conditions that were designed to break their spirit and ultimately kill them (Burleigh and Wippermann. 105). The main reason why all of the Jews who were shipped to these camps were not immediately killed on arrival was so they could be used as a labor force to help out German war effort. Though these Jews did work they were forced to live off of barely any food and were still prone to starvation, diseases, and execution daily just like they were