H. Henry Sianson said that he, “Lived in Berlin...lived like a normal German… Conservative Jew… observed Jewish laws…”. Margaret Lambert said, “... never made a difference if you were a Jew or a non-Jew.” These quotes elaborate on the fact that Jews were quite normal citizens before 1933, before the reign of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or the Nazis. Drawing a conclusion, from quotes said by the survivors, many may say that Holocaust just appeared with the reign of Adolf Hitler, without any real preparation. However, those people are completely wrong, as the Holocaust ( or ‘Shoah’ in Hebrew) could never have happened without preparation of antisemitism, or prejudice or discrimination of Jews, over one thousand years.
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Naturally, people looked for a scapegoat for this event. With antisemitism still rising, it was unquestionable for people to decide the Jews as the scapegoat. Theories were created such as “The Jews poisoned the wells, creating the Black Death” or “The Jews used the blood of Christians for ritual purposes”. Due to these often believed ‘truths’, Jews in Europe were often murdered, expelled from communities, or had to convert to Christianity. During this time, the Caesars and other emperors ruled over Europe. In return, citizens were required to worship these emperors as their god. Jews only believed that there was only one God and worshiped him, God in heaven. Therefore, Jews were under heavy antisemitism under the Romans and were mightily persecuted during the Middle …show more content…
The troubles began in 1903, with the publishing of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This document propagated by Czarist Russia, told of a soon event of Jews secretly plotting to take over the world. Although denied by Russian secret police and judges in Switzerland, it was published around the globe into dozens of languages, including Henry Ford, a car manufacturer in America, translating the text into English. But it was 1933, the calamity of Adolf Hitler and his associates, the Nazis, that led to the massive destruction of Jews in the Holocaust. Hitler’s central ideology was antisemitism, saying that Germans were the master race and needed to destroy the Jews in order to restructuring society. Hitler believed he was working by the will of God: “...I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty creator; by defending myself against the Jew…”. [Mein Kampf, “My Struggle”] The Nazis believed Jews were behind Communism, exploitative capitalism, and democracy. Jewish products were boycotted, Jews were pushed into ghettos, propaganda was released to influence non-Jews to hate and discriminate Jews, and pogroms were often used to try and destroy Jews. Those who were not destroyed by the pogroms were forced to concentration camps where 2 out of 3 European Jews were killed. Fast forward to April 1945, a date when the future 34th president and U.S.
Naturally, people looked for a scapegoat for this event. With antisemitism still rising, it was unquestionable for people to decide the Jews as the scapegoat. Theories were created such as “The Jews poisoned the wells, creating the Black Death” or “The Jews used the blood of Christians for ritual purposes”. Due to these often believed ‘truths’, Jews in Europe were often murdered, expelled from communities, or had to convert to Christianity. During this time, the Caesars and other emperors ruled over Europe. In return, citizens were required to worship these emperors as their god. Jews only believed that there was only one God and worshiped him, God in heaven. Therefore, Jews were under heavy antisemitism under the Romans and were mightily persecuted during the Middle …show more content…
The troubles began in 1903, with the publishing of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This document propagated by Czarist Russia, told of a soon event of Jews secretly plotting to take over the world. Although denied by Russian secret police and judges in Switzerland, it was published around the globe into dozens of languages, including Henry Ford, a car manufacturer in America, translating the text into English. But it was 1933, the calamity of Adolf Hitler and his associates, the Nazis, that led to the massive destruction of Jews in the Holocaust. Hitler’s central ideology was antisemitism, saying that Germans were the master race and needed to destroy the Jews in order to restructuring society. Hitler believed he was working by the will of God: “...I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty creator; by defending myself against the Jew…”. [Mein Kampf, “My Struggle”] The Nazis believed Jews were behind Communism, exploitative capitalism, and democracy. Jewish products were boycotted, Jews were pushed into ghettos, propaganda was released to influence non-Jews to hate and discriminate Jews, and pogroms were often used to try and destroy Jews. Those who were not destroyed by the pogroms were forced to concentration camps where 2 out of 3 European Jews were killed. Fast forward to April 1945, a date when the future 34th president and U.S.