The Holocaust: The Systematic Persecution Of Jews

The Holocaust, 1939-1945, was the “systematic persecution” of 6 million Jews. “By 1945, 2 out of every 3 european Jews were killed.” (“Introduction to the Holocaust”) Jews had always been hated and were blamed for many terrible things like the “Black Death” that killed thousands. Jews were scapegoats but they were also lied about. Propaganda spread about the Jewish. In 1900, people believed Jews would dominate the world “using their money and intelligence” to manipulate trusting civilians. January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. After he became “the head of the german government,” anti semitism “would become the predominant ideology of the Third Reich.” Jews were seen as the “source of all evil” by Hitler. It …show more content…
Hitler’s party rose to power to power quite quick. They believed they were the superior race and to do something about all Jews, ghettos were established to gather all the Jews in one place. That was step one. Then came the labor camps where they’d be forced to work out of control. Lastly, the “Final Solution.” Annihilate all Jews. (“Final Solution: Overview”) Nazis took antisemitism to an “unprecedented level of violence.” (Video) While most non-Jews neither helped or agreed with the “Final Solution,” a very small amount of people helped the Jews either escape or hide. Helping a Jew hide or escape was “punishable by death.” That small amount of people who opposed Nazi racism however, were motivated to help for many reasons. (“Rescue and Resistance”) Jan Karski was among those few people who tried to do something to stop the Holocaust. He was one of a few Polish …show more content…
While in Britain, he learned of “Stalin’s demands for annexation” of East Poland. He wanted to produce a “cinematic epic” on the Polish underground but ended up publishing “Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World.”(The Scribner Encyclopedia) A quote from his report which stood out to many was, “I know that many people will not believe me, will not be able to believe me, will think I exaggerate or invent, but I saw it and it is not exaggerated or invented.” (Encyclopedia of World Biography) Karski may have written about the Polish under grounds, but “the memories of his wartime experiences were so traumatic,” he vowed to “never speak of them.” Jan completed school and earned a phD at the school of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His “32 year old long” career began here when he began “lecturing on comparative government and