Who Is To Blame For The Holocaust

The Holocaust was the fault of Hitler and the leaders of the Nazi Party, the common bystanders, the military, the affluent, and the world. The Holocaust was a genocide: the mass murder of many minority groups, most predominantly the Jewish population, using concentration camps and other methods. Hitler was the leader of Germany from the early 1930’s to the early 1940’s, the man who started it all, backed by the leaders of his party, these men were the instigators. The common bystanders: the German people that were not targeted, the ones who watched, and said nothing, the masses, the witnesses to horrors they never tried to stop. The military, the individual soldiers and police who did as they were told, killing thousands upon thousands under the premise of following orders they could not disobey. The affluent, the powerful businessmen, the educated professors, the wealthy, the ones who could have made a difference: the Oskar Schindlers that never were. The world: the countries that chose not to go in until it was too late, the …show more content…
In one case, a police battalion stationed in Poland that received its first killing mission was given an unusual choice by their Major: if they wished, they could step out. 12 men did but rest of the men completed the assignment of rounding up and killing Jews (FHO, page 314). What would have happened, however, if the entire battalion had stepped out? The mission would not have been completed. Of course, the killings would have eventually occurred, just at the hands of different men. But what if more majors gave their men this same choice? And what if more men took the opportunity? The soldiers’ responsibility as men of the German army, as militia was to carry out the tasks assigned to them. But their responsibility as human beings was to take a stand and save the lives that they could. They failed, and as such they should be held