Introduction
The Holocaust is Nazi Germany’s catastrophic extermination of the Jewish people. The events of the Holocaust took place during World War II. The anti-Semitic sentiments of Hitler and his accomplices manifested themselves long before the start of the war. They took root in society through total propaganda and intimidation.
By developing the idea of an evil Jewish race, Hitler succeeded in inciting unfounded racial hatred. The Nazi racial ideology classified all the Jews as ‘sub-human.’ Such classification led to attempts at the total extermination of the Jewish race. The Holocaust is a tragic example of the inadmissibility of racial discrimination and hatred based on racial, national, and religious grounds.
The Ideological Foundations of Nazi Germany
The worldview of Nazi Germany was based on the concept of the seizure of territories and the need to ensure the racial domination of ethnic Aryans. Another reason for the cultivation of this ideology could be the desire to take revenge after World War I. Hitler began to put his plans into action in 1933, having come to power (Michman 234).
Early Discrimination and Anti-Jewish Legislation
Manifestations of discrimination began with the dismissal of Jews from public service and restrictions on the activities of Jewish businesses. Gradually, discrimination required legislative consolidation of the difference between Aryans and Jews. In 1935, unprecedented legislation came into being that legally enshrined the policy of racial hatred (Michman 236). New laws prohibited interracial marriages, restricting Jews in civil and political rights. Through the systematic incitement of hostility, Hitler succeeded in fixing the ideas of racial discrimination in the minds of millions of Germans.
Escalation of Persecution and Violence
The Nazi campaign against the Jews lasted until the end of the war. The first planned act of anti-Jewish violence took place in 1938 and resulted in the destruction of synagogues and Jewish businesses (Rich and Dickerman 657). Soon the Nazi government organized ghettos in the occupied territories, which was the beginning of a policy of mass destruction. Systematic murders motivated by racial hatred can be correlated with the attack on the USSR.
The Death Camps and Systematic Extermination
In 1942, the construction of concentration camps in occupied Poland began (Rich and Dickerman 659). The death camps became an essential tool for the total extermination of Jews; the Nazis used gas chambers and burned their bodies. The selection policy of the concentration camps involved the immediate killing of children, the elderly, and pregnant women who were unable to work. Six death camps in occupied Poland and thousands of labor camps across Europe let millions of Jews pass through them.
Aftermath and Global Response
The consequences of the Holocaust were horrendous and resulted in the creation of world laws designed to prevent a repetition of the tragedy. More than 6 million Jews were killed, and many were forced to flee and are still far from their homeland (Hirsch 29). The most famous anti-Nazi trial was the Nuremberg process in 1945 (Hirsch 11).
During this process, a new category of crimes was identified: crimes against humanity. The international convention fixed the punishment for genocide in the form of an international tribunal. The genocide convention prohibits any crime against people based on racial prejudice.
The Holocaust in Modern Memory
The Holocaust is seen today as an unmotivated manifestation of absolute evil. Monuments, museums, and memorials are still being created around the world to commemorate the dead and to pass on historical knowledge to future generations.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Holocaust has become a symbol of unprecedented aggression based on racial hatred. The systematic Nazi policy made it possible for a destructive propaganda idea to take root in the minds of the people. The leaders of the Nazi movement were punished during the Nurnberg process.
However, the consequences of the Holocaust are irreparable since it resulted in the deaths of millions of people. Many ethnic Jews, since the Holocaust, have not been able to return to their homeland and reunite with their families. Preserving the historical memory of this event is necessary to prevent such tragedies in the future.
The study of the Holocaust is essential in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Racial hatred continues to exist in the modern world, and the goal of international efforts should be its complete eradication.
Works Cited
Hirsch, Francine. Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal after World War II. Oxford University Press, 2020.
Michman, Dan. “Why Is the Shoah Called ‘the Shoah’or ‘the Holocaust’? On the History of the Terminology for the Nazi Anti-Jewish Campaign.” The Journal of Holocaust Research, vol. 35, no. 4, 2021, pp. 233-256. Web.
Rich, Jennifer, and Michael Dickerman. “The Second World War as a Genocidal Conflict.” The Routledge History of the Second World War. Routledge, 2021, pp. 655-668.