Introduction to the Holocaust
This section is the most shocking and disturbing you will view during this course of instruction. You must be warned that some of the material viewed is graphic and extremely unsettling. This is not shown to you in order to offend you or disgust you but to demonstrate the degree to which Nazi Germany was willing to go in order to achieve its goal of implementing what Adolf Hitler referred to as “The Final Solution.”
Beginning as early as 1933 Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party began the systematic dehumanization of Jewish people first in Germany then in the countries they invaded, first removing their rights as citizens and then step by step conditioning the minds of German citizens to view the Jews as less then human who should not be extended any rights or privileges.
Hitler’s vision was to exterminate a whole race of people and while this would not be the first time that genocide would be attempted in history it is probably the most gruesome example of the capabilities of human beings to inflict torture, cruelty and death on each other.
The ordinary German citizens were not cruel by nature, however, they did turn a blind eye to rumors and suspicions of what their government was doing. Implementation of the Holocaust and Hitler’s Final Solution was from start to finish a militaristic propaganda war against the Jewish race with the sole intent being their extinction. The success that Hitler and the military personnel both directly and indirectly involved achieved is a classic example of what happens when good people witness or suspect something terrible is happening and do nothing to stop it. While this is true keep in mind that Hitler and the Nazi party also killed over 5 million non-Jewish people in addition and these were mainly individuals who held different believes then Nazi Germany did or were viewed as a threat in some way to Hitler’s government. Fear of personal safety also played a part in why the ordinary German citizen did nothing to stop Hitler. In addition there were other mental attitudes based on the aftermath of World War I and tough economic conditions the German people experienced between 1919 and the rise of Adolph Hitler to power that can be attributed to their compliance with “The Final Solution.” There are examples of individuals such as Oskar Schindler (a business man and factory owner who provided the Jews that worked for him a safe haven and saved those he could from the Nazi concentration camps and certain death) who did find ways to act with dignity and compassion during this time in history and help Jews because it was the right thing to do. These cases however were far and few between and were the exception not the norm.
One lesson we are taught over and over again as we study the history of the human race is those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat history. This is why nearly 70 years after the end of World War II remembrance of the Holocaust is still real and raw and should never be forgotten.
The purpose of this lesson is to show you the ways in which Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party systematically with malice and forethought regulated the Jewish population first in Germany and then in the areas they conquered to a less then human status and conditioned the German mind that killing Jews was acceptable (not the evil atrocity it actually was) because they were less than human.
Below is a short presentation approximately five minutes in length that demonstrates the level of inhumanity the Jewish people were forced to endure.
Please follow the link below to the University of Houston’s Holocaust presentation.
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/movie_social_studies_06.html
Beginning as early as 1933 Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party began the systematic dehumanization of Jewish people first in Germany then in the countries they invaded, first removing their rights as citizens and then step by step conditioning the minds of German citizens to view the Jews as less then human who should not be extended any rights or privileges.
Hitler’s vision was to exterminate a whole race of people and while this would not be the first time that genocide would be attempted in history it is probably the most gruesome example of the capabilities of human beings to inflict torture, cruelty and death on each other.
The ordinary German citizens were not cruel by nature, however, they did turn a blind eye to rumors and suspicions of what their government was doing. Implementation of the Holocaust and Hitler’s Final Solution was from start to finish a militaristic propaganda war against the Jewish race with the sole intent being their extinction. The success that Hitler and the military personnel both directly and indirectly involved achieved is a classic example of what happens when good people witness or suspect something terrible is happening and do nothing to stop it. While this is true keep in mind that Hitler and the Nazi party also killed over 5 million non-Jewish people in addition and these were mainly individuals who held different believes then Nazi Germany did or were viewed as a threat in some way to Hitler’s government. Fear of personal safety also played a part in why the ordinary German citizen did nothing to stop Hitler. In addition there were other mental attitudes based on the aftermath of World War I and tough economic conditions the German people experienced between 1919 and the rise of Adolph Hitler to power that can be attributed to their compliance with “The Final Solution.” There are examples of individuals such as Oskar Schindler (a business man and factory owner who provided the Jews that worked for him a safe haven and saved those he could from the Nazi concentration camps and certain death) who did find ways to act with dignity and compassion during this time in history and help Jews because it was the right thing to do. These cases however were far and few between and were the exception not the norm.
One lesson we are taught over and over again as we study the history of the human race is those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat history. This is why nearly 70 years after the end of World War II remembrance of the Holocaust is still real and raw and should never be forgotten.
The purpose of this lesson is to show you the ways in which Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party systematically with malice and forethought regulated the Jewish population first in Germany and then in the areas they conquered to a less then human status and conditioned the German mind that killing Jews was acceptable (not the evil atrocity it actually was) because they were less than human.
Below is a short presentation approximately five minutes in length that demonstrates the level of inhumanity the Jewish people were forced to endure.
Please follow the link below to the University of Houston’s Holocaust presentation.
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/movie_social_studies_06.html