Hitler's Ideas Including His Views Of Jews example essay topic

Thesis Statement: Antisemitism is to blame for the lack of concern among non-Jews during the up rise of the Holocaust. It is hard to grasp the number of lives lost during the Holocaust. How someone could have so much hatred towards one group of people. Or how so many people could set back and watch something like this take place without protest. To begin to understand how a tragedy like the Holocaust could have took place without intervention we need to understand antisemitism. Merriam-Webster OnLine defines antisemitism as 'hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group' (Blah, Blah, Blah).

Antisemitism is a little more complex than it sounds. Two thousand years ago the Romans drove the Jews out of the land now called Israel. The Jews went all over the word trying to maintain their belief system and culture as a minority. 1 It was especially hard for the Jews to fit in to a Christian society. Jews do not share the Christian belief that Jesus is the Son of God.

Because of this belief they were viewed as outcasts in most Christian societies. Most Christians taught that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. However, we know now that Jesus was executed by the Roman government. The Romans viewed Jesus as a political thread to their rule.

Religious conflicts weren't the only problems the Jews faced. They also faced economic problems such as restrictions on jobs and owning land. But at the same time, since the early Church did not allow lending money with interest, Jews filled this necessary role of moneylenders for the Christian majority. As times became desperate, Jews became scapegoats for many of the people's problems. One example was the 'Black Death'. Jews were blamed for causing this event that killed thousands of people throughout Europe during the middle ages.

Around 1400, in Span, Jews were given three options: Convert to Christianity, leave the country or be executed. In the late 1800's the government in Russia and Poland helped organize or did not prevent violent attacks on Jewish neighborhoods, known as pogroms, in which mobs murdered Jews and raided their homes and stores. 2 At the same time, during the 1800's, ideas of political equality and freedom spread throughout western Europe and Jews almost became equal citizens under the law. At the same time new forms of antisemitism emerged.

There were leaders in Europe that wanted to establish colonies in Africa and Asia. These leaders argued that whites were superior to other races and therefore had to spread and take over the weaker and less civilized races. A lot of writers applied this argument to Jews, mistakenly defining Jews as a race of people called Semites who shared common blood and physical features. With this type of antisemitism Jews remained Jews even if they did convert to Christianity. Politicians even began using the idea of racial superiority in their campaigns to get votes. Such politicians would blame Jews for bad economic times.

One of the politicians was Karl Lueger (1844-1910). He became Mayor of Vienna, Austria at the end of the century through the use of antisemitism. Lueger was viewed as a hero to a young man named Adolf Hitler, who was born in Austria in 1889. Hitler's ideas, including his views of Jews, were shaped during the years he lived in Vienna, where he studied Lueger's tactics and the antisemitic newspapers and pamphlets that became readily available during Lueger's long rule. 3 In 1932, Hitler's National Socialist (Nazi) Party, made up 37% of the legislative assembly representing Germany. This was a huge jump from only 3% in 1929.

At 37%, the Nazi party was the biggest party in the legislative assembly. On January 30, 1933, in an effort to remedy the chaos and deadlocks the legislative assembly was facing, President Hindenberg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany. Then on August 2, 1934, Hindenberg died, and the title of president was abolished. Then Hitler used a loophole in the constitution to take power under 'emergency circumstances'. Once in power the Nazi Party began spreading antisemitic propaganda. This includes books that were given to young kids so they grew up with the thought that Jews were an inferior race.

Also, over the next few years there were over 400 antisemitic bills passed. In 1935, Jews officially were declared non-citizens. 4 With two thousand years of antisemitic ideas being pushed by governments, leaders and religion it's safe to say that the majority of people viewed Jews as 'the other guy'. When a piece of legislature would pass that would violate the Jew's rights it was easy for non-Jews to ignore. It's also important to keep in mind what a slow process this was. These antisemitic ideas and laws were introduced very slowly and made them that much easier to accept.

As the Holocaust began it was easy for the average non-Jewish German to look the other way because they were pretty much unaffected by the new laws and degrees. When the Nazis established concentration camps in the 1930's, the number of inmates ranged in the thousands. It wouldn't be until the 1940's that the death camps and gas chambers that killed millions would be implemented. The disaster known as the Holocaust seems unimaginable. It's hard to imagine just setting back and watching these atrocities being committed to your peers. This is why it is important to understand antisemitism.

Because of the antisemitic views that were pushed for two thousand years and accelerated by the Nazi Party, Jews weren't viewed as equal citizens. They were viewed as an inferior race which made the up rise of the Holocaust easy for the average non-Jew to set back and watch.

Bibliography

Am log, Shmuel. Theorizing about Antisemitism, the Holocaust and Modernity... (28 May 2005).
Antisemitism... (28 May 2005).
Horn berger, Jacob G. How Hitler Became A Dictator. 28 June 2004.
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Merriam Webster Online. (28 May 2005).