The Holocaust: The Causes Of The Holocaust

The Holocaust is the deadliest recognized genocide in human history. It lasted from January 30,1933 – May 8,1945 and would result in the l1 million deaths. The causes of the Holocaust begin at the end of World War One with what Germans referred to as “the stab in the back”. This was a myth that claimed the German Army did not loose World War One but was betrayed by the Jewish population who gave up land and supplies to the Allies. As this spread anti-Semitism or hate for Jewish people grew in Germany as people viewed the Jewish population as deceptive and traitorous. As the Nazi party rose to power with their psychopathic leader, Adolf Hitler, at the helm they made it very clear that Jewish people were a threat to the German future and must therefore be exterminated.

As the laws against Jews in Germany got progressively worse, some Jewish people thought to stick up for their rights, but it was futile. Jewish people began fleeing the country, but few countries would take them due to the fear of a newly empowered German state. On the evening of November 9, 1938, the Holocaust began with carefully coordinated attacks on Jewish businesses. Unfortunately, this was just a sample of the horrors that would be shown in the next twelve years. Hindsight is already 20/20 and from the events leading up to the Holocaust most historians concur that the Holocaust should have been predicted and stopped. The causes of the Holocaust do rest heavily on anti-Semitism, but there where other cause such as nationalism of Germany, polarization of Jewish people in the form of the Nürnberg laws and scapegoating, isolationism of Jewish people due to the totalitarian regime of Hitler and his secret police the Gestapo, and the fear of the “capabilities” of the Jewish