Voices Of The Holocaust

The Holocaust is defined as “the systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II” (Dictionary). Historians agree that approximately six million Jews were annihilated under the Third Reich. The atrocity of the Holocaust left scarring damages to the survivors and many perished anonymously. How can it be that two-thirds of an entire ethnicity be wiped off the face of the earth? In Voices of the Holocaust, it is shown that the Nazi party and German people’s anti-semitism and persecution allowed the horrors of the Holocaust to occur.

Prior to the massive deportations to concentration camps, the predominant hatred for the Jewish people is evident and thus allowed the Holocaust to occur undisturbed. Depicted

Documented in Address Unknown, Fritz Gerlich, a propaganda journalist, attacked Adolf Hitler and Nazi ideals via his skill for writing (Address Unknown 51-52). Gerlich audaciously revealed Hitler’s corrupt political practices as contradictory to the genuine German spirit which caused the SS to imprison and eventually kill Gerlich at Dachau (51-53). By persecuting any political opponent to Hitler, the Nazi party eliminated any posing threats to their rising power. Without any challengers, the neutral victims of the Holocaust were at the hands of the Nazis. Before fully implementing the Final Solution, the Nazi party first tested the waters. During Kristallnacht, meaning Night of the Broken Glass, the SS attacked Jewish synagogues and vandalized Jewish businesses which caused broken glass to litter the streets, hence the definition of Kristallnacht (Broken glass, Broken Lives 34-35). The beginning of the Holocaust started with small attacks and occasional uprisings such as the mysterious disappearances of political opposers and the terrorizing night. Eventually, all these little elements stemming from the German people and Nazi party’s distaste for the Jewish people built up a foundation for the Holocaust to take

Staggering statistics and different types of media serving as evidence to the horrors committed during the Holocaust does not fully explain why the Holocaust occurred in the first place. A history of hatred and a strong military in support for a charismatic leader employed a history of hatred into the horrific event known today as the Holocaust. By digging deep and recognizing the predominant hatred and prejudice, the full extent of the Holocaust can be fully realized into how it happened at