Causes of the Holocaust

【Abstract】During the Second World War， Nazi Germany committed appalling atrocities against Jews， Gypsies and Slavs which were “sub-human” in its view. Among all these victims， Jewish people suffered the most with a death toll of almost 6 million. The cruelty and inhumanity of the Holocaust unavoidably aroused people’s curiosity about Nazi’s motives. Why were the Nazis so determined to target at Jews？ This essay will explore the complex reasons behind.

【Key words】the Holocaust； Second World War； Jews

【作者簡介】王清卓（1997.9.2- ），女，漢族，山東萊蕪人，華東師范大學本科生，專業：英語語言文學。

Economically， targeting at Jews was a way for Nazi Germany to collect money for its economic resurgence. At that time， Germany was struggling to recover from financial hardship caused by WW1 and the Great Depression. Between the summer of 1929 and early 1932， Germany’s real GDP declined at an annual rate of 8.3 percent （Dimsdale， Horsewood & Van Riel， 2006）. Jews in Germany played important roles in nearly all trades， especially in financial industry. Consequently， they possessed great sums of money. However， Jews’ capability of doing businesses invited trouble. After Hitler came to power， in order to monopolize the national economy and provide the material basis for the aggressive war， his government intended to plunder Jews’ properties. As a result， Jews’ banks， enterprises and personal wealth were occupied. Jewish people were then excluded from German economic life.

The deep-rooted anti-Semitism provoked by religious and ethnic intolerance in European society also contributed to the Holocaust. Since the vast majority of Europeans were faithful to Christianity， Jews who believed in Judaism were rather heretics. Moreover， Judaism denied Jesus as the saviour， which triggered Christians’ dissatisfaction. Church fathers spoke of Jews as “murderers of the Lord， assassins of prophets…a race of vipers， informers， calumniators ... demon （Kren， 1997）”， which easily aroused widely grudge against Jews. Besides， Hitler held that Germanic race was superior to all others. The goal of dominating the world by German people rendered Hitler to agitate national chauvinism in Germany. Due to their minority status， not surprisingly Jews were targeted. The religious and racial prejudice as well as hatred engraved in European Christians thus served as the theoretic basis for the Nazis’ persecution to Jews.

Politics based on anti-Semitism packed another punch on Jewish people. Firstly， initiating the Holocaust was a way for the Hitler government to stabilize the turbulent domestic situation caused by the economic crisis. Given the popular anti-Semitism in European society and Jews’ minority status， it was the easiest way to make them the scapegoat for the ills in Germany. German National propaganda stated that “the Jews were to blame for Germany’s defeat in World War I， for the Versailles treaty and for the economic collapse of Germany （Foster， 1980）”. Undergoing inflation， unemployment， and political chaos， German people were very vulnerable to Nazi propaganda. They were guided to resent Jews rather than the Hitler government， which helped to avoid revolts against the latter. Secondly， atrocities against Jews were designed to meet Hitler’s need of anti-Marxism. As an advocate of racial superiority， Hitler was not likely to accept Marxism that strived for the emancipation and equality among all races. To curb the development of Marxism， He once again targeted at Jews， accusing them of supporting it. He claimed that “Germany must constantly defend herself against subversion by Bolshevist agents who were mostly Jews （Foster， 1980）”. In this sense， the Holocaust was a means for Nazi government to eliminate its enemy as well as threaten the potential opponents.

The mixture of economic crisis， political chaos， and anti-Jewish ideologies led to the brutal Holocaust. John Donne once said， “never send to know for whom the bell tolls， it tolls for thee.” Tracing the causes behind is not only a way to memorize victims， but also a warning to all human beings. The situation of minorities is an important facet of how developed a society is； therefore， more attention should be given to protect their rights. We should always bear in mind the lessons we have learnt from the Holocaust and play our role in building a more harmonious world.

References：

[1]Dimsdale，N.，Horsewood，N.，&Van Riel，A.（2006）.Unemployment in Interwar Germany：An Analysis of the Labor Market，1927-1936.The Journal of Economic History，66（3），778-808.Retrieved from http：//www.jstor.org/stable/3874859.

[2]Foster，C.（1980）.Historical Antecedents：Why the Holocaust？ The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science，450，1-19.Retrieved from http：//www.jstor.org/stable/1042555.

[3]Kren，G.（1997）.The American Historical Review，102（2），472-474.

[4]羅衡林.1933年德意志猶太人的職業與經濟狀況[J].文史博覽（理論），2012（11）.