The Final Solution - Holocaust

The Final Solution

The Holocaust was a catastrophe of WWII and most people know what it was, and why it happened. But what is difficult to understand is, how this could have gotten so far without the rest of the world really understanding what was happening. The Holocaust was such a large genocide that some people wonder if they should have been able to anticipate what was coming and prevent it. The Final Solution, a plan to wipe out all of the people who were "inferior" to the "master race" of Germany, was planned and almost successfully completed because Germany was steamrolling over Europe

After World War I Germany's economy was in tatters. Unemployment climbed and the political system turned to extremism. Hitler convinced the people of Germany to support him, and he and the Nazi party took total control of Germany. He abused his power and did what he wanted, rather than do what the country need of him. "Hitler sapped their (old political parties) popular support, as measured by the inroads of the National Socialists into the electoral base of traditional conservatism" (Mayer 95). People supported Hitler because he claimed to have the answer to their economic problems, claiming the Jews were causing it. The people of Germany thought Hitler was their "savior" and that was going to get the wicked Jews out of Germany. Because Germany was in such dire economic straits, Hitler had an easier time carrying out his plan without political opposition. Even though what the Nazis were proclaiming was so inaccurate and wasn't clear enough to be thought through, because all of Germany was in such dire straights, they listened and followed Hitler as if he were the messianic savior.

Today I will once more be a prophet: If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the bolshevization of the earth, and thus in victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe. (Hitler in speech "Hitler and the Jewish Question on January 31, 1939).

Hitler had very clear priorities: his plan was to rid the country and kill all the unwanted people and make Germany home to the perfect race. Hitler began pressuring other governments to accept Jewish refugees, in order to extract them from Germany. He only did this to governments that he thought were under Jewish influence. "Nature is cruel; therefore we are also entitled to be cruel." (Hitler)

Hitler justified the mass killings by saying that there are things in life we can't control (such as nature). Therefore, if nature can be cruel, humans are entitled to be just as cruel as nature. The Nazi's program tried to "convert" people to the idea that only Germans (Aryns) belonged in Germany, and that everyone else needed to leave because they needed Lebensraum or living space. "Lebensraum was grounded in a legendary mission to protect the holy German empire from barbarians and infidels, which the Nazis regenerated in a de-Christianized and imperialist form" (Mein Kampf). In this program, Hitler was the prophet, who was going to save them all, and give the Germans what they need. The Nazis were "cleansing" Germany of all the people who weren't "purely" German to keep the Nazis in power, because the German people needed to reclaim their proper position.

Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's current economic, social, and political problems. Hitler made the analogy between tuberculosis bacillus, which had to be destroyed, and the Jew the "racial tuberculosis, which had to be removed if the

German people (Volks) were to recover their health" (Hitler). "Their dance around the golden calf is becoming a merciless struggle for all those possessions we prize most highly on earth" (Adolf Hitler's first anti-Semitic writing). Hitler believed the Jews were persistently striving to take all of the money and possessions away from the German citizens. He said that the Jews idolize money, and take all of the possessions we prize most highly on earth. This is inaccurate, because Jews don't believe in idols. According to Hitler, what men typically strive for in life, democracy, religion etc. is for a Jew, only to get very rich and have world domination. This is ironic because this is exactly what he's after as he plans the Final Solution.

The Nazis enlisted the clergy to help their campaign. 2,000 years of church teachings and bigotry made the killings acceptable for most people. "As for the Jews, I can tell you quite frankly that one way or another we have to put an end to them" (Hitler). Hitler claimed that the Jews believed that valuing character in a person is not a good window to who they are as a person; rather it is by the "size of his fortune". When he said fortune, he is referring to money instead of how lucky they thought they were. "All the Jewish women, from whom one could still expect children, should be sterilized so that the Jewish problem may actually be solved completely with this generation" (American Cooperative). Hitler isn't just looking to kill the Jews right now, rather to prevent them from ever walking the earth again. Hitler viewed the Jews as the "greatest evil" to all of mankind that ever existed, and was determined to rid the world of these "evil" people forever.

All of the Nazis became so bold as to just plainly state their intentions. Himmler gave a speech proclaiming, "I mean the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish race. It's one of those things it is easy to talk about, "the Jewish race in being exterminated", said one party member, "that's quite clear, it's in our program, elimination of the Jews, and we're doing it, exterminating them" (American Cooperate). The Nazis spoke about the Holocaust as if they were buying a loaf of bread. In this quote there is a tone that makes them sound so innocent, like they have no idea the magnitude of this simple political engagement. While it is now obvious that their plan was to kill all Jews permanently, it was covered it up with their clever propaganda so people wouldn't notice what a terrible thing they were trying to do. Once their real actions were revealed, it became clear what their speeches intended. This speech is one of the first times that the Nazi's revealed their plan for what is really