Research on the Holocaust

Marna Mayer

HIST 241 Final Research Paper

Southern New Hampshire University

The Holocaust

To understand the Holocaust that occurred against the Jewish people one must first understand the historical events that preceded this annihilation. Many historians have debated these events that led to the Holocaust and the senseless slaughter of millions of people of Jewish ancestry, with some common ground arrived by most of these scholars. Among some of this common ground is the fact that after World War I, Germany was left to face a severely depleted economy. After great hardship was placed on Germany’s economic growth following the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was in great despair which allowed Hitler to pursue the political position to begin his reign of terror. This economic hardship created discourse in national unity which gave rise to a very unstable government. With the lack of guidance, the people were searching for a leader, any leader, who would give the people back the feeling of security and power hence opening the door for Hitler to step into action. Furthermore, Hitler’s dream of a “Final Solution” came to light when he did all he could to ignore the rest of the world’s cry for peace and plunge Germany into another war after the war to end all wars. The German people were looking for any hope that could rid them of this impoverishment, and Hitler was their answer. Hitler was a master planner and his flexibility and ability to overcome controversy gave Germany a distinct advantage at the onset of WWII. Germany knew that the rest of the world was weakened as a direct result of WWI and Hitler took advantage of that weakness in his strategic planning against Germany’s enemies including the Jewish, which Hitler considered the root of an impure race. Consequently, the Holocaust is a broad area of issues that could be researched and addressed but this paper will only address a few of these possible topics. Therefore, research contained within this article will include data that the Holocaust was a direct result during the war due to non-action of the Allied Nations, the violent hatred of the Jewish people, and Hitler’s master plan of implementing a Final Solution.

First, to fully understand the events of the Holocaust we must understand why the Allies did little to prevent it. It seems impossible that the rest of the world would stand by and allow Hitler to senselessly slaughter millions of civilians of Jewish ancestry, but research shows that this seems to be an undisputable fact. There have been several documented accounts that the United States and other countries knew of the atrocities being committed by Germany, but chose not to publicize these events or take action at the first word of them. According to A War to Be Won : Fighting The Second World War, the world took a back seat giving Hitler the appeasement that was necessary to destroy millions of lives, almost to the point of annihilation of the whole Jewish race because the “League of Nations felt that a pacifist approach was necessary to promote democracy” [7]. In addition, research proves that there is further documented evidence that the government and media knew about the holocaust from sources smuggled in at great risk, but political leaders decided to keep the information under wraps. Whenever information was shared with citizens concerning the events of the war, it was very limited and information was altered or omitted, thereby, leaving many details of the holocaust out so readers did not get the full picture as to the extent of the persecution. Another documented example is that Churchill was also aware of what was going on, and ordered the bombing at Auschwitz, a death camp where Jews were kept until extermination, but his pleas were ignored. This seems an unlikely occurrence in today’s political world where the United States seems to get involved in every aspect of events occurring around the globe, or with the ease of access to world-wide events provided to all by the internet, but during this period in our history, it was much easier to control the media.

On the other side of the coin, there have been many arguments that political leaders did not know what was occurring in Germany, and that a holocaust was systematically being carried out. The Allies claim that all was being done to aid the Jews by ground combat, and offering asylum to the persecuted that could escape. But obviously with the loss of life that occurred during the Holocaust this was not nearly enough. These arguments have been waged to ease the conscious of the world over the atrocities that occurred to the Jewish people. According to research by author David Crew “Hitler repeatedly violated the Treaty of Versailles' sanctions, rather than confront him, the Allies sought to appease him in hopes of averting a repeat of the First World War”[2]. In today’s society this would be rewarding bad behavior by allowing this to continuously occur. This seems totally unacceptable now, so have times changed so much, or have we learned from the mistakes of our past? In addition, an excerpt taken from a report given to Eisenhower by Brigadier General McClure documents that the United States knew what the conditions were during this period and reads “The idea that such abhorrent behavior…could be carried out in the twentieth century” (http//:www.eisenhower.archive.gov) [4]. This apparent documentation and many, many more like this are primary resources proving that we as a country knew what was going on during the holocaust, and contain very interesting research if you, the reader, would like to further examine. Therefore, it was not until pictures surfaced showing horror beyond belief of the skeletons of victims stacked in piles, mass graves, and the mass murder of hundreds and thousands of Jews did the world cry for intervention. According to research presented by Michael Berenbaum, a renowned expert in research of the Holocaust “In 45 allied troops liberated the 6 killing centers and found something that was so appalling that gen Eisenhower order all troops within vicinity to view the camps to see what they were fighting against”[1]. Therefore, this shocking evidence validates that the Allies did little to nothing against the atrocities of Germany, and that a countless number of lives may have been saved if an intervention had occurred much earlier on. Rather than dismissing or appeasing Hitler’s actions and turning a blind eye to the situation of the Jewish people, the world should have gotten involved much sooner as evidence shows that the death poll of the Holocaust was estimated at 5 to 6 million lives lost.

Next, Hitler