Holocaust During WWII Essay Example

to power in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The SA primary objective was to provide protection during NAZI rallies, disrupt meeting of parties opposed to the Nazi party and fight against paramilitary units of Communist Party of Germany. In January 1933, due to Hitler’s continued rise in influence and taste for violence and creating civil disorder using Security Department (SD) the German president Hindenburg decided to appoint Hitler, chancellor with the perception that the appointment would quench his ambitious desires. As Chancellor, Hitler influenced the cabinet and the legislature to pass the enabling act the cabinet full legislative powers to deviate from the constitution for three years.

In 1934 the SA were developing expansionary policies which the military perceived as a threat, the military being the only body in a position to oust Hitler if he assumed power he stroke a deal to disband the SA if the army would be loyal to him. On July 1st, 1934, Hitler organized the execution of top SA officials in the night of long knives. In August of 1934, Hitler got the wind that Hindenburg was on his death bed and a day before his death Hitler mobilized the cabinet to pass laws combining the office of the president and that of the chancellor2. When Hindenburg passed on, Hitler assumed the role of leader of the Reich. Once Hitler became the head of state, he assumed the role of commander in chief of the armed forces and started his expansionary policies.

Hitler was driven by National Socialism doctrines; he wanted to unite Germany into a single nation, create room for German settlement in Europe and ensure purity of the Aryan race

by cleansing the racial impure Jews and genetic inferior physical and mental handicaps3.

How Hitler Manipulated Fear

A Powerful Police Force

Hitler assumed dictatorial powers through the Nazi party he transformed the German police into an instrument of state oppression and genocide. The police in Germany enjoyed powers that they had never enjoyed before, they had the power to arrest and detain civilians without justifiable cause or reason, and the Nazi regime protected the police from public criticism by controlling the press reporting about police brutality and abuse of office. The Nazi regime upgraded the German police in terms of equipment and training and increased the power of the police to arrest, detain and incarcerate without the supervision of law courts.

The Nazi fused the police with its own paramilitary wing Protection Squadron (SS) and Security Department (SD)3, which were affiliate organization of NAZI and believed in its racist ideology. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the protection Squadron, was appointed Germany's police inspector. Therefore, the NAZI ideologies became the founding principles of German Police force. Hitler used the German police as a tool of intimidating civilians who were opposed to the Nazi party or its ideologies. By arming the police and upgrading their training, he was able to sophisticate the police force to be proactive and deter any civil unrest that would arise out of the masses.

Merging the police force with NAZI affiliated paramilitary organizations and appointing the leaders of this organization to a position of influence in the police force gave Hitler control over the police, enabling Hitler to detain politicians he perceived as threat to the Nazi party and civilians who would cause an

uprising among the masses in Germany.

Appointing Nazi Sympathizers to Position of Influence

When Hitler became Chancellor and leader of Germany, he appointed Nazis to position of Influence in the justice system. Most of the judges in courts were either Nazis or sympathizers, judges who were against Nazi ideologies or were Jews were evicted from the bench to create room for Nazis, which enticed most judges to affiliate with Nazis so as to get promoted. Hitler also took away the supreme courts authority to pass treason sentence and gave it to the people’s court in Berlin a political court dominated by Nazis.

Having Nazis in the justice system of Germany gave Hitler control over the judicial proceeding4. Judgments would not be passed according to the German constitution but according to what Hitler perceived to be just. Civilians would no resort to going to court since they would not get any justice, and Jews refrained from going to courts since the judges were against Semites.

Political assassinations and intimidation

Hitler used a paramilitary wing of the Nazi party to disrupt the political gathering of opposition and assassinate his political rivals. During the 1933 Labor Day celebrations Hitler’s SA storm trooper and beer hall brawlers demolished unionist trade offices and forced all trade unions to dissolve, and their leaders werearrested.

With the help of the SA (storm Department) Hitler intimated the other political parties, inclusive of Nazi’s nominal partner the DNVP and forced its leader Hugenberg to resign. Hitler used his protection Squadron (SS) to purge the leadership of Storm Troopers (SA) on the night of long knives 2 July 19345. The Strom troopers more quest for power made

industrial, political, and military leaders uneasy, in exchange for military support upon the death of the incumbent president Hindenburg, Hitler disbanded the Storm Troopers. Hitler use of violence to attain results and intimidate opponents in Germany was apparent, due to the fear of contradicting Nazis ideologies many civilians opted to keep quite out of fear of violence.

Concentration Camps

Camps were a vital component of the Nazi regime during 1933 to 1939.

In these camps, civilians were detained unconstitutionally under harsh conditions, without regard for the constitutional rights of the detainees. The concentration camps were erected soon after Hitler became chancellor in 1933 to detain communist, Jews, socialist, gypsies, homosexuals and social deviants, and persons Hitler perceived to be political threats5. After the Security Squadron gaining independence from the Storm, Troopers Hitler commissioned the Security Squadron to oversee the management and operations of concentration camps. In 1938, the authority to incarcerate people rested formally on the hands of the German Police without approval or review of the judiciary or any other agency. The police had the right to issue preventive detention to persons regarded as political threats and protective detention to persons regarded as social deviants and criminals. In the concentration camps, detainees were subjected to forced labor in Security Squadron construction projects, and Security Squadron financial activities.

Detainees would be deployed to back-breaking work at the quarries, logging sites, and industrial coal mines.

Extermination Camps

During the world war 1941-1945, the Nazi regime created factories for the mass killing of particularly Jews and social deviants. The extermination camps were mainly erected in Poland, and unlike concentration camps, the extermination camps were designed for the sole objective

of mass killings. A total of six extermination camps were erected, and the number of Jews speculated to have been killed in the camps were 3 million accounting for half of the number of Jews 6 million killed in the Holocaust. The extermination camps were regarded as the final solution to the Jewish problem and were designed to make the execution process less personal for the executioners.

The extermination camps were strategically located near railway lines and in rural areas of Poland away from the core of Nazi Germany and public eye6. The extermination camps were highly organized and structured like industrial complexes; some extermination camps were sophisticated with elevators running from the ground gassing units to the incineration sections. The administration of the extermination was under the Security Squadron (SS) who oversaw the day to day running of the camps. The Security Squadron were substituted by German police and Balkans who acted as guards. The killing methods applied in the extermination camps included; mass shooting, poisoned gas, and exhaust gas. The detainees were either locked into gas chambers and poisoned gas released, or locked up in the trunks of lories and exhaust gas released or taken to an open field and shot.

The Jews destined for extermination camps were rounded from ghettos and boarded on trains on the promise of being relocated. Once they got to the extermination camps the men were separated from women and children, men who were strong enough you work were assigned to manual labor. Children and the old were taken to gas chambers or executed immediately, depending on the needs of the camp the men and women would be used for

manual labor however they did not last long before dying due to harsh conditions, or as their health deteriorated they were eventually executed. The dead bodies were either taken to mass graves or cremated in the crematorium.

Role of Propaganda in the rise of Nazi Germany

Propaganda is the persuasive art of changing someone’s perception to favor your side of the story in the case of Nazi Germany Hitler wanted to persuade the masses of Germany that his army was too great to be defeated, and his political strength was too supreme to be toppled8. Hitler was aware of the role of propaganda in promoting and increasing the influence of the Nazi party.

He appointed Joseph Goebbels as the Minister of propaganda and enlightenment, the minister of propaganda was mandated to: ensure that nothing that would create negative publicity of the Nazi party reached the public, and to ensure the ideologies of the Nazi party were presented to the public in the most persuasive manner possible. To ensure that the minister of propaganda attained his objectives he worked closely with the German police and the security squadron to identify individuals and organizations that would produce defamatory articles about the Nazi party. Hitler also being a persuasive public speaker helped the minister of enlightenment with public display of propaganda. The minister of propaganda also introduced a censor mechanism for the Nazi regime; he introduced the Reich Chamber of Commerce in 1933. The organization oversaw the production of literature, music, art, and mass media. In order to make any production in the following areas the producer has to be a member of the Reich Chamber of commerce, the

Nazi were responsible for verifying the credential of individuals that wanted to join the chambers of commerce.

Those who qualified would produce materials after the approval of the Nazi's disobeying the Reich Chamber of commerce would attract severe punishment and penalty9. In a nutshell, the Nazi-controlled what the German masses saw, read and listened to. Hitler assumed the role of leader and chancellor in January 1933, in the May of the same year Nazi started publicly burning books that they perceived not to conform to Nazis ideologies. Nazis and beer hall brawlers ransacked public libraries and scorched books they perceived as offensive towards the Nazi ideology.

Nazis applied the same techniques towards film production, the theaters in Germany aired films that were pro-Nazi. The films exhibited how mighty Hitler was, the ideal life a Nazi is supposed to live, the inferiorities of Jews, and how badly Germans who lived to the east of Europe were being mistreated. Some influential propaganda films included; “Hitlerjunge Quex” produced in 1933, the plot is a boy raised up in a communist family who revolts to join Hitler youth after which the communist murder him for being a Nazi. “The Eternal Jew” the film degrades Jews by comparing them to rats who travel about spreading diseases. To ensure everyone would hear Hitler the minister of propaganda organized the manufacture of cheap radios called the “Peoples Receiver” speakers were also strategically placed in public to ensure that whenever Hitler gave a speech no one missed it. Restaurants were ordered to replay Hitler’s speeches in their premises for the public.

The minister of propaganda was famous for his night displays at Nuremberg; he erected arenas

that would hold up to 400,000 people and on a night every August the Nazis held a rally with vertical spotlights shining towards the horizon to show the world the might of the Nazis10. Propaganda was vital to the Nazi party, even though the party was the largest political party in Germany it did not have majority of the votes. It was important to remind those who supported the party of how correct their choice was, for those who opposed the party it was necessary to remind them how the party flourishes without their support and to be intimidated into supporting the party.

How the SS Was Gruesome in Killing Jews

Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland were picked up from ghettos and loaded on trains with the deceit that they were to be relocated to East Europe. Once they reached the extermination camps, they were requested by SS soldier to undress and cut their hair to undergo a disinfestation and prevent the spread of lice in the camp. The victims were then lead to gas chambers that were disguised to look as washroom with tiles but not overhead showers.

An SS officer stood inside the chamber to deceive the victims all was safe until the last moment when the door to the gas chamber was closed. To calm the victims as they queued to enter the chamber the SS officers engaged the victims in small talk about their relatives who had been to the camp previously, and advice the victims to take deep breaths which were beneficial in cleaning the lungs. SS officer identified victims whom they perceived as a threat to inciting others and isolated them

for execution by shooting away from the site of their peers. Some victim’s desperate to save themselves gave up information on fellow Jew relatives and their places of hiding.

Once the bodies were out of the chambers, SS officers ransacked the bodies for valuables such as gold and money. Most Jews believed that they were being relocated to East Europe, therefore, they carried their valuable possessions. The SS officers pulled out gold teeth from the victims mouths and searched the victims’ rectums and Virginia for valuables. After the bodies were ransacked the responsibility of disposing of the bodies fell on Jewish prisoners who did the job diligently even though they knew the same fate would befall them. Extra blood and fat would be drained off the bodies before being put in piles and burned.

The prisoner occasionally repositioned the bodies to fan the fire. In some concentration camps, bodies were incinerated on piers and on sophisticated extermination camps large incinerators were used11.

Conclusion

Hitler and the Nazi ideologies grew in influence in Weimar due to the heightened nationalism that swept over Europe after the First World War. The Nazis used violence and propaganda as a strategy of psychologically exploiting their rivals into accepting their ideologies and pacifying political resistance.

By controlling the flow of information, the Nazi party was able to grow in influence in Weimar, crush political adversaries and commit ethnic cleansing of Jews without the knowledge of civilized Germany. By portraying dictatorship as a lesser evil compared to communism, Hitler was able to retain power with relative stability in Weimar without a civil uprising.

Bibliography

1. Bytwerk, Randall L. 2004. Bending spines: the propagandas of Nazi Germany
   

and the German Democratic Republic. East Lansing, Mich: Michigan State University Press.