The Universal Deceleration of Human Rights/Adolf Hitler Essay Example
The Universal Deceleration of Human Rights/Adolf Hitler Essay Example

The Universal Deceleration of Human Rights/Adolf Hitler Essay Example

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To a large extent to which the creation of the United Nations and the fundamental rights expressed in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 was driven by the atrocities that occurred during World War Two and a need to protect human rights in the future. Although the UDHR was such a might establishment it has limited success, but continues to be an organisation that holds hope. Human Rights are the entitlements and freedoms to which all humans are empowered to, such as; the freedom of speech, information, life, belief, association and in law.However Adolf Hitler saw it necessary to remove basic liberties to achieve a nation of what he thought was a ‘master race’. His visionary goals were to abolish of all minority groups as he believed, such as the Jewish people. As ruthless as he was, Hitler did not allow a

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ny obstacles to prevent his idealistic development of Germany to become an overpowering nation.

This meant that he would use inhumane methods. It was then decided that there was a need to strengthen and safeguard fundamental human rights so that these atrocities would never happen again, thus the adoption of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations.Specifying that all humans are equal to one another, even though Hitler believed that there were various inferior groups that had to be exterminated. In the wise words of Eleanor Roosevelt, that stay with us till this day, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”.

Subsequent to the defeat in WWI, Germany adapted to a democratic nation in which all people participated in regular elections where they could support a political

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party in a democratic manner. Everyone had the freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom of information, freedom of association and freedom in law.Germany had equal protection given to all citizens of the state, with no group or groups given more preference. Nevertheless, a single man and his colossal ambitions and his faithful followers (the Nazis) turned the world on it’s head with the severity of their actions. We were all introduced to Hitler in 1923 when he attempted to start a revolution with his small group of followers, but quickly curtailed by the ruling party and with Hitler being imprisoned as a result.

With good behaviour Hitler was let out after just a year in prison, after he left prison he regrouped and enlisted new members to be part of his Nazi Party.He campaigned in elections where he had little effect, however after the prosperous period of the ‘golden twenties’ the great depression struck the nation. Due to mass unemployment and hunger, people gave their support predominately to parties that promised to end the depression. As a result of this, the support for the Nazi party escalated. In 1932, the Nazi party became Germany’s largest political party, with the struggle of President Hindenburg’s campaign he had no choice but to appoint Hitler as Chancellor on the 30th of January 1933 in order to gain his support.Following the death of President Hindenburg, there was no election held, Hitler combined President and Chancellor to one single post, his new title was “Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor”.

With his position as Fuhrer, Hitler began to take advantage of his new grown power to implement policies and laws to

his favour. On the 23 March, Hitler proposed his first laws to the vote, it was called the “Enabling Law”. It gave Hitler the power, until 1937, to make laws without asking the parliament for approval. This enabling act gave Hitler the potential ability to become a dictator.Hitler did as such, he transformed Germany from a democracy to a totalitarian nation where there were no regular elections, no freedom of speech, information, nor legal freedom (police forces and authorities could arrest anyone with no trial) and not all religions allowed. Hitler’s aims were clear, he aspired to rebuild Germany’s ruined economy, to make Germany a powerful nation once again and finally to create a ‘pure’ German society by getting rid of racial minority groups especially the Jews with vicious methods that distinctly eroded fundamental human rights.

For Hitler to put his plan of creating a ‘pure Aryan race’ into action, with his underlying desire and ambition of terminating all minority and inferior groups as he believed were deficient to his dominating society, he used specific inhumane methods to deteriorate of human rights. Hitler required total obedience, trust and support from his people, those who would oppose him would suffer great consequences. Hitler wanted to create a society filled with the ‘master race’ of what he believed to be the superior Aryan people, this meant he had to eradicate of all the inferior races that could corrupt the superior nation.Hitler had a rather disapproval of minority groups especially the Jews, Hitler took charge with malicious methods and barbaric control. The more control the Nazis had, the easier it was for them to put their aims into effect,

two organisations controlled the people, the Nazi Party and the Police.

The SA carried out a campaign of terror against the Jewish as they tried to resist the Nazis. In 1938 a Jew shot a senior Nazi official. On the 10th of November the ‘Night of Broken Glass’ began, in which 10,000 Jewish shopkeepers had their windows smashed and contents stolen, 91 Jews murdered and 20,000 placed in concentration camps.These concentration camps were high security prisons used to imprison and kill opponents of the Nazis as well as racial and social ‘undesirables’.

When Hitler transformed Germany to a totalitarian government, he abolished of legal freedom, therefore police were authorized to arrest anyone and place them in prison without trial, this led to secret arrests and midnight arrests of the Jews, “The National Socialist Secret Police made silent arrests. Late at night and early in the morning they took man after man” - Nora Waln, Reaching for the Stars.Hitler’s intentions were straightforward and he refused to let anything get into his way. Jews were not the only inferior group that Hitler strived to terminate. On October 1934, Hitler gave command of the arrests of German homosexuals and on October 1939, all mentally and physically disabled people were gassed.

Along Hitler’s journey to change his nation completely to a race full of pure Aryan blood, he eroded certain human rights. The Right to marry and freedom to marry, as a result were removed.Nazis forbid freedom of marriage, to whom ever you wanted in particular the Jews, as it was seen as a duty to protect the pure Aryan blood and to ensure that this bloodline was not

contaminated with impure blood that could infect the nations future growth. The Right to have freedom of speech and information disappeared when the Nazis took charge of propaganda mainly in the form of the press and newspapers.

Hitler made sure that the press put across Nazi views. Newspapers editors were told each day what news they could or could not print.Often, the form of propaganda would state false information, for instance, “Whisper propaganda” was used to illustrate false rumors and information by chain letters, while the Nazis rewrote children schoolbooks to include various Nazi ideas and thoughts, predominately about the Jews, this can be seen through a homework exercise set in a German school by Nazis that states, “all Jews have crooked legs, fat bellies, curly hair and look untrustworthy”, this is not entirely true, in fact it is rather condescending however it is the way the Nazis portray the Jews and they expect all to follow in their beliefs as well.The Right to not be sent to prison or exiled unjustly was a human right that greatly eroded as the SS made silent arrests because when Hitler became a dictator he created the law of no legal freedom which meant the police could arrest anyone without trial. Jews were often arrested and placed in concentration camps where they were treated as slaves and test subjects. “D Decree to Eliminate the Jews from Economic Life, 12 November 1938”, the right of independently engaging in trade was taken away as well as the right to take part or own a job or business, this made many Jews unemployed and financially unstable.

Normally, Jews were quite skilled in

business and financial matters, this made them economically secure, the Nazi’s found this as a threat as they realised that there were many wealthy Jews whilst many Germans suffered from low-income, so they took away their right to business and possessing a job to keep their life steady. “E Decree by Reich Minister of Education, 16 November 1938”, Jews are not permitted to attend German schools. All Jewish students not yet expelled from German schools must be expelled immediately. This law took away their ‘right to be considered equally by the law as they were denied education.

The Nazis did not want the Jews to receive a similar education as the Germans so they could not excel and gain superior knowledge therefore not allowing the Jews to become smarter than the Germans so they could not over power the Nazis. There was a need to strengthen and safeguard fundamental human rights so that Hitler’s unthought of atrocities would never be repeated, thus the adoption of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, specifying that all humans are equal to one another. Specific articles refer to the human rights abuses by the Nazis.Article 1 of the UDHR states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”, this law promotes all humans have the right of equality.

During Hitler’s dictatorship he influenced all those around him and persuaded them that Jews were an inferior race (and they were treated as such) when in reality they were just as equal and free as the

Nazis. Article 3 refers to “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”, this article advances to the right to uphold life and security.As the Nazis were rather brutal with their methods it resulted in senseless, numerous deaths of millions of Jews and innocents (physically and mentally disabled people whom were gassed) that had the right to life but they were derived of their basic human rights thus the creation of the UDHR. Article 6 of the UDHR implies, “ Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law”, this right advocates the saying of ‘innocent before proved guilty’, meaning that due process, all are entitled to a fair trial where they are proved guilty.Despite that, Hitler’s reign of a totalitarian government supported no freedom in law, where police authorities could arrest anyone and imprison without a trial, they acted upon arbitrary arrests.

However, with the establishment of the UDHR one must be proven guilty before they are arrested. In December of 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly. In the aftermath of WWII and it’s related abominations, the goal was to develop an international standard defining the rights of all human beings.The intention was to create not only a more livable planet, but also a more stable and peaceful one”. The advantages and strengths of the UDHR were coherent, it created an international definition of human rights as well as establishing which rights are implied.

It intended to achieve elevated international peace and stability, in the words of US President John F. Kennedy, “Those who make peaceful

revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable”. By propitious support essential human rights and democracy, it is expected that the UDHR will reduce global disorder.It’s incorporation of education as a human right brought up great positivity as in various less economically developed countries children are denied education and forced to work to aid the family. Research shows that education results in increased economical growth, excessive wages, better health and rise in political participation and stability.

The Declaration seeks to improve the quality of life of all people worldwide. On the other hand, the main weakness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is that it is not enforceable, for example, Pakistan is run by a religious group called the Taliban, independently perate their own rules to suit their countries stability.Recently a 14 year old Pakistani girl was denied education, she was told to return to the domestic sphere to aid her household instead of receiving an education. Out of fury, the Taliban attacked as they strongly believed in their interpretation of their religion that all women must not be educated.

This is a fundamental breech of the human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was significantly inspired by the catastrophic events that occurred during Hitler’s rule.Since then, it has been developed over time to empower human rights as a fundamental virtue, it was emerged by the direct result of the atrocities experienced by various people during WWII by the hands of Hitler. The articles of the UDHR have been elaborated on over time to ensure that all humans are entitled to their basic human rights. Over time the UDHR has been recognized an important

vehicle to the preservation of human rights of the population of members state of the United Nations, to the extent that in 1976 it was ratified as international law.

The general explanation of human rights states that civil, political and social rights belong to human beings in order to preserve one’s dignity. The thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees protection of the person, of procedural law (claim of effective legal remedy), classical freedom rights such as freedom of expression, as well as economical, social and cultural rights. These rights should apply to all people irrespectively of their race, gender and nationality, as all people are born free and equal. ”

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