Holocaust In Germany

Victor Gonzalez HIS 213 Professor Dean Pavlakis04/29/2010
The War Against the Jews in Germany
Adolf Hitler, the leader of the National Socialist party, became chancellor of Germany in January 30th, 1933. He was chosen by German president Paul Von Hindenburg, and according to the rules specified by the Weimar constitution. The Nazi regime started a series of radical restrictions, whichprimarily affected the Jewish population in Germany. Extreme social, economic, and political changes were made by the National Socialist party, including the expulsion of the Jews from their jobs and commercial life, and the expropriation of their properties, which gradually eliminated the rights of Jews citizens. Nazi thugs stopped Germans from shopping in Jewish shops. All Jewish shops were marked withthe yellow Star of David or had the word "Juden" written on the window. The implementation of these regulations and restrictions were a “pacific” attempt to economically bankrupt them and destroy their lives. However, some of the richest Jewish families could escape and immigrate to a different country because of their economic power and connections. Even though the majority of the German Jewishcommunity was well aware of Hitler’s hatred of Jews, a small innocent group continued to believe that their future was with and in Germany. Most of them had contributed a great deal to German society culturally, economically and socially. Also, Many Jews had sacrificed their lives for their country in WWI. Few countries agreed to accept Jewish refugees, with the condition that they had firstto prove that they had a job to go to in the host country, or that they had sufficient funds to live on. On the other hand, most countries refused to accept more Jewish refugees, claiming that more refugees would lead to over population and unemployment. However, Jews were the primary victims of the Nazi racism because they believed that Germans were "racially superior" than the Jews. They saw Jews asa serious biological threat to the purity of the German-Aryan race, which they called the 'Master Race'. The Nazis idea of a perfect Aryan was someone with Nordic feature such as being tall or having blonde hair or blue eyes. Nevertheless, few Jews were able to hide their identity and survive in the Nazi Germany even though they did not have these features. Paradoxically, Hitler did not have someof these features; instead he was short, with brown hair and dark eyes. This idea was the basis of Nazi racial philosophy led by Adolf Hitler, and promoted and expanded throughout the country. The Nazi’s campaign against the Jews was based on claims of biological superiority and territorial expansion by creating a new Germany formed by “pure” Germans. The Jews became victims of persecution andmurder because Hitler blamed them for Germany’s defeat in World War I, as well as the cause of the country’s economic and social problems.
Immediately after the Nazis assumed power, their supporters took revenge on numerous opponents of the regime. Few months after Hitler became chancellor, in March 30th, he requested that the parliament pass the Enabling Act: the constitutional law for“Removing the Distress of People and Reich,” which would confer on Hitler’s party exclusive legislative powers for four years. In other words, he was asking or ordering to make him a dictator. He basically wanted the rest of the parties in the parliament to take a four year vacation and leave the governing to him, so he could have total control of the country. After the Enabling Act was authorized by a...