Role of Ordinary Germans in the Holocaust - 2313 Words

The role of ordinary Germans in the Holocaust is that of bystanders. The people of Germany watched on, without protest, as the Jewish people were murdered. Small and large jobs such as engineering and railway work contributed to the operation of the Holocaust and the murdering of Jews. The manipulation of the German people, through racist and anti-Semitic propaganda, speeches and polices from Hitler, meant that millions of Germans backed the plans to rid the nation of Jews. The idea that the Jews were responsible for economic, social and political issues was endorsed and it led to the idea that their banishment would lead Germany into a brighter future. Many people did not intend on aiding the Holocaust, but minor jobs that they did†¦show more content†¦His role was as a gas-van driver, where he would drive a van and the exhaust would feed into the back area of the car, suffocating the Jews seated there. Burmeister claims that he was â€Å"†¦too influenced by the propa ganda of the time to have refused to have carried out the orders [he] had been given† Whether or not it can account for it, this manipulation of strategic propaganda could have influenced why Germans either became a part of the Holocaust or simply chose to ignore it. The lack of resistance and ignorance of the ordinary German population cost many million Jewish lives. The Nazi party’s desire for popularity and support meant that if there was a protest, actions would be taken to keep the public happy, or quiet, with minimal loss of reputation and status. In other words, it meant that the people could win. One successful attempt of protest proved that this theory would have worked. The Rosenstrasse Protest that occurred on the 27th of February 1943 led to the release of several hundred Jewish men from a Gestapo headquarters. This symbolic protest highlighted the fact that if the public were to protest, the execution of Jews could have been slowed or even halted. Despite this, the Rosenstrasse Protest remained the only large protest against the Holocaust throughout its entire duration. This means that the German population continued to ignore and become passive bystanders of the genocide happening aroundShow MoreRelatedThe Ordinary Men of th e Holocaust1075 Words   |  5 Pagesunderstanding of the Holocaust is the persecution and mass murder of Jews by the Nazi’s, most are unaware that the people behind the atrocities of the Holocaust came from all over Europe and a wide variety of backgrounds. Art Spiegelman’s Maus: a Survivor’s Tale, Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men: Reserve Battalion 101 and the Final Solution, and Jan Gross’s Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedbwabne, Poland, all provides a different perspective on how ordinary people felt aboutRead MoreOrdinary Men Book Review Essay976 Words   |  4 PagesOrdinary Men Christopher Browning describes how the Reserve Police Battalion 101, like the rest of German society, was immersed in a flood of racist and anti-Semitic propaganda. Browning describes how the Order Police provided indoctrination both in basic training and as an ongoing practice within each unit. Many of the members were not prepared for the killing of Jews. The author examines the reasons some of the police members did not shoot. The physiological effect of isolation, rejection, andRead More Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust Essay example1713 Words   |  7 PagesOrdinary Germans and the Holocaust Synopsis – Hitler’s Willing Executioners is a work that may change our understanding of the Holocaust and of Germany during the Nazi period. Daniel Goldhagen has revisited a question that history has come to treat as settled, and his researches have led him to the inescapable conclusion that none of the established answers holds true. Drawing on materials either unexplored or neglected by previous scholars, Goldhagen presents new evidence to show that many beliefsRead MoreWas German ‘Eliminationist Anti-Semitism Responsible for the Holocaust?832 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"Was German ‘Eliminationist Anti-Semitism† Responsible for the Holocaust?† is a fascinating and somewhat discouraging debate that explores the question of whether German anti-Semitism, instilled within citizens outside of the Nazi Party, played a vast role in the extermination of Jews during the Holocaust . Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, author of â€Å"The Paradigm Challenged,† believes that it did; and argues quite convincingly that ordinary German citizens were duplicitous either by their actions or inactionsRead MoreChristopher Browning s Ordinary Men1241 Words   |  5 Pagesmainly focuses on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Browning has been teaching about this specific field for thirty years, since 1974. He has published many different notable books in regards to Nazi Germany and the events that occurred during the time of the Holocaust. Some of the books written by Browning are, Remembering Survival: Inside a Nazi Slave Labor Camp (2010), The Final Solution and the German Foreign Office (1978), and Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers (2000). Browning is bestRead MoreBirds of a Feather Flock Together1558 Words   |  7 Pagesthem (Makkai, Boatner, Gates, 1995). This paper will focus on the social influence of groups, the dynamics in regard to, formation of groups, concept of in-group, out-group homogeneity, and illusory correlation. T he in-group discussed here is the Germans and the out-group, the Jews. This ethnocentric view of us the good ones and them the bad. How conformity, obedience, and compliance to authority within a group specifically during WW II parallels Stanley Milgram’s obedience study. Irving Janis’Read MoreHitlers Willing Executioners by Daniel Goldhagen1677 Words   |  7 PagesGoldhagen’s thesis relies on the idea that since medieval times, a specific kind of eliminationist anti-Semitism had developed in Germany. According to Goldhagen, the German population was already open to the idea of eliminating the Jews. He also claims that when Hitler came to Power in 1933, rather than slowly convincing the Germans to commit mass murder, he merely gave them the opportunity to do what they have wanted to do for years. Goldhagen also inflated the number of people involved, suggestingRead MoreAdolf Hitler And The Holocaust Essay1105 Words   |  5 PagesAdolf Hitler and the Holoc aust. The Holocaust is the word used to describe the mass murder of approximately six million European Jews during Adolf Hitler’s rule in Germany. Among the Jews were also other groups described as â€Å"Sub-Humans† such as Gypsies, homosexuals, intellectually challenged, political prisoners and most Eastern Europeans. German lacked confidence in their weak system, the Weimer Republic. Adolf Hitler, the chairman of the Nazi Party by 1921, was a World War I veteran who still believedRead MoreWas German â€Å"Eliminationist Anti-Semitism† Responsible for the Holocaust?2341 Words   |  10 Pages | |Was German â€Å"Eliminationist Anti-Semitism† Responsible for the Holocaust? | |Issue 10 â€Å"Taking Sides: Clashing Views in World History† | | | German anti-Semitism played the main role in Holocaust and extermination of Jewish populationRead MoreThe Extermination Of Jews By Nazi Germany Essay1438 Words   |  6 PagesWhen considering the holocaust, there is often a questioning of how society can persecute the entirety of a race or religious group. Apart from the logistics, strategy, or tactics of mass genocide, it is difficult to comprehend how an entire country can bear responsibility for the premature deaths of over six million people. While genocide, including the extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany, has occurred under multiple different contexts and is still present in modern society, there must be a psychological