Causes & Effects of the Holocaust

1411 Words3 Pages

Causes & Effects of the Holocaust There are times in history when desperate people plagued by desperate situations blindly give evil men power. These men, once given power, have only their own evil agendas to carry out. The Holocaust was the result of one such man's agenda. In short simplicity, shear terror, brutality, inhumanity, injustice, irresponsibility, immorality, stupidity, hatred, and pure evil are but a few words to describe the Holocaust. A holocaust is defined as a disaster that results with the tremendous loss of human life. History, however, generally identifies the Holocaust to be the series of events that occurred in the years before and during World War II. The Holocaust started in 1933 with the persecuting and terrorizing of Jews by the Nazi Party, and ended in 1945 with the murder of millions of helpless Jews by the Nazi war-machine. "The Holocaust has become a symbol of brutality and of one people's inhumanity to another." (Resnick p. 11) The man responsible for the Holocaust was Adolf Hitler and his Nazi war-machine. As an Austrian born soldier-turned-politician, Hitler was fascinated with the concept of the racial supremacy of the German people. He was also a very bitter, very evil little man. In addition, having lost the war, the humiliated Germans were forced by the Allies to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 that officially ended World War I. According to the harsh terms of the treaty, Germany had to hand over many of its richest industrial territories to the victors, and was made to pay reparations to the Allied countries it devastated during the war. Germany lost its pride, prestige, wealth, power, and the status of being one of Europe's greatest nations. (Resnick p. 15) Howev... ... middle of paper ... ...eir own humanity and become killers. This is why the United States and other world powers should create organizations like the United Nations to prevent the conditions that breed desperation, by providing, in order to prevent another such holocaust from occuring ever again. Works Cited: David Adler: We Remember the Holocaust, 1989 Henry Holt & Company, Inc. 115 W 18th St. New York, NY 10011 ~ Ole Kreiberg: Jewish Eyewitnesses, 3/11/1996 The Nizkor Project. Online. Internet. Available: http://www.nizkor.org/ ftp.cgi/people/r/reitlinger.gerald/ 3/12/1996 ~ McFee, Gordon Are the Jews Central to the Holocaust?, 2000 Online. Internet. Available: http://www.holocaust-history.org/jews-central/ 9/9/2000 ~ Abraham Resnick: The Holocaust, 1991 Lucent Books, Inc. P.O. Box 2890111 San Diego, CA 92198-9011 ~ Elie Wiesel: Night, 1960 Bantam Books 1540 Broadway New York, NY 10036

Open Document