Walter Gross was a physician who, in 1933, was appointed to create the National Socialist Office for Enlightenment on Population Policy and Racial Welfare. His task was to educate the German people about race and convince them that the eugenics and sterilization programs at the core of Nazi ideology would be good for Germany. Gross was a well educated member of the middle class who was too young to fight in the first world war. He grew up in an area that would be taken from Germany as a result of the Treaty of Versailles forcing his family to move west. He studied medicine at the conservative University of Gottingen during the 1920s where he developed strong antisemitic tendencies. He joined the Nazi Party in 1925 when he was just 21 years …show more content…
Gross had to both strengthen ethnic consciousness among the non-convinced German public, and prepare the already radical Nazis for even more radical measures. He infused public culture with knowledge of the “inferior” races, in attempt to make them adopt and support Nazi racist policies. This would make up nearly the entire population, making it unlikely for any German not to have been affected by the activities of Gross and his office. When writing or speaking to hardcore Nazis, he would lash out at Jews, convinced that they were the blame for the Great War, Germany’s defeat, and the Weimar democracy, which smothered German culture. In the early Nazi period, when confronting the public, he would adjust his rhetoric to a broader, non-antisemitic tone. In a radio speech given the day on which a sterilization law was approved, he explained racial policy as a “moral crusade for purity against the corrosive egotism of liberal philosophy.” He then outlined his three pronged approach against breeding amongst the fit and unfit, uncontrolled childbearing, and racial mixing. At this point, he did so without mentioning the word Jew. The Nazi media received Gross’s speech very well, shifting public opinion and allowing him to further radicalize his
Kershaw later depicts a comment made by Hitler discussing the dire need to deport German Jews, away from the ‘Procterate,’ calling them “dangerous ‘fifth columnists’” that threatened the integrity of Germany. In 1941, Hitler discusses, more fervently his anger towards the Jews, claiming them to responsible for the deaths caused by the First World War: “this criminal race has the two million dead of the World War on its conscience…don’t anyone tell me we can’t send them into the marshes (Morast)!” (Kershaw 30). These recorded comments illustrate the deep rooted hatred and resentment Hitler held for the Jewish population that proved ultimately dangerous. Though these anti-Semitic remarks and beliefs existed among the entirety of the Nazi Political party, it didn’t become a nationwide prejudice until Hitler established such ideologies through the use of oral performance and
Alexander Crummell, an Episcopalian priest, professor, and lecturer, set out to analyze and discuss “The Race Problem in America.” This piece was written in 1888, following the Reconstruction period after he had traveled to Europe and Africa, lecturing on American Slavery and African-American and African issues. Crummell, when not working outside of the country, resided in the North at various places in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, where many of the countries African-American intellectuals lived at the time. As a professor, lecturer, and priest, the intended audience were members of the society who were literate, Christian, and for the time period, more radically thinking. Due to his relationship with Christianity and the relationship
According to Welch, “The public’s reaction to anti-Semitic films reveals that propaganda had considerable success in persuading the population that a Jewish ‘problem’ existed, but equally that there was a limit to their tolerance of the type of virulently anti-Semitic propaganda to be found in films like Der Ewige Jude and publications like Der Stuermer.” Even after years of Nazi propaganda, even Goebbels wasn’t convinced that “such propaganda had persuaded Germans to condone open violence against
“The modern German anti-Semitism was based on racial ideology which stated that the Jews were subhuman while the “Aryan” race was ultimately superior,” ("Nazi Propaganda"): (Goebbels)“I beg you and particularly those of you who carry the cross throughout the land to become somewhat more serious when I speak of the enemy of the German people, namely, the Jew, ("Nazi Propaganda"). “Streicher declared: "You must realize that the Jew wants our people to perish. That is why you must join us and leave those who have brought you nothing but war, inflation, and discord",” ("Nazi Propaganda"). “We know that Germany will be free when the Jew has been excluded from the life of the German people,” ("Ministry Of Public Enlightenment"). After Goebbels 's started to target the Jew’s with mean propaganda: It made blaming Jews a lot easier for Germany’s
In America, essentially everyone is classified in terms of race in a way. We are all familiar with terms such as Caucasian, African-American, Asian, etc. Most Americans think of these terms as biological or natural classifications; meaning that all people of a certain race share similarities on their D.N.A. that are different and sets that particular race apart from all the other races. However, recent genetic studies show that there’s no scientific basis for the socially popular idea that race is a valid taxonomy of human biological difference. This means that humans are not divided into different groups through genetics or nature. Contrary to scientific studies, social beliefs are reflected through racial realism. Racial realists believe that being of a particular race does not only have phenotypical values (i.e. skin color, facial features, etc.), but also broadens its effects to moral, intellectual and spiritual characteristics.
After Germany lost World War I, it was in a national state of humiliation. Their economy was in the drain, and they had their hands full paying for the reparations from the war. Then a man named Adolf Hitler rose to the position of Chancellor and realized his potential to inspire people to follow. Hitler promised the people of Germany a new age; an age of prosperity with the country back as a superpower in Europe. Hitler had a vision, and this vision was that not only the country be dominant in a political sense, but that his ‘perfect race’, the ‘Aryans,’ would be dominant in a cultural sense. His steps to achieving his goal came in the form of the Holocaust. The most well known victims of the Holocaust were of course, the Jews. However, approximately 11 million people were killed in the holocaust, and of those, there were only 6 million Jews killed. The other 5 million people were the Gypsies, Pols, Political Dissidents, Handicapped, Jehovah’s witnesses, Homosexuals and even those of African-German descent. Those who were believed to be enemies of the state were sent to camps where they were worked or starved to death.
In the early 1920's, many generational Americans had moderately racist views on the "new immigrants," those being predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe. Americans showed hatred for different races, incompatibility with religion, fear of race mixing, and fear of a revolution from other races. At the time, people believed the Nordic race was supreme.
In society today, race can be viewed in a variety of ways, depending on the manner in which one was raised, as well as many other contributing factors. These views are often very conflicting, and as a result, lead to disagreement and controversy amongst groups. Throughout history, many communities have seen such problems arise over time, thus having a profound impact that can change society in both positive and negative ways. Such a concept is a common method through which Charles W. Mills explain his theories and beliefs in his written work, The Racial Contract. In this particular text, Mills explores numerous concepts regarding race, how it is viewed by different people, and the sense of hierarchy that has formed because of it. Nevertheless, when certain scholars think about and discuss race in society, they often take different approaches than those by Mills mentioned prior. HowevSimier, regardless of the different approaches that may be taken, often times a common idea can be found amongst them, which further ties in The Racial Contract. For example, the text “Racial Formation in the United States” by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, as well as “The Lincoln-Douglass Debates” can both be found to have a correlation regarding race within Mill’s work.
Gordon, Sarah. Hitler, Germans and the "Jewish Question." Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1984.
The Nazi Party had numerous methods to influence the opinion of Germany. The Nazis saw the youth as the future of Germany as well as whom they must control the most. The Hitler Youth Organization was one of the most influential forces within the youth of Nazi Germany. In fact, by mid-1933, the Hitler Youth had successfully achieved its goal to either “Nazify” or disband all competing youth groups within the country (“Hitler Youth”). Within the group, German youth were taught the ideology of the Nazi Party. This included education of their views about the status and treatment of Jewish people. As stated in a source of material for the Youth Leaders, “People differ therefore in more than their physical characteristics… their inner relationships must therefore be studied. Then we will clearly recognize the vast difference between those of German blood and the Jews…We then understand human inequality.” (Bytwerk). Their avid belief in social Darwinism, r...
It was Hitler’s ability to make group identity salient within the Aryan German population, the transformation of his ideas to ideology, and his deep hatred for the Jews that ultimately led to the Holocaust. Although Anti-Semitism was already present within German society before Hitler rose to power, he was the actor that enacted policies against Jews and what ultimately led to the Final Solution
On April 4, 1968 America experienced the tragic loss of one of its greatest social leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a pivotal leader in the civil rights movement who permeated American history as a man who maintained the importance of nonviolent social change. He fought racism within the public domain by pursuing school integration and basic civil rights for the African-American community. Thirty-one years after his death, America is forced to evaluate the exact implications of his legacy on modern society's attitudes towards race and race relations. Did the civil rights movement really promote positive changes in race relations? How far has American society really come?
27 May 2014. The "Nazi Eugenics" Alpha History: Nazi Germany. N.p., n.d. Web.
During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Germany was experiencing great economic and social hardship. Germany was defeated in World War I and the Treaty of Versailles forced giant reparations upon the country. As a result of these reparations, Germany suffered terrible inflation and mass unemployment. Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party who blamed Jews for Germany’s problems. His incredible public speaking skills, widespread propaganda, and the need to blame someone for Germany’s loss led to Hitler’s great popularity among the German people and the spread of anti-Semitism like wildfire. Hitler initially had a plan to force the Jews out of Germany, but this attempt quickly turned into the biggest genocide in history. The first concentration camps in Germany were established soon after Hitler's appointment as chancellor in January 1933.“...the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew.” –Adolf Hitler
The treatment of Jews and other minority groups by the Nazi’s can be described as actions that could only be done by a totalitarian state. Hitler believed in eugenics, the idea of improving a race by selective breeding. Nazi ideology of the Jewish race was severe anti-Semitism and pure hatred. The Nazi policy towards the Jews has been said to be the most brutal and horrific example of anti-Semitism in history.