Who's To Blame For The Holocaust

In 1941, the eastern front has grown to include many countries through out Europe. The final-solution was underway in Nazi occupied Germany and Jewish civilians began fleeing to other countries as a place for refuge. German citizens seem to be able to balance the sense of chaotic war and normal life relatively easy. What allied countries around the world didn’t know was that thousands were dying each day not soldiers, innocent civilians. German citizens didn’t seem to know anything about it. How could a whole civilization seem to not know anything about the murder of millions of innocent civilians? The German citizens did know what was going on, they decided to look away and ignore what was happening. "All spheres of life in Germany actively

participated: Businessmen, policemen, bankers, doctors, lawyers, soldiers, railroad and factory workers, chemists, pharmacists, foremen, production managers, economists, manufacturers, jewelers, diplomats, civil servants, propagandists, film makers and film stars, professors, teachers, politicians, mayors, party members, construction experts, art dealers, architects, landlords, janitors, truck drivers, clerks, industrialists, scientists, generals, and even shopkeepers—all were essential cogs in the machinery that accomplished the final solution.”– Konnilyn G. Feig. All of the German citizens played an important role in the attempt at the ultimate destruction of the Jewish faith and civilians.

Though the German citizens have been often viewed as just innocent people who were blamed for the holocaust, because of their destructive leaders.

They played more of a roll than some might believe. Many German Lawyers and police officials at the time believed deeply in upholding the law( holocaust museum citation). When Hitler declared Jews to be "swine" and "dogs" and that they were to be moved and deported, the German citizens went along with it and didn’t ask questions( some citation for swine and dogs). Jews would be brought in front of courts for crimes that were petite or that they never did (museum again). Judges would follow the laws wrote down by Adolf and would persecute the innocent Jewish civilians for no reason. When cattle cars were to be loaded with Jewish civilians and shipped from the ghetto to concentration camps the police forces helped in doing this. German Police would help SS guards to move the Jews from the ghetto to cattle cars. German police officers, also called gestapos, also helped to hunt down and detain run away Jewish citizens through out the war. "Freedom is when one hears the bell at seven o'clock in the morning and knows it is the milkman and not the gestapo" - Georges Bidault (), this quote shows how at any moment if you were accused of anything mainly hiding and sheltering Jews or being a Jew the gestapo could show up and kill you or arrest you at

anytime.

A way that the Third Reich was trying to gain support from civilians and make them believe that what they were doing was right was propaganda. The Third Reich used propaganda throughout the war to place blame on Jewish civilians for causing the war. When German citizens became brain washed with the idea that all Jews were bad they began to think that anything that they did to the Jews was helping there country as a whole. Citizens were told to report anyone who was hiding Jews or was a Jew. The gestapos and other police forces would then begin to round them up and send them to places such as Auschwitz. The Third Reich also used fear to