Holocaust

I

Introduction

Holocaust, the almost complete destruction of Jews in Europe by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II (1939-1945). The leadership of Germany’s Nazi Party ordered the extermination of 5.6 million to 5.9 million Jews (see National Socialism). Jews often refer to the Holocaust as Shoah (from the Hebrew word for “catastrophe” or “total destruction”). The word holocaust derives from the Greek holo (whole) and caustos (burned) and originally referred to a burnt offering, or a religious sacrifice that is totally consumed by fire.

The Holocaust was the worst genocide in history. Those who carried it out methodically created the means to efficiently round up and kill millions of people. The Holocaust led to the establishment of international laws against human rights violations.

Jews were not the only victims of the Nazis during World War II. The Nazis also imprisoned and killed people who opposed their regime on grounds of ideology; Roma (Gypsies); Germans who were mentally impaired or physically disabled; homosexuals; and captured Soviet soldiers.

II

Historical Background

For many centuries Christians in Europe discriminated against Jews. Many harbored a prejudice against Jews that is known as anti-Semitism. Some scholars view anti-Semitism as a religious prejudice. Others regard it as an anti-Jewish variety of a general hatred directed against ethnic minorities.

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In the minds of anti-Semites, Jews represent mysterious, mythical, and evil forces; are all-powerful; and play a sinister role in world history. In the Middle Ages, Christian anti-Jewish preaching sought to prevent contacts with Jews, and many Christians believed that Jews were in league with the Devil. Christians blamed the Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Many believed that Jews were not human and that they used magic to appear like other people. All these beliefs merged with popular superstitions about the magical power of human blood, sorcery, and perversity, giving rise to the blood libel—the false accusation that Jews used the blood of Christian children in their rituals. Such stereotypes of the Jews interacted in the minds of many Europeans with fear of foreigners and combined with economic and social frictions. As a result, anti-Jewish violence frequently erupted. The Christian church and various governments enacted laws that prohibited Jews from engaging in certain occupations, forced them to live in certain areas, kept them from attending universities, or even expelled them from various countries.

For many centuries the Roman Catholic Church taught anti-Jewish beliefs and attitudes. The anti-Jewish teachings of the Catholic Church did not advocate the killing of Jews. However, the propagation of hatred, insults, degradation, and often demonization of Jews induced many Catholics to accept anti-Semitic measures when the Nazis and their collaborators introduced them in the 20th century.

The same was true of Protestant churches. The pamphlet “On the Jews and their Lies,” written by German religious reformer Martin Luther in 1542, used extremely violent language. It called on Christians to set synagogues on fire, to destroy Jewish houses, and to put Jews in stables, and it advised rulers to banish Jews from their countries. Luther’s writings had a significant influence on German Protestant theologians and also contributed to a climate of opinion that condoned or approved persecution of Jews.

In the 19th century, Jews in most European countries were emancipated—that is, they were granted rights equal to those of the Christian citizens or subjects of those countries. The Industrial Revolution was under way, and Jews began playing a significant role as entrepreneurs in the newly developing industries and businesses. The rapid social and economic mobility and cultural advancement of European Jews during this period made them one of the most visible symbols of modernization. Individuals who opposed 19th-century modernization—ranging from aristocrats to peasants—perceived the Jews as a destructive force. Traditional attitudes that persisted after Jewish emancipation and new images of the Jews both merged with contemporary frustrations and angers resulting from the social changes brought on by capitalism.

In the second half of the 19th century, modern anti-Semitism penetrated Catholic political circles and parties. The Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica, published in Rome, continuously spread anti-Semitic prejudices whose influence ranged far beyond Italy. In Austria the Christian Social Party, which enjoyed the backing of the Catholic Church, had strong anti-Semitic elements and revived the blood libel. In France the Catholic press propagated anti-Jewish sentiments, especially at the time of the Dreyfus affair, a controversy involving a Jewish officer in the French army who was wrongly convicted of treason in 1894.

By the mid-19th century a new social theory had emerged in Europe: the theory of race. According to this theory, humanity was divided into “higher” and “lower” races. In the view of those who believed in this theory, the Jews were a mongrel race—and a mortal threat to the “purity” of the “higher” races.

The appearance of anti-Jewish parties and organizations, whether they were based on economic, religious, or racist principles, or a combination of all of these, constitutes the most important distinguishing feature of modern political anti-Semitism. Such parties came to the fore especially in Germany in the 1880s. In the Russian Empire anti-Semitism became an official policy of the government, which in 1881 and 1882 encouraged anti-Jewish mob attacks, or pogroms. The first international congress of anti-Semites convened in 1882 in the German city of Dresden. By the start of the 20th century there were many committed anti-Semites throughout Europe, particularly in France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Romania. Although anti-Semitic parties did not receive many votes, anti-Semitism was not only widespread but also socially acceptable.

The emergence of nation-states in eastern Europe following the collapse of the Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian empires after World War I (1914-1918) brought an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism. Both individuals and governments carried out acts of hostility against Jews. Many of the leaders of Russia’s Communist-led Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 were Jewish, supplying anti-Communist conservatives in many countries with new anti-Semitic ammunition. In the period between the end of World War I and the start of World War II, anti-Semitic measures became official state policy in some countries. In countries such as Poland, Romania, and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, traditional anti-Judaism merged with new views of Jews as carriers of Communism.

III

Attitudes Toward Jews in Germany After World War I

Many Germans blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War I, some even claiming that German Jews had betrayed the nation during the war. In addition, at the end of the war a Communist group attempted to carry out a Bolshevik-type revolution in the German state of Bavaria. Most of the leaders of that failed attempt were Jews. As a result, some Germans associated Jews with Bolsheviks and regarded both groups as dangerous enemies of Germany. After the war, a republic known as the Weimar Republic was set up in Germany. Jewish politicians and intellectuals played an important role in German life during the Weimar Republic, and many non-Jews resented their influence.

On the basis of his anti-Semitic views, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler attacked the impressive role Jews played in German society during the Weimar Republic, especially in the intellectual world and in left-wing politics. He referred to them as a plague and a cancer. In his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle, translated 1939), which was published in 1926, Hitler blamed the plight of Germany at the end of World War I on an international Jewish conspiracy and used terms such as extirpation and extermination in relation to the Jews. He claimed that the Jews had achieved economic dominance and the ability to control and manipulate the mass media to their own advantage. He wrote of the need to eradicate their powerful economic position, if necessary by means of their physical removal.

IV

Uniqueness of Nazi Anti-Semitism

The linking of anti-Semitic accusations to race struggle is what made Nazism so genocidal. The Nazis believed the Jews were responsible for what they regarded as the degeneracy of modern society. Hitler viewed modern ideologies that stressed equality and emancipation as a revolt of inferior classes and peoples led by the Jews. The Nazis viewed Bolshevism as the most radical recent form of the ancient Jewish conspiracy that would lead to national dissolution and disintegration. For Hitler, Nazism was thus a doctrine of world salvation to redeem humanity from the Jewish-Bolshevik doctrine. He believed that the German race had to acquire and maintain total supremacy through total war against the Jews. Such a war would be a fight in which the only alternatives, for either side, were victory or extinction.

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