“Not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims”1. A brief statement presented by, Nobel Peace Prize winner2 and holocaust survivor3, Elie Wiesel. This statement signifies the horrors of World War Two, essentially how everybody was targeted and victimized by the Nazis, during the holocaust. The Jews was discriminated, solely based on the fact that they were of Jewish race. It is undeniable that the holocaust contained the darkest days of human history, as racism, mass murder and psychological warfare plagued the world. As everyone faced the iron fist of the Nazis as they eliminated people with opposing ideologies as Hitler.
It is undeniable that World War II and the more importantly the Holocaust stemmed from Hitler’s corrupted prejudice views on the Jewish people. Shortly following the events of World War I, when Hitler was imprisoned in 1924, Hitler wrote the book titled “Mein Kampf” which translates into “My Struggle” in English. This book is debated upon being the most racist novel, due to its anti-Semitic themes. This clearly indicates that Hitler was a racist individual against the Jewish heritage. Moreover anti-Semitism also stems into pro-Aryan ideologies. The term “Aryan” was used in the early twentieth century to describe a Caucasian who did associate him/herself with Judaism4. In addition Hitler became the Führer (equivalent to the President in United States of America or the Prime Minister in Canada) in 19345. Gradually anti-Semitic thoughts of Hitler plagued Germany’s population through the education system. Students were being taught how Aryan they were by comparing themselves to posters indicating Aryan facial features. As a result from all the anti-Semitic ideas, a legend named “Dolchstoß” which translated into “stabbed in the back”, was a myth that was started by a World War I Field Marshal ,Paul von Hindenburg6, was becoming increasingly popular. Paul von Hindenburg stated “The German army was undefeated, 'stabbed in the back' by the Home Front, by the civilians…”7. The stab in the back legend was mainly aimed at the Jewish, as they were portrayed as the civilian traitors8 in numerous political cartoons. Anti-Semitism was slowly socially accepted and people of Jewish backgrounds were considered to be the stem of all problems. Hitler eventually passed numerous laws violating Jewish people’s rights. Those laws included Jewish people were required by law to have the label “Jew” on businesses and passports. A yellow Star of David must be sewn on Jewish people’s clothing. All these actions created a generation of children growing up to have a corrupted mindset that Jewish people were an inferior race and was weakening the superior Aryan race. On November 9 and 10th 19389, racism against the Jewish race became uncontrollable, as there was the first organized huge scale anti-Semitic event, which was later known as “Kristallnacht” or “the night of the broken glass”. Over the course of two days, civilians and the police were involved in destroying 1574 synagogues (Jewish churches). After the Kristallnacht, Reinhard Heydrich, leader of German Schutzstaffel, recommended to intern the Jewish population into small confined remote areas. These were soon to be known as ghettos, where the Jewish people were forced to live, solely based on the fact that the believed in Judaism. Now in modern society we can see how racist such acts are, as they violate the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically article 18, where it states everyone has the freedom of religion10. Moreover it is unfortunate that the United Nations was established after World War II or else horrid acts of discrimination and the war could have been avoided. Racist ideologies of the Nazis plagued Germany, as Jews were looked down upon, mistreated and demeaned by the general public.
The Holocaust was world-renown due to the mass murder of people opposed to Hitler’s ideology of the perfect world. Concentration camps, established