American+Response+to+the+Holocaust

HOLOCAUST

The [|Holocaust] was a tragic event. It was the slaughter of six million Jews, which is two-thirds of the total European Jewish population. There were two main phases of the Holocaust. The first phase was the period between 1933 and 1939, also known as the Nazi rise. The second phase was the period between 1939 and 1945, also known as the period of war (World War 2).

The period between 1933 and 1939 was mainly about [|Hitler]'s plans for ending the struggle with inferior races. All forms of gossip or updates were controlled by the[|Nazis]. If any books or newspaper articles were against the Nazis views then they were burned. Not all of the authors of those books, or articles were Jewish writers. When the Jews were finally going to be accepted, laws started to change. Some laws instituted them forcing them out of public life. Public life meant civil service jobs, law court positions, etc. Jewish businesses were boycotted because Jews were forced to label all clothing with a yellow Star of David with the word Juden (which meant Jew) on it. They were classified as second-class citizens. More laws began to pass between the time of 1937 and 1939. With more laws, the Jews started having a very hard life, and became more segregated. Jews weren't allowed to go to public schools, movie theaters, or resorts. Even some parts of Germany banned Jews from being able to live there nonetheless be able to walk through that town. The economic hardship for the Jewish population was increasing more and more over years. Not only were Jewish businesses getting boycotted they started to get destroyed. In 1938 Jewish building were getting destroyed and Jewish men were getting arrested and murdered. This riot became known as the "Night of Broken Glass." Over one thousand synagogues and seven thousand Jewish businesses were burned down, and wrecked. This event was all planned out by Nazis officials. Thirty thousand men were arrested for their religious beliefs. Not only were they arrested but charged as a crime for their beliefs.

The period between 1939 and 1945 was mainly to eliminate the leaders for World War II. Thousands of Jews were sent to concentration camps. Hitler authorized killings and if the decision was to kill they were sent to death camps. The Nazis at the camps would use gas any kind of equipment. They would then try to hide the killings from the public. After the invasion of the Soviet Union, Jews were killed in mass executions. Mobile killing squads carried out these murders. Babi Yar thirty-three thousand people were murdered, the majority being Jewish. The Nazis used different terms for the executions, such as special actions, or special treatments to make themselves more at ease. Some would drink so they can relax and see that Hitler was "right" for this killing spree. These people weren't killer's just ordinary people doing a "job" or "following orders." Communities, and towns were basically died out. More then three million Soviet prisoners of war were murdered because they were handicapped or institutionalized, different races, or had a different belief system. Can you just imagine what it would have been like if the Holocaust was now occurring? We have more diversity now, then we ever did in the past.

The Holocaust was a serious event, that over 6 million Jews were killed. The majority of American citizens wanted to help because they thought that the prejudice towards the religion of the Jews was unfair. Even though Americans wanted to help, they weren't making it any easier for the Jews to escape from their country and come to America. One reason why America could not let the Jews in our country was because of the Great Depression. Americans had very few job opportunities, which meant that if the Jews were able to come here they wouldn't have been any jobs available for them. Anther reason why America could not let the Jews in the country is because the Jews could not get their Visa's. Jews couldn't get their Visa's because the United States did not want to get in the middle of anything that they would not be able to control nonetheless explain. In my opinion and my research that I have done I think that America was prejudice against Jews. One reason why I think this is because the U.S. didn't take any action upon the Holocaust. Also Jewish people were limited to come to America because African Americans and women finally got well paying jobs and they didn't want to give up there jobs to Jews who escaped from the Holocaust. They also were finally getting the fair treatment that they deserved. Because they never really had the right to vote or get well paying jobs for a long period of time, they didn't want to struggle again in order for Jews to come to America.

The Nuremburg laws made it very difficult for the Jews to live their lives. The Nuremberg laws were developed in 1935 and stated that Jews were deprived from getting their German citizenship at the Nazi national convention in Nuremberg in September. Jews were not able to practice their careers. Many Jews were not able to go to school. Hitler was against Jews he was a young boy living in Vienna. When he lived in the city he was in extreme poverty, and he began to develop hatred watching the successful Jews move about the city. Most of the medicine, laws, the arts, newspapers and publishing were was by Jewish people. Decades of living this type of atmosphere brought about deep resentment among millions of Jews throughout the country. Since he was not a successful man, he came jealous of those who were. Not only was he jealous he was raciest of anyone who was different. He did not like homosexuals, or mentally challenged people, or someone with one arm, absolutely those of different religions nonetheless anyone who was Jewish! Hitler was a very cruel man upon anyone as in an individual. He was mostly to blame for this whole mess of the Holocaust.

I believe America's response to the Holocaust was mostly shocked. America was not known as raciest environment. The United States was just developing a strong nation. They were finally becoming as a whole, one where African Americans and women had the same right as men. Also as where everybody was equal wealthy or rich. For something like the Holocaust to become a part of History caused a lot of surprise.