Who is Responsible For The Holocaust? Custom Essay

Who is responsible for the Holocaust?

-           Hitlers responsibility often argued in simplistic terms:

-           Hitler was the all-powerful dictator of the Nazi state

-           Therefor – without Hitler the Holocaust wouldn’t have happened

-           This is a far too simplistic argument.

The case against Hitler

Working towards the Fuhrer;

•           System of rule

•           Deliberate chaos

•           Hitler outlined vision – i.e. annihilation of Jews and other developed specific policies in order to please him – Euthanasia as an example of an overarching idea – Ambitious Nazi Philip Bouhler found the letter

•           Encouraged radicalisation

•           No Hitler, No Holocaust! – Hitlers Nazi involvement created Nazi ideology

•           Hitler shaped Nazi ideology – 25 point programme and Mein Kampf

•           Shaped and developed Nazi Part

•           Focus on Lebensraum and Jewish-Bolshevism

The case for Hitler

No written order with Hitler’s signature

Played no part in the Wannsee Conference

Never visited any ghetto or death camp

Responsibility of key Nazi leaders???

-           Nazi regime made up of many key leaders competing for power and status – a “polycratic” regime

-           All were part of the system that murdered millions

-           Lower down the system thousands of lesser officials carried out orders that meant persecution, deportation and death for millions of people.

Herman Willhelm Goering

-           Commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe

-           Minister in charge of the Four Year Plan

-           Commissar Order, July 1941 – Execution of Jewish-Bolsheivks

-           Kristallnacht nov 1938 0 1 billion RM fine

-           Ayranisation of the economy

Heydrich

-           Led wannsee conference jan 1942

-           Oversaw Einsatzgruppen

-           Cause of Operation Reinhard

Joseph Goebbels

-           Propaganda – The Eternal Jew/Jud Suss 1940

-           Kristallnacht – key planner

Himmler

-           Head of SS

-           Visit to Einstazgruppen – Led to gassing advances (use of cars)

Albert Speer

-           Forced labour – Camp dora

Role of the SS

SS ideologists – developed Nazi racial theories pseudo-science / Eugenics

Control of new territories- Austria, Poland

SS ran the death camps

SS doctors such as Mengele

How far can we blame the German People for the Holocaust?

-           Many suggest wide section of Ger people knew what was happening in the camps in the east, and that many actively helped the Nazis murder so many. German train drivers driving the trains and cattletrucks which contained Jews to death camps, German soldiers and members of the Einsatzgruppen, whom many were volunteers, murdering thousands of Jews.

-           The goldhagen thesis, that all Germans were under the knowledge of Hitlers actions and enthusiastically supported them and did not oppose him.

Counterargument – Nearby town of Celle near Bergen-Belsen, mayor and his wife hung themselves after British liberators ordered a forced tour.