Holocaust

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The discussion of the Holocaust tends to raise common questions such as, "How could this happen?" or "Could this happen again?" Looking at the past we can observe the events that paved the way for disaster in Germany during World War II.

During the early 1920's, following World War I, a young corporal by the name of Adolph Hitler led the fierce growing National Socialist German Workers Party. Hitler, an anti-Semitic, believed that the Jewish race was poisonous and lived off other races, weakening them. As the years passed by, Adolph Hitler's party grew and his word became absolute law among his followers.

Due to the Treaty of Versailles, the German government was forced to pay reparations to France and England. This was very difficult after putting all their funds into the war. Since the German economy was sliding, Hitler and his party tried to overturn the government in November of 1923.

Their efforts failed as they were suppressed. Hitler was tried for treason and convicted. According to Milton Meltzer, Hitler spoke out boldly, stating "I feel myself not a traitor, but a German who wished the best for his people" (14).

While Adolph Hitler served a light sentence of nine months he wrote a great majority of his book, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). The book told of his early struggles through life and how he wanted to create a new Germany by expanding the German Empire eastward. Hitler wanted to move into areas where Germans already lived, such as Austria, Poland, and Russia. Hitler also went into great depth about the Jews and how they needed to be dealt with. Hitler blamed the Jews for losing WWI and all the other problems that faced Germany.

In 1929 worldwide depression set in. Germany struggled, sinking into a major...