SOCIAL FACTORS
After the defeat of Germany in World War I the people were looking for a reason to blame someone for their countries problems. This is when the Nazi extreamist group came in control over the country. Using propaganda they led the citizens to believe that the Jewish people were enemies and a threat to the "supreme" race. Hitler and his Nazis were able to proprogate institutions of German society to be antisemitic. German churches, schools and business are some examples. State churches demonized Jews and the church hierachies did little to stop it. In schools children were taught that the Aryan race was the superior race. They used anti-semitic propaganda to portray the Jews as ugly, stupid, inferior, and their mere presence should be considered a threat. With the strong proclamation of German racial superiority by the Nazis being so persuasive and resentless it shaped the general attitudes of the people of Germany.
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ECONOMIC FACTORS
The economy after WWI and before the Holocaust in Germany was at its worse. Because of their defeat in the war, the Treaty of Versailles stated that they owed other nations money for their economy loses. Their debt to these countries for reparitions of damages estimated to be 132 billion gold Marks This made Germany extreamly poor in the early twenties. Infaltion reached and all time high; which made the German Mark lose its value.
The unemployment rate was very high, virtualing wiping out German's middle class. As the govennment slowly started working on it's problems and showed a sign of improvement, the Great Depression hit the Western World in 1929. This put Germany in a severe economic depression. At this point the German citizens were critizing the Weimar Republic, who ruled Germany from 1919 to 1933, for not being able to handle their countries problems. This is when the rise of the National Socialist Parties became favored by the citizens.
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PHYSICAL FACTORS
The Treaty of Versailles also made Germany turn over their colonies overseas. Germany ended up losing 13% of its total terriority. The League of Nations gave the colonies to Great Britian, France and Japan. This left the country even more helpless and less stable.
Professor Comments:
An excellent job of describing the various influences; the Holocaust does not appear to be a simple event, since we know so many were involved in it, either by allowing it, advocating it, or conducting it. This page makes this problem plain for the reader.
Good use of photos to augment the narrative. You guys are scoring very high on this project -- all pages to this point have been very, very well done.
What teamwork! I guess GROUP tasking does produce success!!
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POLITICAL FACTORS
The first attempt in establishing a free democracy in Germany was called the Weimar Republic. This is the peiord of German government between 1919 to 1993. After WWI the country tried to become stable with a democracy. This type of rule was not popular or effecient in Germany. Especially with the hard times it was facing, including the Great Depression. The people were suffering and disatisfied with their government. They are used to nationalism and being conservative and they wanted someone powerful who will bring their country out of economic despair. Hitler and his Nazis were the solution to the downfalls of the Weimar Republic. The National Socialist German Workers Party(Nazis) devloped new prejudices and provided the country with an easy available scapegoat; the Jewish people.
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CULTURAL FACTORS
Before the 19th Century the hatred of Jews was mainly religion based. The Christians held the Jews responsible for killing God and saw their religion as primitive and lacking morals. During the 19th century racism came about and antisemitism became more a race issue with the Jews instead of a religious one. The Jewish people were seen as a contaminated race ultimatly being a biological threat to the well-being of "the Germans". Since Hilter was an atheist his hatred towards the Jews hardly had to do with their religious beliefs and more in the issue of race. He preached to the German people that the Jewish were inferior and did not belong in their country. Hitler was able to convince the Germans that the Jewish did not belong in any part of German culture. He found ways to exclude the Jewish from German society. They were not allowed in restaurants, bathrooms, businesses, and their services were not wanted. Most of the German society accepted these ultra-conservative ideas because they were brainwashed by Hitlers promised to bring back military and economic stability. |
