The period from 1933 to 1945 marked the horrible time of the Holocaust. In Germany, the Jews were blamed for Germany’s economic problems and murdered by the millions. In total the Holocaust’s death toll was eleven million, six of which were Jews. Adolf Hitler, chancellor of
Germany at the time, is often seen as the sole person responsible for this terrible event. In fact, many groups many groups were to blame for the Holocaust. The three main groups responsible are the Nazis who pursued the Jews and ran the concentration camps, the people not being oppressed that said nothing, and, of course, Hitler himself.
One of the major contributors of the Holocaust are the Nazi soldiers. Can there be a clock without the gears? No, of course not! Well, the Nazis are like the gears that made the clock work.
They carried out the heinous acts against the Jews and the oppressed. It was their inhumane actions that resulted in so much death so they definitely deserve some blame. Hitler did not force the officers to starve the prisoners until they were nothing more than walking bones. He did not make them separate husbands and wives; parents and children, and he did not coerce them into making the captives work until they dropped. It was the Nazi’s ultimate choice to do all those awful deeds, therefore they must claim responsibility.
Additionally, the outsiders not being directly affected but who did not do anything to help the imprisoned are also partly responsible for the genocide. As the Holocaust survivor, Elie
Wiesel, said in his book Night, “How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent” (32)? Others knew of Hitler’s “Final Solution” and the brutal concentration camps but they did nothing to help. Either people supported the Holocaust or were against it. Those who supported it obviously deserve blame because they allowed the
Holocaust to happen and even encouraged it. However, those who were not in favor of the genocide but did nothing are no better than the supporters. It is just like Albert Einstein said:
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” For twelve years, countless Jews along with many other groups of people were persecuted and tortured for no valid reason and it was not stopped.
Even though is wasn’t their problem, other countries like the US, or even cities housing the death camps should have at least done something to help sooner. Then the awful genocide could not have victimized so many.
Lastly, some may argue that it was completely