Why The Holocaust? (No Flaming Please)

[NimbleJack3]

First of all, I do not wish to elicit flaming or trolling. This is meant to be a rational discussion about a very sad and horrible event.
If the mods think otherwise, please feel free to remove this thread. I apologize.

What I have been wondering lately, is why Adolf Hitler chose to target the people he did during his rise to power and the holocaust. It could simply be that he was insane and simply chose them at random. Although I think that only a specific cause would elicit such a terrible response, even from someone as clearly mad as Hitler. I have heard that it might be because the Jewish father of a girlfriend forbade them to see each other.

I think it might be because of a traumatic experience young Adolf had. There he was, gurgling in his cot with a stars-and-moons mobile above him when it fell on his head. The last thing he saw before he was knocked senseless was a great big six-pointed star.

Why do you think he did it?

 

[TaborMallory]

He was racist and honestly believed the Jews were blocking Germany from achieving greatness. Once he got insane amounts of power, he decided to "take action". I'm sure a touch of madness came into play as well; surely not everyone orders mass genocide purely from hatred.

 

[Aedrial]

First of all, I do not wish to elicit flaming or trolling. This is meant to be a rational discussion about a very sad and horrible event.
If the mods think otherwise, please feel free to remove this thread. I apologize.

What I have been wondering lately, is why Adolf Hitler chose to target the Jewish people during his rise to power and the holocaust. It could simply be that he was insane and simply chose them at random. Although I think that only a specific cause would elicit such a terrible response, even from someone as clearly mad as Hitler. I have heard that it might be because the Jewish father of a girlfriend forbade them to see each other.

I think it might be because of a traumatic experience young Adolf had. There he was, gurgling in his cot with a stars-and-moons mobile above him when it fell on his head. The last thing he saw before he was knocked senseless was a great big six-pointed star.

Why do you think he did it?

He needed a scapegoat.

 

[lostclause]

Scapegoating for Germany's ills. Anyway, it wasn't just Jews but Gypsies (another scapegoat) and also Masons (a group many have been traditionally suspicious of).

Edit: There may have also been an economic benefit from seizing property (like Augustus' prosciptions).

 

[Kollega]

He needed a scapegoat,was insane,AND had personal dislike for jews.

 

[The Rockerfly]

Because Hitler hated Jewish people so he killed them. If you let any truly racist person into power, there is a very high chance they will to

Plus it was very easy to blame Germany's problems on Jewish people. My history isn't 100% perfect though so you might have to take other peoples word about it

Didn't he also go after the Poles, Gypsies, and cripples?

Or am I just misremembering?

Nope you are correct, I think he also started going for people without blonde hair and blue eyes (again if memory serves me correct)

 

[The_Healer]

Didn't he also go after the Poles, Gypsies, and cripples?

Or am I just misremembering?

And everyone without blonde hair and blue eyes?

Ahh perhaps we are both mistaken.

Edit: Ninja'd. Too fast for me Rockerfly.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

People in Germany were poor, had no national pride and were desperate at that point in history. They had been saddled with an enormous bill at the end of WW1, which they couldn't possibly pay off. Hitler played on their feelings by targeting the rich and minorities, two groups which the bankrupt Germans could find it easy to hate.

That's my take on it, anyway.

 

[Skeleon]

Because it is easier to inspire people with hatred. The jews were rather rich at the time while the rest of germany was no so. Plus all people are xenophobic assholes in some regard and love having someone to hate. So he managed to get even more power and more people following him with really quite minimal effort.

This, pretty much. Scapegoating has been a great political tactic for ages, whether it be Jews, immigrants, homosexuals or whatever. And the Jews in particular had long been a likely target because they were always outcasts, spread throughout the world without unity to give them protection.

EDIT: Even back in the Middle Ages, people would say "The Jews poisoned the wells!" when the Plague broke out.

 

[Starke]

Basically the scapegoat statement is accurate. Though there is some evidence that he had a personal grudge against Jews, whatever the source of that hatred was is unknown.

There is another reason, and I'll try to phrase this as precisely as I can. Because Jewesh enclaves in Germany retained a distinct cultural identity and were perceived as being economically successful, they were a group that was regarded with some suspicion in Germany, and to an extent in Europe at the time. There were also numerous popular conspiracy theories regarding Jews at the time. (There was a trial, I'll try to dig up on Wiki.) Hitler didn't create antisemitism, it goes back into the nineteenth century as a distinct... impulse(?). But, he did exploit it to his own benifit. As mentioned earlier the Jews weren't the only targets, other marginalized groups, like the Gypsies and Masons (first I'd heard of the Masons being targeted though) were also targeted in xenophobia.

Xenophobia played well in Germany in the 30s because of the aftermath of the Treaty of Versiels(sp?), which left Germany in ruins economically. Because of this, there was a fairly pronounced level of suspicion of foreigners in German identity(?) at that moment in time, and Hitler exploited it.

EDIT: it was the Dreyfus Affair, I was remembering.

Relevant or not, here's the links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus

 

[sebar nl]

Didn't he also go after the Poles, Gypsies, and cripples?

Or am I just misremembering?

No, you are correct, he also went after the homosexuals. What I always wondered is why he had to kill them to prevent from having babies. Wouldn't it be simpler to just sterilize them? (which is an act i still don't agree with)

 

[Robert0288]

Didn't he also go after the Poles, Gypsies, and cripples?

Or am I just misremembering?

Correct; invalids, mentally handicapped, disfigured, Poles, Russians (slavs in general) gypsies, gays etc...

Also political dissidents, and other people who he didn't like at the time.

 

[Mysterious Stranger]

Didn't he also go after the Poles, Gypsies, and cripples?

Or am I just misremembering?

Yes, and, interesting story, the reason he wanted to eliminate Gypsies was because of one of their other names, Aryans. If he was going to call his master race Aryans, the real ones would have to die first.

 

[NimbleJack3]

Because it is easier to inspire people with hatred. The jews were rather rich at the time while the rest of germany was no so. Plus all people are xenophobic assholes in some regard and love having someone to hate. So he managed to get even more power and more people following him with really quite minimal effort.

Ah, I see. However, his discrimination against the Jewish started even while he was a silly man with a bad haircut standing on a box and shouting at the crowd. Only after WWI did he become popular due to financial crises.

Also, I like your avatar. Who is it?

 

[kotorfan04]

Also anti-semitism was rather common back then. It would be like the U.S. trying to kill all the Native Americans back in the 19th century. Yeah the Jews were everyone's scapegoat back then. In the 13th Century they were blamed for poisoning the wells and giving people plague.

 

[NimbleJack3]

He had some bad personal encounters with Jews in Bavaria (I think) and hopped on the hate bandwagon.

This is what I'm interested in finding out. What specifically set it all off?

Didn't he also go after the Poles, Gypsies, and cripples?

Or am I just misremembering?

Nope you are correct, I think he also started going for people without blonde hair and blue eyes (again if memory serves me correct)

Which is curious, seeing as he was neither blonde nor blue eyed.