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The Final Solution. to the “Jewish Question”. The Final Solution. The Final Solution was the Nazis’ systematic approach to solve their “Jewish question” by eradicating every Jew in Europe during World War II.
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The Final Solution to the “Jewish Question”
The Final Solution • The Final Solution was the Nazis’ systematic approach to solve their “Jewish question” by eradicating every Jew in Europe during World War II. • The implementation of the operation resulted in the most lethal phase of the Holocaust. • Adolf Eichmann, the chief executioner of the Third Reich as well as the supervisor of the genocidal campaign, is credited to the creation of the phrase.
Anti-Semitism: Historical Origins • Anti-Jewish sentiment did not however, originate in the Nazi Party and it can be traced back to the Bible in the book of Esther. In the story, Haman furthers his own gains through the use of libel and discrimination, typical features of Anti-Semitism, towards the Jews. • As Christianity emerged in the Roman Empire, hatred intensified and members of the Jewish community were deprived of their civil rights and their oppression became universal in the western world. • Anti-Semitism, although religious in nature, was a common attitude throughout the Middle Ages. During the Crusades, Jews were massacred and in some cases were forced into conversion. The Black Death, beginning in 1348, was also attributed to the Jews and their inherent evilness. • In the 18th century, the Enlightenment was thought to have ended previous misperceptions of Judaism, although anti-Semitism prevailed in Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia, and other eastern European countries.
The Final Solution • The Final Solution, initiated by Adolf Hitler in the summer of 1941, was the result of the escalating and aggressive Nazi Jewish policy. • The Jews were believed to be responsible for Germany’s defeat in World War I and were blamed for other social ills. • The Nazis deprived them of their citizenship, destroyed their businesses and homes, coerced them to emigrate, and eventually sent them to camps. • It is uncertain if his original intentions were to actually murder every Jew in Europe, but it is unquestionable that Hitler forever wanted to deprive them of their rights as human beings and to implement expulsion and mass emigration.
Historical Significance • Hitler’s obsessive hatred for the Jews was a focal point in the ever present struggle in the defense of Germany. • Using Jews as a common enemy in conjunction with the culture’s deep anti-Semitic history, Hitler united the German people to promote his idea of racial nationalism. • Manipulation, control, and unity were crucial in his quest for power and they were common trends in the era of totalitarianism defined by the regimes of the National Socialists in Germany, the Communists in the USSR, and the Fascists in Italy.
The Holocaust and the Aftermath • The Holocaust and the comprehensive operation that carried out the atrocities resulted in the annihilation of a third of the entire world’s Jewish population, nearly half of all the Jews in Europe, and over two thirds of all of the Jews in the Nazi sphere of influence. • That is a death toll of nearly six million Jewish civilians. • Millions of others were also killed in the holocaust including Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally disabled, various political opponents, and citizens of other countries.
