A spiral of fascism

There were new ideas for social progress in the early 1900s. However, genocide was also common at the time. Genocide is the planned killing of a group of people, usually because of their race or ethnicity. By the 1930s, many world leaders began following ideas like nationalism, fascism, and imperialism. Eventually, “ordinary” people began supporting these ideas, too. In Europe during World War II, fascism spiraled into a violent genocide we call the Holocaust.

The Holocaust was the brutal killing of millions of people. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party and the German military were behind it. They mostly targeted Jews. People of the Roma ethnic group, Soviet prisoners-of-war, and other Eastern Europeans were also persecuted. Other people were targeted because of their race, political beliefs, disability, religion, or sexual orientation.

It may be hard to think about the violence of the Holocaust. However, it’s important that we do. Thinking about what went wrong is how we keep the Holocaust from happening again. In this article, we will see how the persecution of minority groups slowly intensified, until it became a horrific society-wide genocide.

Origins and first steps before the Second World War

You have already learned about the fascism of the early 1900s. It tried to use science to justify racism, and supported ideas about keeping nations “pure.” You also learned about European imperialism. Fascism and nationalism came together in a terrible way in Hitler’s wartime Germany.

The Nazis targeted many groups. However, they cared most about eliminating Jews. They thought doing so would result in a racially “pure” German nation. “Pure” Germans were thought to be of a superior, Aryan race. Even German children were taught these racist ideas in school.

By 1933, these ideas became law. Jewish Germans were forced to wear armbands or yellow stars. In 1935, the Nazis passed the Nuremberg Laws. Jews and Roma lost their German citizenship, and new laws banned Jews and Germans from dating and other interactions.

Jews lost even more rights after Kristallnacht, which means the night of broken glass. On November 9, 1938, anti- Jewish Germans began rioting. They destroyed Jewish homes, businesses, and religious buildings. Around 30,000 Jewish males were sent to concentration camps.

After Kristallnacht, Jews were banned from public places like parks and schools. They could not have certain jobs. The Nazi state was planning to get rid of the Jews by imprisoning them, sending them away, or worse.

Intensification after 1939

In 1939, the Holocaust grew more violent. The Soviets had invaded Poland. At the same time, Adolf Hitler had invaded Poland to create new territory for “Aryan” Germans.

Polish Jews were forced to live in crowded neighborhoods called ghettos. Countless Jews and others were killed in mass shootings. Others were sent to ghettos and labor camps.

At the same time, the Nazis began the “T4” program. This program intentionally killed disabled teens, adults, and elderly people. Nazi Germany believed these people did not belong in society.

The “Final Solution”

In late 1941, Hitler approved a “final solution” to the “Jewish question.” Extermination camps were made to kill Jews with poison gas and cremate them. By the end of WWII, over 3 million people were killed at the extermination camps.

Once they arrived in the camps, the Nazis chose some Jews for hard labor. Others were killed immediately. The Nazis had a cruel and racist logic for deciding who would die. For example, they often gassed pregnant women because they believed they would continue the Jewish race. Many of those who survived the hard labor at the camps were later killed because the Nazis believed their strength was a danger. This genocide went on for over two years.

Who were the killers?

The Holocaust continued outside of extermination camps. Thousands of Jews died performing slave labor for German businesses in concentration camps. Omer Bartov is a historian. He says the murders outside the extermination camps were different because they were personal. They sometimes happened near peoples’ homes. The killers and the victims knew each other before the Holocaust. Bartov reminds us that the Holocaust could not have happened without the participation of German citizens.

Historians have studied how “ordinary” Germans got involved in the Holocaust. Some say they liked fascism because it made them feel like they belonged to something. Germans were also surrounded by racist images and beliefs. In addition, many groups like the Roma were treated unfairly before the Holocaust. In a way, the Holocaust was just a more extreme version of this discrimination.

Gender also influenced the Holocaust. Fascist leaders like Hitler believed men should fight in wars while women should produce children for the nation. These beliefs took away women’s rights. Still, many women supported these beliefs because they wanted to support their country.

Gisela Bock studies women in Nazi Germany. Bock says it is important to note that people died because of their race, not their gender. It’s possible men and women had different experiences in the camps, but they were all part of the same nightmare. Bock also notes that anyone considered LGBTQ was a target, too.

We may always struggle with the horrors of the Holocaust. It is hard to accept that so many people supported the killing. Meanwhile, many others did not speak out against it.

Fascism and the Holocaust destroyed trust between people. We are all still recovering from it. Nowadays, we need to take notice when we lose compassion for people being treated unfairly. Without compassion, something like the Holocaust could happen again.