What could ________ have done to stop or mitigate the Holocaust?
Fill in the blank: European Jews, German citizens, Western democracies, citizens of occupied countries, the Catholic Church or other religious groups.
The failure of the United States, Western Democracies, and non-governmental organizations including religion to intervene when informed of the mass murders is a complex discussion that has been held all around the world. Share your thoughts to the sentence above, along with your opinion.
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The images of this horrible time in history have continued to tear at the heart strings of America.
ReplyDeleteWhat could WESTERN DEMOCRACIES have done to stop or mitigate the Holocaust?
ReplyDeleteWhat could EUROPEAN JEWS have done to stop or mitigate the Holocaust?
etc. You pick the first sentence to start your comment.
What could have western democracies have tone to stop the Holocaust?
ReplyDeletein my opinion, if other countries knew this was happening to the jews, the should have put at stop to it. the U.S should have came right when this was happening to prevent all those deaths that occured. i dont know much about how fast the U.S acted as to when they heard the deaths occuring but if they waited, then that was where everything could have been prevented.
Ziyad Shawwa
What could german citizens have done to stop the holocaust?
ReplyDeletewell to me I think they should of tried fighting Hitler back instead of being stupid enough to let him brainwash them into joining his army. Then by doing that they would not have had concentration camps and a big war, because they could have just overthrown hitler.
It sucks that the Jews couldn't do anything for themselves because thousands were slaughtered or killed by the gas chambers. and bodies just piled up. I can't even imagine being an american soldier discovering all the dead bodies. It would have been shocking, devestating, disgusting, and depressing all at the same time.
honestly, it is not the respnsibility of ANY one to make sure that a person/group of people are doing alright. however, the halocaust was immoral, and wrong.
ReplyDeleteziyad, if you saw band of brothers, in the movie, the americans, and the germans both had NO idea that the halocost exhisted. like in the movie, the american troops went to local german food places, and stole food, and they were all like "wtf man?" and the americans were like "dont you have any idea whats going on??" and the germans werre all like ".. nah .. what?" and the americans showed them. the halocost was a secret. no one could really do anything about it.
zach harris
The holocaust was virtually undetectable for several years. Hitler was dictating Germany. He was invading other European countries. He hated the Jewish. And was having them deported. Everyone knew of all of this. But what no one knew, was what happened to the Jews after they were deported.
ReplyDeleteNo one could have possibly known that the Jews were being mass murdered by the Nazis. There was no evidence of it, nor was there a reason to suspect any such thing. The Germans were extremely good at deceiving the world of what was actually going on. They spread false information about what was happening to the Jews. According to them, the Jews were being "resettled" and given housing and even jobs. The world was in the dark about the truth, until two Auschwitz escapees released information about the horrors that were occurring.
Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, two Slovakian Jewish teenagers, managed to escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp. They made their way back to Slovakia and told the Jewish community of what was actually going on. This was completely unimaginable for their fellow Jews. Such an organized mass killing was unfathomable. Understandably so, it took them quite a while to begin believing their stories.
Once the truth came out, the Jewish council put out a report written by Vrba and Wetzler. It gave detailed descriptions and explanations of what was actually going on at the end of railroad tracks. This report was then to be sent to all other Jewish councils in every European country, and eventually to Britain and the United States. The report was sent to Hungary, the country next up on the list to have their Jews deported. Hungary had heard rumors of the extermination camps, but it wasn't until they received a copy of Vrba's report that they knew it was true.
To answer the question, "What could European Jews have done to stop or mitigate the Holocaust?", I say this. Rudolf Kastner, a Jewish leader in Hungary, received the Vrba-Wetzler report and chose NOT to release it to the Hungarian Jewish community. He was worried that if word of the report got out, that it would ruin a deal he was trying to make with Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann offered to let one million Jewish deportees to go free if Kastner could provide him with 10,000 trucks full of supplies. Kastner then brought the deal to Britain and America, but they both wanted absolutely nothing to do with helping out the Nazis. This deal only would have helped Hitler continue invading other countries and killing more Jews as planned. If Kastner had released the report to the Hungarian Jews, the Jewish Leadership in Hungary may have been able prevent hundreds of thousands of Jewish Hungarians from boarding the trains to Auschwitz. They would have made more of an effort to receive immediate assistance from Allied forces. Up to 12,000 Hungarian Jews were being murdered in gas chambers every day. Kastner continued to hold out hope for the deal with Eichmann, continuing to negotiate day after day. But this was all a part of Eichmann's plan. He knew that for every day that passed, thousands more Jews were being killed in Auschwitz. Kastner did manage to save a few thousand Jews in the end, but that does not even come close to the number of Hungarian Jews that were killed in Auschwitz.
As for the Allies, they took much too long to respond to the news of the Nazi killings. I believe once they DID act (by attacking Hungary), they did so swiftly and strongly. But this should have been done IMMEDIATELY after they received the Vrba-Wetzler report. The Allied Powers managed to save 120,000 Hungarian Jews from being deported, but only after 300,000 had been killed at Auschwitz. These deaths could have been prevented if Britain and the U.S had stepped in sooner.
Anddd, that was really long. Haha. Sorry. I just had a lot to say :-P
Western democracies. Western Democracies could have interfered before Hitler had as much power as he assumed after his rantings and announcements. Anybody could have interfered but we should have led the charge because "Our Country Stands For The Land Of the Free and The Home Of the Brave", and once we would have stepped up for what we believe in then others would have done so also.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Austin
Per.6
What could ANYONE have done to stop or mitigate the Holocaust?
ReplyDeleteNothing. The people of Germany elected Adolf Hitler, the leader and face of the Nazi party. Nazis were known for their anti-Semitic beliefs, as were most Germans at the time.
It is believed that Hitler himself was not known as anti-Semitic before becoming involved in politics. But during the time he entered the political field, it was not only common, but necessary for someone running for office to make negative statements about the Jewish people. It is just as common as political candidates in the U.S. today talking about healthcare reform as it was for a German candidate ranting about the Jews' negative impact on German society. Germany's problems were blamed on the Jews by all politicians at the time, so it is understandable that Hitler would be elected into office for preaching this message. He shared the beliefs that the majority of Germans did at that time. Whether or not their beliefs were morally justified does not truly matter. It was not taken into consideration then and I will not take it into consideration now. From Germany's perspective at the time period, Hitler was what they wanted: a strong willed leader who preached the beliefs of the common German citizen. Hitler's rise to power was understandable.
As he outlined in his autobiography "Mein Kampf", he wished for the Nazi people to emigrate to their own land--free from Jews and other lower-class members of German society. It is safe to say that Hitler's intention was NOT to exterminate the Jewish people, but to separate from them. The turning point--from the idea of isolation from the Jews, to the slaughter of them, was not Hitler's doing (though he did approve of it). A member of his cabinet--Dr. Joseph Goebbels--was to blame. He desired, more than any other party member, the complete extermination of the Jewish people. His chance to act upon this fantasy was given when a young Jewish boy, in retaliation for the extradition of his family, shot and killed a German diplomat. Goebbels relayed this message to Hitler, and told him that the German people had reacted harshly to the news and were displaying acts of violence against Jews. This was a lie. No acts of violence had occurred, but Goebbels convinced Hitler otherwise, so that he would have support in his plan of attacking the Jewish people. Hitler told Goebbels that he approved of the Germans' fierce reaction--which was just what Goebbels wanted to hear. Immediately following his conversation with Hitler, Goebbels addressed the Nazi party and urged them to "continue" their violence against the Jews. They did. The night that the Nazis responded to Goebbels' speech is the night the Holocaust is said to have begun--"Kristallnacht" (the Night of Broken Glass). This night was the first in a string of events which led to the killing of an estimated 6 million Jews by the Nazis.
The Holocaust could not have been prevented. It wasn't something that the Germans avoided, but welcomed with open arms: "Heil Hitler!"
Jack Relva (Period 7)
What could German Citizens done to stop or mitigate the Holocaust?
ReplyDeleteGerman citizens could have asked questions on where 6,000,000 Jewish people went. I think it would be kind of noticeable if 6,000,000 people were just taken away in the United States even though our population is bigger than Germany's was. German citizens probably were not supporting killing innocent people, but their government was. The soldiers could have rebelled against their orders to save children lives. Hitler was very cold hearted and the German citizens did not realize until it was over.
Jordan Sato-Sterni
I agree with Jordan Sato-Srerni. What i don't get i that the people in Germany supposedly didn't know how this was all going on, even in the same town that they were living in. I feel like if the German citizens alone started asking questions about where all of the Jews were going, then found out, they would've done something about it. I think it's the people of Germany's responsibility to know whats going on in their own country... heck, their own backyard. Its sad to say that America had to step in and save the day. So in their history book (which they don't have the holocaust in German history books)they would look back and say... "Good thing America did something, because we are too incompetent." So it was good that the U.S. did help, but its the Germans that should have done something...anything.
ReplyDeleteTamarra Valero
6h Period
What could European Jews have done to stop or mitigate the Holocaust?
ReplyDeleteEuropean Jews could have simply fled to a country that was against Germany. The news would have spread and a war would have started. That country would have gone to war for political and economic gain. Germany would have gone to war, the US would have been informed about the Holocaust PRIOR to entering Germany and everything would have been avoided.
Sidenote: It really could not have been avoided. The lack of communication at the time would have simply caused a rise of another dictator to occur and commit such heinous acts on humanity. I'm not saying WWII was a good thing. However, it changed weaponry, communication, and alliances. Even if Hitler did not exist, there would be another "Holocaust" somewhere in the world along that time period.
Yousaf Malik
Per 5.
What could German Citizens have done to stop or mitigate the Holocaust?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I feel that if the German citizens stood up for what was right and stood together, they could have stopped the holocaust. It may have not been easy and It may have not been quick, but together, the german citizens could have stopped hitler and his army who have killed millions of innocent people.
What could the European Jews have done to stop the Holocaust?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, no one could have stopped the Holocaust, especially the Jews. The only thing that the European Jews could do was run away from the Nazis. But also, no other countries could have stopped the Holocaust. The war would have gotten more intense which could include other small countries. The more intense the war, the more lives are lost. The idea of the Holocaust from Germany could also expand towards other nations.
Linh Nguyen =]
5th period
Kaydelayne, your extended study is to be commended. I'd like to hear more about the movie you watched.
ReplyDeleteLinh, Could the Jews have retaliated against the Nazis?
Here's a link to the video: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/episodes/escape-from-auschwitz/8/
ReplyDeleteIf we got the chance, I think it would be cool if we could watch it in class. :)
This video gives us an excellent opportunity to view the lives of this particular family, good idea!
ReplyDelete