When trying to answer a question such as this, when there seems like there is no way that such a thing that could actually happen. To try and put reasons to this is almost impossible, especially when the acts committed were so inhumane. The first driving factor for something like the Holocaust is that you need a person like Hitler who is in power and is doing a good enough job with something that the people do not question his orders. Besides for a leader, there are many other things that contributed to the beginning and carrying out of the Holocaust. These reasons were The Hitler Youth, the propaganda by the German government and passiveness by bystanders.
The propaganda that the German government used was a major reason for their being able to kill most of the Jews without much resistance. Throughout the war and the pre-war years, the Germans released a lot of propaganda that showed the Jewish people in a negative light.
This artifact is one example of German propaganda. This specific poster displays Jews as stealing all of your money, taking advantage of the common people and getting rich. The words under the Jewish Star read, "Without a solution to the Jewish question, there will be no salvation for mankind." This shows that in Germany, Jews were shown as a problem that needed to be solved, which was the power of propaganda.
The second reason that Hitler was able to carry out the Holocaust was the Hitler Youth, an organization created by Hitler to create an upcoming generation that would be prepared for war. The organization lasted for 12 years and forced the kids to love Nazism or else. "These boys and girls enter our organizations [at] ten years of age, and often for the first time get a little fresh air; after four years of the Young Folk they go on to the Hitler Youth, where we have them for another four years . . . And even if they are still not complete National Socialists, they go to Labor Service and are smoothed out there for another six, seven months . . . And whatever class consciousness or social status might still be left . . . the Wehrmacht [armed forces] will take care of that." This artifact is a quote from Adolf Hitler and the language used shows the harsh attitude that they took towards making all of the children follow Nazism. This large following of people is one reason why Hitler was able to kill so many Jews. Without such a large following, Hitlers commands would never have been carried out and the Holocaust would never have happened.
The third reason why Hitler was able to carry out the Holocaust was the fact that people that were not involved in the Holocaust did not do anything to help the Jews. In essence, there were a very large number of bystanders that did not do anything to try and stop it for fear of retribution by the German government.
“First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;Then they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
This artifact and famous poem perfectly describes the issue of bystanders in the Holocaust. As this person writes, whenever the Nazis came for someone that wasn't you, you didn't speak out, you just were thankful that it wasn't you. This passiveness, the Hitler Youth, and propaganda were three of the main reasons why Hitler was able to pull off the Holocaust.
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