This is the 4,000 word research paper that I wrote for my English Comp 2 class. I thought I would share it here after you all have read about it numerous times. The various numbers in brackets throughout the paragraphs are referencing the endnotes that define what source I was pulling information from.

The Nazi party has been long remembered as a group of people who hated the Jewish race. They went to extreme measures to rid Germany, the Fatherland, of any Jewish traces. Aryanism must prevail was on the lips and in the hearts of many great oratorical men. With passion and vigor men like Adolf Hitler, and Heinrich Himmler gave speeches about the vileness of the Jews and the superiority of the Aryans.

Through various methods, the Nazi party instigated an ethnic cleansing that swept through Germany, and surrounding countries, targeting not only Jews, but also Gypsies, homosexuals, and others they deemed inadequate of life. These actions were not only carried out by the SS and the Einsatzgruppen, but also by civilians who felt they aligned with the core message that Hitler promoted. These actions have been viewed in different ways over the years. How should the many different actions taken during the Holocaust be viewed? While the Germans have been viewed as ambivalent towards the Holocaust, I strongly believe this does not consider the implications of propaganda, anti-Semitic apartheid, the Christian response, and a lack of compassion for others around them. This paper will look at different aspects of each of these claims not to blame anyone, but to observe the facts to better understand history, and to determine how we as Christians should respond to the Holocaust.

         Adolf Hitler was strongly against the Jewish race, but exact reasons for that are unknown. Some believe it was from his mother’s death due to an “incompetent” Jewish doctor. Some believe it was because he was wounded in a war that was somehow the Jewish people’s fault. Hitler was also very interested in art school in Vienna but was rejected, to which Hitler responded with the belief that a Jewish professor was the reason. While Hitler lived in Vienna, there were several different men who helped him to form his anti-Semitic ideas. When Hitler became chancellor in 1933, it was not long before his anti-Semitic views were posted all over Germany. 

The SS was very instrumental in the support and action of Hitler ’s views. The SS started after the World War I as a group of disgruntled young men who felt that they had been let down by Germany after the war was over. They decided that they were going to take some matters into their own hands. In 1914, Hitler and several other men created a group of soldiers that “was largely nationalistic and right wing”.[1] Hitler joined the German Worker’s party in 1919. His skills were quickly put to good use, and he soon became the propaganda director. He was liked by most in the party and rose to the top as the party chairman. Renaming the party was something he did quickly after his joining. It became the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, which is Nazi for short.[2] After Hitler became the party chairman, the original idea for why the soldiers were needed began to change. Hitler wanted them to be more of a personal protection group for him as the party leader, so Ernst Rohm became the leader of the SS.[3] In 1929 Heinrich Himmler was chosen to lead the SS. It was then that it dramatically increased in size, and became the police force of the Third Reich, not just personal bodyguards.

         What did the National Socialist German Workers’ Party stand for? The party was well known for their anti-Semitic views, strong German nationalism, and disagreement with the Treaty of Versailles. Adolf Hitler became best known as a national figure after an attempted coup d’état in 1923. He and the rest of the Nazi party staged an uprising in Munich as an attempt to take over the government in Bavaria. They had hoped that the Beer Hall Putsch would spark revolution all throughout Germany. It instead resulted in Hitler being jailed for treason. He used his jail time to write the first section of his political autobiography, Mein Kampf. Hitler received a lot of attention after he was on trial and in prison. He used the attention to help him gain power through election. Hitler thought of anti-Semitism as a very important piece of the Nazi party. This however was not what got Hitler into office.[4] Hitler was known for his oratory skills, and passionate, moving speeches. He was able to coax the people into believing him because he was able to speak well.

         The various atrocities that Hitler is known for were all made possible throughout various forms of propaganda. Glass states that “Germans had been told for years, through literature, popular media, political speeches, and medicine, that Jewish bodies constituted a threat to the kultur’s[5] blood”.[6] Glass makes it clear that the German people were bombarded from every side with many kinds of propaganda. If the German people had not been influenced by all the propaganda, it would have been much harder for them to want to carry out all the different things that they were asked to. People are easily influenced by propaganda, so flooding their worlds with it was the smart thing to do. One way anti-Semitism was promoted was to claim that the Jewish people were diseased. When the Germans heard that they needed to stay healthy by getting rid of the Jews, it did not take long for them to support the killing of the Jews. One may look at all the killing that happened and assume that the Germans simply let it happen. In some cases, that was happening. However, for the most part, the German people were acting out of a sense of fear because they did not want to be the one who allowed the Jews to be around to spread the various diseases and infections that they may be capable of spreading.[7] Fear was driving them to act differently than they may have at other times. When faced with the choice of obeying the government by allowing them to kill or risking their own lives to save those same people, most people chose to allow the killing.

         Because the Jews were accused of spreading diseases there were several different doctors who were known to perform experiments on Jewish people because they were simply available. Dr. Kurt Heissmeyer was one doctor who freely experimented on Jews. When he was under trial in 1959, he made it known that he viewed Jewish people and guinea pigs on the same level.[8] One can argue that this is a clear example of the Germans ignoring what was happening and helping with the killing. Not all Germans thought this way though. Lawrence Langer reported on the story concerning Dr. Heissmeyer and found the account “chilling”.[9] This may be the same reason that some Germans decided that they should follow the orders to take up arms and kill any Jew that they could. Most Germans however, shrunk away from the blatant killing.[10] Some Germans were able to recognize that the Jews were still humans and were able to respect that. They could see that the Jewish people were just as deserving of life as they were.  

         Joseph Goebbels was the minister of propaganda for the Nazi party. He was the one in charge of all the press, theater, radio, films, literature, and fine arts. He was able to control some foreign propaganda as well, but not nearly as strongly. He organized a book burning, at Hitler’s command, at the Berlin Opera House. Goebbels believed and stated, “The era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is at an end.”[11] He also supported and enacted the boycott of Jewish businesses.[12] Goebbels also possessed great oratory skills; he made many appearances via the radio in his campaigns. One could argue that Goebbels was responsible for the Holocaust since he worked on promoting the various forms of propaganda. He was, however, only doing the job that he was asked to do. He could have turned it down, but he was interested in the Nazi party and what they had to offer.

         Jewish people of any kind were not tolerated in the Third Reich. That did not matter if one was born Jewish, his parents, or even his grandparents. Anyone with Jewish background was doomed for death. People took great pains in hiding any background that would put them six feet under. People were also encouraged to report anyone they knew who had background that was Jewish. Some Jews were able to find the right connection and have Aryan papers made for them so they could safely leave the country without having a lot of questioning. Intermingling with Jewish people was highly discouraged no matter what the official rank was.   

         The propaganda was tailored to specific ages and classes of people. A very popular way to campaign to lower classes was to have posters of children talking to their parents telling them to think about them by voting for Hitler. The propaganda was designed to make each, and every person feel as if they are important to the cause that Hitler was pushing. One way they specifically targeted children was to include diagrams in their textbooks of Jewish people. With the diagrams it would point out how many diseases and other ailments the Jews had and would spread of they weren’t taken care of.[13] This thought can help to show why the Germans may have been so in tune with Hitler’s terrible plans. They had been steeped in this over several years in various ways. It was the perfect springboard to dive from into the new world of Aryanism.

         Aryanism became the popular way of thinking throughout Germany during the time of the Nazis. Aryanism promoted the idea that the Germans were the only race that should be in Germany. Aryanism was backed up by the idea of Volksgemeinschaft. The idea of Volksgemeinschaft was that the Germans, or Aryans, were one race that should not be defiled by anyone that does not meet the criteria. The public hoped and was reassured that the Nazi program would take care of the issue of keeping the group clean.[14] The idea of Kultur and Volksgemeinschaft would be related to strong thoughts of one race being superior to any other. It also includes the thought that the superiority brings the ability to treat subpar groups however they deem necessary. Because these two ideas are connected, one may wonder if that means everyone fit into those groups. The groups would have included many of the German people, however not every German person was able to allow themselves to be a part of the exclusive Aryan minded way of thinking. A group that had qualms about actively participating in this ideology was the church.

         The church was not exactly sure how to look at the Holocaust as it was unfolding before their eyes. Drinan states that the church’s response to the Holocaust was belated, and mild. It also only came after the knowledge of the murders were widespread in 1943.[15] Drinan was not trying to say that it was an appropriate response to the Holocaust, it is more he is saying that the Church really did not know how to respond. The church was at a loss. Nowhere was there a manual that talked about the proper response to a mass genocide. They had the Bible that says love your enemies, and those that hate you. This, at times, did not seem like enough.  

         The Holocaust opened a door of searching within Christianity. Was there deep-rooted anti-Semitism within Christianity?[16] Some argue that Christ’s death simply forewarned the death of the Jewish people throughout the Holocaust.[17] Still others argue that the Jews and early Christians are equal in the sufferings they faced because of their faith. This could also compare to the agony and pain Jesus felt while on the cross. Jews and early Christians suffered and died without consolation, just as Jesus suffered and died on the cross.[18] Idinopulos brings out this latter point in response the view of foreshadowing. Elie Wiesel supports that view as it relates to a story that he shares in his autobiography, Night. He saw deaths happening in the camps, and through them he only saw Jesus dying. He saw no resurrection. This led him to believe that if Jesus truly died for us, why is there Jewish blood being spilled? He also questions if redemption really took place?[19] Wiesel approaches it from a somewhat narcissistic viewpoint. In essence he was asking why he should have to suffer if Jesus had already suffered and shed His blood for mankind. If this really is the case, what do we as Christians have to say as we approach the Holocaust? What does our belief say about it? The place where suffering occurred was in the concentration camp.  

         The concentration camps were one of the ways that they used to exterminate the Jewish race. The Einsatzgruppen was another way that the Jewish people were killed. The Einsatzgruppen was a group of soldiers who killed. The Einsatzgruppen was trained to large groups quickly. They spread out throughout Germany and surrounding areas to eliminate Jews. Here is one man’s story of why he killed Jewish babies.

During the first try, my hand trembled a bit as I shot, but one gets used to it. By the tenth try I aimed calmly and shot surely at the many women, children, and infants. I kept in mind that I had two infants at home, whom these hordes would treat the same, if not ten times worse. The death that we gave them was a beautiful quick death, compared to the hellish torments of thousands and thousands in the jails of the GPU[20]. Infants flew in great arcs through the air, and we shot them to pieces in flight before their bodies fell into the pit and into the water.[21]

This is just one example of the brutality that was sweeping across Germany. Based on what this man mentions, he believes that he needs to get rid of the Jews so his family can stay safe. He was under the impression that the Jews were these terrible people who needed to be done away with to protect the rest of the German people and those in surrounding countries. In places that Jews weren’t mass slaughtered, they were gathered up and sent to concentration camps. 

         Concentration camps were another step in following Hitler ’s plan for Aryanization of Germany. Camps can be found in different forms in different areas. Some camps were meant for heavy labor, while others were meant to hold them until they were sent to another camp. There were also camps meant for extermination. Camps like Auschwitz were meant mainly for executing, but they also required prisoners to work, which very often resulted in death. These camps were first started in 1933, with Dachau being the first camp that was started. Dachau was simply a concentration camp when it started, but throughout the years it transformed into an extermination camp.[22] These camps sprung up all over Germany and Poland. The hard labor that one had to do in these camps either was related to the war effort or expanding the camp itself. Part of the idea behind these camps was to get all these people in one place, so they could be watched and dealt with properly.

The extermination camps had several different ways that they chose kill the defenseless prisoners. The method that was most used was gassing. The Jewish people arrived in the camp and were immediately directed to the work side or to the gas chambers. Once they were gathered in front of the gas chambers, the guards would reassure them that they would see the rest of their family, and that they simply needed to shower, and be deloused so they could assimilate into the camp. The people were forced to strip naked and enter the showers. Once the showers were full, they would add Zyklon B into the showers. The Zyklon B acted as an asphyxiation agent. After they were gassed, some of the prisoners would come in and remove the dead bodies and take them to the crematorium. The Nazis burned many of the bodies that came through the concentration camps. Another way that they killed was simply a large firing squad. The Jews would be lined up on the edge of a large pit and then were shot.

         One might look at that and wonder how someone can say that they were unaware that this was happening. Ezard states in a journal article that contrary to some beliefs, the Germans did know what was going on. Because he wanted to desensitize the people, Hitler had bits and pieces of information released here and there in numerous periodicals. One thing Ezard believes the people were not aware of was the industrial crematoriums.[23] Hitler did not allow anything to be published about the crematoriums.  One could argue that for someone to not know what was going on in Germany during the Holocaust, would be like someone not hearing of a large natural disaster in their country. In some ways, the Holocaust could be considered a natural disaster. It would most likely have been impossible to be ignorant about such a subject. Goebbels[24] did a very good job at making sure that the people always had some information of what this looked like. While they were surrounded by all the propaganda, they hardly had a chance to make any decisions on their own about how they felt. It was clear what decision they needed to make. 

         Goebbels always made sure that the Germans were informed. Part of creating a kultur[25] group is making sure that all the members are of the same mindset. If the Nazi party had not gone to all the work to make sure that the propaganda would inspire those who see it, I believe that the Holocaust would not have had the response they wanted. The German people would have been unaware that the Jews were a “threat” to the German society.  

         One argument that is out there claims that the Germans simply ignored the cries of the Jewish people. Others believe that the Germans were fully aware of the circumstances and happenings around them but simply did not know what to do about it. in all reality, what can one person do against the entire government, and several thousand, armed soldiers? This overwhelmed some people so they simply did what they could. For some this meant housing Jews, and for others this meant simply fading into the background and reappearing to someone in need in another area.

         This now raises the question of compassion. Was there a lack of compassion or were people genuinely doing the best they could to help the Jewish race? Snyder uses multiple personal accounts from various people who had first-hand experience with the compassion that was, or was not, offered to them. There were several reasons that people may have harbored Jews; sexual appeal, having young children, or simply people being kind for the sake of other human beings who were deserving of it. In these various stories, Snyder shares how each person felt when each time someone was compassionate towards them. They were grateful that at least one person was willing to shelter them, even when they could be getting in trouble for this as well.[26] Several survivors’ testimonies spoke of the sacrifices these kind-hearted people made to protect them from death.[27] While not everyone in Germany was willing to risk their lives to help out Jews, there were still a few who took the risk of extending compassion to those who needed it. There were some who gave no thought for the human lives that were represented in the Jewish communities.

         This kind of compassion is what helped to keep the Jewish race from being completely eradicated from Germany. If there had been no one willing to provide shelter or asylum to the Jews, they would have found no respite in their times of need. Sadly, there was only a small number of people that took the time and energy to shelter them. Most people did not have any extra space in their hearts or lives to provide help for Jewish people. People like that were more concerned about keeping up a certain image, than with being compassionate.

         One could go on and on questioning about how things would have turned out had there been a bit more compassion from the German people. While there would have been a difference in the number of Jewish lives lost during the Holocaust, I believe that it would be outlandish to say that the entire Holocaust would never have happened. Hitler had an agenda strong enough and many supporters in the government. Hitler wanted to make this happen, so he did.

Now one can consider the implications for today. How should we as Christians view the Holocaust? What does our belief in suffering have to say about what happened in the Holocaust? The Christian’s belief in suffering in relation to Christ’s death gives us hope that because He suffered on the cross, we have redemption through His spilled blood. How does this relate to the Holocaust, one may wonder? We believe that God calls people to situations that are painful and may cause suffering. This was the case with the Holocaust and the Jews. We need to remember that the Jews did not deserve any of the atrocious actions taken against them. They simply were being hated because they were Jewish. They were suffering for their beliefs; not actions they took years before. Some Christians believed the Jews could be labeled “Christ-killers” for the part they had to play in Jesus’ crucifixion.[28] How did this translate to how Christians today should respond to the Holocaust?

         How should Christians view the Holocaust? I believe that we need to recognize it as a time of brutal, atrocious murder against the Jews. I believe we also need to recognize that our early Christian forefathers also went through times of suffering and death for what they believed. We need to recognize that even though these deaths were committed in multitudinous numbers, that the murderous sins that the Nazi party committed were not any worse than the sins in our lives that Jesus died for. We need to recognize that even though it was a time when much evil was committed, that God was still in control. While we may not be able understand why God allows evil things to happen, we should always remember that He is in control. Even amid the concentration camps, God was there. Even when it felt like He was silent, God was still there.  

         What does all this mean as we look back at the Holocaust? How should we process the Germans in all of this? Why does this matter? If we want to have a proper view of why things happened in history as they did, we need to realize that sometimes popular opinions are not true. We need to realize that there may be more factors amid these stories, happenings, and experiences than we can imagine.

         Were the Germans ambivalent? Did they know exactly what was happening and simply ignored it all? Whatever the answers to these questions, one thing will never change. Regardless of how people responded, it still happened. Innocent blood was spilled. Young lives snatched away from daily routines. Children snatched away from parents. Parents from their children. All this was done in the name of betterment. Six million Jewish deaths all because one man, Adolf Hitler, wanted to make Germany a strictly Aryan nation. Yes. There was blatant ignorance on the part of the Germans. Yes. There was strong anti-Semitic apartheid. Yes. Propaganda was a strong influence in the lives of many German people.

The Christian response was not a perfect one. While the actions that were taken during the Holocaust cannot be undone, one can still learn from those actions. Compassion, love, and forgiveness must be in the forefront of one’s mind as he considers the Holocaust.

---

[1] Mann, Dr. Chris. “Foundation.” In SS-Totenkopf: The History of the ‘Death’s Head’ Division 1940-1945, 7-33.Osceola, WI: MBI Publishing Company, 2001. 

[2] Mann, 9.

[3] Mann, 9.

[4] Kershaw, Ian. “Reactions to the Persecution of the Jews.” In Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution, 151-186. Binghamington, NY. Vail-Baillou Press, 2008, 155.

[5] Kultur can best be defined as a group of people that have their beliefs aligned with each other, so they agree on things. A classic example of a kultur would be the German people and their hatred of Jews, and their actions regarding that.

[6] Glass, James M. “Against the Indifference Hypothesis: The Holocaust and the Enthusiasts for Murder.” Political Psychology 18, no. 1 (1997): 129–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3791988, 132.

[7] Glass, 136.

[8] Glass, 135.

[9] Glass, 135.

[10] Snyder, Timothy. “Germans, Poles, Soviets, Jews.” In Black Earth: The Holocaust as a History and Warning, 178-206. New York: Tim Dunnigan Books, 2015, 178.

[11] Heiber, H. “Joseph Goebbels.” Encyclopedia Britannica, March 31, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Goebbels.

[12] Heiber, H.  

[13] Glass, 135.

[14] Bankier, David. “Public Responses to Anti-Semitism, 1933-1938.” “In The Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion under Nazism, 67-88. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publisher, 1996, 77.

[15] Drinan, Robert F. “The Christian Response to the Holocaust.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 450 (1980): 179–89. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1042567, 180.

[16] Drinan, 180.

[17] Idinopulos, Thomas A. “Christianity and the Holocaust.” CrossCurrents 28, no. 3 (1978): 257–67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24457964, 266.

[18] Idinopulos, 263.

[19] Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York, Avon Books, 1971, 75-76.

[20] GPU is an abbreviation for a jail system in the Soviet Union. At this time German killing squads were even in the surrounding countries to get rid of the Jews.

[21] Snyder, 190.

[22] Goeschel, Christian, and Nikolaus Wachsmann. “Before Auschwitz: The Formation of the Nazi Concentration Camps, 1933-9.” Journal of Contemporary History 45, no. 3 (2010): 515–34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20753613, 517.

[23] Ezard, John. “Germans Knew of Holocaust horror about death camps: Details of deaths of Jews and other groups in concentration camps were well publicized.” The Guardian, February 2001, https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/feb/17/johnezard.

[24] Minister of propaganda

[25] A group of like-minded people. This group typically has strong opinions about another group. The opinions about one group are typically held above another.  

[26] Snyder, Timothy. “The Righteous Few.”  In Black Earth: The Holocaust as a History and Warning, 298-318. (New York: Tim Dunnigan Books, 2015), 307.

[27] Snyder, 315.

[28] Idinopulos, 266.