William jiang

William Jiang Ms. Stanfield English 9B Period 4 9 March 2011 Man’s Inhumanity to Man: The Holocaust Story Humans are instinctively hungry for power. During the Holocaust, Hitler portrayed this natural human quality the best. The Holocaust is a very good and prime example of man’s inhumanity to man because Hitler created the Hitler Youth program, the Nazis targeted the Jews, and people all over the world formed resistances against them. The Holocaust was a horrible event that should have never happened and will always appear that way no matter which angle you look at it from. It will forever brand its name in history. Adolf Hitler created the Hitler Youth program in 1922. That year, a whole new reign of darkness started and evil started. Hitler just kept blasting his ideas into their heads, and as little children, they could do very little to resist. Hitler had just found a whole new source of evil in the form of children. According to Susan Bartoletti, “ Many kids in Hitler Youth thought that Hitler was their savior” (Bartoletti, #). Hitler definitely had a major power issue. He always had to be in control; he had this uncontrollable need to make people think of him as a god. Susan Bartoletti also said, “ Most of the kids hated the Allied forces. Some of them [kids in the Hitler Youth] even became neo-Nazis” (—, #). Hitler wanted to make sure that when he disappeared, someone could still carry out his plans. This is Hitler’s fail-safe plan. The Hitler Youth was a terrible program that was created just to feed Hitler’s crazy power issues and as a fail-safe. People will never forget the Hitler Youth, the program that drove Germany into a whole new state of darkness. Susan Bartoletti stated, “ It took decades for the kids in Hitler Youth to get all of the indoctrination of Nazism out of their minds and hearts” (—, #). Hitler wanted this program to border on brainwashing, in fact in a sense, it pretty much was brainwashing. There is a good possibility that he was using the program to find a successor. Susan followed that up with: A lot of the older Hitler Youth joined the Wehrmacht at the end of the war and continued to fight the allied forces. When the allied forces found 12-year old boys shooting at them, they were amazed. They were very reluctant to shoot back since they did not want to kill kids (—, #). Theoretically, with this program, Hitler had an unlimited supply of new recruits to join his effort in the war. Hitler might have known that the allied forces would be reluctant, because if they stopped fighting then Hitler wins. Hitler Youth contaminated all of Germany’s youth. If Hitler controls the youth of Germany, he controls the future. Hitler Youth is a big reason why the war lasted so long, Hitler had so much support. Ted Gottfried said himself in his report, “ Hitler had every single member of the Hitler Youth program recite a ‘ prayer’ dedicated to him” (Gottfried). Hitler wanted all of the kids to see him as their one and only god. He was so full of himself. Ted Gottfried went further and stated, Hitler had a group of Hitler Youth kids join a unit called Werewolf. There, boys and girls were trained to be spies and commit acts of espionage for the Nazis (—). Hitler was so low that he even recruited such young kids to risk their young lives so that he could save himself. Hitler believed that kids were expendable and he could use them as he chose. He was a demon that only cared about himself and never cared about anyone who got hurt. Hitler Youth definitely showed man’s inhumanity against man. When the Nazis and Hitler were targeting the Jewish people, religion was a huge part of it. Kevin Madigan, in his report, told everybody, Hitler wanted to persecute all of the Jewish population whether or not they were practicing Judaism (Madigan). The Nazis wanted everyone to be the same. They wanted a world where there was no diversity what so ever. Hitler and the Nazis were heartless through and through; they could have at least spared the ones that were not practicing Judaism. Kevin Madigan stated in his report, Christian and Catholic churches played a huge part in the Holocaust they tried to stop it (—). The Christian and Catholic churches tried their best to stop the euthanasia and pretty much all of the Holocaust in general. Adolf Hitler considered himself a Christian, however, he might have used that to cover up all the horrible things he did. However, the Christian religion used the Jewish religion as a platform to begin. Religion played a huge part in the targeting of the Jewish people. The Jewish treatment in the camps was very unjust and very bad. The Nazis just wanted to completely crush the Jewish people’s morale. Like Andrew Curry said, “ Many Jewish people were barely fed and often starved to death. Jews who were not chosen for labor were sent to the gas chambers to be eliminated” (Curry). No Nazi working in the camps wanted the Jewish people to survive. Even if they lucked out and were not killed painfully in the gas chambers, they would have had to work until they died of exhaustion or lack of food. Andrew Curry told everyone in his report, Gas chambers were put into the camps for the killing of Jews. Other labor intensive work for the Jewish people in the camps included gravel mining, farming, et cetera (—). Jewish people were obviously not respected in Germany once Hitler came to power. Hitler and the Nazis wanted to make the Jews suffer and die in the worst way possible. The Jewish people had to undergo some of the worst punishments and tortures possible. As influential as Hitler was to convince all of Germany to participate in the killing of the Jewish population, he could not have accomplished any of it without the help of his Nazis. However, how he convinced the Nazis to obey him and only him was quite a feat as well. As Kathryn Hadley said, Hitler was very persuasive. He even got the French and the Greed train drivers to deliver the captured Jewish people to the death camps (Hadley). Hitler was so persuasive that he even got the French, Germany’s enemy in World War 2, to help him transport the Jewish people. He also got all of Germany to work together to capture and work together to kill and exterminate out the Jewish population. Dr. Steven Spielburg said in his video cassette himself, Germany was in a bad state when Hitler took over. The effects of the depression made Germany see that exterminating every other race on the face of the planet was their only way out (The Lost). The people of Germany wanted a way out of their bad situation and Hitler gave them one. Their ultimatum was to either fail and die out as a country or to kill everyone else and to instill Germans as the superior race. Hitler also had a ton of support from the girls and women of Germany as well, not just the boys and men. Dr. Steven Spielburg told everyone in his video, “ All the girls still scream in delight when they see Hitler. They [the people of Germany] even knew full well what Hitler was doing to everyone” (—). Hitler was a very charismatic and persuasive speaker. The Nazis themselves saw what Hitler was doing to the Jews, yet they did nothing. Hitler also punished anyone who had disobedience towards him and his fellow Nazis with drastic consequences. The people of Germany, along with the Nazis had a tough time not listening to Hitler. The Nazis definitely contributed to a huge part of Hitler’s success during the Holocaust and World War II. Throughout the entire Holocaust, the treatment to the Jewish population was the worst. Kathryn Hadley informed us on some of these unjust treatments, Nazis destroyed and pillaged the prewar Jewish cemetery. Auschwitz had so many skeletons still in it after the war was over (Hadley). The Jewish people were looked down upon so much that the Nazis did not even discard of the skeletons. They just kept it there. They also desecrated the pre-war cemetery. The Nazis also had no respect toward the deceased Jews. We also learned a lot from the Holocaust. There were several lessons we received from the Holocaust. Kathryn Hadley taught us one of those lessons, We should not discriminate against anyone because of their beliefs. It is their choice, not yours (—). Hitler wanted everyone who does not look like him to die. This applies to the modern world as well. People today discriminate people all the time because they are different or act differently from everyone else. Another lesson that Elie Wiesel taught Oprah was, No one should be put through that kind of suffering. People will try to make it up to them, but they will never forget (Wiesel). Regardless of gender, age, race, or religion, no one should be discriminated like that. We learned something from the Holocaust that we will never forget. The lessons we received from the Holocaust shall never be forgotten. People treated the Jewish population everywhere, but especially in the camps. Elie Wiesel told everyone, The Jewish people suffered a lot in the camps. They had to have all of their hair cut off to be made into coats that were sold (—). The Nazis knew that the Jews were going to die, but they still forcibly cut off their hair. They truly believed that they were the superior beings. Elie Wiesel also told Oprah, The Nazis heartlessly took all of the Jewish people’s belongings and killed them without hesitation (—). Nazis thought that they could do anything they wanted to anybody. They were extremely egotistic and should have just gotten off their high horse. The treatment of the Jewish people in the camps just bordered on unforgivable. Hitler targeted specific groups for a reason. Elie Wiesel basically said, Hitler used the Jewish people as a scapegoat for Germany’s problems. Hitler blamed the Jews for everything that was wrong with the country (Wiesel). Hitler basically targeted anyone who was not German (blonde hair, blue eyes). All of the lives he deemed unworthy were sent to the death camps. Elie Wiesel also told people in his interview, Hitler promoted his belief that Germans were the master race. He targeted anyone: homosexuals, blacks, socialists, communists, Jews and pretty much anyone who opposed him (—). He targeted these groups so Germany could become rich since they took their prisoners property. He tried to rebuild Germany completely the wrong way. These targeted groups suffered for a long time, and their souls may never recover. Hitler and the Nazis were so bad that even people in Germany formed resistance groups. People all over the world joined in to help them fight off the Nazis. And then the resistances were born. The Fordham University said themselves, “ The Jewish Resistance Organization dug underground bunkers to save the women and children from the man hunters” (Fordham). The Nazis will stop at nothing to exterminate the Jews. They even killed women and children. Jane Shuter told everyone, Hitler saw religion as competition for the loyalty of the German people. However, he needed the church to get power (Shuter, #). Hitler just used the church for support until he was safely in power. He only made everyone believe that he and the church shared ideas even though the German churches opposed the Nazi euthanasia program. All of the resistances did their best to help the allied forces. Some of them succeeded, but others unfortunately, failed and got wiped out. With all the resistances happening, some brave individuals tried their best to start some inside of the camps. However, it was much easier said than done. According to Jane Shuter, “ Nazis had informers in the ghettos. Planning resistance would be very difficult. Some people just resisted by refusing to do as they were told” (—, #). The Nazis knew that all it took was a spark to start a fire. That is why they chose to punish the entire camp or ghetto if just one person tried to revolt. They wanted to stop the spark right when it started. Jane Shuter also told people, Revolts in the camps were hard to pull off and hardly ever succeeded. They mostly just worked slow, made mistakes, and sabotaged the factories (—, #). Even though they knew the revolts probably would not work and would result in their deaths, they still did it because it gave them hope. No matter how small the chance, they still had to try even for the remote possibility of being free. Jane Shuter told us in her book, Some Jewish people got far enough away from Germany quickly enough that they joined the Allies to fight Nazi Germany (—, #). The Jews knew what was going on and wanted to do something about it. They wanted to free their people. People had to come together to win the war and end the Holocaust. People outside and inside the camps and ghettos had to work together. The Jewish people in the camps still needed their faith and religion. No one wanted to lose their faith, they wanted to keep believing. Jane Shuter said, “ Imprisoned Protestant pastors and Jewish rabbis held secret services in the camps” (—, #). The pastors and rabbis wanted to keep the faith alive. They wanted everyone to continue to believe. Some individuals in the camps contributed a lot to the resistance in the camps. One of those individuals was Pastor Niemoller. According to Jane Shuter, Pastor Niemoller traded places with a prisoner who was about to be punished in the camp. The punishment was to starve to death (—, #). Pastor Niemoller wanted to keep the faith alive in the camp by sacrificing himself. He revived the faith by his actions. Jane Shuter also informed everyone, When Pastor Niemoller traded place, Niemoller was supposed to die of starvation. However, he survived two weeks with no food and only died because of a lethal injection to the heart (—, #). The act of Pastor Niemoller probably moved the guy he saved so much that by his act alone, he actually managed to survive the camp and come out of the war alive. Pastor Niemoller is a great example of how one selfless act can change a person’s life forever. The Jewish people will never give up their faith and will always to continue to believe. Through the support of all of the resistances, the Allied Forces found a way to defeat the Nazis and finally win the war and free the Jewish people. The Allied Forces, along with all of the resistances, had to combat man’s inhumanity against man. The Holocaust was truly a very tragic event in history. Not only that, it was definitely a prime example of man’s inhumanity to man. It was a prime example of man’s inhumanity to man because Hitler created the evil Hitler Youth program, they targeted and tried to eliminate all of the Jewish population, and a whole bunch of the resistances formed against the Nazis and Hitler. This event changed the lives of everyone around the world. Forgive, the people eventually will; however, the world will never forget. Work Cited Bartoletti, Susan C. Hitler Youth. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2005. Print. Curry, Andrew. “ Can Auschwitz Be Saved?. ” Smithsonian 40. 11 (2010): 56. MAS Ultra- School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. Fordham University, Press. “ The Yellow Star Project. ” Yellow Star (2005): 293-294. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. Gottfried, Ted. “ HITLER YOUTH. ” Children of the Slaughter. 23. US: Lerner Publishing Group, 2001. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. Hadley, Kathryn. “ Lessons From Auschwitz. ” History Today 60. 9 (2010): 4. Mas Ultra-School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 01 Feb. 2011. Madigan, Kevin J. “ Two Popes, One Holocaust. ” Commentary 130. 5 (2010): 27 Mas Ultra-School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. Shuter, Jane. Resistance to the Nazi’s. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2003. Print. The Lost Children of Berlin. Dr. Steven Spielburg. A&E Television Network. 1997. Wiesel, Elie. Interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. Oprah. ABC. KABC, Los Angeles. 03 Mar. 2007. Television. Annotated Bibliography Bartoletti, Susan C. Hitler Youth. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2005. Print. This source gives you information about the Hitler Youth. It also tells what happened in Hitler Youth Curry, Andrew. “ Can Auschwitz Be Saved?. ” Smithsonian 40. 11 (2010): 56. MAS Ultra- School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. This source provides good information on what the Jews experienced in the camps. It also has information on what forms of torture the Jews experienced. —. “ The Nazi Chronicles. ” U. S. News & World Report 142. 18 (2007): 46. MAS Ultra-School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. This source offers some insight to who Hitler really targeted. It also tells why he targeted those groups. Fordham University, Press. “ The Yellow Star Project. ” Yellow Star (2005): 293-294. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. This source tells you how the Jews resisted the Nazi’s. It also shows that the Jews were willing to fight for their freedom. Gottfried, Ted. “ HITLER YOUTH. ” Children of the Slaughter. 23. US: Lerner Publishing Group, 2001. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. This gives insight on the Hitler Youth program. It also gives out good information on how it affected Germany. Hadley, Kathryn. “ Lessons From Auschwitz. ” History Today 60. 9 (2010): 4. Mas Ultra-School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 01 Feb. 2011. This source describes some of what the Jews experienced in the camps. It tells you lessons from the holocaust as well. Madigan, Kevin J. “ Two Popes, One Holocaust. ” Commentary 130. 5 (2010): 27 Mas Ultra-School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. This source is good information on how religion played a part in the holocaust. It is also good background on how Judaism affected the Jews. Shuter, Jane. Resistance to the Nazi’s. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2003. Print. This source tells good information on the resistance groups during the Holocaust. It also tells how the Jews were treated in the camps and how religion played a part in the Holocaust. The Lost Children of Berlin. Dr. Steven Spielburg. A&E Television Network. 1997. Video Cassette. Has great information on the lessons we got from the Holocaust. It also tells why the Nazis obeyed Hitler. Wiesel, Elie. Interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. Oprah. ABC. KABC, Los Angeles. 03 Mar. 2007. Television. This source tells you what the Jews had to endure during the holocaust. It also shows the suffering of the Jews in the concentration camps.