Why did holocaust happened?

Which holocaust? There have been several.

@cazzie Hitler killing European Jews during ww2

Hitler was an anti-Semite who used fear and vilification of the Jews to unify and dominate Germany after the weak Weimer Republic failed. He exploited latent xenophobia and anti-Semitism in the populace. It should be noted that other “outsiders” such as gays and Romanii were also transported and killed.

There’s been plenty written about it. Hitler didn’t just kill Jews, but it was mostly Jews. It was one of many ‘ethnic cleansings’ that have been perpetrated by crazy leaders. Hitler blamed the Jews and other ‘lesser races’ for the ruin of Germany. Scapegoat tactics because people don’t understand economics or history.

@janbb but why killing those peoples?

By eliminating (killing) them Germans were also able to take over their property, bank accounts, valuables, businesses, etc. Dead people don’t complain.
Even “innocent” neighbors were willing to appropriate apartments and property next to their own once the ‘offensive’ Jews were gone for an extended period. One generation later and they now own the property.

Some wealthy Jews put valuables in Swiss bank accounts for safe keeping. Under the guise of strict secrecy laws the Swiss would not allow some surviving family members access to the accounts. That allowed the Swiss the freedom to loot accounts that had been inactive for decades – with no complaints.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it did it make a sound?
If an account is cleared out and no one complains is it a theft?

There is a long history in western culture of blaming Jews for most of the ills of the last 2,000 years. As a distinct cultural minority, they were often scapegoated for things that had nothing to do with them as a group or individually.

Much of Hitler’s rise to power was based on his blaming the Jews for the situation in which Germany found itself in the 1920’s. By attacking “the other”, Hitler was able to divert attention from the real causes of Germany’s problems.

@LuckyGuy “Even “innocent” neighbors were willing to appropriate apartments and property next to their own once the ‘offensive’ Jews were gone for an extended period.”

It should be mentioned that this also happened to many Japanese-Americans during their forced internment.

@cinnamonk The Japanese were not sent to gas chambers. And after the war, they were sent home. Yes there were probably some cases of property misappropriation but nowhere near the millions killed in the Holocaust.

I would add, that this is what happens when people don’t stand against what they know is wrong. It didn’t happen overnight. When groups of people are being wrongfully singled out, persecuted, and oppressed, it’s up to their fellow human beings to take note of it, and attempt to correct it. Otherwise, they may find their own necks in the hang man’s noose…

There are obvious, and disturbing parallels with the pre/beginning of WWII era, and what Trump is doing/trying to do in America right now.

It’s an important time for all of us to stand up for our minority, and muslim populations. Otherwise it becomes a slippery slope.

“Either we all hang together, or we all hang separately.”

@LuckyGuy what I meant was that while they were in internment camps, the white neighbors of some of the Japanese prisoners appropriated their houses and businesses, so they had nothing to come home to after they were released from the camps. I’ll try to find a source for this.

The round up and internment of the Japanese-Americans was a terrible blot on Americas history – among many others. I have also read that some of their properties and businesses were appropriated.

In terms of the Holocaust, it should be mentioned that there were also righteous people who hid and helped their Jewish neighbors at great risk to themselves.

@janbb . Correct. There were some decent people who put their ass on the line…

@cinnamonk Wikipedia has some good info about it. The numbers are a tiny fraction of the Holocaust. After the camps were opened prisoners were given $25 (about $700 in today’s money) and bus tickets to return home.
Later there were many court cases to get their property back or be paid for their loss.

While terrible and unfair, all this is very different from shipping millions of people off in box cars and sending them to gas chambers.

^I think that the point, is that that type of behavior is how the holocaust got going.

Jews were always a relatively small group of people, and they had been marginalized for centuries in Europe. The smaller and more marginalized a group is the less power they have and the easier it is to scapegoat them and pin all of society’s ills on them. And people always look for someone else to blame for their problems.

@LuckyGuy I agree, and I was not trying to draw equivalencies between the forced relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans and the literal genocide of European Jews. I’m sorry if it came across that way.

I was more trying to point out the similarity in the behavior toward their persecuted neighbors of white Americans and German citizens during the same time period, while the two countries were at war with each other.

The American equivalent is the genocide of the American Indians. The US army massacred civilians just like the SS in Poland.

@cinnamonk No problem. We’re still friends. ;-)
Actually it could be argued that the interment of Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor saved their lives. The US declared war on Japan after that attack and antil Japanese feelings were incredibly high. They would have been scapegoats for anything negative that happened in the community.

Germany wasn’t at war with the Jews, Gays, Polish, etc. They just rounded them up and exterminated them.

They were rich. They were also very secluded, with their own religion and culture. But the most important thing is, they were rich and influential.

That didn’t sit well with the war torn, piss poor Germans living in Germany after WWI and the Europe’s Versailles treaty that was nothing more than a very, very disproportional retribution for the WWI. Germany was proclaimed as the only one to blame and got basically destroyed.

Anti- Semitism in Germany wasn’t a new thing; it has existed way before the wars, but it was much subtle and more benign. It exploded in WWII.

Hitler used what has already existed and turned it into his own benefit; the rich, socially stable Jews were already looked a bit bellow the eye. In a time of enormous inflation and national embarrassment, when people barely had anything to eat, Jews started standing out much more.

Soon enough, they became the main problem, the main reason for the collapse of once wonderful Deutschland. People were angry, disappointed and hungry, Jews had what they needed, and not only that, but Jews started looking like they took what belongs to the Germans.

The people were angry, and Hitler needed to channel their anger in some direction in order to control them. He thus channeled it towards the isolated, elitist-looking Jews that had all the good stuff.

It was a part of a grander scheme; in the times of massive tragedy, people needed someone to tell them it’s not their fault for being in such a miserable situation, that they are the victims, and that someone else is to blame. It’s very easy to blame your misery on someone who has it better than you. They were also the foreigners, the non-Germans. All non-Germans were massacred in Germany, Romani, Slavs, gays, mentally and physically ill all needed to be removed in order to create a new, stronger Germany that will show the Europe its real power. Jews were the first that had to go.
Another thing is that they were very educated, mostly doctors, lawyers, scholars, professors etc. Educated people are a threat to an authoritarian regime.

^Yep. Hitler “put Germany first.” He offered to “make Germany great again.”

@Sneki95 Be careful – they were rich and influential is not true. That is the kind of statement that serves to justify getting rid of a group.

The Jewish community in cities was generally better educated than the general population, but not all were. And many Jews lived in small farming villages through out Eastern Europe and were essentially peasants.

I agree with @zenvelo – Many were poor craftsmen, farmers or shopkeepers as well. Generalization is one of the first things that can lead to stigmatization and prejudice.

Because the nazi’s were ignorant vicious cunts

@zenvelo Well, that kinda proves my point, doesn’t it? They were all lumped in the same basket, rich or poor. The ones that had the riches and influence were only one more reason for the Nazis to persecute them.