Holocaust Post #1: How can something Like The Holocaust Happen?

Artifact 1: Hitler Youth Camps


Artifact 2: Nazi Propaganda Posters


Artifact 3: The Poisonous Mushroom Childrens Book


A question that many people have to this day is how is it possible for something like the Holocaust to happen. It took lots of planning and cooperation with the German people to have made the Holocaust possible. After World War I the country of Germany was hit hard with the Treaty of Versailles which pretty much blamed the Germans for starting World War I. The Treaty of Versailles made the Germans pay for all the damage caused during the war which put them into a ton of debt and also put many limits on Germany’s economy. So they needed a leader quickly to bounce them back from this downfall, that is where Hitler and the start of the Holocaust came in. Hitler was an anti-semitic and he blamed the Jews for Germany’s loss in the war. Hitler quickly promoted anti-semitism in Germany which caused the start of the Holocaust. Hitler took many actions to promote anti-semitism, one action was that he forced the youth to attend Hitler Youth Camps. Hitler believed that the youth would be the leaders of the future so he did whatever he could to teach them his ideas of racial and national superiority. Youth camps were also used to show what roles boys and girls would have in Germany’s Nazi society. For the boys the camps strengthened them to become strong and loyal soldiers to their country. Girls were brainwashed into being childbearing and doing housework. These camps lasted for twelve years making sure that each child was prepared for the role that they would play in the Nazi society. Hitler also used Nazi Propaganda as way to promote Nazism, using posters, cartoons, art, music, and even children books to get his point across the German people. Posters of Nazi Propaganda would show images of wounded Nazi soldiers, trying to show that the Germans were being the victims of all the war and commotion. It also showed that these soldiers showed true nationalism for their country and that the citizens should do the same things so that Germany could bounce back from their national downfall. There was also a childrens book written by Streicher's Der Stürmer-Verlag which encouraged young children to avoid Jews at any cost. The book was called The Poisonous Mushroom, the title referring that Jews are poisonous mushrooms because mushrooms are fungi, meaning that they spread easily. Coming to the title The Poisonous Mushroom because the Jews would spread their “poisonous” beliefs, which was what Hitler opposed. The Holocaust was a terrible event in history, but it’s incredible to see how one person managed to get one whole country to do such a thing. Hitler managed to organize a whole country to do exactly what he wanted just with the use of persuasion and using the manipulation that Germany was in such a vulnerable situation. You would think that it would be impossible for someone to do such a thing but when the whole country was in desperation they had to do whatever they could to be one of the power countries in the world.