THE ANTI-SOCIAL ELEMENTS OF THE NAZI PERIOD

Burgos, Gabrielle Albertha C. Z-3R March 14, 2013

Thesis Statement After losing the World War I, the Germans blamed their lost to the non-Germans whom they believe as inferior people who destroy the original German culture thus giving rise to the ethical issues like racism, mass murders and human experimentation.

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THE ANTI-SOCIAL ELEMENTS OF THE NAZI PERIOD The aftermath of the World War I is remembered by everyone as the age of the Holocaust. This era is where rampant killings and discrimination of the people especially nonGermans were very prevalent. This era distinguished two parties: The anti-Semitists and the anti-social elements. Anti-Semitism is defined by London Jewish Cultural Center (2011) as a term used when people are prejudiced against Jews just because they are Jewish. Political opponents of the Nazi, homosexuals and criminals are considered as anti-social elements according to Fulbrook (1951). The anti-social elements were subjected to harsh treatments in one of the concentration camps of the Nazi is believed that after losing the World War I, the Germans blamed their lost to the non-Germans whom they believe as inferior people who destroy the original German culture thus giving rise to the ethical issues like racism, mass murders and human experimentation. In history, dated back 1918-1934, the Weimar Republic ruled Germany. The Weimar Republic replaced the German Empire after being in war for four years. The Weimar Republic became the hope of the Germans after the war. The Weimar Republics constitution is one of the most democratic in the world. During these times, all citizens are equal. After the World War I, when Germany lost the war, it was the Weimar Republic that made peace settlements in the Treaty of Versailles; thus, Germany was forced to surrender and pay the damages brought about by the war. The Weimar democracy caused a national humiliation causing the frightened and desperate Germans. During these times, Germany was in the midst of chaos, poverty and humiliation. Most of the German people blamed the current Weimar Republic since they were the ones who made peace settlement after the World War I. Hitler took advantage of this situation and promised a better Germany wherein it would demolish the Treaty of Versailles, punish the so-called November criminals of 1918 and would rid of the Jewish bacillus polluting the Aryan race. (Fulbrook, 1951;Rogers, 1947)

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Taking advantage of the current situation of Germany, Hitler rose in power. Adolf Hitler is an Austrian who is identified as being a ruthless dictator and the leader of the Nazi party. Hitler has 2 aims according to Fulbrook (1951): to achieve Lebensraum for the German race and to get rid of the Jews which he quoted as a bacterium, poisoning and infecting the Aryan stock. Hitler viewed the Jews as traitors. It was said that as Hitler pass by the streets of Germany, he noticed that most of the rich and wealthy individuals were not Germans but foreigners and a large sum of them are Jews. Looking at Germanys current state, in Rogers (1965) assertion, Hitler grew to hate the Jews. According to Rogers (1965), Hitler used the popular myth of Germany that in 1918 Germany was not defeated but was betrayed. He made the people believe that the traitors were the Jews and that all of Germanys misfortunes were the fault of the Jews. Being a great speaker, he easily captured the hearts of the Germans. He then became a savior figure in Germany and Germans displayed power and unity in the form of mass rituals and parades as well as people giving Heil salute whenever Hitler pass by and wearing of the red swastika which was the symbol of the Nazi party. Hitler believed that Germany was considered as the pure race. Anyone other than German is not considered as pure. Because of this idealism, racism was brought about in Germany and since Germany was in depression during the after math of World War I, people have become irrational. They needed someone they can blame their misfortunes. They were bitter to the other races and would be easily persuaded by promises like what Hitler did. Hitler promised a great nation and belief that Germany should be respected. He also believed that with the existence of mixture of cultures, the original cultures of Germany was being lost; moreover, since the purity of the culture have been contaminated, it resulted in a weak state. He considered other races as trash and should be eliminated (Kishlansky, 1995). Driven by these beliefs, the Germans became confident and high spirited. Their hate to the Jews was heightened to the point that they can easily hurt and kill Jews at their sight. According to

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Kishlansky (1995), Hitler believed that in order to attain power, higher cultures must be established. This higher culture, Germany in this case, should take control of power by controlling inferior men. Hitler has a high value for culture; he believes that the mixture of culture on Germany was the reason for the weak government. Because of this, Hitler was against inter-marriage with different cultures. Anti-Semitism became the official government policy of the Nazi party during its reign. In line with this, some of the policies pursued by the Nazi was forbidding of Intermarriage. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service of April 7, 1933 states that: (Article 1)Marriages between Jews and subjects of the state of German or related blood are forbidden. Marriages nevertheless concluded are invalid, even if concluded abroad to circumvent this law. (Article 2) Extramarital intercourse between Jews and subjects of the state of German or related blood is forbidden. Special treatments were also given by the Nazis exclusively for Germans. Fulbrook (1951) said that Germans belonging to the peoples community are given special treatments so as long as they do not have Jewish blood or insubordination to the Nazi regime. Those who are of Jewish blood are debarred from privileges they enjoyed before the Nazi regime. The wide difference between the Jews and the Germans were being taught to the children. The Nazis burned the books written by the anti-social elements and choose books which promotes the ideologies and beliefs of the Nazi. Racism was even displayed in children story books. In a book by Preiswerk (1980), he cited the story book entitled The Jews Tree written by Peter Rosegger in 1883. In the story, he described the Jews as sneaky thieves, swindlers, trash. The book described the Jews with damnations. Ironically, the book was considered a childrens book and yet harsh and uncensored words could be read in the book. The provisions made by the Nazis clearly identified their hate and discrimination against the Jews. Jews were brought to concentration camps so that they are separated from the pure 5 of 9

race of Germany. The main aim of the anti-Jewish provisions of the Nazis is to make life so difficult for the Jews so that they would leave Germany. Some of the Jews, however, did not want to leave Germany because their businesses and home would be left behind. Most of them endured the punishments they receive from the Nazis believing that there will come a day that they will be liberated from the Nazi. Through time, many Jews were brought to different concentration camps and were increasingly overpopulating the camps. The Final Solution as Szulc (1990) quoted was to exterminate the overpopulating Jews in the concentration camps, thus began the mass killings in Germany. There are different methods by which Nazis performed mass killings. According to Rogers (1965), one of the methods by which the Nazis killed the Jews was the mass-shoot killing. In the mass-shoot killing, Jews were rounded up, brought to the forest and was ordered to dig their own graves. The Jews were then lined up naked and was shot to the grave. The most popular of all the methods done by the Nazi was the use of gas chambers. Fulbrook (1951) said that the reason behind the use of gas chambers instead of shooting bullets is because bullets are expensive. Burning of the Jews was also practiced by the Nazis. In the concentration camp in Dachau, many of the prisoners were children. The people wearing striped suits were scheduled to be burned in the crematorium (Rogers, 1965). Another issue which was the hot topic during the Nazi-period was humanexperimentations. It was said that Hitler was searching for the perfect race, thus he instructed German physician to conduct experiments on humans using Jews as guinea pigs. According to Linder (2012), some of the experiments done to the Jews were as follows: high-altitude experiments, freezing experiments, malaria experiments, mustard gas experiments,

experiments with poisoning, epidemic jaundice experiments ,etc. In one of the experiments, the Malaria Experiment, the patients were intentionally inflicted with malaria and they were tested with anti-malaria compounds. In a statement by Telford Taylor, as cited in Brophy,Epstein, Nilan, Robertson and Safley, 2002, the Nazis are charged with murders, tortures and other 6 of 9

atrocities which they had committed in search for medicinal purposes. Their victims underwent slaughtering and death as they were subjected in torture. Physicians during the Nazi period conducted experiments on humans for mass destruction. They are testing on the effect and the time it takes for their victims to be killed. Their victims, mostly prisoners at Buchenwald, were shot with poisoned bullets which will be used during wars. These German physicians, due to the experiments they have conducted, lost their human considerations and have been blinded with greed for knowledge and power. In records, there is no written-order by Hitler that specifically instructed the Nazi to kill the Jews but he let his ideas and wishes be known to the public through his speeches. Fulbrook (1951) said that Hitler had fostered a climate in which the policy of exterminating the race of the Jews is the only solution. In a poll White (1947) conducted, 80 percent of the German people said that they regretted their loss of freedom. Out of this 80% of the poll, some include people who followed and supported the ideas of Hitler and they have not regretted it once. They believe that restraining of freedom was, as quoted in White, a necessary evil. In Whites argument, the German people also regretted their loss of freedom during the Nazi period. He believes that people generally want to have freedom, including the Germans and the Nazis, but they can easily give it up when they are faced with enemies. On the other hand, Fulbrook (1951) argues that Germans only care for themselves. They would not concern themselves with issues if it would not harm them. During the Nazi period, although they knew about the killings and other atrocities done by the Nazi, they did not act on it and remained silent. Both of the statements are true, but it should be considered that Hitler was not the only one at fault for the occurrence of the holocaust but the Germans and the non-Germans as well. Hitler was not the only one to blame for the atrocities and mass murder incident. In Fulbrooks (1951) argument, Hitler merely created the climate and provided the impetus for mass murder (p. 200). The decision as to whether the people will follow or not is another story

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Based on the evidences, it was clear that the Germans indeed put the blame to the Jews. This resulted to the ethical issues such as racism, mass murders and human experimentations. Driven by the influence of Hitler and the Nazi party, the Germans grew to care less of the people around them, especially with the Jews. The Holocaust was considered a nightmare more the Jews especially the survivors but this gave way to the relocation of the Jews back to Israel.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Brophy, J., Epstein, S., Robertson, J., & Safley, T. (2002). Perspectives from the past.New York: W.W. Norton & Company Fulbrook, M. (1951). A concise history of Germany. London: Cambridge University Press. Kishlansky,M. (1993). Sources of world history: readings for world civilization. S. Liveley(Ed.). New York: Harper Collins College Kohn, H. ( 1960). The mind of Germany: The education of a nation. New York: Harper Torchbook Linder, D. (2012). Famous trials. Retrieved at http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/NurembergDoctorTrial.html London Jewish Cultural Center. (2011). The Holocaust explained. Retrieved at

http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks4/what-was-the-holocaust/#.UUBxlhw9G6M Preiswerk, R. (1980). The slant of the pen: racism in childrens books.Geneva: World Council of Churches Rogers, L., (1965). Story of Nations. New York: Henry Holt and Co. Szulc, T. ( 1990). Then and now: how the world has changed since WWII. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. White, W. (1947). Report on the Germans. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.

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