Holocaust: The Influence Of Populism And Ideology
Populism or ideology
Throughout the holocaust populism and ideology have been evidently seen threw the many stages. Populism is a political philosophy supporting the rights and power of the people in their struggle against a privileged elite (example would be a dictator such as Hitler). The movement is usually organized around this privileged elite`s philosophy. On the other hand, Ideolog is a set of normative beliefs, conscious and unconscious ideas, that an individual, or group has. Such as, the Nazi`s had an ideology to kill the Jews because they believed, they had the conscious that “Aryan” and “Germans” were the true people, the true humans and that the Jews need to be wiped out. The Holocaust indeed had a mix of both populism and Ideology.
Before Hitler came into power, the economical and socio- cultural climate of Germany was filled with political instability, filled with increasing violence/ hatred, and a need for an authoritarian leader. It all made sense, when the German government had to sign a humiliating treaty called “The treaty of Versailles”. The government started to print out more and more money, which caused their currency to become useless. People were paying wheelbarrows full of money for a slice of bread. Many people were poor and couldn`t afford much after the war. Many Germans were unemployed, unable to find jobs. Therefore, Hitler made it clear to the Germans that the losing of the war, and the repayments that the Treaty demanded was the cause of economical and social problems in Germany. The savings of the German people were literally becoming useless overnight, as hyper-inflation would make the savings pretty much useless. The banks and stock markets crashed. Banks were unable to give the people their money back, which resulted in many German people, becoming super poor and hungry. The people had no financial support. People lost faith in the Weimar Republic and supported Hitler because they wanted a better Germany. The war destroyed Germany so, the people thought Hitler is the solution to the problem.
As all the negative aspects of post world war 1, the German people had lost hope in the Weimer Republic. Most Germans were socially and economically destroyed and were living their lives on the streets due to hyper inflation. Firstly, Hitler used the power of the situation, to get the German people to follow his lead. Hitler promised to rip up the Treaty of Versailles and rebuild Germany economically and socially, which was a popular appeal to many. Many wanted to live a better live, so they followed Hitler`s rule to obtain that better life. Secondly, some ordinarily people had no other choice, it was their job and they must be loyal to their county. On February 22, 1933, 40 000 SA and SS men were sworn in as auxiliary police, and many of these people later, and even then, had to swear alliance to Hitler, because of the requirements of their job. Thirdly, many ordinary people were brainwashed by propaganda, and told that the Jews were indeed why the Germans are living in horrible economical and social conditions. Hitler in his speeches, depicted the Jews as horrible people, and the Nazi`s forced that to be thought in schools and passed down to everyone. The Germans tried to indoctrinate people with the false image of the Jews telling that they were the cause of all the problems which caused hatred in the German people. Jewish people were portrayed naively in newspapers, on tv. It is very evident as seen on May 10, 1933 when all Jewish books were burned by ordinary Germans, because the German people were taught to hate the Jews. Fourthly, the Nazi`s segregated the Jews from the Germans and insured that the “Germans” stayed with the Germans. On the Night of broken Glass for example the whole idea was to “Aryanization” the population, and they slowly banned Jews from all parts of life showing people these are the people who are bad. After the Night of broken Glass, the Nazi`s forced the Jew`s to clean up the mess that German`s made indicating and showing people that the Jews deserve to be treated in such a manner with hatred. Again, this made the German population join in and do anti Semitism because they are shown it`s right. Lastly, the Ordinary German person just did not have a say on how the society was supposed to be ran. Again, Hitler the man controlled everything. He was the ultimate dictator. People worried about their lives and wanted to look like they should do hatred against Jews, for maybe the protection of their own lives. People was afraid of the Nazi`s and that dictated what the German people did. To sum up there were many pressures to conform and to rationalize one`s choices which caused German people to go such in deep hatred for the Jews. Some people feared the Nazi`s, other`s cared about personal gain. There was a motivation that the German people were blinded by that made them do the actions they did.
The use of the law and media were to advance the mission of the Nazi`s and makesure that the German people play along to what was happening. The Nazi`s pointed out propaganda in news papers and provided people with reasons why they should hate the Jews. Simple headlines like “Jews were the reason Germany lost the Great War” have enough power to circulate and blind people into doing what the newspaper is saying. The Nazi`s made legislation so that they could segregate the Jews and make the Jews look worse then they already are. The right to practice law and medical was taken away from the Jews, the Germans knew that those felids are important to the Jews. The power that these laws had to make Jews feel like they are not human. Laws like prohibiting Jews from owning property, from being newspaper editors, not being allowed national healthcare are basically making Jews segregated and the power of a law makesure that people follow the law. The Nazi`s banned Jews from editing the newspaper only because they knew that the Jews would write down the truth. The power of making laws and the power of the newspaper can be used to the benefit of the Nazi`s, making propaganda easier. Other laws such as Jews need the letter “J “stamped on to their Passport suggested that the Jews are horrible people, the power of this law was that it was harder for Jews to go to a safer country. The Jew`s had to wear yellow stars on their cloths to indicate that they were Jews. This made the climate for Nazis easier and the Nazis could make Germans hate the Jews even more. The power of the law and newspaper is that it dictated how the holocaust happened.
Indeed, we know that when a group people have a set of beliefs it`s an ideology as previously mentioned. However, the Holocaust is more of a reflection of “What can one man do”. It wasn’t the ideology, but It was the man named Hitler behind this ideology. How can so many Germans loose touch with humanity? It was the man Hitler who used the problems of the German people, to indoctrinate them with a one man`s belief not a group belief. Yes, the Nazi`s were responsible for the Holocaust but It was the man who made the laws, who decided what to do. Hitler forced those 40 000 SA and SS to give alliance to him. Hitler wasn’t out to cerate an ideology but to promate his personal wants. How do you know that Hitler`s men actualy want to do what Hitler told them to do? Hitler had one goal and it was to wipe out all the Jews and make the German society pure, this goal was Hitler`s own goal which he inflicted on the other Germans. Most of the Nazi`s were forced to do what they did. People who put the gas in the gas chambers, did they really have a choice to do that or not. People who made the Gas, did they know it was going to kill all these Jews? No. Hitler was the only person who had the power to make laws that he felt that feed to his personal wants. Hitler was the person who stood up against the Treaty. He is the man who made the speeches and people gave alliance to him and saluting him. Other people joined in, not for the same reason as Hitler but maybe for their own personal desire. Germans accepted and participated in the Holocaust because Hitler ordered for propaganda in the newspaper, people joined because Hitler made promises that benifited the German people. In conclusion, the holocaust was more “the man” who lead Germans to contribute to the Holocaust.
