Causes of the holocaust
Causes of the holocaustPost World War I Germany saw difficult times. Germans were searching for a reason to blame someone for their problems and extremist groups such as the Nazis provided a focus for the German people. Some historians will argue that extreme nationalism was the cause of the Holocaust because of the power of the Nazi party. While a large part of this is true, Germany's anguish after World War I sent people looking for reasons to blame someone or something for their burdens, Germany's humiliation after World
War I, its dire economic situation, and antisemitism all came together to cause the Holocaust.
Germany's embarrassment after losing World War I was one of the major reasons for the cause of the Holocaust. After Germany's defeat in World War I, Germans found it hard to believe they had lost the war. The Treaty of Versailles was a document that officially ended military actions against Germany. Germans did not like this treaty because their government would have to pay other countries for their economic losses. Germany also lost all of its colonies overseas. It had to give back provinces to France, Belgium, and Denmark. France got German coal mines and Gdansk, now a city in Poland, became a "free city." Poland gained most of Western Prussia and Germany's Rhineland was demilitarized, although allied troops occupied it for fifteen years after the war. The Treaty also solely held Germany responsible for the War in a "war guilt" cause, which greatly upset the Germans. When the German government saw the treaty, they heavily opposed it!, however they had to accept it. Germany's new republican government ratified it in 1919. Germany's defeat in the war and the provisions in the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending the war, greatly outraged the German people. Germany had lost everything, the economy was in a decline and there was an extremely high unemployment rate. The Germans wanted to restore their nation to its former greatness. They wanted to complete this task of restoration in a very short amount of time. German citizens also started looking for a reason for their defeat. A new political party called the National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazis, began its climb by bringing back old prejudices and blaming the Jews for Germany's defeat in the first World War. These were some of the factors that came together to cause the rise of Hitler's Third Reich and the slaughter of twelve million innocent people in the Holocaust.
Germany's bad economy in the 1920's and 30's was a factor for the cause of the Holocaust and the Rise of the Third Reich. After the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, Germany owed other nations money for their economic losses during World War I. This made Germany very poor in the early twenties. In 1923, inflation reached its climax in Germany which made...
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