Persecution Of The Jews Essay, Research Paper
For twelve years following 1933 the Nazi s persecuted the Jews. Jewish businesses were boycotted and vandalized. By 1939, Jews were no longer citizens, they could not attend public schools, and engage in practically any business or profession, or own any land, associate with any non-Jew or visit public places such as parks or museums. The Jews were deprived of human rights. The Jews were persecuted for things that were not there fault, and it wasn t fair. The Jews are a people with a multitude of dilemmas. From the Israelite tribes to the prosperous modern day Israel, bigotry towards the Jews has been greatly evident. The Jewish race has acted as escape goat for many crises throughout history including the black plaque that swept across Europe in the 14th century. The establishment of Israel was a great incident something the Jewish people were striving to obtain for generations. In WWII Commemoration: The Prewar Period, the author tells what Hitler did to the Jewish people before the war ever started. Hitler outlined his anti- Semitic program in Mein Kampf (My Struggle); his farrago of memoirs, prejudices, and ill conceived scientism. On coming to power in 1933, he implemented this plan. It evolved from legal disfranchisement of the Jews to legalized murder. The Nuremberg Laws forbade Germans to commerce with Jews and to marry or have intercourse with them (Rossel 1). This law that Hitler had implemented had classed Jews as subjects rather then citizens. Later Hitler added obstacles designed to drive the Jews out of Germany. The Jews refused to leave their homes; they were convinced that Hitler s rule would soon end. The Nazi s sponsored anti- Jewish riots; it came to be known as Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass. Jewish-owned stores and Synagogues were all destroyed. In German controlled countries in 1939, under the cover of WWII, the Jewish people were forced into overpopulated slums and employed as slave labor. The Jews were then rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Survivors were sent to death camps that were established in 1942 all over Europe. In Auschwitz alone nearly 2 million Jews were gasses or burned. The Jewish people did go down with out fighting. In slums, concentration camps, and even death camps, the Jews attempted resistance. In WWII Commemoration: Jewish Resistance, The most celebrated case was the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt (Rossel 2). Warsaw where approximately 400,000 Jews had once been concentrated was reduced to a population of 60,000. They, virtually unarmed, resisted the German deportation order and had held back the regular German troops equipped with flame throwers, armored cars, and tanks for nearly a month. Most of the Jews were captured or killed. The Jewish resistance was mainly spiritual. Jews studied, prayed, wrote, observed festivals and fasts, and refrained for the most part from committing suicide.
The Jews in America: A History, As early s the first years of the war rumors were circulating of the murder factories the Germans established at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Treblinka, and numerous other places, but it took the Allies a long time to take note of the reports and still longer time to believe them. It was only in December 1942 that the House of Commons in London were officially informed that the extermination of the Jews in Europe was in full swing (Learsi 302). In America there were public demonstrations, and days of prayer, and compassion. Sadly little was done. American Jews were warned against seeking special actions for the benefit of European Jewry. Little organized rescue s were possible, although Zionists managed to save small groups of young Jews and bring them to Palestine. The Zionists were and organization of Jews that arose in Europe in the late 19th century with the aim of reconstituting a Jewish state in Palestine. Some clergy and a number of non- Jews took part in saving Jewish lives. These horrific events of the holocaust have lead to some consequences, which are beneficial, and some are unfortunate to the Jewish people. The population of the followers has greatly declined. Also the Jewish people after the war still had problems finding jobs. They had to essentially start their lives over. As the Holocaust became more known in America the American Jews had to face the fact that they might have lost a friend or family member in Europe do to the Nazis, and there death camps. This has put a psychological strain on the Jewish survivors for no longer having family and friends with them for support. These events have awakened the world to the needs of the Jewish people. It has given them political power and a justification for some of their actions. The Jewish People in America: A Time for Healing, Never did the Jewish folk saying, it is hard to be a Jew appear truer then in the 1940 s (Shapiro 1). As is clearly visible in this paper the Jewish race has had a very trailing history. The death of many friends and family in World War II was do only to the fact that they were Jewish. The Jews could not have committed a crime that was that bad to receive the punishment that they did. This proves my point that they were being punished for who they were and there believes which is something that nobody can control. This however is only a small representation of the rest of the Jews problems. In 1991 in the Persian Gulf, Israel was continuously bombed by Iraq. Therefor the problems are yet not resolved yet it seems there is never a perfect solution to any problem.