Rahmaad Smith

Wertz-Orbough
UWRT 1103
11/26/14
Inquiry Paper
When studying the Holocaust one of the main things people may wonder about it
is how it went on for so long without much interference from the outside world or even
just Germanys neighboring countries. The vast majority of people in Germany and
occupied Europe were aware, to at least some extent, of how the Nazi regime was
treating the Jews. Nevertheless, they took no active position on the matter. They did not
openly persecute the Jews but they did not actively help them either. Throughout the
Holocaust the ratio of upstanders to perpetrators and bystanders is extremely one-sided
favoring the perpetrators and bystanders. It can be sad to think about how long it took
for us as a people to realize what Germany was doing was wrong and actually work to
do something about it. There are more reasons behind this than we may actually
realize.
Hatred of Jews as a people or of "the Jew" as a concept, a term known as antiSemitism was first coined in the late 1870. Subsequently it is used with reference to all
types of Jew-hatred both historical and contemporary. (Fergusson, Gilbert, and
Constantine Fitzgibbon, Denazification) This was a term used long before the rise to
power of the Nazi Party, which occurred in 1933. This was one of the first political
movements that was fundamentally based on racist anti-Semitism. To me this shows
that the hatred of Jews was a long lasting concept that dated back for some time. Some
information concludes that the development of the Nazi Party could have occurred at

any point throughout history behind the leadership of the right person. Some historians
believe Hitler had all the right qualities necessary to be that person. Other historians
believe it just so happened to be Hitler to be the one to lead the Nazi Party. He was
born into a time where the movement was bound to happen after the Germans had
been holding this in for so long, anyone could have led it.
The nineteenth century became the era of the Enlightenment. This was a
philosophical movement that based its ideas on reason rather than traditional, religious
reasoning. (Fergusson, Gilbert, and Constantine Fitzgibbon, Denazification) Most
thought this would be the end of anti-Semitism. This however, was very misleading. The
Enlightenment did not bring an end to anti-Semitism but instead forced it to change its
base and alter its ideas. Jew haters began declaring that Jews were an inferior race on
the evolutionary scale. Since their problem was physical and genetic, it could never be
changed. Included in this new form of anti-Semitism was the idea that Jews were
responsible for the world's troubles because of their race and genetic composition. This
type of hatred was not limited to Germany around the nineteenth century. In France,
anti-Semitism was illuminated in the 1890s when a Jewish army officer was falsely
accused of treason by Jew haters. In Russia, throughout the reign of the Czars, antiSemitism became official government policy. Jewish movement was restricted to certain
areas, and pogroms were encouraged by the ruling class. Only after the Bolshevik
Revolution in 1917, in which many Jews played important roles, were Jews in Russia
granted equal rights. This gave anti-Semites throughout Europe another excuse to hate
Jews because Jews were now associated with the hated Communist enemy. (Santa
Barbara, Antismitism) After the war anti-Semitism was greatly weakened. This shows

that Jew hatred and anti-Semitism was more common and widespread than people
realize.
Throughout the war the list of European bystanders is vast. One of the closest to
home are the churches of Germany. These churches behaved as political institutions.
Despite their abilities to fight other Nazi instituted policies such as the removing of
crucifixes from the churches and the euthanasia program, they knew they would have
little to no popular support on a policy to help the Jews. As I have learned up to this
point in life a politician will not willingly engaged in a battle that they know they will lose
which describes why the church of Germany kept their bystander role during the
Holocaust. Another group of bystanders, maybe the most obvious, is the German
population. These were the people I would consider to be most aware of what was
happening to the Jews but still chose to be bystanders. The reasons behind the German
population role of being a bystander were somewhat apparent. One of the biggest being
the potential consequences they carried by helping a Jew. Many German citizens were
just not concerned with what was going on with the Jews. As normal citizens it wouldnt
affect them in the least. Unlike the euthanasia program there was no chance that a
person would just one day become a Jew. That being said, why concern themselves?
Not all Germans thought this way but as I stated before the ratio of upstanders to

perpetrators and bystanders was very one-sided.

(GHDI

Image) Even the neighboring Polish citizens played an active role in by standing. This
picture illustrates the public abuse of a Jew where many Polish citizens just stood and
witnessed, some even encouraging it on. (Holocaust Survivors, Isak Borenstein) Many
people question why neighboring and opposing countries didnt do more to help fight the
Nazi movement.
Even in the countries that opposed Hitler and the Nazis, anti-Semitism still
existed to some degree, and some experts believe that those anti-Semitic attitudes
inhibited those nations from doing more to rescue Jews from the clutches of the Nazis.
One of the less noticeable bystanders of the Holocaust would be the US and the allied
forces. I feel as though the reasoning behind their role selection, at least in the
beginning, was due to their ignorance of the situation. The allied forces believe what
was going on in Germany to be of little significance therefore they invested no effort at
all in dealing with it. The magnitude and the significance of what we today call the
Holocaust was not realized at the time. Considering the amount of bystanders I think
they could have significantly affected the outcome of the Holocaust in either direction.
After such a serious event like the Holocaust I often wonder how people prevented this
from happening again. After the war the Allies went about the process of Denazification.

Towards the end of the war the Allies met at the Yalta Conference to set up a process
to wipe out all Nazi influence after the war, which to me was a smart move. By August
of 1945 the Allies and the Soviet Union together had created a list of about 245,000
suspected Nazis who were put under "Mandatory Arrest" with the goal of removing all
Nazi officials from society. (Fergusson, Gilbert, and Constantine Fitzgibbon,
Denazification) After the war Germany was split into four zones controlled by the US,
Germany, France, and the Soviet Union, each controlling a different zone. Each country
had its own way of trying to Denazify Germany. The US being the most strict worked to
keep former Nazi members out of powerful positions while looking to enforce a
democratic society. The British had this same idea while being a little more lenient.
They looked to rebuild German's economy allowing anyone familiar with the area to hold
important positions, including former Nazis. The French and the Soviet Union worked to
use their zones to benefit their own countries. France worked to further weaken
Germany's destroyed economy by using the countries resources to rebuild their own
damaged economy. The Soviet Union on the other hand looked to turn its zone into a
communist environment arresting anyone who didn't agree. I feel as though the process
was a good idea but turned out less efficient than it could have been due to the
vagueness of each countries' idea of Denazification and the corruption within some of
the countries.
Throughout my process of inquiring I have learned a lot. I first learned about
where the hatred of Jews originated and how long it traced back into time. Antisemitism
traces all the way back to around 1870. I next learned about some of the many reasons
behind the numerous amounts of bystanders throughout the Holocaust and what

allowed it to go on for so long. Many of the reasons turned out to be pretty obvious,
such as German citizens fear of being persecuted along with the Jews. Some of the
reasons were less obvious such as the US failing to realize the seriousness of the
Holocaust at the time. I even learned about the precautions the nations took to try and
prevent another Holocaust. Even to this day Denazification has proven to be an
effective method. This paper overall gave me a more vague understanding of the
Holocaust as a whole.

Sources:
1. Fergusson, Gilbert, and Constantine Fitzgibbon. "Denazification."
International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-) 45.4
(1969): 729. Denazification. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

2. Antismitism. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2005. Web. 25 Nov.

2014.
3. "Holocaust Survivors: Isak Borenstein." Holocaust Survivors: Isak
Borenstein. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

4. "GHDI - Image." GHDI - Image. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

5. Rothkirchen, Livia. "The Protectorate Government and the "Jewish

Question" 1939-1941." SHOAH Research Center. Yad Vashem. Web. 25
Nov. 2014