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Katrina Logan
College English
Mr.Neuburger
The term holocaust originally derived from the Greek word holokauston, meaning a
“completely burnt” sacrificial offering to a god. It has been primarily used to refer to disasters or
catastrophes. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word holocaust was first used to
describe Hitler’s treatment towards the Jews. According to 2007 schools Wikipedia Selection,
The Holocaust was characterized by the efficient and systematic attempt on an industrialized
scale to assemble and kill many people as possible, using all of the resources and technology
available to the Nazi state. Millions of people died in this tragic period all because of one man,
Adolf Hitler.
In Austria, on April 20, 1889 one man was born who would soon be known as history’s
greatest villain, Adolf Hitler. When Hitler was only six years old his father, Alois, retired from
the civil service which created a strict, tense atmosphere at home. When Hitler was 13, his father
passed away. At this time, things were beginning to get tough in the Hitler household. When
Hitler turned sixteen, he quit school, and never went back. In 1907, Hitler decided he wanted to
go to a painting school because he had always had been interested in art. Hitler applied to Vienna
Academy of Art, but he did not get accepted. In 1908, one year later, he tried to apply again, but
he was not allowed to take the exam again. About two months later, Klara Hitler his mother, died
of breast cancer. Hitler then spent the next four years living off what little money he had earned
from selling postcards, drawings he had done, and little inheritance he had gotten from his
mothers death.
By this time, Hitler began getting involved with politics and became influenced by the
pan-Germanism. He did not want to go to the military, so to avoid it he packed his little things he
had and moved to Munich, Germany in May 1913. Soon World War I broke out, and he asked for
and received special permission to serve in the Bavarian-German army. He quickly proved he
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was courageous, brave, and a strong man. While lying in the hospital recovering from the gas
attack that temporarily caused him to go blind, he had heard the war ended, and Germany had
been defeated. He had felt so betrayed by the Germans, after everything he had put out there, and
even getting injured. This shaped his and the world’s future.
In 1919, Hitler had joined an army organization. At this job, he would check-up on
burgeoning local political groups. While spying on many of these groups, he soon had found one
that he liked. He then joined that group, and soon after he knew it he became the leader of it.
Hitler thought with him being the leader, he could bring strength and prestige back to Germany.
On January 30, 1933, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor of Germany. In less a year and a
half, Hitler was able to take over both the position of president and chancellor and combine both
After he gained all of that power in Germany, Hitler didn’t waste anytime using his
power. He began putting people in concentration camps who didn’t agree with him. With Hitler
having knowledge on the pan-Germanism, he then combined German people with other people
in Europe. With all people scared that another war would begin, Hitler easily took Austria
without any battle. But, whenever he tried to force into Poland, he could no longer just stand and
Hitler slowly began removing Jews from German society. However according to the
Overview of Adolf Hitler, it mentions that with the cover on World War II, the Nazis created an
elaborate and intensive system to work the Jews as slaves, and eventually kill them.
How many Jews were actually murdered? According to the Peace Faq, an average of 5.29
million to six million was killed. That was only the Jews though; many other people were
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tortured, and killed including, communist, homosexual men, Jehovah’s Witnesses, people with
Many people say Hitler is the one who made the decision on murder the Jews, and other
people, but he was not alone. The German society was known by anti-Semitism, racism, a
utopian vision of humanity under German hegemony. With this kind of atmosphere, it was
unclear whether Hitler instigated these actions, or just simply let his men allow this to happen.
Over the next half year, plans for many concentration camps were made clearly into their heads.
The idea of murdering all the Jews was unclear, even though it mentions in Hitler’s book Mein
According to the Nazi Genocide, 1.5 million children were murdered during the
Holocaust. This figure includes more than 1.2 million Jewish children, tens of thousands of
Gypsy children, and thousands of handicapped children. The Nazi’s didn’t care which Jewish
family they persecuted, or however old the children were. They took the children one by one
from their homes, family, and belongings. Some children would even witness the murder of their
parents, siblings, and relatives. Until the children would go to the gas chambers, many had to
over come starvation, illness, and brutal labor. A girl named Anne Frank is one of the millions
who survived. Anne not only had to survive harsh punishment, starvation, and brutal labor, she