Is the enslavement of African Americans Similar to the Jewish Holocaust?

Question

My annoying friend keeps on telling me it's the same thing but she's wrong.

Answer 1

No. The purpose of enslaving Africans was to subjugate a race and to use their labor for one's own gain. The Germans were not interested in using the Jews for their own benefit. The purpose of the Holocaust was not merely to subjugate, but to exterminate. On the contrary, extermination of Africans (as opposed to their subjugation) would have left the plantations of the Western Hemisphere unattended and the European powers would not have been able to amass huge amounts of wealth throughout the the colonial era.

Answer 2

Completely different-- due in large part to the motivations and intent that stemmed from both atrocities. During Hitler's reign Jews, blacks, gypsies and homosexuals were all seen as a threat to the Germans ideal of the "perfect race". On the other hand, enslaved African Americans were never viewed as a viable threat but instead viewed as economic assets.

Answer 3

That is a tough question!

Because these are two completely different things, there is no satisfactory answer. It's like comparing McDonald's to Taco Bell.

Both were horrible, they have that in common.

That's about where it ends. The kidnapping and enslavement of an entire race, and the extermination of an entire race do not really relate to each other. So the answer is no, they are not the same thing.

Answer 4

I think that is a good question. Most will say no most will say yes. They are both horrible in there own way. It depends on the person really. If you really look at it it is. But then again they used African Americans for slaves. With the Jews they tried to erase the entire race.

Answer 5

I don't believe so unless you are talking about a numbers comparison? The Jewish people were collected with the ultimate goal of destruction. The Africans were brought here to be slaves and once "owned", encouraged to propagate. Entitling the slaver to more profits from children sold.
Both were travesties to human rights, but I would reasonably conclude that's where the similarities end...

Answer 6

No, both were cruel, in their own way. I wonder if African slavery is the similar to the one in African slaves in Drafur. That is in Africa as well.
The Nazi wanted to use the Jewish people then when they are done erase their people.
African American, they were slave, used, not only by the white American, but also by the Black African American. Anyone who got money, owned these poor people.
in Drafur, they are being more and more erased. what do you know, they are similar with the Nazi!

You have heard of them! right! they are slaves to the Arabs in that country.

Answer 7

Native South Americans were also enslaved by the European Spaniards. That slavery continued long after the Emanciaption Proclomation in the US. Many peoples were enslaved throughout history.

Answer 8

No, for one simple but significant reason: white slaveowners did not want to get rid of their black slaves because of the economic investment they had in them, while Hitler saw the Jews as a threat to his power and wanted them eliminated. Yes, Hitler got some use out of the captured Jews for some labor, but the goal was always to destroy them. Slaveowners didn't want to kill off slaves, and only did so if they became, for lack of a better term, "uppity".

Not all slaveowners treated their slaves cruelly. Some in fact were well treated and well fed, but this does not dismiss the fact that the slaves were little more than business equipment that needed to be maintained properly in order to work.

Answer 9

Of course! Anybody of any race can convert to Judaism, you do however have to be serious about conversion and willing to put the time in (obviously). Many Ethiopians are Jewish and they are from Africa. Naturally Jewish people come in all races and ethnicities.

Answer 10

Not really.
You see there were no jews that persecuted or imprisoned thier own.
However there were MANY black slave merchants. Many of them were VERY rich. In fact the infamous "Amistad" was part-owned by a rich black slaver who lived in Belgium.
So the difference is quite plain between the two occurences.