why was the holocaust allowed to happen?

Answer 1

I always wondered that myself, how did 6 million people march off to the death camps? In a police state, its' hard for individuals to fight against the government. Many were told that 'resettlement' was taking place and that the gas chambers were delousing chambers, but still, it seems amazing.....

And when did the Allies know? ...is another issue. Why weren't the railways bombed leading into Auswitz? I think most people didn't realize the scope of the slaughter until liberation. Why did the 'good' Germans allow it to happen? Were they afraid of the Gestapo too? Most likely, anyway, i'm just rambling.....

Answer 2

There are a number of reasons;

1) The NAZIs suppressed all domestic opposition - killing any potential figures that people could rally to against their policies.

Interestingly, the only real possibility of a German overthrow of the NAZIs after WWII came in 1944 where Rommel was probably working with the Stauffenberg group - but they failed to kill NAZI leadership figures on the spot and Hitler and the NAZIs were able to put down the coup.

2) The NAZIs were master propagandists - they spent years demonizing Jews, Slavs, and other supposed enemies of the German people which helped lay the ground work for the Holocaust.

3) The NAZIs controlled the media - while their attempts to hide what they were doing were far from complete success, they were enough to give average Germans the ability to not think about it.

4) The notion of the good of eugenics was widespread in Europe and the rest of the West - the NAZIs had adherents to their "racial science" throughout the west.

5) The failure of German Institutions - The churches had just fought a long political battle with the NAZI leadership over euthanasia - and faced direct control by the government in the event of another such political struggle

The military proved too timid to kill the Hitler and overthrow his government in the early going because the British and French would not support them in the certain civil war such an action would bring.

The political class could not control the street theater of the communists and the fascists.

Answer 3

Actually there were a number of reasons. You see Hitler used the Jews and others as a scapegoat. He gained great political advantage from this as around the time there were many Germans who had been disadvantaged by the depression. In fact people had various means to survive the depression,some so discusting, that I will not mention them here. Things were that desperate. Also many Germans felt or fell for the lie that Germany was stabbed in the back,as no military man signed the peace treaty, and fell easily for Hitler's assertion that it was the JEWS and THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS among others who had betrayed their valiant armed forces in world war I. Also there had been a tradition of anti-juedaism in Germany's history.

But two reasons stand out: One was APATHY and the ACCEPTANCE.

APATHY:
Whilst Hitler was giving the Germans good things, they accepted him for all he was worth and didn't give a fig for their fellow humans. The Third Reich was benifiting them-why care? As Pastor Niemouller in the second world war said:
that first they came for the Jews, and he didn't care, for he wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the homosexuals, and he didn't care, for he wasn't a homosexual. Then they came for the communists, and he didn't care, for he wasn't a communist. Then they came for the unionist and social democrats,and he didn't care, for he wasn't a unionist or social democrat. Then they came for him and there was no one to help him. He died in a concentration camp. Also the nations of the world who could have stopped Hitler at the beginning and could have accepted refugees, didn't give a fig for their fellow humans.

ACCEPTANCE:
But the most telling was acceptance. You see, Hitler didn't start of in January 1933 by immidiately rounding up all the Jews and others and shipping them of to the camps, and then boasting about it on the air waves. He did it gradually and with stealth. First he barred the Jew and others from various occupations, then he resticted them socially, then had them branded with special signs on their clothes and then shipped them to ghettoes. This was done gradually. Although some of the people marked for this got the hell out of there, most just sat tight and hope that business would go on as usual and things would be alright. However, this was not to be so . Anyone reading his book beforehand had plenty of warning about what he intended to do.
But peoples acceptance of a little, then a little more, then a little more is like the lobster in the pot. You put the lobster in a pot of cool water, then slowly heat it, the lobster gets comfortable, and gradually the heats up until it is two late for the lobster. Gradualism can be a very dangerous thing in deed.
Similarly, with the gradual implementation of Hilter's policies, people just accepted it because it had relative comfort to do so and relative discomfort to not. They, like the lobster, only found out WHEN IT WAS TOO LATE.
This is because most people don't question and are more likely to want the comfort of the status quo rather than take the responsibility of questioning and rocking the boat. This is what gives tyrants their major boost. Their greatest, by far greatest ally is ACCEPTANCE, followed by APATHY. These are the twin pillars of their power.
This is why it is extremely important for people today to continue questioning, doubting and rocking the boat. It is the greatest guard and tyranny and a second holocaust. For history repeats itself and those who do not learn from history are condemmed to relive it. If the first Jew had killed the first Nazi that came to his door, the holocaust would never have happened. Hope this helps.