Did hitler actively participate in the holocaust?

Question

What I mean is, did he ever flip the switch on a gas chamber? Did he actually shoot jews in the head? From my understanding, he didnt, he only got all his goons to do the dirty work for him. He just sat back and encouraged his followers to do it allowing him to just sit back and relax. This doesnt make him any less evil, it just makes him a coward.

Answer 1

He was not involved in the shootings and gassings, but his involvement was the greatest. In the Fall of 1941, he gave the verbal order to Goerring to "finalize" the Jewish Question. Goerring then ordered Reinhard Heydrich to implement the Final Solution. In Jan. 1942, Heydrich convened all the top SS and Nazi bureaucrats at the so-called Wansee Conference where the initial planning of the implementation of the Final Solution was made....the extermination of European Jewry. So in answer to your question, he did not get his hands dirty, but his actions directly caused the Holocaust. Even the likes of Himmler grew feint at the site of concentration camp inmates during his few and brief visits.

Answer 2

The recent discoveries allude to a clear and unambiguous order from Hitler himself to kill the Jews. At the same time, they suggest three revisions to the current theory may be in order. First, it is now undeniable that Hitler personally ordered the overall Final Solution decision; second, the decision was not made prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union - rather, the ultimate decision was taken near the end of 1941; third, the Final Solution was not a smoothly evolving process, but rather more dependant on the vagaries of the war effort.

The Recently Discovered Documents

The two recent discoveries are:

1. The first is a diary entry by Joseph Goebbels of December 12, 1941. It runs as follows:

Bezüglich der Judenfrage ist der Führer entschlossen, reinen Tisch zu machen. Er hat den Juden prophezeit, daß, wenn sie noch einmal einen Weltkrieg herbeiführen würden, sie dabei ihre Vernichtung erleben würden. Das ist keine Phrase gewesen. Der Weltkrieg ist da, die Vernichtung des Judentums muß die notwendige Folge sein.

With respect of the Jewish Question, the Führer has decided to make a clean sweep. He prophesied to the Jews that if they again brought about a world war, they would live to see their annihilation in it. That wasn't just a catch-word. The world war is here, and the annihilation of the Jews must be the necessary consequence. [7]

2. The second is a note in his own handwriting by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in his soon to be published diary of a meeting he had with Hitler at the latter's Headquarters (Wolfsschanze) on December 18, 1941. The notes are simply: [8]

Judenfrage / als Partisanen auszurotten

Jewish Question / to be exterminated like the partisans

Hitler Personally Ordered The Final Solution

Most experts have agreed that an action on the magnitude of a mass genocide, with the resultant possible ramifications, could not have proceeded without Hitler's personal approval. Until now, no written decision from Hitler has been found, although there are compelling indications that a verbal decision was certainly given. [9] The recent discoveries cannot be called a written decision (which, if it ever existed, was almost certainly destroyed by the end of the war), but they are certainly unequivocal confirmation that a clear decision was taken by Hitler. Even better, they help pinpoint the time it was taken.

***

Hitler was fully responsible for the order for the mass executions in Poland in 1939 and 1940. He was also actively engaged in setting up plans for a Jewish reservation in Poland and he backed the Madagascar plan. He was continually preoccupied with further deportations and deportation plans. In 1941 Hitler ordered the extermination of the Jewish-Bolshevist intelligentsia and the elimination of every potential enemy in the occupied Eastern territories. He was fully aware of mass executions of Jewish civilians in these territories.

Answer 3

As far as we know Hitler did not personally pull the trigger or flip the switch, but he most certainly did actively participate in the Holocaust. He led an entire country to follow his irrational thinking and did so in a way that seemed very much rational and a "normal way of life." Hitler, as evil as he was, was an excellent leader, one of the best leaders this world has had. It's just unfortunate that he put all of his energy into such a demonic cause. Imagine if his mission would have been about love of all races and religions; how could that have changed the course of history and society as we know it?! But back to your question every person involved played an active role because without any one of them, regardless of their position (primarily Hitler), there wouldn't have been nearly as many executions.

Answer 4

>Did hitler actively participate in the holocaust? What I mean is, did he ever flip the switch on a gas chamber? Did he actually shoot jews in the head?

No, as far as I know he didn't.

>This doesnt make him any less evil, it just makes him a coward.

No, what it makes him is efficient. He was the leader of a whole damn country, for goodness's sake, why would you expect him personally to waste his time killing a few more jews with his own hands when he had far more important things to think about? He was evil, certainly, but at least he understood division of labor.

Answer 5

--In the Book ---"NASTY PEOPLE" by Jay Carter, the author calls the MONSTER Hitler an "INVALIDATOR"

The author quotes Robert Payne in "The Life & Death of Adolf Hitler"

--HE SAYS:

"Hitler was the arch-destroyer, determined to stamp out and destroy everything in the world that did not serve his purposes.
Yet the man who spilled so much blood , and was so bloodless, never dared to look at dead or the dying, never visited a military hospital , and NEVER SHOWED ANY SYMPATHY for the maimed, the wounded, the blind. He drove millions of people insane and millions died in his concentration camps. He had no conception of the suffering he had brought to the world; and had he known, it would have made not differnce. When he traveled through bombed towns, he drew the window shades for fear that the sight of the destruction he had caused would weaken his resolution. In darkness behind shuttered windows, remote from the world as in a grave he terrorized the world he never undersood and never wanted to understand"

--IN OTHER WORDS-- He invalidated all the obscene attrocities he had others do--So it was if he made all the valid murders, maiming, sufferings, torturings---DISAPPEAR!

--These tactics of little Hitlers world wide , whether they be just bullies in governments, religions, businesses, school s, work place, homes ---just cancel the VALID--demeanings, mental-emotional-physical sufferings FOR THEIR own edifications.

Answer 6

Are u feeling sorry for him???
simply the reason why Hitler was mostly blamed for the millions of dead was because he was not in the nurmberg trials as he was dead and a dead person is the most easily person to put the blame on as he does not exist in this world any more and will not be punished for his actions...

Hello!! imagine u are a leader and u give people reason to kill another human being and praise them for their deeds.... that is huge power... so now the question now we have now is does the man who puts the tigger evil or the one who orders that guy to put the tigger?
If the order is not given, how can actions take place...
Hitler is in the red now

Answer 7

As far as I know, from all that I've read and studied on the subject, he just gave the orders. But, in my opinion, it doesn't make him any less a murderer. He didn't just sit back and relax though - he was a very driven person, and had so many different things on his plate - military, architectural works, the "Final Solution" as he called the extermination of Jews, genetic studies, empire building, etc.

Answer 8

Almost certainly not. The Nazi leaders didn't take part in the killings themselves, just let their thugs in the SA and SS do it for them. Himmler, a high ranked Nazi and head of the SS, was sick when he was splattered with brains from a shot Jew.

Infact, Hitler saved the life of one Jew. He wrote a letter to a doctor, the one who had saved his mother's, warning him of what was to come. This does not in any way excuse what he did; he was cowardly, hypicritical, treachorous scum.

Answer 9

Why should he? there were so many troops who were more than willing to do the job for him.

Many volunteered to be in companys that were involved in the duty of the final solution. Hitler would have just been in the way.

Answer 10

I think being the creator of it is pretty much active participation.

He was not a good leader.....good leaders have good morals and does what's best for everyone.He was able to coerce a country it's just as much their fault for letting it happen.