Holocaust question number 2?

Question

My question is: When it comes to the Holocaust, which of the areas of study do you agree with? Why?

There are two areas of study to the Holocaust:

Intentionalist - Intentionalists say that if you remove Hitler, you would have no Holocaust. He alone was responsible for it, and the only reason it happened was because Hitler indocrtinated Nazi Germany in to his beliefs.

Functionalist - If you remove Hitler, the Holocaust STILL would have happened. The Holocaust was really a culmination of events that were set in motion as early as the Spanish Inquisition. Germany prior to Hitler even was somewhat anti-semetic. Hitler was simply a means to an end of events that were set in motion before he was even born.

I've spent a good deal of time pondering this question, but I'm curious what other people who are interested in or study history think. Debate away.

Answer 1

There is truth in both of them. There was definitely already a lot of antisemitism in Germany before Hitler. I think it increased because of the antisemitic propaganda of the Nazis, but if there had been no antisemitism before, people would have never been convinced by such propaganda but they would have reacted to it like we do now when we see some of this propaganda in documentaries or read about it - they would have noticed that it was nothing but evil slander. You can also see a lot of antisemitism in many writings from several centuries before Hitler. Hitler didn't even have any new idea, he adopted his antisemitism from others before him.

However I don't think that without Hitler the Holocaust would have happened. Yes there would have been antisemites anyway but that doesn't mean they would have gone to that extreme without Hitler. However there were many people who were ready to do it when Hitler initiated it, many of them with conviction, so it would be silly to say that Hitler alone was responsible. One man can't be solely responsible for the death of millions of people. He needs people who are ready to follow him. I don't believe that Hitler had any "hypnotic" powers. When I see and hear something of his speeches in documentary films I can't believe how people can say he might have had some kind of supernatural convincing powers - you have to be hateful yourself to be convinced by this.

Answer 2

It is impossible to separate Hitler and the National Socialist movement in Germany. Within Hitler's inner circle were those that shared his vision of a "final solution." As the war began to turn against them, Hitler was committed to this goal even at the expense of hurting their overall war effort in tying up huge amounts of material and troop resources as it created a logistical nightmare. Besides the humanitarian aspect, Hitler was not going to listen to his generals or advisers about this issue. These plans were hidden both to the world at large and to the German people themselves.The extermination included not only Jews, but anyone viewed as an "undesirable" particularly the Slavic peoples. Hitler and the Nazi vision of a New World Order are interwoven and one cannot assume that the Holocaust would not have occurred with someone else as Fuhrer. I think it is a serious mistake to tie this occurrence to the Inquisition or any pre-existing undercurrent of anti-semitism as nothing prepared Europe or the world as to the scope and fanaticism that was displayed by the Nazi movement. To say that European history was being led inevitably down this road would be a complete fallacy. Having visited Dachau and talking to a survivor(an Episcopalian minister) was a truly moving experience and surprisingly his message was that there were no heroes at the camp..

Answer 3

Functionalist. I find it funny that they say "somewhat anti-semetic." As if, first off you don't get SOMEWHAT, that is like saying that the KKK is somewhat racist. Now I wasn't alive at that time but I think history shows that they were more then a little against Jews. One school of thought shows that Hitler USED that. He simply started with and against Jews because he know that people would follow him. He wasn't as anti-semetic as people like to believe. He was against Jews and almost all others, anyone he deemed scum of the Earth, but they were the easiest to start with. They were the group most were against, and wouldn't really be missed. Well after you get people going on one side they will follow as you slowly build on it. Not sure I would really say mine is Functionalist based on how you define it, but that is the closer to my view. He also had plenty of help in the higher-ups. The "death machine" wasn't even his idea as I understand it. Sure the reason for it is credited to him, but the speed that the people were killed wasn't his idea. Sorry can't remember who is credited with the speed that it was done. Hitler didn't come up with the Ovens or any of that as far as I know. So clearly he wasn't alone in the planning. Sure he could have got people to his thinking, but the speed of killing shows that others had sick intrests in doing it.

Answer 4

I think it was intentionalist. Yes Europe had issues all along with anti-semitism, but not to the degree that Hitler exploited it. He got everyone on baord with the blame the Jews for your misery bandwagon.He scapegoated a minority kinda like we did with the Japanese during WWII.

Answer 5

How come expulsion of Germans by allied forces after second world war different from the Holocaust by Germans.
It is documented that up to 3 million Germans died in this action through killings by opportunistic mobs and individuals.How it is different from the so called "Holocaust". There are some voices sometime that Germans also did similar treatment to Jews which resulted in so many deaths which is called "Holocaust" now. Germans also did the same with Russians, Gays, Gypsies etc. Why always Jew Holocaust is publicized in media and not millions of deaths caused directly by US and its allies. (Massacres by U.S are still going on in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine )

Answer 6

My opinion is you can't change history.....it is part of our future. Why should we question why something happened in the past if it has only made us stronger today? We know more, because of how the Holocaust affected people. I am not saying i am glad it happened, i am just trying to say there was a SMALL spark of good in what it made us realize.

So why does it matter how or why it happened?

Answer 7

I believe it is possible that it could have happened without Hitler, but I don't believe it would necessarily have happened. Hitler had a certain charisma, it just drew people to him. I believe you would have had someone as equally as charismatic to have pulled it off. Otherwise I don't believe he would have gotten the support.