Which was worse: the Holocaust or slavery?

Question

In the Holocaust, millions of people were put to death for being of the wrong religion or ethnicity, or being disabled. During the slavery in America a whole lot of Africans were sold into slavery by their fellows and forced to work under really harsh conditions.

Which was worse? I'm not saying either one was acceptable, but one has to be worse than the other.

Answer 1

Holocaust was worse. It began with good intentions but turned into the attempt at wiping out an entire race of people. Slavery was not a racial issue until the war began. The abolishment of slavery was more economical at first. The focus was then put on the slavemasters who abused and mistreated their slaves. All of the slave owners who treated their slaves like family were overlooked and ignored when it came down to viewing slavery from a moral perspective.

Answer 2

Well... during holocaust many of the camps were put to slave labor before being put to death. The nazi party main targets was the Jewish population but they also targeted non-whites, gypsies, and the handicapped. The jewish people have been going through this though for over +2000 years, including slavery.
As for slavery. If your just talking about what happened in the United States for 200 years. Then the holocaust was certianly worst. Many african families were seperated. But slavery as a whole. IIt still continues to this very day. Then you can say slavery is worse becuase at least the holocaust had an ending. Slavery can encompass the history of the whole world though. There are people being sold right now, many as sex slaves, as human trafficing around the world. There are some countries in Africa, africans using africans, with slaves.
When it comes down to it you can't compare it as which was worse. They are both awlful events that reflect what people are realy capable of.

Answer 3

If you think working under harsh condition was the worst part of slavery you are dead wrong! It was the striping of a peoples heritage, their culture, thier religion, the breaking apart of families, the indignation, the fact that you were brainwashed into believing you were less than human, not worthy of rights, predisposed to be ignorant and it still affects the black psyche even today. The rapes, the lynching, the killings, the postcards that captured the bastards who did it and knowing that they would never pay even for a minute. The smiles on their faces. The fact that decades went by and no one in the WORLD even those in your own continent gave two shits about you living or dying so maybe your masters were right maybe you aren't worthy of being treated like a human. To know that even free you couldn't do anything. The fact that an entire group of people where pushed to a point were they hated the very skin that held their soul due to its hue. The fact that even today most blacks can't trace their cultural ancestry past being the descendant of a slave. I think in terms of a "Short" Term Horror the holocaust wins. In terms of "long" term slavery has it beat hands down. You know what they are both equally fugged up, along with the Genocide of the Native Americans.

They are all atrocities and things like them happen every year, hello Rwanda, Dar fur, Kosovo, Sierra Leone.

I just wanted to add this question is evil and wrong.

Answer 4

People that were in slavery were MURDERED,beaten, raped. And their descendants, even too this day are being discriminated against and some in the past ten years have been MURDERED, because of the racism/prejudice stemming from slavery.Furthermore,slaves were taken away from their families, causing these people and their descendants(those of today) to lose the depth of their identity, causing scores of them to self-hate and maintain a slave mentality. The holocaust was also horrendous and there are people that personally experienced this cruel treatment still alive today, they witnessed first hand the torture and death of friends and love ones. The bottom line is, they both were evil times in history, there is absolutely NO reason to try and make one worse that the other, they are separate! and comparing them is an injustice, they should ALWAYS to be looked at and remembered separately period.

Answer 5

Well depends on your view point, let's weigh the fhistory for a second:


the Holocaust lasted a little less than 10 years

slavery for over 400 hundred........edge slavery


The holocaust broke up families and killed people in a most heinous manner

Slavery tore apart families, stripped culture, held an treated like animals.......edge that a tie

holocaust survivors and descendant's were given reparations, that included land and money.

Slavery survivors and descendant's were given their freedom, and another 100 years or equal rights fighting, Jim Crowe laws, civil rights movements, ghetto and substandard housing, took a while just to be accepted.........sounds like hurricane Katrina victims.....edge goes to slavery!!!!!


Well out of the best examples I can give slavery seems to be worse. Although I am biased being a black American and all...

Just imagine you and you friend are in an accident.......you both suffer from wounds that require stitches.......he gets stitched up, and you get a band aid...which is worse?

Answer 6

In a way slavery because people cant seem to get over it and put it behind them. They would rather use it as a crutch and blame all their problems on other people. Slavery ended long ago, get over it and move on. And by the way, at some point in history every race has been a slave to another. Slavery is a product of war, not racism. The winner has historically enslaved the loser. Blacks arent the only ones to have been slaves, they just cant seem to let it go.

Not only did the jews have the holocaust to deal with, they were slaves for what....1000 years or so? Why is it that black people think they have a lock on suffering? Every race has been victimized, the majority have accepted the past, got over it, and moved on. Let the past go, learn from it and move on......you control your destiny, take resposibility for your life and stop blaming others.

Answer 7

I seriously doubt that the few Africans who sold their brethren to the Europeans knew that it was nothing like the slavery in Africa. I'm sure they didn't imagine the torture, killing, starvation, rape, etc. that was happening. Slavery in Afica is much different than slavery in the New World. Families are not torn apart. The people enslaved are more likely than not criminals. Additionally, you really should do research before you ask unfounded questions such as these. 2/3 of the Africans brought to the New World were captured not sold.

Answer 8

They're both horrible but i'd say slavery because it lasted longer than the holocaust. If they lasted the same amount of time i'm not sure what I would choose.

Answer 9

Slavery was the worst, it went on for hundreds of years, and the blacks, and American indians suffered. Dont get me wrong the holocaust was just as bad. Lets just put it this way, any person who had/has killed a person and abused them in any form should have the same done to them. Regarless of color or race.

Answer 10

Both of them are wrong, but of course killing is many fold worse! By the way, there are still people working under really harsh conditions today.

In a religious perspective, killing violates the 5th commandment which is "Thou shalt not kill". Forcing people to work in slavery can be seen as violating the 10th commandment, which is "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods". Each of the commandments are equally important, so they are both bad and neither should be broken.