The Holocaust: Dehumanization Of Innocence

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The Holocaust: Dehumanization of Innocence LaLa229 July 4, 2011 The Holocaust represents one moment in the history of the world where dehumanization is displayed. The Holocaust should have never occurred due to bigotry and hatred of Jews and other “inferior” groups and races of people, who were looked down upon by the Nazis. The Nazis deemed themselves “superior” and were cruel and heartless. The Jews, Poles, Soviet P.O.W.S., homosexual, Gypsies, disabled, mentally ill people (some German), and others were an alien threat to the so-called German community. All races and groups hated by the Nazis endured pure torture, while the Nazis were in the effect of exterminating the people. With a loud cry for help, the Jews begged and pleaded…show more content…
425). The annihilation of the groups occurred in concentration camps developed by the Nazis. The groups of people were transported in cattle-cars, by train, by the thousands on a daily basis. Once there, they were each examined. Some prisoners were sent to the left and others to the right. If the prisoners were sent to the right, they were marched to their death. Some prisoners only had a chance to view the concentration camps because they were immediately sent to the death chambers. He prisoners that were instructed to go to their right still endured torture by the Nazis, by performing unpaid labor and undergoing experiments by camp…show more content…
“Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long, the man responsible for immigration policy, personified a tradition of gentlemanly anti-Semitism. Polite on the surface but deeply bigoted, Long used his authority over visas to place obstacles in the way of desperate Jewish refugees” (Davidson, Delay, et. al., 2008, p.791). People who had power in Congress ignored the requests of the Jews. The U.S. State Department delayed publicizing reports of genocide. In August 1942, the State Department received a message about the Nazi plans for the murder of the European Jews (Hoffman, 1970, p. 26). America had adopted a policy of Isolationism after World War I, to prevent being involved in other countries domestic and international conflicts (Hoffman, 1970, p. 33). America had an anti-Semitic sentiment, within Congress and the general public against Jews (Davidson, Delay, et. al., 2008, p. 791). Through hate propaganda, the messages were delivered about the hatred Americans had for the Jews. Anti-Semitic literature was spread, as well as swastikas and anti-Jewish slogans. Jews were looked down on in America as greedy scapegoats (Lachendro, 2011). From the anti-Semitism being exposed in America, it caused America to react too late to the aid of the victims of the Holocaust. President Franklin Roosevelt, the president of the United States at the time of the Holocaust, “stripped Long of his authority. He
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