I do not believe that the Jewish Holocaust is any different from any other genocide that has occurred in history. The technology and planning used during this genocide may have been complex, but the overall purpose and effect on its victims was similar. The Einsatzgruppen was no different from any of the other death squads that terrorized people throughout history. Their methods may have been more refined and advanced, but the purpose was equally as horrific as any other genocide.
Many people believe that the Jewish Holocaust was different due to the advanced technology used. This does not make this genocide unique though. Serbia was an impoverished nation when it ethnically cleansed the Bosnians. It used rifle armed death squads because that was all they had available to them. The same goes for the Rwandan genocide, in which the Hutus used machetes to kill the Tutsis. Machetes were what the Hutus could afford. Germany was a heavily industrialized nation, Rwanda and Serbia's industries were still developing. Technological advantages should not rank one genocide over another.
Many of the tactics used in the Jewish Holocaust were used in many other genoicdes. Starvation was used by the Germans throughout the Holocaust to kill Jewish slave labourers. This was similarly utilized by both the Turks and the Russians during the Armenian Genocide and Ukraine Famine respectively. The mass deportation and removal of people from their traditional lands wasn't only used during the Holocaust. The Turks similarly rounded up Armenians and deported them to Syria and Palestine. The use of Jewish slave labour is similar to the Khmer Rouge's use of Cambodia's urban population as slave labourers. The Nazis used tactics which had been utilised before them and would again be utilised by others years later.
The Einsatzgruppen resemble many other death squads throughout history. The Einsatzgruppen's early tactic of utilising firing squads was used by the Serbs during the Bosnian Genocide. The Einsatzgruppen's rounding up of Jews was an idea already utilised by the Turks during the Armenian Genocide. The Einsatzgruppen's passion for the killing of Jews resembled the attitudes of many others who had committed genocides before them. Their belief that it was their ultimate purpose resembles the fanatical attitudes of Turkish soldiers and Khmer Rouge members.
The motivation and devotion to the cause of genocide is an attitude repeated throughout history. The Einsatzgruppen saw killing the Jews as the most important duty of the war. Even when Germany started losing they continued. This fanatical devotion is similar to the Muslim Turks holy crusade against Christian Armenians and the Khmer Rouge's slaughter of those who did not fit in with their ideal society. This belief of superiority even resembles the attitudes of Apartheid in South Africa. While no genocide of blacks occurred the attitudes of the Afrikaners resembled those of the Nazis. Even in the Afrikaner branch of the Dutch Reformation Church, Afrikaner were taught that God had made them superior to blacks. This is completely similar to Hitler's own belief that Nordic peoples were made superior to Jews.
The technology and methods may have been different, but the overall tactics, tortures, and motivations behind the Holocaust and other genocides are similar. The belief of one group being superior to another is universal throughout all these incidences. No genocide should have precedent over another no matter how many people are killed. These are human beings not statistics. Murder is murder period.
The Jewish Holocaust is not different and unparalleled in history than other genocides. The Jewish Holocaust is not different and unparalleled because it resulted in the same thing all genocides do, many deaths of a specific group of people. Each genocide has similar and different methods of causing death, but the methods do not matter, they still have the same end result. It can be argued that it's different and unparalleled because of how Germany profited from it from the possessions of those killed. Yet in other genocides, like the Ukraine Famine, the country benefited economically from them. For these reasons, the Jewish Holocaust is not different and unparalleled from other genocides.
To put aside bias as citizens of democratic, civilised and privileged North America on looking to the atrocities of genocide, is to put away the weight of the hours spent in school, imprinting the importance of the Holocaust in particular, into the minds of the young. The emphasis on this subject is undeniable in the curriculum of education and yet, this only serves to prove what it is: the Holocaust is unparalleled in history.
The point is not to the measure the value of the lives taken, for the power of this sort of judgement should not, does not and cannot belong to man, or so we should have learned, time and time again from genocides that stain the fabric of human history with drawn blood. But to get cold and clinical, to try and shed away as much bias as possible, one can only take into account what can be measured – and in this case, it is monetary value.
The Nazis stripped the Jews of everything they had: occupation, citizenship, property, possessions, the very clothes on their backs, fillings in their teeth and ultimately, their lives. Sure, this serves as humiliation, to nullify dignity and endorse the mindset that Jews were inferior, but without a doubt, the Nazis drained every bit of profit they could from the Jews and greatly benefited from it. Prisoners in labour camps worked for free until death, no doubt helping to fuel the Germany economy and the means for war. The Nazis eventually made a business out of renting out the Jews to private businesses for the low cost of under three dollars a day for a worker. Everything taken from the Jews inadvertently funded the war and by proxy, their own extermination. And yet no number has been calculated to the exact value of what the Nazis stole. However, a testament of what a large figure it must be is the fact that even today, there is news of uncovered works of art taken during organized Nazi looting – and yet the whereabouts of so many valuable artefacts still remains unknown.
One cannot deny the stereotype of the German people that resonates today – precision, efficiency and disciple, much of which arguably stem from the time of the Nazi regime, but it is a fact that Germany has a lengthy military history. Organization and efficiency were two hallmarks of the Holocaust. So many things were considered, down to the detail of what gas was the most effective to use – Zyklon B which was used to kill rats, also symbolic of the view of Jews as a subhuman race, whether intentional or not. Extermination camps strategically placed outside of Germany to minimize public knowledge. Methods like shooting were weeded out for being ineffective and replaced with bigger, better and faster means – the gas chambers.
Anti-Semitism is a long held tradition, dating back to perhaps nearly as far as Judaism itself. The Jews are repeated victims of the short end of the stick – in Biblical times, when they were enslaved by the Egyptians, in the reign of the Roman Empire, during the Middle Ages and the list simply goes on. Jews are even blamed for the death of Jesus (who was also a Jew). The Holocaust was another dark chapter in the history of anti-Semitism, which in itself is a statement: the unwanted intimacy of the Jews in the face of violence and hatred is drastically different and the use of Jews as the scapegoat is absolutely unparalleled in history.
Jews were seen a threat and perhaps this is not without reason. The Nazis saw enough Jews with influence – positions in politics, business and education – to find that they were dangerous and required termination from their professions, which was done through legislation. The Jews were put into ghettos (and resettled again to camps) and only further segregated by the Nuremberg Laws. There was a feeling of necessity in these pre-emptive actions. While stereotypes cannot be relied on, they also do not invent themselves. The image of the rich Jewish banker stems from the fact that it was one of the few occupations Jews were allowed to hold during the Middle Ages and thus, an occupation that carried on from generation to generation. Jews are not known as a people dependant on agriculture, unlike the Ukrainians or what the Cambodians became under the rule of Pol Pot. As much as they were still a minority amongst Christians, the fact remains that there was still a huge and spread out population of Jews.
Genocides under the cloak of war are not new. Many people often draw comparisons between the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust and this is not unreasonable. Both happened during world wars. However, what one must notice here are the differences between the role of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and the role of Germany in World War II. In other words, Germany, as the centerpiece of both these wars, could have used their men elsewhere, like on the frontlines. Instead, they were manning the camps, which only goes to show exactly how much of a priority the extermination of the Jews was to the Nazis.
The Jewish Holocaust is unparalleled in history. It presents an undeniably cruel irony: the Nazis, who perpetuated the idea of the Jew that is a thief, took all that the Jews had and used it to fund the triumph of the Aryans over the annihilated Jews.
Every single genocide throughout history has specific circumstances, reasons, and methods behind it. However, the Holocaust was an unparalleled genocide that differs from the others in a number of ways.
A major difference between the Holocaust and other genocides is the way in which it was carried out. The Holocaust was systematic, methodical, and carefully planned out. Entire "death camps" were created with the sole purpose of killing Jews.
In the case of many genocides, such as the Rwandan Genocide, other nations have been aware of the killings but either can't help or don't want to get involved. However, the Holocaust was essentially a secret, to both German citizens and the rest of the world. Other countries heard rumblings but did not know the extent of the killings or details of the Holocaust until after the camps had been deserted.
The treatment of Jewish prisoners was also unprecedented. The Nazis took everything they could from the Jewish people, from their dignity to their personal possessions. They were humiliated and exploited in ways not seen in other genocides throughout history. The Nazis also exterminated through labour by allowing the strong to work until they were considered to be expendable, or until they worked themselves to death
The biggest difference between the Holocaust and other genocides is the lack of justification. Most mass killings have a purpose or goal. For example, the Holodomor (or Ukraine Famine) was orchestrated in an attempt to implement collectivization. Sometimes the goal can even be as simple as gaining power of a country. However, in the Holocaust, the Nazis just wanted to eliminate the Jewish people. It was killing for the sake of killing. “It makes no sense,” said Alvin Rosenfeld, a Jewish writer and historian.
Throughout history of the world there was numbers of genocides before the Holocaust and after. However no genocide had the number of victims as the Holocaust did, no genocide was ever half as planned out, and to consider that this particular genocide happened during a World War makes the Holocaust unlike any other. The Holocaust was greatly unique, and unparallel to any other genocide or nation cleansing that has happened prior or after.
What the Nazi Germany was able to do, as in making Jewish people absolutely worthless, and seen as soul less, the use of propaganda, and to convince the German public that Jews shall not be part of the German future. The Holocaust was supported by the German people, although they wouldn't know what was really going on, they were just told to hate the Jews, and they did. Everything was taken away from the Jews, and was recycled and reused to boost the German war economy. They were getting rid of the Jews, while their possessions were bringing in good for Germany.
The numbers don’t lie; since the massive killing was started in 1941 until the very last few weeks of German resistance in 1945, approximately 6 million Jews and other minorities were exterminated. These numbers alone stand out to show how devastating the Holocaust really was. The use of death camps was brought in for the first time. Where mass gassing was used to kill millions of Jews. The Holocaust even had a special army corps for the cause, called the Einsatzgruppen. No other genocide group was as successful as them in capturing, and either killing on the spot or send out to death camps. Although the Holocaust used the idea from the Armenian genocide of transporting Jews in an animal wagon of the train, the Nazis were able to do this every day in much larger numbers then what was done to the Armenian's.
The death camps were built outside of Germany, this way the German public didn't exactly know what was going on and neither did anyone else in the world other than the ones who were suffering within these camps. Which is sadly impressive, to keep the international public blind for so long during the Holocaust. The killing did not stop, and the Jews were not a banded even when the Russians were gaining in on the camps. The order was made to kill as much as possible, and to march those who can back to the camps on the west. This showed how much the Nazi’s wanted to exterminate Jews, even when the war was near the camps.
Overall, the Holocaust is the most famous genocide of all. The reasons are for the number of deaths it produced and how it was done. The Nazi`s hate for the Jews was for no reasoning other then Anti-Semitism. The Jews were being murdered just for them being Jews, which makes Holocaust much different than any other genocide that has occurred.
The Holocaust was not the same as other genocides- all genocide is different- but it should not be regarded as unparalleled, or on a separate level from others. The horrible treatment that the Jews were subjected to, the total disregard for human life, and how they were stripped of their humanity is common to all genocides. The purpose and motive behind it didn’t vary from that of others either: killing because they believed, as every group that suppresses another in such a way does, that the Jews did not deserve to live, and that Germany would be better off without them. How this is expressed depends largely on the group executing the ethnic cleansing, and how far it goes depends on the circumstances, but many of the elements of the Holocaust are also displayed in other incidents, and were not new or exceedingly brutal in comparison.
The methods by which the Nazis exterminated the Jews do not set the Holocaust apart from other genocide. In fact, it could be regarded as better than how almost all the victims of some other massacres were killed in longer, more drawn out ways. The starvation that Ukrainians experienced at the hands of Stalin in the 1930s, for example, or radiation sickness endured by thousands upon thousands of Japanese after the atomic bombs, or the estimated 2 million slaves in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge soldiers. In addition, the Nazis’ techniques often weren’t new or different ideas. Death marches were characteristic of the nineteenth century in the US for Native Americans, as well as in the Armenian massacre. Starvation killed people in almost every genocide, and working till death was used in Stalin’s regime and in Cambodia in the 1970s. Even gassing had been employed before, both in non-genocidal and genocidal slaughter: the German army used toxic gasses in World War I at Ypres and in other battles, and Saddam Hussein used it in a 1983 conflict with Iran and later against the Kurdish population. The main point here is, though, that every single genocide was done differently. None of them were the same, except in that people were brutal to other people. There’s no way to measure whether ‘showering’ in a gassing chamber, or cleaning up after your friends, family, and fellow people’s ashes is more dehumanizing than watching others of your color being lynched, or your children and neighbours becoming sick or starving to death because your tribe is forced to live on insufficient land.
Nazi Germany took a very strategic, methodical approach to genocide. This doesn’t put the Holocaust on another level than other massacres either. Part of the reason for their step by step extermination was German culture, and Hitler’s personality. Germans like to be very detailed and efficient, believe me I know (look at how long this posting is, for example), and Hitler was insanely Anti- Semitic, so it’s not surprising that they’d come up with something. This also had to do with the resources available; other countries may not have had the scientists that Germany had, or the poisonous gas kicking around or the supplies to build crematoriums that Germany did, so we can’t say that others wouldn’t have used them if they could. Germany also had a government that could carry out such a strategy; if Hitler wanted to do it, he could do it, and if other people didn’t want to listen, then they’d end up just like the Jews. Stalin was able to do the same, to the Ukrainians, to the army, and to his own party. Hitler’s fanatical hatred was not unique, so there’s no way to say that the same or similar brutality wouldn’t have been displayed somewhere else if the system of government allowed it. Another huge factor in their methods was the technology available. Nazi scientists were able to calculate how many pellets were necessary and how much heat to use and how long it would take to kill people en masse, while other groups didn’t have these possibilities or any way to kill more effectively than shootings or going village to village. Also, as I wrote in the previous paragraph, the Nazi methods may have even been less cruel than others. They were different, sure, but shouldn’t set the Holocaust apart from other genocides, as there are too many factors and reasons involved, and as I mentioned before, we can’t say that one method of killing is worse than another.
The Nazi approach also involved economic profit. This shouldn’t set the Holocaust apart, because it wasn’t unique and it’s slightly extraneous. First of all, economic profit also resulted from other incidents. Stalin, for example, sold the Ukraine grain to other countries to obtain machinery for his industrialization plan of Russia, and the fear that other people experienced because the Ukrainians were starving because they wouldn’t listen to Stalin encouraged them to accept collectivization. In the US and Canada during World War II, economic profit resulted from moving Japanese Americans to detention camps because their possessions were placed in government hands. The exact gains, however, are hard to measure. Economic gain is also somewhat irrelevant in this case, as economic gain also results from war- of course with the cost of lives and a whole lot of resources and money- and other events, so is largely unrelated when considering genocide, especially considering the fact that we’d be looking at money at the same time as the loss of thousands and millions of human lives. Also, Germany was in a time of war and so exploiting and stealing people’s stuff was natural; it’s like taxes, or like how the Japanese exploited their newly acquired empire in World War II. Economic profit is difficult to measure, is off on a tangent from genocide, and depends on the circumstance, so isn’t significant.
In the end, though, we cannot measure different genocides that occur in different circumstances with different people in different places and different numbers murdered with different effects on the country in which they happen. Primarily, any data obtained cannot be guaranteed to be accurate, and there will always be a wealth of things we don’t know about these events. Secondly, many of these components, such as economic value of the people killed, cannot be measured or have many other factors involved that are difficult to relate and consider. Most importantly, though, ranking one genocide as worse than another is hypocritical in that we’re saying such and such a number of such and such a group has less of a right to live than another number of a different group of people. What is always the same among genocides, although how exactly it’s expressed may differ slightly, is the venomous hatred fuelling them. This is equally unjustified and inhumane in each case, is the reason for genocide of any sort, and puts all genocide below moral and ethical standards. No one genocide should be placed above or below another on any terms, as all genocides have similarities and differences that are incomparable to one another on a holistic level, and particularly because no human life should be placed above or below another on any terms.
I do not believe the Jewish Holocaust was unique or unparalleled in history. The wholesale slaughter of a people can never be weighed against another. Different situations (economic, industrial, or any other) may set each genocide out from the others, but none can be said to be truly unique. None of the methods used by the Nazis can be considered unique. Starvation was used in the Ukrainian genocide to terrible effect by Stalin, killing millions only to prove to others the cost of resistance. Gas chambers were not unique to the Nazis, as they were even used to kill American criminals sentenced to death during the 1920s! The death squads following the German army’s advance into Russia are very similar to squads used in a number of other genocides, such as the Cambodian genocide orchestrated by Pol Pot. Some believe the fact that the German’s passed legislature legalizing this treatment of Jews separates this genocide. The vast majority of genocides are supported, if not orchestrated by the respective Governments! The Ukrainian genocide, the Tibetan genocide, the Cambodian genocide, and the Armenian genocide were all orchestrated by the ruling party. The mass deportation of Jews even matches legislation passed during the Armenian genocide when they expelled the Christian Armenians from their homes and sent them to Palestine and Syria. The idea that the planning and technological savvy makes it unique is untrue as the Germans were a very well developed country, they were working with the tools they knew best. You cannot compare this to the Rwandan genocide as they only had access to machetes and small arms; they worked with what was available to them. The idea that the extraordinary planning somehow sets it apart is also untrue. In Cambodia, the entire population of cities were kicked from their homes and sent into slavery. An operation as extraordinary as that would require an incredible amount of planning. The passion of some Nazi members cannot be considered unique either, as religious genocide in Armenia was driven hugely by the passion of religion. We also saw incredible passion in the members of the Khmer Rouge, who were uncontrolled in their brutality while serving Pol Pot, a leader also driven by his ideology. We cannot, for any reason, separate the mass killings of one people from any others. What could possibly set the loss of one person apart from another? All lives are created equal, and the idea that in death they are somehow separate is absurd. How can we claim to be any better than those that orchestrated the events themselves if we can put the deaths of one people over the deaths of another? Because of these reasons, I do not believe the Jewish Holocaust to be unique.
The holocaust has some differences and some similarities to other genocides through out history there has been many genocides over the years, some long time ago and some very recent. In my opinion I think the Holocaust was definitely the worst of the worst of the genocides. Hitler and the Nazis murdered 6 million Jewish people one by one in some of the most brutal ways.
For a genocide to be a genocide I believe that there is hate from some people to another. Hitler hated the Jews and he expressed him self in many different ways. In the 1990s there was a huge genocide in Africa for diamonds where 800,000 people we killed. Little kids were captured and brainwashed to become part of the group or they would kill their families. Useless people were killed and people that can work several hours in the rivers mining for diamonds were put to work right away. You may think why would people do this to their own people? Because of money. Hitler did not get money for killing 6 million Jews but he did gain a lot of power.
In Rwanda the rebels would just go city to city killing anyone in sight until they find either someone to work in the water or someone they can brain wash into becoming a rebel. The Nazis were not like this. They went door to door searching for Jewish people to throw them in concentration camps where they would be tortured, starved, beaten all because of their race. In the camps they had to do punishing work all day, some Jews would die from exhaustion from the work they had to do. They got very little food in a day and if they were caught stealing food they were instantly killed. The Nazis did not led up during the war and the genocide. Other ways that the Nazis killed the Jews were gas chambers, after a long hard working day the Jews were told they could have a shower and that’s how they got most of their victims during the holocaust. If you resisted or argued with a officer, boom you would have been shot.
So I think that the Holocaust is both different and similar to other genocides that have taken place over the years. The main similarities between the holocaust and other genocides are the amount of hate between two people. Everyone can agree that Hitler hated the Jewish people and back to Rwanda the rebels hated everyone but there group. Another similarity is Power, weather you have power in a country like Hitler did or power as in being rich as the rebels wanted. Both the leader of the rebels and Hitler were killing a mass amount of people because they wanted power. The Differences are the way people were being killed. In Africa the rebels were ruthless teaching child soldiers how to se guns by setting up older people in front with blind folds so they don’t know what they are shooting at. Their main goal was to brainwash as many “young rebels” as they can so if it comes down to the group or their family they would kill the family to stay in the group and many children ended up killing their own families. During the Holocaust gas chambers were the number one source for killing Jews in Europe. But there was other ways by shooting them, Jews committing suicide, starving to death. No one deserves to be torched to make some one have power or wealth.
When looking at other genocides, the number of Jewish people murdered was astonishing in comparison. There isn’t an exact number, but it is estimated that between 5 and 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. This is outstanding to the amount killed in Rwanda, which was around 750,000, in Cambodia, where 1.7 million were slaughtered, or the 1.5 million Armenians massacred by the Turks from 1915 to 1923. When looking at all these other world genocides, the Holocaust dwarfs them all. Perhaps what makes the Holocaust even more unique, is that the Jewish genocide wasn’t limited to those Germany, but extended beyond its borders to the impact Jewish populations across Europe. The horrors of genocide – large or small - should not be subjected to a contest to see which was more evil, or which had more casualties. However, the Holocaust was unparalleled when compared to other genocides due to the fact that there was a very systematic and organized planning, there was no justification, and the staggering numbers of those killed.
I have brought myself to believe that the Jewish Holocaust was parallel to all other genocides, for the reasons that they are all able to come back to the same definition: the massive killing of a group/race/religion. They may be under different circumstances, tehcnoologies, or even awareness’s, but they are still similar in many ways. There have been many genocides in history, and even today, and although they have used different technologies and tactics; such as the Cambodian genocide. It was taken over by the Khmer Rouge Communists to rebuild the country by destroying Cambodians religion (budhism) and forcing them to work as slave laborers. In destroying their religion, they would burn down Buddhist temples and execute priests. In the Rwandan genocide, machetes were used to kill Tutsis. In Serbia, they would “ethnically cleanse” by killing Bosnians by creating rifle death squads to kill them quickly and efficiently. The genocide in Russia, is known as the largest genocide in history. They used starvation, labour camps, and tactics as simple as shooting during those times. These were all different styles and tactics of murdering but all in the end they were another genocide added to the list. Another factor to consider is that all of these genocides may have had different goals for their country, but all killed a race because they believed they were the problem of their struggles. Nazis killed Jews and blamed them for their own problems such as a weak economy and war losses. The Armenian genocide occurred because the Muslim Turks did not find that the Armenians fit into their society. They killed for different reasons, but both for the outcome of a nationwide change by destroying a race or religion. The reason many may think the Holocaust is so unique is most likely because of how educated we are about it. The holocaust is something we have learned about since primary school, like there was nothing comparable to it, when there are so many genocides that have occurred that we aren’t aware of. The holocaust is only the third highest amount of deaths in a holocaust, with Russia being the highest. But does that make it worse? No matter what the situation, all genocides are parallel for the fact that they come back to the same definition: the massive killing of a group/race/religion of people. No matter how severe, they are just as tragic in their own ways.
I think that the Jewish Holocaust was different and unparalleled in history than other genocides. To quote German historian Eberhard Jackel, “Never before had any state, with all the authority of its responsible leader, decided and announced that it intended to kill off a particular group of human beings, including the old, the women, the children and the sucklings, as completely as possible, and had then translated this decision into action with every possible…power at the state’s command.” The sheer planning and size of this genocide in itself makes it unique. It is said that the number of deaths from smaller genocides shouldn’t be understated as being compared to the number of deaths from the Jewish Holocaust. It may not be less evil to kill 30,000 people, compared to the six million from the Holocaust, but it is still a lot less people that are suffering and getting murdered from discrimination. The scale in which this genocide was planned is quite drastic. Everyone involved in the extermination, especially the Nazis, were extremely passionate about exterminating the Jews. The methods of killing the Jews were unique compared to those of other genocides. They were well thought out and technological. They went as far as setting up specific death camps, where the Jews were sent and exterminated in gas chambers, and disposed of in crematoriums. Neither of those methods had been used in other genocides. Also, the Germans had economic profit from the genocide. They used the materials they stole from Jews, such as gold, and many small items such as glasses and watches, and recycled and reused them for other purposes. They systematically sorted through all the Jews, and if they classified, were used as slave labour. The Jewish Holocaust seemed to be unparalleled and different compared to other genocides.
I do not believe that the Jewish Holocaust is unparalleled, as it is a genocide based upon religion and although highly tactical, you can't compare all other genocides on a level playing field. The Germans wanted the Final Solution to be quick, and they had the technology and money to make it so. Other genocides in poorer and underdeveloped countries and in the times before World War 2 and did not have access to the technology or the means to create it. The killing of anyone anywhere is a horrible thing and it doesn't matter how someone does it, they still killed a person or hundreds of people. If all genocides were performed in the same conditions, time period and country we could pick out one that was different from the rest.
It is quite possible that one’s opinion can be biased on this subject, seeing as we have been so exposed and educated about the holocaust all our lives and essentially ignored other genocides. However, it is my opinion that the holocaust is unparalleled. First of all, the numbers are a factor. Six million deaths are very significant. It can be argued that there were five million Ukrainians killed, but they used different methods of mass killing. In the Ukraine, they were starved to death on an immense scale. Another way in which the holocaust differs is that other genocides had purposes (no matter how trivial.) The Native Americans were killed because their land was desired. The Jews were persecuted simply for being Jewish, and because it was easy to hate them. We can’t forget the manner in which the Nazis terminated the Jews. Months of planning, thousands of people, an unthinkable amount of money, sweat, blood, and tears all went into creating the gas chambers and camps. Not only were there people to plan out, but people to build and then people to maintain the camps. Other genocides were kept under wraps by the government, but Germany acknowledged their antisemitism – and went as far as declaring Jews stateless. Think of all the money that went into building the gas chambers! That was money that could have gone to the war effort (at least in the beginning when they might have had a chance at winning.) Railroads were used to transport prisoners, when they could have been transporting soldiers. So much forethought and planning and effort went into this genocide, which puts it in a category of its own. An aspect of the holocaust was that the (healthy) prisoners were forced work until they died. All the belongings, down to the glasses and gold teeth, were taken and sorted. The German economy benefitted from the extra revenue it was making of this genocide, squeezing everything they could out of the Jews. In other genocides, people are killed out of anger and hate. Here, there was a logical profit. Perhaps we are brought up surrounded by knowledge of the holocaust and that makes us biased. Or maybe, this is more proof that the holocaust is unparalleled because it is still so talked about and significant today. Maybe it’s because it targeted the Jewish, a group of people who have been discriminated against for hundreds of thousands of years. At any rate, we can all agree that it is very unlikely that any two genocides are actually alike – which is a wonderful sign because why would we want repeats of mass murder. It is my belief that the holocaust is unparalleled for many different reasons. At least we can all agree on the fact that we hope that history doesn't repeat itself.
I believe that the holocaust was different and unparalleled to other genocides, both future and present. If we just look at the sheer amount of planning that went into the systematic extermination of the Jewish population in Europe. Never before had there been death squads as advanced of fanatical as the Einstazgruppen, the technology was much more advanced and the incredible amount of deception, both psychological and visible all make the holocaust unique.
Death squads weren’t new in genocides, in almost any genocide throughout the world there have always been armed squads tasked with the extermination of individuals. However, the fanatic and systematic nature of the Einstazgruppen make them unique in history. Never before had there been soldiers directly tasked with going through the civilian populations after a battle and either shooting or gassing the Jews. Yes, in other genocides the soldiers or militia would kill the race in question, but there was never a systematic, trained division devoted to killing a race. The fanaticism of the Einstagruppen was astounding, even when the war was coming to a close and Germany was losing the war they still persisted, believing that their work was invaluable.
The advanced technology used in the Holocaust is also a unique aspect. In any other genocide the killing was done with conventional weapons (blades, guns or physical abuse) but the Holocaust used gasses, specially designed buildings and incredible precision in the killings. The use of such things as furnaces to dispose of the bodies compared to the inefficient mass graves or gasses to reduce the strain on soldiers who otherwise would have to execute the Jews.
On top of everything else there was a terrible genius in how the Nazi’s deceived everyone, from the Jews who were being sent to their death and the German population, most of which had no idea what was going on in the camps. There was not one detail that the Nazi’s overlooked in making the camps look like ordinary concentration camps, with no hint to what was going on inside them. For starters the Nazis gave the Jews the option to bring their belongings with them on a separate train so “they could be returned to them when they arrived”. This gave the impression that things would not be so bad at the camps, reassuring the hope that this was just another ghetto. Once at the camps the Nazis made sure to keep everything as orderly as possible, women and young children would not be separated to reduce the likelihood of starting a scene. At the gas chambers there was an emphasis on making them look like ordinary showers to not arise suspicion. The Nazi designers even went as far as having coat hooks, faucets and showerheads, of course none of these worked as they would be expected to. There was even a clock that stood still in the processing areas, just to make everything seem normal and ordinary. There was also a great amount of deception of the non-Jewish population, Hitler made sure that all the camps were outside the major cities to hide the truth from the public. The majority of the population had no idea what was happening in the camps or that there even were death camps.
In the end the Holocaust was unique because of all the meticulous planning, use of efficient technology and the fanatical death squads.
Certainly, the Holocaust was tragic and the magnitude of this event is rather large; however, it is not that which makes it unprecedented; the amount of planning and the deliberateness of it all, the monstrosity, it what makes the Holocaust unique. Death on a mechanized scale was the base of the Holocaust. The plan was how to be rid of every single undesirable possible in order to make way for the new Thousand Year Reich. Undesirables have always been present in one form or another since the dawn of civilization and people do one of two things: they suck it up or they try to demonize and then destroy these undesirables, which is what Hitler envisioned. The thing that makes the Holocaust so different is the death camps. This was previously unheard of and for years, some people did not believe that such a thing could exist. At the end of the day, the Holocaust is similar to other genocides in principle and intent, but the methods used to carry out the killing are what made it the infamous event which we know today.
The Jewish Holocaust was different and unparalleled than other genocides.
Although the basis of the Holocaust is the same as other genocides (pre-existing hatred towards one race or culture of people), the way that it was carried out makes it different. This was the first genocide to be planned with such intricate details, as shown in the Wannsee conference, where several SS leaders worked to produce "an outline of the organizational, practical, and material requirements in respect to the final solution of the European Jewish question."
This uniqueness of the Holocaust is also shown in the amount of effort that the Germans took in tricking many of these prisoners into thinking that these camps were genuine labor camps. They stopped taking babies away from mothers in order to calm them down (although many of them were later gassed), and set up camps with decor that made it seem like they were just working. The Germans put effort into psychologically calming these Jews in order for them to be more efficient workers, which is something unseen from other genocides. At Auschwitz, hooks were even set up over benches, and in other camps, many prisoners were referred to as "ladies and gentlemen." The methods of dehumanizing these Jews was also very systematic, as they were tattooed with numbers and given uniforms for identification. These Jews' possessions were also taken and recycled, which is something unseen among other genocides. Inmates were forced to pay for their own boarding as well, before they were forced to labour as slaves.
Many of the victims of the genocide were put to work in labor camps before being put to death, to contribute to the German economy. Never before had specific camps been built with the sole purpose of killing people, and many of these prisoners were used as slave labor, often assisting Nazi employees (like doctors) in their work. Many prisoners were spared this way from immediate death, as they were in possession of a skill that the Nazis found useful. This is unique to other genocides as history, as the Germans seemed to have wanted to take everything they possibly could out of their a number of prisoners' skills before ridding of them. The ones that were not so lucky, however, were sent to gas chambers, which were built for the efficient elimination of the Jews, which is also unique to this one genocide. Never before has efficiency been a priority in a genocide, and the Germans tested out several types of gasses on Jews before deciding on the one that would kill them the quickest. For example, they experimented with carbon monoxide gas and found it too slow reacting, so they moved onto Zyklon B, which enabled them to kill on a scale of 25,000 a day. They also tried shooting them, but found that they were wasting bullets in the process. it is said that the "operations of the camp can be put down in a diagram. An average day's activities can be broken down into a schedule", which only confirms that this genocide was very systematic and operational, which is different from other genocides that the world has seen.
All genocides have specials aspects that make them different, and unique. All genocides are equally important to the history of the world, but each in different ways. The Holocaust was unparalled for the combination of several different factors, such as, the level of deceit, the location and the amount of planning.
The level of deceit that was employed in the Holocaust is unparalleled to any other genocide in history. Hitler had several The Nazis built a fake train station at Treblinka (death camp), complete with a clock that did not move and a ticket counter to fool the people they intended to kill. The Germans did not shoot or starve the Jews, but killed them by leading them into “showers” in which Zyclon B (lethal chemical gas) was dropped. In France, Jews were often taken in luxurious cable cars for “resettlement” (a story told by their captors) and were fed food and coffee. This kind of trickery was different than most of the other ethnic cleanses of history.
The idea that genocide as intense as the Holocaust could occur in Western Europe is shocking. The level of education that is held in that part of the world is very high. Germany was able to have France and Italy- countries not particularly anti-Semitic- comply with their policies. France was occupied by Germany but was allowed to govern the Southern France as the French Republic. The French police were responsible for sending thousands of Jews to Auschwitz. These were the people who were fighting against the Nazis only months before. The fact that Hitler was able to make all these people to turn on their neighbours, in the country who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen is very unique to the Holocaust.
Nazi Germany went through many steps to make sure that the Final Solution was most effective, for their purpose of eliminating the Jewish people. They tested different chemicals in order to find the best one to kill humans, and they made sure that they documented everything. Jewish people were forced to register, like they were animals. The Nazis also knew they would have less resistance if they had more public support so they made Jews wear the Star of David on their clothing. This made the public see them as different, and less human. At the concentration camps, Jewish people were just considered numbers, which made killing them easier.
The Holocaust is not different because of each characteristic listed above, but for all of the variables combined. The economic advantage that the Nazis experienced in this genocide is similar to that of the Ukraine famine. However, one similarity does not make both genocides the same. It is important to understand each of the tragedies separately, not view them as one entity.
Genocide is defined as “The deliberate killing of a large group of people, esp. those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” What makes the organization of the complex planning, the method of killing, or the number of lives taken special compared to any other genocide? Genocide is genocide no matter what other elements other genocides have. Therefore, I do not believe the Holocaust is unparallel to any other genocide. Sure, the Holocaust may have been more advanced. However, the results and purpose were just as brutal and terrifying as other genocides in the past.
One might say the complex tactics in the holocaust made the holocaust so different compared to others. For example, starvation and diseases were key elements which were utilized by the Germans throughout the Holocaust to kill Jewish slave laborers. This was similarly used by both the Turks and the Russians during the Armenian Genocide and Ukraine Famine respectively. The use of Jewish slave labor is similar to the Khmer Rouge's use of Cambodia's urban population as slave laborers. The Nazis stole the tactics of much genocide before them and used what was used in order to help eliminate the Jews and other targeted groups.
During the Holocaust, many Jewish people were stripped from their homes and forced to pack the most valuable possessions and leave their home immediately. These Jewish people were relocated to different camps where they were forced to work as slave laborers. Many died from starvation and disease, others suffered in the brutal weather. These are all similarities other genocides share. For example, the Native American Indians in the U.S settled in areas that once have been homelands of their people for hundreds of years. By force, pieces of land were stripped from them and Thousands of Indians were rounded up forcefully and forced to resettle in different areas that were set aside for them. How can the Holocaust be different and unparallel to any other genocide if the Holocaust shares so many similarities to different genocides?
Altogether, one might say that the holocaust was different due to the complex planning, the passion of the people, or the methods of killing. However, most genocide all shares the same elements. The Holocaust used starvation and the Nazis also stripped the targeted group from their homes and placed them in work camps but the holocaust shares these tactics and methods with other genocides and therefore can not be viewed as different or unparallel. The belief of one group being superior to another race or group has been present in all genocides and a specific genocide should not be considered special or unparallel compared to genocide on how complex the planning may have been or the amount of people killed. “Is it less terrible to kill 150,000 people than it is to kill 1 million? It is better in some way for ‘only’ 30,000 people to die than 2 million? Six million? Is it easier to be killed by a bomb than a bullet? By a knife than by gas?”
The Jewish Holocaust is different from other genocides, but that does not mean it is more important. The preparation, organization, and the outcome are slightly different than other genocides Anti-Semitism feelings were widespread, and the motivation for Jewish extermination existed.
Anti-Semitism existed all over the world during the mid 1900’s. Jewish people were not sympathized for, and the organization of their extermination was not a surprise to many. Most of the other genocides, to my knowledge, included a hatred that mostly only existed inside the nation. Jewish holocaust went beyond borders of Germany, such as into Poland. Other genocides stayed within the nation
The Wannsee Conference was held to confirm the extermination of the Jews. It was planned at this conference to deport the Jews to German controlled areas throughout Europe to do labour work. It was planned that if the Jews did not die while completing labour work, they would be killed. This was referred to as the “Final Solution”. As the war continued and the Allies pushed Germany west, the Nazis resorted to concentration camps and hurried to kill as many Jews possible.
The Jewish Holocaust involved a plan. To reduce the chaos, Jews were given a sense of safety and hope before they were put in cattle carts. They were told to bring their valuables and luggage along with them. Many Jews believed they were bringing their personal belongings for their own comfort. The Jews were processed to determine their life or death. When they arrived at the camps, a doctor would examine them and label them “suitable to work” or not. Then they were de-individualized they were given a number, and that is what their new “name” was.
Any items that were valuable: gold teeth, jewelry, watches, frames on glasses, etc., were used for direct economic profit. Their death resulted in economic profit. Although the starvation of Ukrainians in the USSR resulted with economic profit, it was not their death that was of benefit. When they died, their valuables weren’t taken from them and manufactured into goods.
Finally, the Jewish Holocaust has been acknowledged by Germany. Many governments deny genocides that occurred in their country such as the Armenian genocide, Ukraine famine, Srebrenica genocide, and the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities.
The Jewish Holocaust involved planning and organization much different than other genocides. The death of the Jews resulted in direct economic profit for Nazi Germany. Also, the motivation behind the holocaust, Anti-Semitism, existed in many countries. The Jewish Holocaust is unique; however, all genocides are of equal importance.
I do not think that the Holocaust is unparalleled in history to other genocides. When you look at the definition of genocide it is "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group." It falls perfectly under that category, just like the other genocides that have occurred in the 20th century. One of the reasons that, for many, the Holocaust might seem more important or even more unique, is the education and information we receive. The Holocaust is part of the school curriculum. In Canada, kids start to learn about it as early as grade seven. The information and the resources that are available are endless. Most people do not even know about other genocides or to an extent, they were planned thus giving this question almost a one sided answer. Secondly, the fact that the genocide took place in Europe, in Germany, a well industrialized country, it is obvious that there are more resources that are available in assisting their goal of exterminating the Jewish people. Also, the very fact that it was a center of Europe; an industrialized nation, makes it stand out because in poorer countries, we came to expect such things to happen and that is a part that makes us ignorant to realize that just because genocides happen at different parts of the world doesn’t make them unparalleled to each other. Every genocide is unique in its own way but however, in the end the goal and the outcome is the same.
The definition of a Genocide is this: the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.
In the article, "Is the Holocaust Unique", they state: "is it less terrible to kill 150,000 people than it is to kill 1 million?"
I believe it isn't. No matter what the number, if you are specifically targeting a group of people because of their race, colour or belief, it's wrong. There is nothing in the definition of genocide that includes the planning. Yes, the Holocaust was very specifically planned out. But the only reason we know how much is because there is so much information out there about it and because unlike a lot of countries, Germany accepted the fact that the Holocaust existed.
Not only is the Holocaust a genocide, but there are so many genocides that have happened that we don't know a lot about. It's hard to say the Holocaust was unique, because every other genocide had planning and thought put into it as well.
I don’t believe the Holocaust was unique and unparalleled. The Holocaust and other genocides are the intentional killing of a large number of people from a certain race/religion or ethnicity. Genocide has occurred throughout history. There was the 1994 Rwandan Genocide which involved the shooting and killing of the Tutsis by Hutu extremists. In the 1990’s there was the Serbian killing of Muslims in Srebrenica. Many victims were shot and killed in trucks that they thought were taking them to safety. There was also the 1975 Cambodian Genocide by the Khmer Rouge. People who did not fit in with the Khmer Rouge’s ideas and plans were identified and murdered.
In each case of genocide, people were treated horrendously. There were killings and tortures of fellow human beings with no regard for human life. The basic necessities of life were also withheld. The horrors of the Holocaust are unfortunately not unique. The torture and killing of fellow human beings because of race, religion or ethnicity has occurred in history with alarming frequency. The Holocaust probably brought the idea of a superior race or ethnicity to the world, but unfortunately this did not stop this atrocity from happening again.
The Jewish Holocaust is different and unparalleled in history than other genocides. Other genocides in history may have some similarities with the holocaust, but none were truly on the same level. This is not to compare degrees of evil, all genocides are horrific based on the numbers alone. However the Holocaust is unparalleled because it went beyond just massacring mass amounts of people. It was the mindset behind it, the extreme dedication, and the overwhelming detail that went into it.
The genocide of the Jews was not even really about their religion, as other genocides such as the Armenian and Tibetan genocides were. Hitler viewed them as their own race, one that was so inferior and lowly that they deserved to die. He did not even have a real reason as to why the Jews should be exterminated. For example, with the genocide in Cambodia, the communists believed urban life was destructive and went on to massacre all educated or westernized people. However with the Holocaust, the Jews were simply killed because of their race. They had not done anything to Germany other than be born.
The Holocaust was the first industrial genocide. The Nazis were very prepared and knew what they were doing. The gas chambers, the system of order at the concentration camps, the research and dedication put into methods of extermination; these reasons alone are why the holocaust was on such a different level than other genocides. All different parts of the government and country were involved in this mass extermination of people.
What really sets the holocaust apart is how unbelievably committed the Nazis were to it. Even when Germany had no hope of the war, the extermination continued, even sped up. To Hitler, the outcome of the war seemed to be of equal, possibly even less, importance than “keeping the Aryan race pure”. The fact that even though they were losing the war, the Nazis were so determined to exterminate the Jewish people is unparalleled. For these reasons, although all genocides are horrific, the Holocaust remains unique to this day.
There has been many different genocides throughout history. Genocide by definition means: the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. (dictionary.com) The Holocaust was no different from any other Genocide that focused upon a certain group of people. The Holocaust was focused upon the Jews (christens/cultural group) just like every other genocide, for example the Ukraine Famine and the Turkish Armenian genocide. All of which were focused on certain group of people. The Holocaust though is mainly known because it was more widely spread out across Europe while the Ukraine Famine and Armenian genocide was solely focused upon individual countries Turkey and Ukraine. It doesn’t matter how you die from a genocide whether its gas chambers, starvation or slave labouring if its forced upon a specific group of people for the sole purpose of those people to die, which is why the Holocaust was no different or unparalleled from Genocides that have taken place throughout time.
I personally believe that the Holocaust was unique and unparallelled to any other mass genocides. The holocaust was very systematic as Eberhard Jackel said " Never before had any state, with all authority of its responsible leader, decided and announced that it intended to kill of a particular group of human beings, including the old, the women, the children and the sucklings as completely as possible and had then translated this decision into action with ever possible power at the states command ". He basically spoke out that it was all planned out and systematic and it was announced unlike all the others. A second example of an historian that also said the Holocaust was unique was Lucy S. Dawidowicz; " In every case of terrible human destructiveness that we have known... killing was not an end in itself but a means to an end... But in the murder of the European Jews ends and means were identical. The German dictatorship murdered the Jews for the purpose of murdering the jews. For the Germans to themselves the decision as to who was entitled to live on this earth and who was not". She was saying that this was different because of the Acknowledgement of by Germany about the death camps, it was a brought on decision that the camps would be specifically for them. It was the only one who used it for economic reasoning; recycling and the complexity of it all was beyond other measures. How strategic and selective it was and how thoroughly planned out it was was comparable to the others. Also the methods used were different amount the others which included humiliation and individualizing them. It was the only genocide which tricked the people; deceived them from ever fully knowing what is going on.
Although every genocide was different in every way and in the end killed many innocent civilians, The Holocaust was Unique and parallel among the others.
No I don’t feel as though the Jewish holocaust is different and unparalled, it is in my opinion no different than every other genocide that is taking place in this world. Sure some of the techniques were different or more unique than others but they all had the same purpose: To attack a certain group of people with a specific race, religion ethnicity etc. Every genocide itself was cruel and brutal in its own way but this doesn’t make it different. Being punished for how you look, act or what you believe in is just wrong. Yes the holocaust was planned out and very well organized but no one knows for sure if it was the most planned out out of all the genocides we just happen to have a lot more information on this one rather than the others because this was widely spread out throughout Germany while the other ones weren’t.. I feel that they were treated very cruelly and as human beings they were stripped of their humanity. As a result of all of this the Jewish genocide was no different than others the where all treated very poorly and brutally. Whether it be from gas chambers or slavery this would be a terrible way to live life and was wrong, which is why the holocaust is no different than any other genocide.
I do not believe the holocaust was unparallelled to other genocides. A genocide is a genocide, simple as that. Many will argue that the Holocaust is unparallelled because of the shear planning, organization, attention to detail, and passion that was put in to the Final Solution by the Nazi's. Germany was an industrialized nation, and had many things available to them to make the Holocaust so organized and clean cut. Other nations like Turkey and Rwanda were not as heavily industrialized and did not have the mean to do such an organized way of killing millions, but I am sure that if they had access to the same resources and knowledge that the Germans had, then they would have done the same thing. The fact is that no matter what way you go about exterminating a race, no matter how big the difference of the death toll is, a race was still tried to be exterminated, whether it be the organized way the Germans went about it, the way the Turks went about is by riffles and killing squads, or the use of machetes by the Rwandans.
The Jewish Holocaust is different and unparalled from any other genocide recorded in history. Not even taking the number of Jews that were murdered in the genocide, the amount of planning that went in to it and how involved the entire country was in the genocide into consideration, the Jewish Holocaust was the first time the definition of a German citizen was changed to that of a racial definition to purposely alienate Jews from the society and make them state-less. That factor alone convinces me that this Holocaust remains unparalleled in history to this day Now, looking at the sheer number of humans killed in this genocide, roughly 6 milllion, is mind blowing. It has hard to wrap your mind around that number and imagine that many humans being systematically killed. Hitler first started his campaign againt the Jews by making it impossible for them to shop in the same stores as everyone else, go to the same bathrooms, have the same professions, but then he escalated. He excalated to making the Jews wear an armband identifying them as Jewish, solidying the distinction between a “German” and a “Jew”. But soon, that wasn’t enough either. He wanted them in ghettos, then he wanted them in camps and soon enough, he wanted them dead. All of them. When Hitler first started killing the Jews in his extermination camps he used firing squads, but he soon realised that they weren’t efficient enough and plus, it was traumatizing to his soldiers to have to kill people all day. He decided to upgrade. Now, this is the difference between this genocide and others noted. Hitler got the whole entire country involved int his genocide. He had companies create the poison gas that they would eventually use in the gas chambers as the more efficient way of murdering more Jews, he had architects involved in designing the crematoriums where they would burn the bodies of the murdered Jews so they would have less bodies to bury, he had advertising companies involved in creating propaganda so that the rest of the world would never find out about the Holocaust. Hitler had the police againt the Jews aswell which meant absolutely no protection whatsoever. Kristallnacht demonstrated this perfectly. All in all, the Jewish Holocaust is distinct because of all of these factors. It was carried out with extreme planning (in three stages: legal restrictions, ghettoization, final solution) with an almost unbeatable dictator and it went aftter a religious group that has been persecueted for centuries, dating all the way back to Roman and Greek times. For all of these reasons, I am convinced that the Jewish Holocaust remains unparalleled to any other genocide.
I do not believe that the Jewish Holocaust is any different from any other genocide that has occurred in history. The technology and planning used during this genocide may have been complex, but the overall purpose and effect on its victims was similar. The Einsatzgruppen was no different from any of the other death squads that terrorized people throughout history. Their methods may have been more refined and advanced, but the purpose was equally as horrific as any other genocide.
ReplyDeleteMany people believe that the Jewish Holocaust was different due to the advanced technology used. This does not make this genocide unique though. Serbia was an impoverished nation when it ethnically cleansed the Bosnians. It used rifle armed death squads because that was all they had available to them. The same goes for the Rwandan genocide, in which the Hutus used machetes to kill the Tutsis. Machetes were what the Hutus could afford. Germany was a heavily industrialized nation, Rwanda and Serbia's industries were still developing. Technological advantages should not rank one genocide over another.
Many of the tactics used in the Jewish Holocaust were used in many other genoicdes. Starvation was used by the Germans throughout the Holocaust to kill Jewish slave labourers. This was similarly utilized by both the Turks and the Russians during the Armenian Genocide and Ukraine Famine respectively. The mass deportation and removal of people from their traditional lands wasn't only used during the Holocaust. The Turks similarly rounded up Armenians and deported them to Syria and Palestine. The use of Jewish slave labour is similar to the Khmer Rouge's use of Cambodia's urban population as slave labourers. The Nazis used tactics which had been utilised before them and would again be utilised by others years later.
The Einsatzgruppen resemble many other death squads throughout history. The Einsatzgruppen's early tactic of utilising firing squads was used by the Serbs during the Bosnian Genocide. The Einsatzgruppen's rounding up of Jews was an idea already utilised by the Turks during the Armenian Genocide. The Einsatzgruppen's passion for the killing of Jews resembled the attitudes of many others who had committed genocides before them. Their belief that it was their ultimate purpose resembles the fanatical attitudes of Turkish soldiers and Khmer Rouge members.
The motivation and devotion to the cause of genocide is an attitude repeated throughout history. The Einsatzgruppen saw killing the Jews as the most important duty of the war. Even when Germany started losing they continued. This fanatical devotion is similar to the Muslim Turks holy crusade against Christian Armenians and the Khmer Rouge's slaughter of those who did not fit in with their ideal society. This belief of superiority even resembles the attitudes of Apartheid in South Africa. While no genocide of blacks occurred the attitudes of the Afrikaners resembled those of the Nazis. Even in the Afrikaner branch of the Dutch Reformation Church, Afrikaner were taught that God had made them superior to blacks. This is completely similar to Hitler's own belief that Nordic peoples were made superior to Jews.
The technology and methods may have been different, but the overall tactics, tortures, and motivations behind the Holocaust and other genocides are similar. The belief of one group being superior to another is universal throughout all these incidences. No genocide should have precedent over another no matter how many people are killed. These are human beings not statistics. Murder is murder period.
The Jewish Holocaust is not different and unparalleled in history than other genocides. The Jewish Holocaust is not different and unparalleled because it resulted in the same thing all genocides do, many deaths of a specific group of people. Each genocide has similar and different methods of causing death, but the methods do not matter, they still have the same end result. It can be argued that it's different and unparalleled because of how Germany profited from it from the possessions of those killed. Yet in other genocides, like the Ukraine Famine, the country benefited economically from them. For these reasons, the Jewish Holocaust is not different and unparalleled from other genocides.
ReplyDeleteTo put aside bias as citizens of democratic, civilised and privileged North America on looking to the atrocities of genocide, is to put away the weight of the hours spent in school, imprinting the importance of the Holocaust in particular, into the minds of the young. The emphasis on this subject is undeniable in the curriculum of education and yet, this only serves to prove what it is: the Holocaust is unparalleled in history.
ReplyDeleteThe point is not to the measure the value of the lives taken, for the power of this sort of judgement should not, does not and cannot belong to man, or so we should have learned, time and time again from genocides that stain the fabric of human history with drawn blood. But to get cold and clinical, to try and shed away as much bias as possible, one can only take into account what can be measured – and in this case, it is monetary value.
The Nazis stripped the Jews of everything they had: occupation, citizenship, property, possessions, the very clothes on their backs, fillings in their teeth and ultimately, their lives. Sure, this serves as humiliation, to nullify dignity and endorse the mindset that Jews were inferior, but without a doubt, the Nazis drained every bit of profit they could from the Jews and greatly benefited from it. Prisoners in labour camps worked for free until death, no doubt helping to fuel the Germany economy and the means for war. The Nazis eventually made a business out of renting out the Jews to private businesses for the low cost of under three dollars a day for a worker. Everything taken from the Jews inadvertently funded the war and by proxy, their own extermination. And yet no number has been calculated to the exact value of what the Nazis stole. However, a testament of what a large figure it must be is the fact that even today, there is news of uncovered works of art taken during organized Nazi looting – and yet the whereabouts of so many valuable artefacts still remains unknown.
One cannot deny the stereotype of the German people that resonates today – precision, efficiency and disciple, much of which arguably stem from the time of the Nazi regime, but it is a fact that Germany has a lengthy military history. Organization and efficiency were two hallmarks of the Holocaust. So many things were considered, down to the detail of what gas was the most effective to use – Zyklon B which was used to kill rats, also symbolic of the view of Jews as a subhuman race, whether intentional or not. Extermination camps strategically placed outside of Germany to minimize public knowledge. Methods like shooting were weeded out for being ineffective and replaced with bigger, better and faster means – the gas chambers.
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DeleteAnti-Semitism is a long held tradition, dating back to perhaps nearly as far as Judaism itself. The Jews are repeated victims of the short end of the stick – in Biblical times, when they were enslaved by the Egyptians, in the reign of the Roman Empire, during the Middle Ages and the list simply goes on. Jews are even blamed for the death of Jesus (who was also a Jew). The Holocaust was another dark chapter in the history of anti-Semitism, which in itself is a statement: the unwanted intimacy of the Jews in the face of violence and hatred is drastically different and the use of Jews as the scapegoat is absolutely unparalleled in history.
DeleteJews were seen a threat and perhaps this is not without reason. The Nazis saw enough Jews with influence – positions in politics, business and education – to find that they were dangerous and required termination from their professions, which was done through legislation. The Jews were put into ghettos (and resettled again to camps) and only further segregated by the Nuremberg Laws. There was a feeling of necessity in these pre-emptive actions. While stereotypes cannot be relied on, they also do not invent themselves. The image of the rich Jewish banker stems from the fact that it was one of the few occupations Jews were allowed to hold during the Middle Ages and thus, an occupation that carried on from generation to generation. Jews are not known as a people dependant on agriculture, unlike the Ukrainians or what the Cambodians became under the rule of Pol Pot. As much as they were still a minority amongst Christians, the fact remains that there was still a huge and spread out population of Jews.
Genocides under the cloak of war are not new. Many people often draw comparisons between the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust and this is not unreasonable. Both happened during world wars. However, what one must notice here are the differences between the role of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and the role of Germany in World War II. In other words, Germany, as the centerpiece of both these wars, could have used their men elsewhere, like on the frontlines. Instead, they were manning the camps, which only goes to show exactly how much of a priority the extermination of the Jews was to the Nazis.
The Jewish Holocaust is unparalleled in history. It presents an undeniably cruel irony: the Nazis, who perpetuated the idea of the Jew that is a thief, took all that the Jews had and used it to fund the triumph of the Aryans over the annihilated Jews.
Every single genocide throughout history has specific circumstances, reasons, and methods behind it. However, the Holocaust was an unparalleled genocide that differs from the others in a number of ways.
ReplyDeleteA major difference between the Holocaust and other genocides is the way in which it was carried out. The Holocaust was systematic, methodical, and carefully planned out. Entire "death camps" were created with the sole purpose of killing Jews.
In the case of many genocides, such as the Rwandan Genocide, other nations have been aware of the killings but either can't help or don't want to get involved. However, the Holocaust was essentially a secret, to both German citizens and the rest of the world. Other countries heard rumblings but did not know the extent of the killings or details of the Holocaust until after the camps had been deserted.
The treatment of Jewish prisoners was also unprecedented. The Nazis took everything they could from the Jewish people, from their dignity to their personal possessions. They were humiliated and exploited in ways not seen in other genocides throughout history. The Nazis also exterminated through labour by allowing the strong to work until they were considered to be expendable, or until they worked themselves to death
The biggest difference between the Holocaust and other genocides is the lack of justification. Most mass killings have a purpose or goal. For example, the Holodomor (or Ukraine Famine) was orchestrated in an attempt to implement collectivization. Sometimes the goal can even be as simple as gaining power of a country. However, in the Holocaust, the Nazis just wanted to eliminate the Jewish people. It was killing for the sake of killing. “It makes no sense,” said Alvin Rosenfeld, a Jewish writer and historian.
Throughout history of the world there was numbers of genocides before the Holocaust and after. However no genocide had the number of victims as the Holocaust did, no genocide was ever half as planned out, and to consider that this particular genocide happened during a World War makes the Holocaust unlike any other.
ReplyDeleteThe Holocaust was greatly unique, and unparallel to any other genocide or nation cleansing that has happened prior or after.
What the Nazi Germany was able to do, as in making Jewish people absolutely worthless, and seen as soul less, the use of propaganda, and to convince the German public that Jews shall not be part of the German future. The Holocaust was supported by the German people, although they wouldn't know what was really going on, they were just told to hate the Jews, and they did. Everything was taken away from the Jews, and was recycled and reused to boost the German war economy. They were getting rid of the Jews, while their possessions were bringing in good for Germany.
The numbers don’t lie; since the massive killing was started in 1941 until the very last few weeks of German resistance in 1945, approximately 6 million Jews and other minorities were exterminated. These numbers alone stand out to show how devastating the Holocaust really was. The use of death camps was brought in for the first time. Where mass gassing was used to kill millions of Jews. The Holocaust even had a special army corps for the cause, called the Einsatzgruppen. No other genocide group was as successful as them in capturing, and either killing on the spot or send out to death camps. Although the Holocaust used the idea from the Armenian genocide of transporting Jews in an animal wagon of the train, the Nazis were able to do this every day in much larger numbers then what was done to the Armenian's.
The death camps were built outside of Germany, this way the German public didn't exactly know what was going on and neither did anyone else in the world other than the ones who were suffering within these camps. Which is sadly impressive, to keep the international public blind for so long during the Holocaust. The killing did not stop, and the Jews were not a banded even when the Russians were gaining in on the camps. The order was made to kill as much as possible, and to march those who can back to the camps on the west. This showed how much the Nazi’s wanted to exterminate Jews, even when the war was near the camps.
Overall, the Holocaust is the most famous genocide of all. The reasons are for the number of deaths it produced and how it was done. The Nazi`s hate for the Jews was for no reasoning other then Anti-Semitism. The Jews were being murdered just for them being Jews, which makes Holocaust much different than any other genocide that has occurred.
The Holocaust was not the same as other genocides- all genocide is different- but it should not be regarded as unparalleled, or on a separate level from others. The horrible treatment that the Jews were subjected to, the total disregard for human life, and how they were stripped of their humanity is common to all genocides. The purpose and motive behind it didn’t vary from that of others either: killing because they believed, as every group that suppresses another in such a way does, that the Jews did not deserve to live, and that Germany would be better off without them. How this is expressed depends largely on the group executing the ethnic cleansing, and how far it goes depends on the circumstances, but many of the elements of the Holocaust are also displayed in other incidents, and were not new or exceedingly brutal in comparison.
ReplyDeleteThe methods by which the Nazis exterminated the Jews do not set the Holocaust apart from other genocide. In fact, it could be regarded as better than how almost all the victims of some other massacres were killed in longer, more drawn out ways. The starvation that Ukrainians experienced at the hands of Stalin in the 1930s, for example, or radiation sickness endured by thousands upon thousands of Japanese after the atomic bombs, or the estimated 2 million slaves in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge soldiers. In addition, the Nazis’ techniques often weren’t new or different ideas. Death marches were characteristic of the nineteenth century in the US for Native Americans, as well as in the Armenian massacre. Starvation killed people in almost every genocide, and working till death was used in Stalin’s regime and in Cambodia in the 1970s. Even gassing had been employed before, both in non-genocidal and genocidal slaughter: the German army used toxic gasses in World War I at Ypres and in other battles, and Saddam Hussein used it in a 1983 conflict with Iran and later against the Kurdish population. The main point here is, though, that every single genocide was done differently. None of them were the same, except in that people were brutal to other people. There’s no way to measure whether ‘showering’ in a gassing chamber, or cleaning up after your friends, family, and fellow people’s ashes is more dehumanizing than watching others of your color being lynched, or your children and neighbours becoming sick or starving to death because your tribe is forced to live on insufficient land.
Nazi Germany took a very strategic, methodical approach to genocide. This doesn’t put the Holocaust on another level than other massacres either. Part of the reason for their step by step extermination was German culture, and Hitler’s personality. Germans like to be very detailed and efficient, believe me I know (look at how long this posting is, for example), and Hitler was insanely Anti- Semitic, so it’s not surprising that they’d come up with something. This also had to do with the resources available; other countries may not have had the scientists that Germany had, or the poisonous gas kicking around or the supplies to build crematoriums that Germany did, so we can’t say that others wouldn’t have used them if they could. Germany also had a government that could carry out such a strategy; if Hitler wanted to do it, he could do it, and if other people didn’t want to listen, then they’d end up just like the Jews. Stalin was able to do the same, to the Ukrainians, to the army, and to his own party. Hitler’s fanatical hatred was not unique, so there’s no way to say that the same or similar brutality wouldn’t have been displayed somewhere else if the system of government allowed it. Another huge factor in their methods was the technology available. Nazi scientists were able to calculate how many pellets were necessary and how much heat to use and how long it would take to kill people en masse, while other groups didn’t have these possibilities or any way to kill more effectively than shootings or going village to village. Also, as I wrote in the previous paragraph, the Nazi methods may have even been less cruel than others. They were different, sure, but shouldn’t set the Holocaust apart from other genocides, as there are too many factors and reasons involved, and as I mentioned before, we can’t say that one method of killing is worse than another.
ReplyDeleteThe Nazi approach also involved economic profit. This shouldn’t set the Holocaust apart, because it wasn’t unique and it’s slightly extraneous. First of all, economic profit also resulted from other incidents. Stalin, for example, sold the Ukraine grain to other countries to obtain machinery for his industrialization plan of Russia, and the fear that other people experienced because the Ukrainians were starving because they wouldn’t listen to Stalin encouraged them to accept collectivization. In the US and Canada during World War II, economic profit resulted from moving Japanese Americans to detention camps because their possessions were placed in government hands. The exact gains, however, are hard to measure. Economic gain is also somewhat irrelevant in this case, as economic gain also results from war- of course with the cost of lives and a whole lot of resources and money- and other events, so is largely unrelated when considering genocide, especially considering the fact that we’d be looking at money at the same time as the loss of thousands and millions of human lives. Also, Germany was in a time of war and so exploiting and stealing people’s stuff was natural; it’s like taxes, or like how the Japanese exploited their newly acquired empire in World War II. Economic profit is difficult to measure, is off on a tangent from genocide, and depends on the circumstance, so isn’t significant.
In the end, though, we cannot measure different genocides that occur in different circumstances with different people in different places and different numbers murdered with different effects on the country in which they happen. Primarily, any data obtained cannot be guaranteed to be accurate, and there will always be a wealth of things we don’t know about these events. Secondly, many of these components, such as economic value of the people killed, cannot be measured or have many other factors involved that are difficult to relate and consider. Most importantly, though, ranking one genocide as worse than another is hypocritical in that we’re saying such and such a number of such and such a group has less of a right to live than another number of a different group of people. What is always the same among genocides, although how exactly it’s expressed may differ slightly, is the venomous hatred fuelling them. This is equally unjustified and inhumane in each case, is the reason for genocide of any sort, and puts all genocide below moral and ethical standards. No one genocide should be placed above or below another on any terms, as all genocides have similarities and differences that are incomparable to one another on a holistic level, and particularly because no human life should be placed above or below another on any terms.
ReplyDeleteThis WAS supposed to be an essay... right? Have fun :P
DeleteI do not believe the Jewish Holocaust was unique or unparalleled in history. The wholesale slaughter of a people can never be weighed against another. Different situations (economic, industrial, or any other) may set each genocide out from the others, but none can be said to be truly unique. None of the methods used by the Nazis can be considered unique. Starvation was used in the Ukrainian genocide to terrible effect by Stalin, killing millions only to prove to others the cost of resistance. Gas chambers were not unique to the Nazis, as they were even used to kill American criminals sentenced to death during the 1920s! The death squads following the German army’s advance into Russia are very similar to squads used in a number of other genocides, such as the Cambodian genocide orchestrated by Pol Pot.
ReplyDeleteSome believe the fact that the German’s passed legislature legalizing this treatment of Jews separates this genocide. The vast majority of genocides are supported, if not orchestrated by the respective Governments! The Ukrainian genocide, the Tibetan genocide, the Cambodian genocide, and the Armenian genocide were all orchestrated by the ruling party. The mass deportation of Jews even matches legislation passed during the Armenian genocide when they expelled the Christian Armenians from their homes and sent them to Palestine and Syria.
The idea that the planning and technological savvy makes it unique is untrue as the Germans were a very well developed country, they were working with the tools they knew best. You cannot compare this to the Rwandan genocide as they only had access to machetes and small arms; they worked with what was available to them. The idea that the extraordinary planning somehow sets it apart is also untrue. In Cambodia, the entire population of cities were kicked from their homes and sent into slavery. An operation as extraordinary as that would require an incredible amount of planning. The passion of some Nazi members cannot be considered unique either, as religious genocide in Armenia was driven hugely by the passion of religion. We also saw incredible passion in the members of the Khmer Rouge, who were uncontrolled in their brutality while serving Pol Pot, a leader also driven by his ideology.
We cannot, for any reason, separate the mass killings of one people from any others. What could possibly set the loss of one person apart from another? All lives are created equal, and the idea that in death they are somehow separate is absurd. How can we claim to be any better than those that orchestrated the events themselves if we can put the deaths of one people over the deaths of another? Because of these reasons, I do not believe the Jewish Holocaust to be unique.
The holocaust has some differences and some similarities to other genocides through out history there has been many genocides over the years, some long time ago and some very recent. In my opinion I think the Holocaust was definitely the worst of the worst of the genocides. Hitler and the Nazis murdered 6 million Jewish people one by one in some of the most brutal ways.
ReplyDeleteFor a genocide to be a genocide I believe that there is hate from some people to another. Hitler hated the Jews and he expressed him self in many different ways. In the 1990s there was a huge genocide in Africa for diamonds where 800,000 people we killed. Little kids were captured and brainwashed to become part of the group or they would kill their families. Useless people were killed and people that can work several hours in the rivers mining for diamonds were put to work right away. You may think why would people do this to their own people? Because of money. Hitler did not get money for killing 6 million Jews but he did gain a lot of power.
In Rwanda the rebels would just go city to city killing anyone in sight until they find either someone to work in the water or someone they can brain wash into becoming a rebel. The Nazis were not like this. They went door to door searching for Jewish people to throw them in concentration camps where they would be tortured, starved, beaten all because of their race. In the camps they had to do punishing work all day, some Jews would die from exhaustion from the work they had to do. They got very little food in a day and if they were caught stealing food they were instantly killed. The Nazis did not led up during the war and the genocide. Other ways that the Nazis killed the Jews were gas chambers, after a long hard working day the Jews were told they could have a shower and that’s how they got most of their victims during the holocaust. If you resisted or argued with a officer, boom you would have been shot.
So I think that the Holocaust is both different and similar to other genocides that have taken place over the years. The main similarities between the holocaust and other genocides are the amount of hate between two people. Everyone can agree that Hitler hated the Jewish people and back to Rwanda the rebels hated everyone but there group. Another similarity is Power, weather you have power in a country like Hitler did or power as in being rich as the rebels wanted. Both the leader of the rebels and Hitler were killing a mass amount of people because they wanted power. The Differences are the way people were being killed. In Africa the rebels were ruthless teaching child soldiers how to se guns by setting up older people in front with blind folds so they don’t know what they are shooting at. Their main goal was to brainwash as many “young rebels” as they can so if it comes down to the group or their family they would kill the family to stay in the group and many children ended up killing their own families. During the Holocaust gas chambers were the number one source for killing Jews in Europe. But there was other ways by shooting them, Jews committing suicide, starving to death. No one deserves to be torched to make some one have power or wealth.
When looking at other genocides, the number of Jewish people murdered was astonishing in comparison. There isn’t an exact number, but it is estimated that between 5 and 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. This is outstanding to the amount killed in Rwanda, which was around 750,000, in Cambodia, where 1.7 million were slaughtered, or the 1.5 million Armenians massacred by the Turks from 1915 to 1923. When looking at all these other world genocides, the Holocaust dwarfs them all. Perhaps what makes the Holocaust even more unique, is that the Jewish genocide wasn’t limited to those Germany, but extended beyond its borders to the impact Jewish populations across Europe.
ReplyDeleteThe horrors of genocide – large or small - should not be subjected to a contest to see which was more evil, or which had more casualties. However, the Holocaust was unparalleled when compared to other genocides due to the fact that there was a very systematic and organized planning, there was no justification, and the staggering numbers of those killed.
I have brought myself to believe that the Jewish Holocaust was parallel to all other genocides, for the reasons that they are all able to come back to the same definition: the massive killing of a group/race/religion. They may be under different circumstances, tehcnoologies, or even awareness’s, but they are still similar in many ways.
ReplyDeleteThere have been many genocides in history, and even today, and although they have used different technologies and tactics; such as the Cambodian genocide. It was taken over by the Khmer Rouge Communists to rebuild the country by destroying Cambodians religion (budhism) and forcing them to work as slave laborers. In destroying their religion, they would burn down Buddhist temples and execute priests. In the Rwandan genocide, machetes were used to kill Tutsis. In Serbia, they would “ethnically cleanse” by killing Bosnians by creating rifle death squads to kill them quickly and efficiently. The genocide in Russia, is known as the largest genocide in history. They used starvation, labour camps, and tactics as simple as shooting during those times. These were all different styles and tactics of murdering but all in the end they were another genocide added to the list.
Another factor to consider is that all of these genocides may have had different goals for their country, but all killed a race because they believed they were the problem of their struggles. Nazis killed Jews and blamed them for their own problems such as a weak economy and war losses. The Armenian genocide occurred because the Muslim Turks did not find that the Armenians fit into their society. They killed for different reasons, but both for the outcome of a nationwide change by destroying a race or religion.
The reason many may think the Holocaust is so unique is most likely because of how educated we are about it. The holocaust is something we have learned about since primary school, like there was nothing comparable to it, when there are so many genocides that have occurred that we aren’t aware of. The holocaust is only the third highest amount of deaths in a holocaust, with Russia being the highest. But does that make it worse? No matter what the situation, all genocides are parallel for the fact that they come back to the same definition: the massive killing of a group/race/religion of people. No matter how severe, they are just as tragic in their own ways.
I think that the Jewish Holocaust was different and unparalleled in history than other genocides. To quote German historian Eberhard Jackel, “Never before had any state, with all the authority of its responsible leader, decided and announced that it intended to kill off a particular group of human beings, including the old, the women, the children and the sucklings, as completely as possible, and had then translated this decision into action with every possible…power at the state’s command.” The sheer planning and size of this genocide in itself makes it unique. It is said that the number of deaths from smaller genocides shouldn’t be understated as being compared to the number of deaths from the Jewish Holocaust. It may not be less evil to kill 30,000 people, compared to the six million from the Holocaust, but it is still a lot less people that are suffering and getting murdered from discrimination. The scale in which this genocide was planned is quite drastic. Everyone involved in the extermination, especially the Nazis, were extremely passionate about exterminating the Jews. The methods of killing the Jews were unique compared to those of other genocides. They were well thought out and technological. They went as far as setting up specific death camps, where the Jews were sent and exterminated in gas chambers, and disposed of in crematoriums. Neither of those methods had been used in other genocides. Also, the Germans had economic profit from the genocide. They used the materials they stole from Jews, such as gold, and many small items such as glasses and watches, and recycled and reused them for other purposes. They systematically sorted through all the Jews, and if they classified, were used as slave labour. The Jewish Holocaust seemed to be unparalleled and different compared to other genocides.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that the Jewish Holocaust is unparalleled, as it is a genocide based upon religion and although highly tactical, you can't compare all other genocides on a level playing field. The Germans wanted the Final Solution to be quick, and they had the technology and money to make it so. Other genocides in poorer and underdeveloped countries and in the times before World War 2 and did not have access to the technology or the means to create it. The killing of anyone anywhere is a horrible thing and it doesn't matter how someone does it, they still killed a person or hundreds of people. If all genocides were performed in the same conditions, time period and country we could pick out one that was different from the rest.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite possible that one’s opinion can be biased on this subject, seeing as we have been so exposed and educated about the holocaust all our lives and essentially ignored other genocides. However, it is my opinion that the holocaust is unparalleled.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the numbers are a factor. Six million deaths are very significant. It can be argued that there were five million Ukrainians killed, but they used different methods of mass killing. In the Ukraine, they were starved to death on an immense scale. Another way in which the holocaust differs is that other genocides had purposes (no matter how trivial.) The Native Americans were killed because their land was desired. The Jews were persecuted simply for being Jewish, and because it was easy to hate them.
We can’t forget the manner in which the Nazis terminated the Jews. Months of planning, thousands of people, an unthinkable amount of money, sweat, blood, and tears all went into creating the gas chambers and camps. Not only were there people to plan out, but people to build and then people to maintain the camps. Other genocides were kept under wraps by the government, but Germany acknowledged their antisemitism – and went as far as declaring Jews stateless. Think of all the money that went into building the gas chambers! That was money that could have gone to the war effort (at least in the beginning when they might have had a chance at winning.) Railroads were used to transport prisoners, when they could have been transporting soldiers. So much forethought and planning and effort went into this genocide, which puts it in a category of its own.
An aspect of the holocaust was that the (healthy) prisoners were forced work until they died. All the belongings, down to the glasses and gold teeth, were taken and sorted. The German economy benefitted from the extra revenue it was making of this genocide, squeezing everything they could out of the Jews. In other genocides, people are killed out of anger and hate. Here, there was a logical profit.
Perhaps we are brought up surrounded by knowledge of the holocaust and that makes us biased. Or maybe, this is more proof that the holocaust is unparalleled because it is still so talked about and significant today. Maybe it’s because it targeted the Jewish, a group of people who have been discriminated against for hundreds of thousands of years. At any rate, we can all agree that it is very unlikely that any two genocides are actually alike – which is a wonderful sign because why would we want repeats of mass murder. It is my belief that the holocaust is unparalleled for many different reasons. At least we can all agree on the fact that we hope that history doesn't repeat itself.
I believe that the holocaust was different and unparalleled to other genocides, both future and present. If we just look at the sheer amount of planning that went into the systematic extermination of the Jewish population in Europe. Never before had there been death squads as advanced of fanatical as the Einstazgruppen, the technology was much more advanced and the incredible amount of deception, both psychological and visible all make the holocaust unique.
ReplyDeleteDeath squads weren’t new in genocides, in almost any genocide throughout the world there have always been armed squads tasked with the extermination of individuals. However, the fanatic and systematic nature of the Einstazgruppen make them unique in history. Never before had there been soldiers directly tasked with going through the civilian populations after a battle and either shooting or gassing the Jews. Yes, in other genocides the soldiers or militia would kill the race in question, but there was never a systematic, trained division devoted to killing a race. The fanaticism of the Einstagruppen was astounding, even when the war was coming to a close and Germany was losing the war they still persisted, believing that their work was invaluable.
The advanced technology used in the Holocaust is also a unique aspect. In any other genocide the killing was done with conventional weapons (blades, guns or physical abuse) but the Holocaust used gasses, specially designed buildings and incredible precision in the killings. The use of such things as furnaces to dispose of the bodies compared to the inefficient mass graves or gasses to reduce the strain on soldiers who otherwise would have to execute the Jews.
On top of everything else there was a terrible genius in how the Nazi’s deceived everyone, from the Jews who were being sent to their death and the German population, most of which had no idea what was going on in the camps. There was not one detail that the Nazi’s overlooked in making the camps look like ordinary concentration camps, with no hint to what was going on inside them. For starters the Nazis gave the Jews the option to bring their belongings with them on a separate train so “they could be returned to them when they arrived”. This gave the impression that things would not be so bad at the camps, reassuring the hope that this was just another ghetto. Once at the camps the Nazis made sure to keep everything as orderly as possible, women and young children would not be separated to reduce the likelihood of starting a scene. At the gas chambers there was an emphasis on making them look like ordinary showers to not arise suspicion. The Nazi designers even went as far as having coat hooks, faucets and showerheads, of course none of these worked as they would be expected to. There was even a clock that stood still in the processing areas, just to make everything seem normal and ordinary. There was also a great amount of deception of the non-Jewish population, Hitler made sure that all the camps were outside the major cities to hide the truth from the public. The majority of the population had no idea what was happening in the camps or that there even were death camps.
In the end the Holocaust was unique because of all the meticulous planning, use of efficient technology and the fanatical death squads.
Certainly, the Holocaust was tragic and the magnitude of this event is rather large; however, it is not that which makes it unprecedented; the amount of planning and the deliberateness of it all, the monstrosity, it what makes the Holocaust unique.
ReplyDeleteDeath on a mechanized scale was the base of the Holocaust. The plan was how to be rid of every single undesirable possible in order to make way for the new Thousand Year Reich. Undesirables have always been present in one form or another since the dawn of civilization and people do one of two things: they suck it up or they try to demonize and then destroy these undesirables, which is what Hitler envisioned. The thing that makes the Holocaust so different is the death camps. This was previously unheard of and for years, some people did not believe that such a thing could exist.
At the end of the day, the Holocaust is similar to other genocides in principle and intent, but the methods used to carry out the killing are what made it the infamous event which we know today.
The Jewish Holocaust was different and unparalleled than other genocides.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the basis of the Holocaust is the same as other genocides (pre-existing hatred towards one race or culture of people), the way that it was carried out makes it different. This was the first genocide to be planned with such intricate details, as shown in the Wannsee conference, where several SS leaders worked to produce "an outline of the organizational, practical, and material requirements in respect to the final solution of the European Jewish question."
This uniqueness of the Holocaust is also shown in the amount of effort that the Germans took in tricking many of these prisoners into thinking that these camps were genuine labor camps. They stopped taking babies away from mothers in order to calm them down (although many of them were later gassed), and set up camps with decor that made it seem like they were just working. The Germans put effort into psychologically calming these Jews in order for them to be more efficient workers, which is something unseen from other genocides. At Auschwitz, hooks were even set up over benches, and in other camps, many prisoners were referred to as "ladies and gentlemen." The methods of dehumanizing these Jews was also very systematic, as they were tattooed with numbers and given uniforms for identification. These Jews' possessions were also taken and recycled, which is something unseen among other genocides. Inmates were forced to pay for their own boarding as well, before they were forced to labour as slaves.
Many of the victims of the genocide were put to work in labor camps before being put to death, to contribute to the German economy. Never before had specific camps been built with the sole purpose of killing people, and many of these prisoners were used as slave labor, often assisting Nazi employees (like doctors) in their work. Many prisoners were spared this way from immediate death, as they were in possession of a skill that the Nazis found useful. This is unique to other genocides as history, as the Germans seemed to have wanted to take everything they possibly could out of their a number of prisoners' skills before ridding of them. The ones that were not so lucky, however, were sent to gas chambers, which were built for the efficient elimination of the Jews, which is also unique to this one genocide. Never before has efficiency been a priority in a genocide, and the Germans tested out several types of gasses on Jews before deciding on the one that would kill them the quickest. For example, they experimented with carbon monoxide gas and found it too slow reacting, so they moved onto Zyklon B, which enabled them to kill on a scale of 25,000 a day. They also tried shooting them, but found that they were wasting bullets in the process. it is said that the "operations of the camp can be put down in a diagram. An average day's activities can be broken down into a schedule", which only confirms that this genocide was very systematic and operational, which is different from other genocides that the world has seen.
All genocides have specials aspects that make them different, and unique. All genocides are equally important to the history of the world, but each in different ways. The Holocaust was unparalled for the combination of several different factors, such as, the level of deceit, the location and the amount of planning.
ReplyDeleteThe level of deceit that was employed in the Holocaust is unparalleled to any other genocide in history. Hitler had several The Nazis built a fake train station at Treblinka (death camp), complete with a clock that did not move and a ticket counter to fool the people they intended to kill. The Germans did not shoot or starve the Jews, but killed them by leading them into “showers” in which Zyclon B (lethal chemical gas) was dropped. In France, Jews were often taken in luxurious cable cars for “resettlement” (a story told by their captors) and were fed food and coffee. This kind of trickery was different than most of the other ethnic cleanses of history.
The idea that genocide as intense as the Holocaust could occur in Western Europe is shocking. The level of education that is held in that part of the world is very high. Germany was able to have France and Italy- countries not particularly anti-Semitic- comply with their policies. France was occupied by Germany but was allowed to govern the Southern France as the French Republic. The French police were responsible for sending thousands of Jews to Auschwitz. These were the people who were fighting against the Nazis only months before. The fact that Hitler was able to make all these people to turn on their neighbours, in the country who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen is very unique to the Holocaust.
Nazi Germany went through many steps to make sure that the Final Solution was most effective, for their purpose of eliminating the Jewish people. They tested different chemicals in order to find the best one to kill humans, and they made sure that they documented everything. Jewish people were forced to register, like they were animals. The Nazis also knew they would have less resistance if they had more public support so they made Jews wear the Star of David on their clothing. This made the public see them as different, and less human. At the concentration camps, Jewish people were just considered numbers, which made killing them easier.
The Holocaust is not different because of each characteristic listed above, but for all of the variables combined. The economic advantage that the Nazis experienced in this genocide is similar to that of the Ukraine famine. However, one similarity does not make both genocides the same. It is important to understand each of the tragedies separately, not view them as one entity.
Genocide is defined as “The deliberate killing of a large group of people, esp. those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” What makes the organization of the complex planning, the method of killing, or the number of lives taken special compared to any other genocide? Genocide is genocide no matter what other elements other genocides have. Therefore, I do not believe the Holocaust is unparallel to any other genocide. Sure, the Holocaust may have been more advanced. However, the results and purpose were just as brutal and terrifying as other genocides in the past.
ReplyDeleteOne might say the complex tactics in the holocaust made the holocaust so different compared to others. For example, starvation and diseases were key elements which were utilized by the Germans throughout the Holocaust to kill Jewish slave laborers. This was similarly used by both the Turks and the Russians during the Armenian Genocide and Ukraine Famine respectively. The use of Jewish slave labor is similar to the Khmer Rouge's use of Cambodia's urban population as slave laborers. The Nazis stole the tactics of much genocide before them and used what was used in order to help eliminate the Jews and other targeted groups.
During the Holocaust, many Jewish people were stripped from their homes and forced to pack the most valuable possessions and leave their home immediately. These Jewish people were relocated to different camps where they were forced to work as slave laborers. Many died from starvation and disease, others suffered in the brutal weather. These are all similarities other genocides share. For example, the Native American Indians in the U.S settled in areas that once have been homelands of their people for hundreds of years. By force, pieces of land were stripped from them and Thousands of Indians were rounded up forcefully and forced to resettle in different areas that were set aside for them. How can the Holocaust be different and unparallel to any other genocide if the Holocaust shares so many similarities to different genocides?
Altogether, one might say that the holocaust was different due to the complex planning, the passion of the people, or the methods of killing. However, most genocide all shares the same elements. The Holocaust used starvation and the Nazis also stripped the targeted group from their homes and placed them in work camps but the holocaust shares these tactics and methods with other genocides and therefore can not be viewed as different or unparallel. The belief of one group being superior to another race or group has been present in all genocides and a specific genocide should not be considered special or unparallel compared to genocide on how complex the planning may have been or the amount of people killed. “Is it less terrible to kill 150,000 people than it is to kill 1 million? It is better in some way for ‘only’ 30,000 people to die than 2 million? Six million? Is it easier to be killed by a bomb than a bullet? By a knife than by gas?”
The Jewish Holocaust is different from other genocides, but that does not mean it is more important. The preparation, organization, and the outcome are slightly different than other genocides Anti-Semitism feelings were widespread, and the motivation for Jewish extermination existed.
ReplyDeleteAnti-Semitism existed all over the world during the mid 1900’s. Jewish people were not sympathized for, and the organization of their extermination was not a surprise to many. Most of the other genocides, to my knowledge, included a hatred that mostly only existed inside the nation. Jewish holocaust went beyond borders of Germany, such as into Poland. Other genocides stayed within the nation
The Wannsee Conference was held to confirm the extermination of the Jews. It was planned at this conference to deport the Jews to German controlled areas throughout Europe to do labour work. It was planned that if the Jews did not die while completing labour work, they would be killed. This was referred to as the “Final Solution”. As the war continued and the Allies pushed Germany west, the Nazis resorted to concentration camps and hurried to kill as many Jews possible.
The Jewish Holocaust involved a plan. To reduce the chaos, Jews were given a sense of safety and hope before they were put in cattle carts. They were told to bring their valuables and luggage along with them. Many Jews believed they were bringing their personal belongings for their own comfort. The Jews were processed to determine their life or death. When they arrived at the camps, a doctor would examine them and label them “suitable to work” or not. Then they were de-individualized they were given a number, and that is what their new “name” was.
Any items that were valuable: gold teeth, jewelry, watches, frames on glasses, etc., were used for direct economic profit. Their death resulted in economic profit. Although the starvation of Ukrainians in the USSR resulted with economic profit, it was not their death that was of benefit. When they died, their valuables weren’t taken from them and manufactured into goods.
Finally, the Jewish Holocaust has been acknowledged by Germany. Many governments deny genocides that occurred in their country such as the Armenian genocide, Ukraine famine, Srebrenica genocide, and the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities.
The Jewish Holocaust involved planning and organization much different than other genocides. The death of the Jews resulted in direct economic profit for Nazi Germany. Also, the motivation behind the holocaust, Anti-Semitism, existed in many countries. The Jewish Holocaust is unique; however, all genocides are of equal importance.
I do not think that the Holocaust is unparalleled in history to other genocides. When you look at the definition of genocide it is "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group." It falls perfectly under that category, just like the other genocides that have occurred in the 20th century. One of the reasons that, for many, the Holocaust might seem more important or even more unique, is the education and information we receive. The Holocaust is part of the school curriculum. In Canada, kids start to learn about it as early as grade seven. The information and the resources that are available are endless. Most people do not even know about other genocides or to an extent, they were planned thus giving this question almost a one sided answer. Secondly, the fact that the genocide took place in Europe, in Germany, a well industrialized country, it is obvious that there are more resources that are available in assisting their goal of exterminating the Jewish people. Also, the very fact that it was a center of Europe; an industrialized nation, makes it stand out because in poorer countries, we came to expect such things to happen and that is a part that makes us ignorant to realize that just because genocides happen at different parts of the world doesn’t make them unparalleled to each other. Every genocide is unique in its own way but however, in the end the goal and the outcome is the same.
ReplyDeleteThe definition of a Genocide is this: the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.
ReplyDeleteIn the article, "Is the Holocaust Unique", they state: "is it less terrible to kill 150,000 people than it is to kill 1 million?"
I believe it isn't. No matter what the number, if you are specifically targeting a group of people because of their race, colour or belief, it's wrong. There is nothing in the definition of genocide that includes the planning. Yes, the Holocaust was very specifically planned out. But the only reason we know how much is because there is so much information out there about it and because unlike a lot of countries, Germany accepted the fact that the Holocaust existed.
Not only is the Holocaust a genocide, but there are so many genocides that have happened that we don't know a lot about. It's hard to say the Holocaust was unique, because every other genocide had planning and thought put into it as well.
I don’t believe the Holocaust was unique and unparalleled. The Holocaust and other genocides are the intentional killing of a large number of people from a certain race/religion or ethnicity. Genocide has occurred throughout history. There was the 1994 Rwandan Genocide which involved the shooting and killing of the Tutsis by Hutu extremists. In the 1990’s there was the Serbian killing of Muslims in Srebrenica. Many victims were shot and killed in trucks that they thought were taking them to safety. There was also the 1975 Cambodian Genocide by the Khmer Rouge. People who did not fit in with the Khmer Rouge’s ideas and plans were identified and murdered.
ReplyDeleteIn each case of genocide, people were treated horrendously. There were killings and tortures of fellow human beings with no regard for human life. The basic necessities of life were also withheld. The horrors of the Holocaust are unfortunately not unique. The torture and killing of fellow human beings because of race, religion or ethnicity has occurred in history with alarming frequency. The Holocaust probably brought the idea of a superior race or ethnicity to the world, but unfortunately this did not stop this atrocity from happening again.
The Jewish Holocaust is different and unparalleled in history than other genocides. Other genocides in history may have some similarities with the holocaust, but none were truly on the same level. This is not to compare degrees of evil, all genocides are horrific based on the numbers alone. However the Holocaust is unparalleled because it went beyond just massacring mass amounts of people. It was the mindset behind it, the extreme dedication, and the overwhelming detail that went into it.
ReplyDeleteThe genocide of the Jews was not even really about their religion, as other genocides such as the Armenian and Tibetan genocides were. Hitler viewed them as their own race, one that was so inferior and lowly that they deserved to die. He did not even have a real reason as to why the Jews should be exterminated. For example, with the genocide in Cambodia, the communists believed urban life was destructive and went on to massacre all educated or westernized people. However with the Holocaust, the Jews were simply killed because of their race. They had not done anything to Germany other than be born.
The Holocaust was the first industrial genocide. The Nazis were very prepared and knew what they were doing. The gas chambers, the system of order at the concentration camps, the research and dedication put into methods of extermination; these reasons alone are why the holocaust was on such a different level than other genocides. All different parts of the government and country were involved in this mass extermination of people.
What really sets the holocaust apart is how unbelievably committed the Nazis were to it. Even when Germany had no hope of the war, the extermination continued, even sped up. To Hitler, the outcome of the war seemed to be of equal, possibly even less, importance than “keeping the Aryan race pure”. The fact that even though they were losing the war, the Nazis were so determined to exterminate the Jewish people is unparalleled. For these reasons, although all genocides are horrific, the Holocaust remains unique to this day.
There has been many different genocides throughout history. Genocide by definition means: the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. (dictionary.com) The Holocaust was no different from any other Genocide that focused upon a certain group of people. The Holocaust was focused upon the Jews (christens/cultural group) just like every other genocide, for example the Ukraine Famine and the Turkish Armenian genocide. All of which were focused on certain group of people. The Holocaust though is mainly known because it was more widely spread out across Europe while the Ukraine Famine and Armenian genocide was solely focused upon individual countries Turkey and Ukraine. It doesn’t matter how you die from a genocide whether its gas chambers, starvation or slave labouring if its forced upon a specific group of people for the sole purpose of those people to die, which is why the Holocaust was no different or unparalleled from Genocides that have taken place throughout time.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that the Holocaust was unique and unparallelled to any other mass genocides. The holocaust was very systematic as Eberhard Jackel said " Never before had any state, with all authority of its responsible leader, decided and announced that it intended to kill of a particular group of human beings, including the old, the women, the children and the sucklings as completely as possible and had then translated this decision into action with ever possible power at the states command ". He basically spoke out that it was all planned out and systematic and it was announced unlike all the others. A second example of an historian that also said the Holocaust was unique was Lucy S. Dawidowicz; " In every case of terrible human destructiveness that we have known... killing was not an end in itself but a means to an end... But in the murder of the European Jews ends and means were identical. The German dictatorship murdered the Jews for the purpose of murdering the jews. For the Germans to themselves the decision as to who was entitled to live on this earth and who was not". She was saying that this was different because of the Acknowledgement of by Germany about the death camps, it was a brought on decision that the camps would be specifically for them. It was the only one who used it for economic reasoning; recycling and the complexity of it all was beyond other measures. How strategic and selective it was and how thoroughly planned out it was was comparable to the others. Also the methods used were different amount the others which included humiliation and individualizing them. It was the only genocide which tricked the people; deceived them from ever fully knowing what is going on.
ReplyDeleteAlthough every genocide was different in every way and in the end killed many innocent civilians, The Holocaust was Unique and parallel among the others.
No I don’t feel as though the Jewish holocaust is different and unparalled, it is in my opinion no different than every other genocide that is taking place in this world. Sure some of the techniques were different or more unique than others but they all had the same purpose: To attack a certain group of people with a specific race, religion ethnicity etc. Every genocide itself was cruel and brutal in its own way but this doesn’t make it different. Being punished for how you look, act or what you believe in is just wrong. Yes the holocaust was planned out and very well organized but no one knows for sure if it was the most planned out out of all the genocides we just happen to have a lot more information on this one rather than the others because this was widely spread out throughout Germany while the other ones weren’t.. I feel that they were treated very cruelly and as human beings they were stripped of their humanity. As a result of all of this the Jewish genocide was no different than others the where all treated very poorly and brutally. Whether it be from gas chambers or slavery this would be a terrible way to live life and was wrong, which is why the holocaust is no different than any other genocide.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe the holocaust was unparallelled to other genocides. A genocide is a genocide, simple as that. Many will argue that the Holocaust is unparallelled because of the shear planning, organization, attention to detail, and passion that was put in to the Final Solution by the Nazi's. Germany was an industrialized nation, and had many things available to them to make the Holocaust so organized and clean cut. Other nations like Turkey and Rwanda were not as heavily industrialized and did not have the mean to do such an organized way of killing millions, but I am sure that if they had access to the same resources and knowledge that the Germans had, then they would have done the same thing. The fact is that no matter what way you go about exterminating a race, no matter how big the difference of the death toll is, a race was still tried to be exterminated, whether it be the organized way the Germans went about it, the way the Turks went about is by riffles and killing squads, or the use of machetes by the Rwandans.
ReplyDeleteThe Jewish Holocaust is different and unparalled from any other genocide recorded in history. Not even taking the number of Jews that were murdered in the genocide, the amount of planning that went in to it and how involved the entire country was in the genocide into consideration, the Jewish Holocaust was the first time the definition of a German citizen was changed to that of a racial definition to purposely alienate Jews from the society and make them state-less. That factor alone convinces me that this Holocaust remains unparalleled in history to this day
ReplyDeleteNow, looking at the sheer number of humans killed in this genocide, roughly 6 milllion, is mind blowing. It has hard to wrap your mind around that number and imagine that many humans being systematically killed. Hitler first started his campaign againt the Jews by making it impossible for them to shop in the same stores as everyone else, go to the same bathrooms, have the same professions, but then he escalated. He excalated to making the Jews wear an armband identifying them as Jewish, solidying the distinction between a “German” and a “Jew”. But soon, that wasn’t enough either. He wanted them in ghettos, then he wanted them in camps and soon enough, he wanted them dead. All of them.
When Hitler first started killing the Jews in his extermination camps he used firing squads, but he soon realised that they weren’t efficient enough and plus, it was traumatizing to his soldiers to have to kill people all day. He decided to upgrade. Now, this is the difference between this genocide and others noted. Hitler got the whole entire country involved int his genocide. He had companies create the poison gas that they would eventually use in the gas chambers as the more efficient way of murdering more Jews, he had architects involved in designing the crematoriums where they would burn the bodies of the murdered Jews so they would have less bodies to bury, he had advertising companies involved in creating propaganda so that the rest of the world would never find out about the Holocaust. Hitler had the police againt the Jews aswell which meant absolutely no protection whatsoever. Kristallnacht demonstrated this perfectly.
All in all, the Jewish Holocaust is distinct because of all of these factors. It was carried out with extreme planning (in three stages: legal restrictions, ghettoization, final solution) with an almost unbeatable dictator and it went aftter a religious group that has been persecueted for centuries, dating all the way back to Roman and Greek times. For all of these reasons, I am convinced that the Jewish Holocaust remains unparalleled to any other genocide.