German Antisemitism Perpetuating the Final Solution

by D. A.

A student essay from Dr. Elliot Neaman's History 210 class (historical methods - spring 1997)

The German war atrocities committed during World War II towards the European Jewish community is a part of history that has taken many different viewpoints by many historians. Since the end of the War, many historians have begun a study of history referred to as historical revisionism. In accordance to revisionism, many of these historians have claimed that the Holocaust had never occurred, aiming to clear the German Nazis from any guilt.

It is difficult to imagine that the holocaust had never occurred when over six million Europeans vanished from their homes and towns. What other reason would there be for the disappearance of a large part of the European population? Throughout the years, there have been many controversies surrounding the occurrence of the Holocaust. Revisionists have questioned the areas concerning the existence of the gas chambers in the concentration camps, the credibility of survivor's testimonies, the actual number of Jewish deaths, and the Nuremberg and other Nazi trials. These areas are where revisionists tend to center their focus of Holocaust Denial. One of the main arguments presented by the Holocaust Deniers focuses on the fact that there was never a document that laid out a "master plan" for Jewish annihilation. On the contrary, there did exist an ideology held by many Germans and Nazis calling for a "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". It may have never been an implied documentation, but it is the culmination of antisemitism of both Europe and of Germany itself. The center theme looked at in this writing deals with the antisemetic ideologies of Europe and Germany throughout history. Arguably, the evolution of antisemitism to eliminationistantisemitism, and the ideology of the mass destruction of European Jewry, is most definitely the source of the Jewish Holocaust. The antisemitism was so strong in Germany, and with emergence of Adolf Hitler as the political leader, antisemitism grew even stronger. It is this idea that the Holocaust cannot be denied, the unique form antisemitism that many of the Germans and Nazis shared led to the elimination of Jews.

It has been historically argued that antisemitism has been a part of European history form many centuries. Christian Europeans were afraid of the fact that the European Jewish population was emerging greatly, evidently seen in the secularization of the Jewish people and also of political nationalism in the nineteenth century. In relation to this focus, Germany at this time reflected what was occurring throughout Europe. Many Germans began to see the Jewish problem that they perceived to be facing. The power of the Jews was growing in Europe, beginning to frighten the non-Jews of Germany. They were beginning to feel that the Jews were becoming a powerful part of the German population. They needed to counter that power, hence the beginnings of the slow extermination of the Jews, "economic antisemitism fueled political antisemitism which was particularly virulent towards the end of the nineteenth century (Seidel page 24)." There began to spring up laws that deprived the German Jews of their rights as citizens.

The appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany by the President of Germany, Paul von Hindenberg, was the first step to the elimination of Jews. Hitler was very much against the influence that the Jews had brought into Germany. As soon as Hitler took office he began a solution to the Jewish problem. His antisemetic background had led him to order the German Jews to be forced to expropriate from German society, be further separated from the non-Jews through ghettoization, be victims of the mobile killing operations; like the Einsatzgrüppen, deported from their homelands; and finally being victims of extermination (Seidel page 28). These vehicles of eliminating the Jewish problem stems from antisemitism.

The deniers claim that the purpose of the German campaign against the Jews, "was to eliminated the powerful Jewish economic, political, and cultural influence within Germany, and latterly, with increasing emphasis to promote the total emigration of the Jewish population from Germany (anonymous page )." The deniers argue that there were no plans to eliminate any part of the Jewish population, but rather just to move them away from the German state to create an Aryan community. Many deniers believe that extermination could have never occurred because the only aim was to eliminate their influence on the German society because they felt that this particular influence was the source of Germany's problems.

It is difficult to try to comprehend thus type of argument, when it has been documented that antisemitism was not a secret. The Nazis early persecution, between 1933 and 1939, was conducted openly, and was fully reported in German and foreign newspapers. There are also the published texts of Nazi laws and decrees, legal and business records, as well as books, magazines, leaflets and films disseminated by the Nazis that proves persecution(Seidel page 35). The National Socialist State set up the machinery to murder the Jews, the machinery was thesource of years of antisemitism growing in Germany.

The aim of Holocaust Revisionism is to restore the image and credibility of Adolf Hitler's ideology and the reputation of the Nazis. Many of the Holocaust Revisionist or deniers have all somewhat carried or maintained the following criteria when writing about Holocaust Denial. They claim that there was never any form of genocide, more importantly, the gas chambers never existed. The six million Jews reported to have been killed by the Nazis is too large of a number according to the deniers. They also claim that the Holocaust was pure propaganda invented by the Jews themselves, to gain a financial profit in their favor.

These are the sorts of claims that deniers or Holocaust Revisionist use to try to discredit the existence of the Holocaust; and the annihilation of an entire race. Many of the revisionist argue these claims by either questioning the accuracy of already existing sources regarding the Holocaust, or they plan out an alternative theory to counter the existing theories. An example of how deniers question the existence of the Holocaust is seen when The Diary of Anne Frank is used to justify the existence of the Holocaust. Many deniers feel as though the use of Anne Frank's diary as a away to prove the Holocaust was not a hoax becomes very dangerous for the aim of their work. They believe that since many people see Anne Frank as to be a young girl, readers tend to believe the atrocities that she and her family had to endure. The deniers then begin to argue that the diary itself was a hoax or it was completely made up after the war. Among the deniers who believe this theory to be correct are Arthur Butz and David Irving. They both believe that it was impossiblefor Anne Frank to have written the diary while living in the secret annex. This is just a sampling of the way deniers try to prove that the Holocaust never occurred.

The deniers begin to put the blame on someone else. They blame the American, the Russians, the British , and the French to have committed worst atrocities then the Germans during the war. They argue that if the implications were not put on the Germans before the war there would not have been the false accusations that the Jews were murdered by the Germans. The whole idea of the Holocaust as being a hoax stems from the argument that the Germans perceived the Jews to be different from the rest of Germany. In the German's opinion the Jews only brought problems into the state. They believed that the Jews need to be interned in order for the influence to be halted within Germany and eventually across Europe and the world.

"There has never been even the slightest conclusive proof for such a campaign of promiscuous slaughter on the part of Germany, and, in the meantime, all reliable evidence continues to suggest with increasing volume and impact that this genocide legend is a deliberate and brazen falsification (The Myth of the Six Million, page 32 )." This is a denier's argument that tries to suggest that the Holocaust had never occurred. To make their argument stronger, they also claim that the Holocaust is a false accusation because there was never a master plan to annihilate the Jewish population of Germany and Europe.

According to the anonymous author of The Myth of the Six Million, "the internment of European Jews, like that of the Japanese in the United States and Canada, was carried out for security reasons (The Myth of the Six Million page 104)",claiming that the Jews were a threat to the national security of Germany. The purpose of the German campaign against the Jews was to eliminate the powerful Jewish economic, political, and cultural influence within Germany, and latterly, with increasing emphasis, to promote the total emigration of the Jewish population from Germany (The Myth of the Six Miliion page 7)." The author argues that this was the only reason for the ghettoization, expropriation, deportation, and the issuance of anti-Jewish legislation. The author of The Myth of the Six Million offers the following, "It can be stated in summary that German policy toward the Jews prior to World War II consisted mainly of legislative pressure, and of a few public occasions of violence in which, however, no Jews were actually killed. No doubt some Jewish lives were lost in German Concentration Camps prior to World War II, but certainly there was no deliberate policy of killing Jews as such, and the proportion of Jews affected was far smaller than that of Germans subjected to similar treatment (The Myth of the Six Million page 104). These seems to be the denial they propose for the treatment of Jews during World War II; and why part of the Jewish population had disappeared by the end of World War II.

Antisemitism has faced the German Jews long before the appointment of Adolf Hitler to the office of Chancellor in Germany during the Weimar Republic. The antisemitic feeling carried by many Germans has long existed in the history of the German Nation. It is somewhat true that the argument presented by the Holocaust deniers claiming that the only elimination plan set by the Germans towards the Jews was simply to deadened the influence the Jewish race hadimplemented in Germany society. According to Lucy S. Dawidowicz in the book, The War Against the Jews , states that German Nationalism along with the racist, antisemetic ideology of many members of the German State is proof enough that the Holocaust did happen. The ideology and actions that led to Anti-Jewish legislation, expropriation, ghettoization, deportation, mobile killing operations, and finally extermination originates from the antisemetic background imbedded in German political and social society.

German antisemitism can be traced back to the days of Martin Luther when he wrote, "Know Christian, that next to the devil thou hast no enemy more cruel, more venomous and violent than a true Jew (Dawidowicz page 23)." Words like this exemplified how strong German antisemitism would grow. The antisemitism that haunted many Jews prior to World War II was a combination between Christian antisemitism with German Nationalism. These two forms of antisemitic ideologies grew into the eliminationist antisemitism carried out by Hitler and the Nazis towards the latter part of World War II.

German Nationalism grew out of military defeat. Since the Napoleonic Wars left the German State fragmented, many Germans felt a lack of identity. They were stripped of everything which could give them a sense of nationalism or nationhood. They basically had no power both politically and economically. They were in need of finding a source where the German state had some substanance with the rest of Europe. They began to turn back to the time of The Enlightenment to find answers and to find some source of unity.

The Enlightenment Era is significant because it was the cornerstone inmarking the origins of German antisemitism. During the Enlightenment, many Jews began to seek their emancipation and rights. This was due to the French influence that spread across the German State, the French began to give the Jews political rights. Then in 1812, the German government was reluctant to grant the Jews German citizenship and political rights, but they succumbed to the pressure. This is where the idea that Jews became a problem to the German State.

The non-Jews of Germany felt strongly that the nation state needed to be protected, in order for that to occur, many Germans felt that the Jews did not have a place within the German Volk. They justified that argument in the following, "The Jews by definition are an outsider in the 'Christian' state, and should remain an outsider in the Volkist conception of the state (Dawidowicz page 28)." Many Germans felt that the Jews were too much concerned with their own communities; and that they had no concern over the German State at all. This is where the hostility towards the Jews began to perpetuate.

The hostility towards the Jews and the antisemitic treatment they received can be broken down into individual phases. These phases are what led to the Holocaust. The phases can be laid out in the following: phase one being the anti-Jewish legislation drafted to mute the Jews from German society. The second phase are the actions that the special military units assigned by the Nazis to kill Jews before they entered the Concentration Camps. The third and final phase would be the extermination or liquidation of the Jews. All three phases are deeply rooted from the antisemetic ideology within Germany.

Anti-Jewish legislation was the antithesis to the destruction of the Jewishcommunity of Germany. The anti-Jewish legislation was an antisemtic method to rid Germany of the Jewish problem. In Hitler's rational, "he saw the anti-Jewish legislation that he and the Nazis promulgated, as a 'legal' solution to the Jewish problem. Throughout the reign of the Nazis in Germany, there were over four hundred anti-Jewish forms of legislation that eventually helped in the destruction of the Jews. The laws effected the livelihood of many Jews throughout Germany. The laws were antisemetic in the sense that they were drafted and initiated directly to the Jewish people only.

The first anti-Jewish legislation passed was entitled, "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service". This legislation called for the, "elimination from civil service of Jews and political opponents of the Nazi Regime (Dawidowicz page 58)." Further, it called for all non-Aryans in a civil service position to step down from their positions. Accompanying the Civil service Law was a law that forbade Jews from practicing law and medicine in German Society. Within days of the first anti-Jewish legislation being passed by the Third Reich government, there were a number of other forms of antisemetic legislation effecting the Jews. The Jews' attendance in educational systems were limited, Jewish academics were barred from teaching at Universities, German periodicals run by Jews were heavily watched, and even Jews were forbidden to be a part of cultural and entertainment enterprises.

The most compelling of antisemetic, anti-Jewish legislation was the passing of the Nuremberg Laws, "these laws legitimated racist antisemitism and turned the 'purity of German blood' into a legal category (Dawidowicz page 63)." This was a law passed by the Third Reich that promulgated a method in which to stop thegrowth of the Jewish influence within Germany. The law called for the elimination of marriage and extramarital relations between Germans and Jews. It was important to keep the racial purity within Germany. The idea of racial purity significant because it stems back to the German ideology that led to the strong antisemetic society. The main component that led to the Modern German Antisemetic ideology was the idea of nationalism. Nationalism and the yearning to find German unity can be seen exemplified through laws like that of the Nuremberg Laws, with the underlying meaning of racial superiority over the Jews.

The anti-Jewish laws were proving to be successful in eliminating the Jewish influence in the minds of Hitler and the Nazis. As Dawidowicz points out the Jews were being, "excluded from public life, government, culture, and the professions". The laws passed were successful in the "disenfranchisement of the Jews in Germany". It can even go as far as a foreshadowing of what other extremes Hitler and the Nazis were to follow with after the anti-Jewish legislations. Hitler was even known to say the following about the laws he helped to pass, "[the anti-Jewish policy] was an attempt to regulate by law a problem that, in the event of repeated failure, would have to be transferred by law to the National Socialist Party for final solution (Dawidowicz page 69)." Implying of course that the "Jewish Problem" was through a final solution, a means of extermination. Evident because after the Nuremberg Laws were passed, there was not any other forms of anti-Jewish legislation passed, but rather the Nazi SS began to implement their antisemetic actions across Germany along with the other assigned killing groups.

The second phase of antisemitic methodology that lead to the Holocaust wasthe actions committed by the SS. Evidently, the SS role was, "an expression of Hitler's will and as the central executing aim in the Final Solution of the Jewish Question". It is difficult to imagine that the SS Units had no antisemetic ideas while carrying out their duties when it was not unusual for them to hear messages like the following, "The Jew is a parasite. Wherever he flourishes, the people die...Elimination of the Jews from our community is to be regarded as an emergency defense measure (Dawidowicz page 70)."

The SS simply wanted to wage war on their own enemy, the Jewry. They were so drowned in their own antisemitism that the true mission of their position within the Third Reich was lost. Initially, the SS Units were to protect the Führer, top party leaders, and party meetings. Eventually, the SS units were to become part of a way to formulate ideas that would provide for a Final Solution. Since the SS was considered to be the elite group of military men, their ideas towards the Final Solution was important to the ideas that Hitler held himself.

The third and final phase that led to the Holocaust and which was deeply rooted in the antisemetic ideology was the idea of extermination of the Jews. The extermination process began by the internment of the Jews by the Germans into the work camps or Concentration Camps. The annihilation of the Jews was the culmination of the antisemitic goals set forth by the Nazis and Hitler. Since antisemitism was a part of everyday life in Germany it is not surprising the final phase in dealing with the elimination of Jews was through annihilation. It is probably best summed up in the following, Hitler had initiated many of the programs and his own antisemitic background helped to perpetuate the notion ofthe Final Solution. According to Dawidowicz, "hatred of the Jews was Hitler's central and most compelling belief and that it dominated his thoughts and his actions all his life. That obsession led him, very early in life, to latch to the mad notion that the 'solution to the Jewish problem' could be achieved only by radical means, literally by 'eliminating', that is, murdering, the Jews. It became his fixed ideas, one to which he remained steadfast all his life.

Hitler's own ideology, the history of antisemitism, and the antisemetic views shared by many of the Germans, especially the Nazis, was what led to the Holocaust. The rise of antisemitism in Germany cam about because of the yearning to find unity within the state, many Germans felt as though the Jews, being a non-Aryan race, were a problem to the security and well-being of Germany. The Jews became grouped together as the "Jewish Problem". The Holocaust Deniers claim that the only campaign against the Jews was a campaign to end their influence; economic, political, and cultural, on German society. Again, according to the author of The Myth of the Six Million, "It can be stated in summary that German policy toward the Jews prior to World War II consisted mainly of legislative pressures, and of a few public occasions of violence in which, however, no Jews were actually killed. No doubt some Jewish lives were lost in German concentration camps prior to World War II, but certainly there was no deliberate policy of killing Jews as such, and the proportion of Jews affected was far smaller treatment (anonymous page 18)."

The important aspect to remember is that the cycle of destruction towards the Jews was a form of assaulting their rights, their livelihoods, and then on their lives. Their rights were taken away because of the anti-Jewish laws passed by the Third Reich. Their livelihood was taken away because of the reducible and humiliation the Jews endured by the Germans. Their lives were taken away because of the violent atrocities done onto the Jews. It was virtually a full scale assault on all Jews, "All of the laws, regulations, and measures of the 1930's served to rob Jews of their livelihoods, to sink them into a state of hopelessness, and to isolate them from the larger society in which they had moved freely but a few years earlier. They made Jews socially dead (Dawidowicz page 138)."

This assault was deeply rooted in an antisemetic ideology shared by many Germans. If the claim is that the Nazis only wanted to eliminate Jewish influence, then why were there such progroms like the Einsatzgrüppen and Einsatzkommandos, who performed mass slaughterings on Jewish lives? If the campaign was to just stop influence on German society, then again, why was there always a deep concern to discover a "final solution to the Jewish Problem".

The true picture that can be laid out in this essay is the fact that the nature of antisemitism within Germany cannot be overlooked, it played an important role in shaping the final outcome of the Nazi agenda concerning the Jews. The reality is that the antisemitism that was imbedded within German society emerged into something far worse then imagined. It had evolved into eliminationist antisemitism.

All means were used in order to ensure that the Nazis were on the right path towards the Final Solution. Every method used to try to eliminate the so called influence had a deep underlying meaning of antisemitism. The actions done bymembers of such groups like the SS and in particular the Einsatzgrüppen were not being done because of fulfilling orders. Rather, they did what they were told to do because of the deep hatred they had for Jews due to their antisemetic backgrounds.

The anti-Jewish laws, the humiliation, and the atrocities committed by the Nazi SS, all led to the mass destruction of Jews. The destruction went further than what the deniers claim to have been the reason. If it solely was to stop the influence, the actions performed by the SS, the Einsatzgrüppen, and the Police Battalions contradict that claim. These assigned military units killed Jews all across Germany and Central Europe even before they were placed in concentration camps. Were not the anti-Jewish legislations drafted and passed by the Nazis enough to stop the influence?

The Einsatzgrüppen is a perfect example of how the antisemitic influence effected the way they treated the Jews. The Einsatzgrüppen, the group that carried out the mass killing operations in the Soviet Union and Central Europe. displayed how willing these men were to killing the Jews they encountered. They had no hesitation in participating in their mass slaughterings because it was already part of their everyday lives. According to Dawidowicz, "The men who joined the Einsatzgrüppen, in contrast to the ordinary Wehimacht recruits, were already committed to National Socialist ideology and thoroughly involved with the notion that Jews were Bolsheviks, and vice versa, and that the Jew-Bolshevik was the "mortal enemy" of the German people and the German State. It is evident, that groups like the Einsatzgrüppen, were first of all ready willing to kill the Jews because of their unity within the Nazi party, but it was also heightened because of thetraining they received before they set out for their mobile killing operations.

Compared to the SS, the Einsatzgrüppen had a less of a connection to Hitler and the top Nazi leaders. The SS on the other hand, worked closely with Hitler and were directed by Heinrich Himmler. The name Himmler alone conjures up ideas of hate and terror. Himmler was the one responsible in shaping groups like the SS and the Einsatzgrüppen to kill on order. The mission of the SS was to protect the top Nazi leaders, especially their Führer, but the organization involved into something full scale.

It was a group that had a strict selection process. It was to Hitler's orders that the SS be a group of elite men. Elite men were considered to be of the highest racial quality. The SS grew rapidly and expanded just as quick. The SS broke off into different divisions that carried out specific orders. The SS troops helped the Nazi agenda along by terrorizing the Jews all across Germany. On the other hand, the Einsatzgrüppen the SS members were so antisemetic that it did not matter whether or not to follow orders in regards to the treatment of Jews, but rather they performed what they had to do because of their own hatred.

The SS was also a strong component to the idea of the Final Solution. They like Hitler recognized the importance of a Final Solution to the Jews. It is evident that they were not just trying to stop the Jewish influence, but they also had ideas to eliminate all Jews, not only in Germany, but across the world.

Both the SS troops and the Einsatzgrüppen contributed greatly to the Final Solution. These groups worked outside "outside their framework of low and state administration (Dawidowicz page 47)." They worked and carried orders on theirown recognicencse, the nature of antisemitism that each troop member carried with them led to the Final Solution. The Final Solution being to annihilate all Jews in whatever manner possible.

It can be said that the Final Solution to the Jewish question was already drafted and decided upon long before World War II had begun. Dawidowicz explains that the Final Solution had its origins in Hitler's mind, further through Hitler's speeches there was always the implication of a Final Solution, "Rational antisemitism, however must lead to systematic legal opposition and elimination of the special privileges, that the Jews hold, in contrast to the other aliens living among us. Its final objections must unsweighingly be the removal of the Jews altogether." Clearly, before the Nazi party took control of the German government, ideas to combat the Jewish Problem were already conceived of and voiced openly in German politics.

All it took to make the Final Solution a reality was a way to put it into practice. The appointment of Hitler to the Chancellorship and eventually making himself dictator was the first step. The next step was the implementation of laws that terrorized the Jews. The third and final step was a way to devise of a plan to annihilate as many Jews as possible . These three parts fall right into the ideology that Hitler maintained throughout his life that he incorporated into his politics.

In the antisemetic eyes of Hitler and the Nazis, the Jews were seen as an insect causing a problem on German Society. That is also what helped to advance the idea of the Final Solution, this shared ideology. Hitler had created a movement that many Germans believed deeply in before and during the war. They had no otherreason to participate in such groups like the SS, if it was not for the history of antisemitism in Germany.

Generations of antisemitism had prepared the Germans to accept Hitler as their redeemer that would solve the Jewish Problem that faced Germany. Layer upon layer of antisemitism off all kinds, Christian church teachings about Jews, Volkist antisemitism, doctrines of racial superiority, economic theories about the roles of Jews in capitalism and commerce, and a half century of political antisemitism -were joined with the solder of German nationalism, providing the structural foundation upon which Hitler and the National Socialist movement built (Dawidowicz page 164). There were many factors that had led to the Jewish Holocaust, but the underlying factor was the antisemetic ideology that many Germans shared. Antisemitism motivated both the Nazis and the Germans to perpetuate the atrocities against the Jews. They assaulted the Jews, both politically and socially, without second thinking their actions. They justified their actions through the antisemitic beliefs. They felt strongly that the Jews were a problem to German society.

Antisemitism is what led to the Final Solution against the Jewish Problem. The Nazi solution to the influence that the Jews were bringing into German society, began with the anti-Jewish legislation but escalated to mass destruction of the lives of the Jews. All was an outcome due to antisemitism, the perpetuation to mass destruction happened quickly because of the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. The antisemetic ideology he carried, helped to raise the support needed to ensure thatthe extermination of Jews to succeed.

The deniers have claimed many things, their intent is to prove that the Holocaust never existed. They want to restore Hitler's good name, claiming that much of the atrocities committed against the Jews were unknown to him. Their claims center around lifting the blame off the Nazis and trying to either put their blame on someone else or just completely name it as being false.

It is important to note that the nature of antisemitism cannot be overlooked. It is what perpetuated the final outcome. The history of antisemitism was the first and most important factor that led to the Holocaust. Hate was building towards the Jewish population through antisemetic means. The whole idea that the Jews were a problem to German society is evident of the intensity of how Germans tried to rid their German State from a Jewish population.

Antisemitism also led to the Germans and the Nazis in wanting to annihilate the Jews. They justified their actions because they believed that what they were doing was the correct and only way to solve the problem they faced. Of course, their justification was laid out in a antisemetic viewpoint. Antisemitism was what transformed the way Germans approached the "Jewish Question". They felt strongly that the Jews were becoming a threat to the well being of the German nation and race; and the only way to eliminate that threat was to murder that entire population. Antisemitism is what motivated and justified their actions. The antisemitism they believed in was different then what the rest of Europe followed. The German form of antisemitism was to lead directly into elimination of Jewish lives. Antisemitism in Germany made the Holocaust happen.

Dawidowicz, Lucy S. The War Against the Jews 1933-1945. New York: Seth Press, 1986.

Marrus, Michael R. The Holocaust in History. Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1987.

Reitlinger, Gerald. The Final Solution. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1968.

Seidel, Gill. The Holocaust Denial. Leeds, England: Beyond the Pale Collective, 1986.

Simon Weisenthal Center Report. Holocaust Denial:Bigotry in the Guise of Schlorship. Canada: Simon Weisenthal Center, 1994

The Myth of the Six Million. 3rd edition Torrance: The Noontide Press, 1978