First Red Flag

“All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless goddess of distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people.” (Hitler and Murphy). Throughout the centuries of human existence, there have been thousands of movements, some big, some small, however, none as monumental as the Holocaust. The Holocaust started when the Nazi’s came to power in January 1933 and didn’t end until twelve devastating years had passed ("Introduction to the Holocaust — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum"). Although the Holocaust’s original focus was persecuting the Jewish population and for Germany to prove their racial superiority, it evolved
Germany’s Reichstag governmental building was set ablaze in the middle of the night on February 27 ("First Steps Leading to the "Final Solution"). Hitler was quick to deem this action as caused by Dutch Communists currently in Germany. However, this seemingly random act of arson was all Hitler needed to get Germany’s president to hand over his reins and suspend the civil liberties of his people to Hitler’s mercy. Hitler commenced his first phase of conditioning the German people; he used the supposed arson attack as an excuse to deprive citizens of their basic rights for a fictional belief of safety from the government ("First Steps Leading to the "Final Solution"). Hitler’s new ideas of “civil liberties” were extremely strict, for instance, thousands were arrested on mere “suspicion” of a conspiracy against German supremacy ("First Steps Leading to the "Final Solution"). S.S. guards rounded up thousands of people and took them to S.A. barracks where they were tortured, none ever received a trial for what they were accused ("First Steps Leading to the "Final
By August 1934, the Nazi’s had total control over Germany; the president of the country had died, leaving Hitler in charge, opposing political parties had fizzled out, opposing clergymen were arrested. Hitler had 44% of the people’s votes, but two-thirds of governmental favor that kept him in power ("First Steps Leading to the "Final Solution"). After the Enabling Act was passed, Julius Streicher, editor of an Anti-Semitic newspaper, was told by the Nazi’s to form a boycott committee, specifically targeting the Jewish population ("First Steps Leading to the "Final Solution"). In April of 1934, picket lines had formed in front of any store, factory, or office owned by a Jewish person ("First Steps Leading to the "Final Solution"). On April 7th, the German government decreed that all employees of non-Aryan descent were to be fired. Most of the German population supported this because, the missing Jewish professors from universities, the Jewish performers barred from taking the stage, etc. created thousands of opportunities for the German people. More laws were passed banning Jews from furthering their education with higher learning institutions limited to a 1.5% of Jews allowed to register ("First Steps Leading to the "Final Solution"). In the span of April to September of 1934, four hundred laws were passed against the Jewish population ("First Steps Leading to the