The Holocaust: The Cause Of The Holocaust

People question how a tragic event like the Holocaust was allowed to happen. Many think that one person or one factor caused the Holocaust, when in actuality multiple factors and average people of that time contributed greatly to the rise of the Nazis. Although they may not have known it, the general public began to conform to the beliefs of Nazis. It could be seen as a feat to get almost a whole country to conform to a single person’s beliefs, but many studies show that it would not be as hard as it seems. For example, in the Stanford Prison Experiment, 24 mentally healthy men were chosen take part as “guinea pigs” in the experiment. Half of the men were chosen to be “prison guards” while the others were “prisoners”. Without direction to
mistreat the the “prisoners”, the “guards” began to be malicious and brutal. It got to the point that some “prisoners” could not continue. When the “guards” were asked why they were behaving this way they replied that they had seen it in a movie and copied what they had seen. (Sociology and Social Psych Concepts, A Matter of Obedience?, pg. 106) This shows that the “guards” conformed to what they thought the roles of guards were even though they were not trying to conform to anything. The similar effect happened to the German population that were not Jews. Slowly they were conditioned to think that Jews were bad and after enough time, they conformed to the general public. Another reason a lot of people did not speak out against the Nazis is obedience.
Hitler made it almost impossible to say anything against the Nazi party without it getting reported. The public was fearful of the consequences of speaking out. The Nazis gave many awful incentives to follow what Hitler wanted. Parades were held where German citizens were beaten, covered in white powder, drug down the street, and mocked. These parades would be done to someone who did nothing wrong, however they may have done something such as marry a Jew. Anna Rath is was the victim of one of these parades; yet seeing the brutalities she was facing, no one helped her even though all she did was marry a Jew. (Teaching a Lesson, 82-84) Another example of obedience Hitler inforced is the Hitler Youth. “Heil Hitler” was a saying that was constantly reinforced around children. Some parents taught their babies how to say “Heil Hitler” before “Mama”. Young children were sent to camps to learn how to be good Nazis. Parents were expected to send their children to these camps and if they did not they could get reported. Once the children came back from the camp, they were conditioned as a Nazi and if they reported bad talk about the Nazis, they would get rewarded. Often times children would report their own parents. (Models of Obedience, 111-118) This started a spread of fear among the German public. The fear maintained the obedience of the public and gave Hitler a large amount of power. I believe that
this kept many people from helping the Jewish people. Group Thinking may have been a factor that lead people to be less helpful toward the Jews.
Groupthink is when the majority of people in a group have the same idea and someone one with a different opinion feels like they must be wrong rather than the whole group. They then follow the group unquestioningly. (Sociology and Social Psych Concepts) In Germany at this time, there was a large quantity of people who agreed with what Hitler said, which made the people who didn’t feel outcast. They would then join the group because they “must be wrong” if they are the only one. Although some people felt like they should help the Jews, the thought of being different from the majority scared them ,so they remained silent. Today people still question how we allowed the Holocaust to happen. It was far more than one reason and many social factors played a part. Before you blame anyone for this tragic event, think about what you would have done in this situation. Would you differently from the majority of your country? Would you have risked your safety and your family’s safety to help a
minority?