Causes of the Holocaust: History, Theory, Sources

Abstract

The article examines the causes of the Holocaust, an unhealing wound of humanity, the pain of which remains in the memory and soul. The historical origins of the concept of “Holocaust” itself are examined, its etymology from historical times to modern understanding. It is shown that in Germany Jews were always treated no worse and no better than in other European countries. There were never such Jewish pogroms here as in Russia, there was no extermination and expulsion as in medieval Spain. It is emphasized that the attitude towards Jews changed dramatically after Germany’s defeat in the First World War. Jews were accused of evading participation in the war, profiting from it, collaborating with the Russian Bolsheviks, in the collapse of the political regime headed by the Kaiser, in supporting the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, in participating in the Weimar government, in the hyperinflation of the early 1920s. But the Jews did not destroy the German Empire, but history did, just as it did with the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires during that period. Examples of racial and anti-Semitic laws adopted by the Nazis after coming to power in the 1930s are given. It is noted that the roots of anti-Semitism of National Socialism go back centuries and were of a religious nature at that time. In Germany, in parallel with irrationalist and traditional Christian anti-Semitism, attacks on Jews by supporters of the theory of racism intensified. It is noted that the theory of racism was attractive to those who considered themselves to belong to a “superior” race (nation). The ideas of eugenics are added to nationalist and racial anti-Semitism. The reasons for the intensification of anti-Semitism in Germany after the defeat in the First World War are shown. But for the practical realization of the Holocaust, the author argues, a totalitarian state and a totalitarian society were needed, which were created in Germany by the Nazis. Their ideology and propaganda led not only to the tragedy of the Jewish and German peoples, but also to the tragedy of the entire civilization.