Holocaust DBQ Essay

January 30, 1933 was the day that President Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany, which was the beginning of the Holocaust (Google History). In Source A, a young Jewish girl, Anne Frank, wrote in her diary that the Gestapo was taking away Jewish friends and acquaintances and sending them away to concentration camps. She listened to the English radio to later find out that they were being killed and gassed. Source B reveals, that in the steps to genocide, people classified as different are prohibited rights and personal honor. They are referred to as “sub-human, while the Nazis referred to Jews as vermin” (Source B). Source D discusses that the terrible things in the world are what encourages people to stand up for what they

For instance, Anne Frank overheard on the English radio that friends were being taken away. In Source A, she asked herself, “If it 's that bad in Holland, what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilized places where the Germans are sending them? We assume that most of them are being murdered.” In other words, Jewish people who listened to the English radio felt threatened and apprehensive, because the government was leading them to make assumptions of horrible conditions friends and family may be in. Similarly, the eight steps of genocide illustrate how the government’s actions affect the Nazis view of the Jewish people, by making them seem different and out of place. Source B describes, “2. Symbolism: Names or symbols are given to those classified as ‘different’. Jews living in Nazi occupied Europe were made to wear a Star of David.” This statement emphasizes the idea that the government is making the Jewish population stand out, and they are influencing other Germans to mistreat anyone with a Star of David on their clothes. Thus, the government persuaded the population with the idea that Jewish people should be mocked and