Similarities Between Ww2 And The Holocaust

In both theaters of WWII, people were killed in masses, however, the reason for the high death rates differ greatly. Germany’s high anti-semitic beliefs and led to huge outcries against Jews in their country. This led to a plan called the Final Solution ( Spielvogel 858-860). This entailed the special strike forces of the SS, Einsatzgruppen, to round up Jews and execute them. Not only were Jews targeted, anyone considered non-Aryan were also executed such as Poles, Ukrainians, and even Gypsies. The Germans had also created work/concentration camps where Jews and other non-Aryans were either worked to death or gassed to death. In their efforts to rid Jews, they even ignored higher needs like military and supplies transport. And instead they chose to pack thousands of Jews into trains and send them to their concentration

They had killed 5-6 million Jews and 9-10 million others in support of the “pure-blood” race. This came to be known as the Holocaust. Even the Soviet prisoners of war were not spared, and 3-4 million were also killed. On the other hand, Japan had killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, including raping 20-80 thousand women. This was done in order to lower the morale of the Chinese people and to hopefully stop resistance over the Japanese takeover of China even after their government had relocated. The unnecessary death of millions in Europe and thousands in Asia were considered “Crimes against humanity.” They were not war casualties, but murders based on prejudices and officers that had no regard for human lives. The anti-semitic beliefs led to high demand for the death of Jews and the Japanese started as killing soldiers and escalated into raping thousands of women. Although the mass death rates in Europe and Asia were high, the reasons for the high death rates differed