The Diary of a Young Girl question

Stalin had started killing innocent people way before Hitler and continued to do that after his death. For some reason he gets a pass in people's minds. Maybe because he was an ally of USA and UK.

Hitler was not the only one with the idea. The rest of the world stood by for almost a decade as he systematically took away property, imprisoned and murdered Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and political opponents(it all began in 1933 when Hitler came to power). Many agreed with Hitler calling him a man of vision and marveled at how he was able to bring Germany back to a major power in Europe. They also applauded his efforts at ridding Germany of communists. Wall Street adored him and invested heavily in German manufacturing. So what if a few Jews (who are a plague on any God-fearing country and were getting in the way of German prosperity) had to be imprisoned or killed. It was only when it was clear Hitler was going to lose that everyone condemned him and his Holocaust.
The real lesson of the Holocaust is how easy it is for evil to be perpetrated when it is cloaked by patriotism, economics and religious intolerance. It also shows what happens when people stand by and say nothing as Edmund Burke so apply stated.

The holocaust is not something i usually comment on if I see it discussed online. What's that theory? Godwin's law? Anyway, I suppose this isn't much to do with the incident itself. But about man. Man has always intrigued and fascinated me, I did a bit of philosophy (and modern history) at uni to try and crack this problem that is humankind. But, I don't think there really is a solution so to speak, because despite this atrocity, there was also a lot of bravery and strength to combat this. Why is there so much of one and equally as much of the other? It's.. crazy. Now, I've been told that most Germans weren't aware of this happening. If anyone has any sources that can clarify this for me, send my way. Because I imagine the way this, and even WWII, played out would have had differences. I'm not sure which side is true, perhaps a little of both. There certainly were groups who opposed the Nazis, even members who bit their tongue to save their own lives. But thus they were a force to fear..

i think;
1. what he thought and said must have resonated with a lot of people. He must have been a man of his time and place.
2.the Nazis used power and violence against anyone who thought differently. In normal times, countries have means to defend themselves from such people, but war, economic crisis, etc must have crippled the Republic's ability.

We shouldn't forget the likes of Himmler and Goebbels who both played a part in propaganda and manipulating the history books, plus there was anti-semitism in Europe before the Nazi's came along especially in Germany. Many people were taken in by the Nazi's because they initially came into power with the promise of doing good for the country, the anti-semitism came later. Still one of the worst tragedies that I know of.

The thing is we could talk on much more things . Like what Stallin did in Russia . We can not reduce all only at Germany especialy at the question wich was made

Hitler once said:
"What luck for the leaders of the world that the people don't think for themselves"
I think this explains a lot. Hitler was an intelligent man who had lots of charisma. He came to power at a time when all factors aligned to allow something like this to happen. I've spent a lifetime (40 years so far) exploring this subject to try and find an 'explanation' that would be satisfactory. There isn't one. There are too many to consider. Economy, Xenophobia, looking for scapegoats, pride, and a hundred other factors all fit together at the right time.
Mostly, it was only the High ranking Nazi officials that were rabid anti-semites, they were just able to rally the others and get them involved in mob mentality and group frenzy.

WOII cannot even be seen without the events leading up to WOI and the consequences of the first big war. I would not blame one man for this madness, neither would anybody who does read the occasional history book.

I totally agree to that. Once a crazy person or leader leads a people, there's tendecy of his followers suffering with him as a result of his stupidity. Especially, when there's no chance for opposition or criticism.

The Holocaust was about racism, and in today's world it still exists,but to allow such evil to end the lifes of innocent people in such extreme ways is unforgivable.

Why do some people think it didnt happen? Then what do they think hapened to those poor innocent people(i believe it did happen)

Meryl wrote: "The holocaust stands as a living proof of such massacre. Innocent people should not be penalised for the narrow mindedness of one man."

i agree totally unfourtunley there are too many examples

My answer sort of beats around this quote and this conversation but some people here have commented about how it was more than just one man that caused the events of the Holocaust. I agree with that. I took a few classes during undergrad and graduate school on the Holocaust... it really was such a complicated turn of events that allowed a guy like Hitler to take power to begin with and what he was able to do does go back to the deeply rooted antisemitism not only in Germany but in all of Europe as well.

But I wanted to mention this book that I read during college in one of my classes. It's called Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning. Essentially Browning follows a group of German soldiers, ordinary guys in society at that time, who weren't Nazis. They also weren't killers. What Browning's book chronicles is how these men went from typical people who felt remorse after killing one man... to the same group later on who were used to it and could do mass killings.

It didn't start with Hitler. It started with the Medieval idea of the Blood Libel (i.e. that they Jews killed Christian children at Passover and used the blood to mix into their matzo bread). It also came from the idea that "the Jews killed Christ", as the standard way of reading the Gospel stories of the Crucifixion. Hitler just built on this, and the natural inclination of any population to blame outsiders for all the things that go wrong. Also he started with small measures that seemed "reasonable" and only gradually built up to the death camps. Many people didn't believe that the death camps were happening even when they lived just down the road from them - groups of Germans were brought to look round after the war, and they honestly didn't believe what they were seeing.

He's a maniac who deserved a much more painful death than he got

One man alone cannot enact violence against 7 million people. He had the full support of plenty of people that made it happen.

The question is how do people fall into that trap? How do people come to believe it's okay to behave this way?

And how do we avoid this in the future?

It was not so much his ideas as his ability to twist a natural inclination of hate towards his own personal use. Hitler could have just as easily targeted any population. I don't think he particularly cared who he targeted. He was smart and manipulative he used a population that was already a target and played on people's fears to use it to gain power for himself. It has happened many, many times on both a small and grand scale. It happens ever day and will continue to happen until we as humankind learn to not let fear lead us to hate.

I agree innocent women, men and young children died because of a sick and ugly person. Punishing them for what he believed was right when he was a murder in my book.

His idea definitely were a spark, but everyone else's silence spread the fire.

But he was an evil, evil man and many lives were lost becasue of him...

He was smart man, that's for sure. He just chose to use his intelligence for the wrong things. I think that if he hadn't been morally coruppt then he could of made a difference for the better, that is if he wanted too.

@Merecelle In some countries you will be arrested and killed if you say deny that the holocaust ( I can't spell!! ) happened.

What I think is interesting is that Hitler became the leader of Germany and influenced an entire people through words. Hitler did not have much power, but he used his words to write Mein Kampf and to create one of humanity's worst event. A bit disappointing for all of us...

I completely agree with you there but what I cant seem to get past is the fact that some people who are currently living in this 21 centuay dont belive that it ever took place...thats what i cant seem to get my mind of its so unbelivable.

Hitler was in a position to be more far-reaching. The quote is sadly true.

He had many, many minions and collaborators. One leader, but he was by no means acting alone.