Name:

Course:

Lecturer:

Institution:

Date:

Hitler’s Views on the Jews Religion

Adolf Hitler sanctioned the killing of millions of Jews during the World War II in a genocide that is commonly referred to as the Holocaust. The Nazi Germans under the leadership of Hitler carried out these atrocities to the Jews which included brutal persecutions and massive killings. The Jews were determined to live through all these adversities; their spirit could not be easily broken. They held firmly to the hope that things will be fine someday and used every survival tactics available. The assortment of simple weapons available to them were used to fight the Nazi and they also dared to individually protest against and defy Nazi forces to the extent of risking death to obtain basic needs like food and clothing. Collaboration with the Nazi was a strategy for survival for the weak Jews or traitors to the cause although the majority endured the suffering with hope for a better future. Some Jews attempted to escape from the tribulations within the concentration camps but most of these attempts were futile for they would be arrested and receive stiff penalties. Many other Jewish families chose to barricade themselves or hide in caves away from the inhuman Nazis. The braver opted to die “honourably” thereby showing a strong opposition to the brutal and inhuman Nazis.

Jews jammed Ghettos where there was unimaginable suffering and were specifically built to ensure that Jews were confined in one area. Barbed wire marked the boundaries for these ghettos where men, women, the old and children were crammed without any consideration. Basic commodities like food and water were given in rations by the Nazis and movement in and out of the ghettos was strongly prohibited. The resultant humanitarian crisis was unimaginable. Food smuggling became the order of the day, with the smugglers at times getting apprehended and shot dead. The spirit of the people could not be subdued even with brutality from the Nazis as they continued to smuggle food and other goods across the fences and walls, sewers and underground tunnels.

Germans allowed some Jews to hide amongst them to save such collaborators from the pain in the ghettos through false documentation. Such Jews also disguised their physical attributes to hide their true identity in order to enjoy freedom. In doing this these Jews were at the mercy of the Germans whom they trusted but were at the same time exposing themselves to danger by revealing their identity to their enemy. This falsified life was dangerous and painful as they watched as their brothers were being brutalised while at the same time troubled with the fear of being detected as imposters. The strong willed Jews were the ones who managed because it was not easy to be calm while endangering your life. Many were unfortunately blackmailed by the same Germans who had promised to protect them and took their property only to be killed by these same Germans.

Numerous uprising emerged from the ghettos after news spread that Jews were being forced into concentration camps where they would be exterminated. Some of these uprisings were well organized and executed finding the Nazis off-guard hence were difficult to quell compared to the many that were relatively small, impulsive and executed with no proper plans. The Warsaw ghetto uprising is the most prominent uprising by the Jews. The extradition of Jews to extermination camps compelled the Jews to come up with this uprising. A great number of Jews in Warsaw armed themselves with all sorts of inferior arms like home-made explosives, pistols and bottles to face the Nazis. More weapons came their way from the Nazis they captured in the course of the war. The Jews lacked adequate ammunition compared to the Nazis and this greatly affected their advancement. Polish rebels boosted the Jews in their quest by getting rid of the collaborating Jews outside the ghettos. The enemy forces were kept at bay by the help of these rebels at the onset but the resistance was eventually extinguished the great number of Nazi forces who also enjoyed better ammunition.

Some Jews who were strong enough to work on the firms were detained in labour camps and many of which were sub-camps of bigger camps such as the extermination camps. They were forced to work up to 10 hours every day without rest. They provided labour in building of defence fortification, transport systems, regulated rivers, making of clothes at the Belzec. One section of their rooms had a kitchen with stoves and sewing shops. Some workers who were artisans lived together with tailors, barbers, stove workers and drivers. In the other sections most Jews who were used to the forced labour and were productive enough were brought together. They were sent to work in the sand pit s. In the forest they uprooted tree stumps. The soldiers disposed off dead Jews bodies by forcing other Jews to burying them before which they were made to pluck out their gold teeth. These workers saw it fit to comply with the demands of the enemy soldiers in order to live though many died due to the harsh condition of the camps. The massacre is one of the persistent canards that were levelled against humanity. Over the past century, the Jewish society including Judaism as a faith, were at league with communist ideologies and international communist conspiracy. This is justified by the fact that over the past years, numerous individuals have sought common cause with the communists. They have always done this as errant members of the Jewish faith and have represented Jews ideas and beliefs. On the contrary, all along Communism ideologies have always been based upon deceit, disbelief in God and murder. Jewish faith in no way did sync with the wretched communists way of thought.

Jews uprising started to take place in different concentration camps. They revolted in a bid to escape the harshness in these camps. For example in Treblinka concentration camp, there was a resistance that took place in 1943. The resistance was organized by the workers within the camp who torched the buildings and some of the detained Jews escaped. Despite the escape, many Jews were killed i.e. about the 1500 who tried to escape, 600 of them were killed. The revolt had to succeed only after gas supply was stopped for about a month. The revolt that took place in this camp became more successful than the revolt Treblinka because at the latter, 11 SS men and several Ukrainian guards were killed. In addition, 300 Jews tried to escape here were hunted down and killed over the days that followed. Only 50 Jews escaped death at the time of the war. They are the only who lived beyond the war to tell the tale. Another important uprising was that which happened at Auschwitz concentration camp. The people held up in this camp comprised of inmates. They provided forced labour in the gas chambers and crematoria (the Sonderkommandos). They made and used simple weapons such as axes, hammers, stones and other hand tools used for working and grenades.

People who chose to hide under constructed bunkers survived most of the attacks. They lived in large underground dig-outs. The Jews in ghettos were tirelessly constructing bunkers at night so that they would not be seen by their oppressors. The openings of the bankers were disguised so as to protect them from the Nazis. After some time of forced labour, skilled builders perfected their skills and they made some buildings under the ground of the houses and even made a living out of it. The buildings made underground were also meant for food storage in order to keep food that would last them for longer periods of months. They had communication difficulty with the outside and as a result a few shops had tunnels that were carefully dug out to connect them to the Aryan side for supplies. In Rohatyn, Jews built underground fortress known as Sebastopol for months during the night. Regrettably, the Nazi forces found out the entrance point to the underground fortress and flushed out its inhabitants.

Upon discovery of the truth of the extermination camps some Jews jumped off the moving trains that were transporting them to the camps. They were barely clothed but they jumped off into extremely harsh weather of freezing temperatures. Most were gunned down by the guards in trains but some managed to escape. They then struggled to find their way to safety through creative means of disguise and survival (Helmreich, 1943). In 1942, a religious Jew who had a beard and side locks jumped a moving “death” train. He found his way back home by masking himself as a mute with a toothache and concealing his beards and side locks with a rag.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews also fought alongside the Allied armies against the Nazi forces. The Polish Jews fought in the Polish armies (Polish Tanks corps, Air Force and Navy) in Poland and abroad against Nazi Germany. They defended Poland in 1939, abroad in France in 1940, in the Middle East, in North Africa and in Italy. Their collaboration with the Allied forces led to the great offensive with the eventual victory against Germany. Many of them also fought as part of Russian and French Underground movements.

Conclusion

Some Jews resorted to negotiation, bargaining and sometimes bribery of Nazi officials. These were encouraged by the Nazis through bodies such as Jewish Councils in the urban ghettos in Poland and the Reich Association of Jews in Germany. The latter was supposed to represent the interests of the Jews but was used to control and segregate the German and Austrian Jews and Gentiles of Jewish descent. Its leaders were appointees of the Third Reich. Later on it was mandated to select those to be deported. The latter of Poland was meant to serve as a link between the German authorities and the Jews in the ghettos. They were forced by the Nazis to provide from the Jewish population slave laborers and assist in the deportation of the Jews to the extermination camps.  

Works Cited

Helmreich, Ernst. Christian, “The German Churches under Hitler,” Wayne State University

Press, 1943.

Speer, Albert. “Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs by Albert Speer,” Galahad Books, 1956.

Trevor-Roper, H. [Introduction], “Hitler’s Table Talk 1941-44: His Private Conversations,

Redwood Press, Ltd., 1953.