Compare and contrast the persecution of Jews with the persecution of Essay

Compare and contrast the persecution of Jews with the persecution of others in Nazi Germany on the grounds of racial hygiene - Essay Example The German scientists2 did legitimize this propaganda and in that regard, the Nazis went on to do away with all Jews that were residing in Europe in the infamous holocaust through brutal killings and mass murders.3 What began as an initial target of the Jews, soon spread to other people who were not of German descend and thus they also became serious victims of unprecedented persecution and mass murder around German strongholds in Europe and in concentration camps that were set up for that sole purpose of racial hygiene. It was actually a notion of cleansing Germany of the individuals that were seen as threats to the health of German society.4 This paper looks at this incidence of racial cleansing as the idea behind the massive persecutions that took place in that period of 1933 to 1939 and seeks to establish the persecution of Jews in comparison to that of the other non-German people by the Nazi government. For us to critically evaluate and answer this question, we need to analyse t he idea of racial hygiene, before embarking on looking at the impact that these actions had on both the two groups, Jews and others5; look at how the persecution was carried out; and the after effects of the persecution. The above issues will be well analysed and discussed before a conclusion is made. Nazi’s Idea of Racial Hygiene The racial hygiene was crafted by Hitler while he was in prison at Landsberg. In his imagination, he thought that for Germany to become stronger again there was need to cleanse it and get rid of inferior races through racial hygiene and eugenics. To him the nation was weaker and very corrupted by the infusion of some degenerate elements into the bloodstream of this nation. Neutralization of the weaker race became his decision. In 1920s growth of population was equated to having racial fitness and the idea of national strength. Racial hygiene was proposed as the only way to avert the problems. The doctors did play an important role in propagating Naz i policy because of the realignment of the medical profession with the Nazi after it took over power. Genetic health courts were also created and major Acts on racial legislation were passed in Germany starting from 1933 onwards geared towards elimination of the weak, while at the same time increase the birth rate by secluding women to homes and family where they were to bear many children, and strengthen the Aryan race. The persecution The persecution of Jews and other communities was based on the assumptions that Nazis could attain a pure race by having a cohesive national community, which did not have less valuable races or those from foreign regions. Persecution initially took the general discrimination of the races that were found not to be German through the scientific labelling process that considered family genealogies, observations, physical measurements, and the application of intelligence tests. As a result, all people were ranked as either inferior (non-Germans) or super ior (German or Aryan race). Another form of persecution that was used was the subsequent sterilization of the inferior race so that they do not give birth to more inferior people so that costs such as those of education could be saved. At this point, we cannot