Ordinary Germans and Soldiers are also Guilty for the...

Ordinary Germans and soldiers are culpable in the Holocaust in addition to Hitler and the Nazi inner circle. They are guilty for the Holocaust as well because of their long-standing antisemitism, knowledge of the enormities, and actual assistance in the Holocaust. Although Hitler was the leading force for the Holocaust, he was supported by ordinary Germans and soldiers who agreed with his beliefs and participated in the atrocities just as much. Antisemitism was the beginning and the cause of the Holocaust. The term antisemitism was actually created by a German Journalist by the name of Wilhelm Marr, created to give a name for the hatred for Jews (Ezard). Antisemitism fueled the Holocaust, the German hatred for the Jews was there even before Hitler as described by historian Robert Gellately: â€Å"What the Nazis actually did was to unshackle and thereby activate Germans’ pre-existing, pent-up antisemitism† (qtd in Ezard). One of the major decisions Hitler made inspiring this hatred was the creation of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, these laws made Jew a completely different race, and created Aryan into a superior race (Ezard). These laws made it official that the Jews were a lesser â€Å"race,† giving another excuse for the people to wreak hatred upon them. If the Germans had tried to stop the Hitler and the Nazis the Holocaust couldn’t have happened (Mckay). If even half the Germans had resisted the damage would have been much less drastic. 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